Professional Sweetheart

The early scenes in this 1933 RKO quickie are genuinely funny, as we are introduced to "Ipsy-Wipsy, the washcloth of dreams" and its spokeswoman, the Purity Girl. There's a strong cast and some clever repartee. Unfortunately it all starts to peter out around halfway through, hurt by an unconvincing romance between the leads, a convoluted plot that doesn't seem to know how it should end, and a less-than-breakneck pace.

Mainly of interest to fans of Ginger Rogers and the well-stocked cast of bit players who surround her.

... and by that I mean that from its beginnings, radio was very strict about the public persona of its radio stars, regardless of what they did in private. The year this film was made - 1933 - was the last full year in Hollywood where anything goes, although these films look like family fare by today's standards.

In this environment, Ginger Rogers is given a dynamite role that really shows her flair for comedy. She plays Glory Eden, "The Purity Girl", the face - and voice - of the Ipsy-Wipsy Wash Cloth radio show. However, in private, the purity girl is the last thing she wants to be. Glory wants to go to Harlem night clubs, smoke, drink, eat rich food, and most of all have some male companionship. So the sponsors decide to appease her and meet her half way. They start a contest looking for the "ideal Anglo Saxon" - the film's words, not mine. They come up with a real naïve hayseed (Norman Foster as Jim Davey). He's a farmer from Kentucky who actually believes Glory's public image is real. He returns to New York with the show's sponsor and now Glory can go out to more public places since she has an "official" male escort.

The one drawback to the film is you never see any real relationship form between the two. It's just suddenly there. Jim just asks Glory to marry him, she agrees - obviously from the heart, because she gives him a passionate kiss. Ipsy Wipsy head Samuel 'Sam' Ipswich claims he'll wait until after the wedding and as a PR stunt have Glory sign her new contract.

But things run amok. After the wedding Jim sees Glory's true colors and they are scarlet not pure white. He decides to kidnap her and take her back to Kentucky to make a "good woman" out of her. There is an absolutely hilarious wedding night scene once Jim has her back in Kentucky that I will just let you watch. Let's just say that these two are absolutely perfect together in this scene that could have not been possible after the production code a year later.

So now two competitors are looking for Glory - they think she's been kidnapped - and both want her to sign with them. At first they don't know where she's gone. How does this work out? I'll let you watch and find out.

This film would have been good with just Norman Foster and Ginger Rogers. It is made great by all of the character actors running around busily in the background. Zasu Pitts is a dizzy reporter, Gregory Ratoff as Samuel Ipswich was born to play the over excited boss who is destined to die of a heart attack and loves firing people, Allen Jenkins and Frank McHugh are the assistants to their frantic bosses, and Edgar Kennedy is Ipswich's competition, trying to track down Glory so he can sign her to his own radio program.

Best line of the film goes to Jim - "Please God, don't let her die! She's wicked, but I love her." Questions never resolved - Will Glory's maid get her own radio career? And what DID happen between Franklin Pangborn's character and Zasu Pitts when she found him in the closet without his pants? Enjoy this little piece of RKO zaniness. I know I did.

I saw this with another RKO Ginger Rogers film from the same year.

Even though these are targeted as light entertainment, I am amazed at how fresh they feel and how experimental the structure is.

That lightness is often attributed to the lack of the Hayes Code, which lowered its dark curtain the following year. Its clear in retrospect that this was a bad thing, that it wounded an entire society, and would have destroyed it altogether had we not encountered a similar more obvious evil. And went to war.

But how does one know what is right around the corner? How does one celebrate the freedoms that are about to be taken away? Its a haunting thing in the background of this, as part of the joke is that this perfect man is "the purest of Anglo-Saxons." Another part of the joke is that sweetness, goodness and happiness is contrasted with black jive, sex and Harlem, all of which are "fun."

The structure of the thing is pretty sophisticated. Many films from these four years 1930- 33 were similarly adventuresome in their structure.

Its a show about sex and domestic values within which is a show (a radio show) about sex and domestic values. (The domestic hook is literally a dishrag.) Around this show are a collection of nattering men trying to engineer romance and predictably failing. If you study the narrative structure of date movies, you'll be familiar with tricks about how to reflect the viewer in the story. Its rather novel and somewhat perfect here.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Mostly boring pre-code comedy with some nice direction and very few laughs. With a cast like this, it really should be better. The story is about a radio star (Ginger Rogers) known as America's Sweetheart who wants to live it up and go dancing, drinking, having sex, etc. So her PR team compromises by getting her a husband: a rube from Kentucky (Norman Foster). Some slightly saucy pre-code dialogue seems to be the main selling point for many. But it's still pretty tame stuff. Ginger dancing around in her underwear and one scene where she gets spanked are the movie's racier moments. Funniest scene is when Frank McHugh cons the rube into proposing. Ginger gives it her best but the script just isn't strong. Only a must for hardcore Ginger fans.

Ginger Rodgers shines in a role that might have been written for Jean Harlow. She cracks wise, hurls insults, and dances around in her underwear. Zazu Pitts is priceless as the gushing and gullible small town reporter. Franklin Pangborn is more blatantly gay here than we normally get to see him. This movie touches on many aspects of celebrity that remain true to this day. The manipulation of a public image and the team of professionals that that requires. The all important "product", the selling of which is the reason for everything. This movie is also amazingly tolerant and socially progressive for it's time. The attractive black housekeeper's character is more of a friend to Ginger, who's footloose lifestyle she envies. Pangborn's character as one of her handlers is made obviously gay without degradation or judgement. Don't expect "Dinner at Eight", but "Professional Sweetheart" is sparkling and breezy pre-code fun!