All Girl Revue

The only reason for watching this very dated musical short is the chance to see JUNE ALLYSON just a few years before she made her big movie star debut in "Best Foot Forward" at MGM.

This is a drab looking Warner musical short with June as the Mayor for a Day who wants to "Make the City Pretty" and joins the other gals for a reception to honor the arrival of Madame Beverly, an opera singer (BEVERLY KIRK). There's also a musical moment at Grand Central where a chorus line of girls do a tap routine imitating the shuffling noise of a train getting set for departure.

None of it is really interesting enough to make it an item I'd recommend, but fans of June Allyson will be able to sit through it just to watch the perky actress before stardom.

THE GIRLS HAVE taken over the town and this is a musical. With those two premises' being established, the one reeler short landed on its feet, hit the ground running and stayed its course to the end. (So Schultz, how's that for using multiple clichés?)

WHEN WE FIRST viewed this on Turner Classic Movies a few days ago, we must confess that we were ignorant of the fact that the perky and beautiful young woman who was cast as "the Mayor" was perky and beautiful June Allison. Hers is the only name that we recognize in the credits and her performance bode well in showcasing what would be her definite "Star Quality."

PERHAPS SOMEONE GOT the idea to do this by crossing the standard "Boys Day at City Hall" plot with the females only policy as displayed in the film version of the Clare Booth Luce play, THE WOMEN (MGM, 1939). (Just a hunch, Schultz.)

OTHER THAN THAT, there is not really a lot to recommend this and it seems to race along at a very merry rate, but not fast enough for Schultz and myself. Perhaps a little 1940's style 'cheesecake' and good old fashioned titillation would have livened things up a bit.

About the only reason to see this film is if you are a die-hard June Allyson fan, as she plays the lead in this practically plot less musical. Ostensibly, the plot is about the men giving the women control of the city government for the day and June is the acting mayor. But absolutely nothing is done with this plot...nothing...well, apart from making women look bad when she demands a mirror in the office because ladies, apparently, MUST have this and aren't really serious about work. Instead of developing this, however, there's one song and a crazy song and dance number. In other words, they totally sacrificed plot in order to shove a lot of music into the picture. It's not terrible...but sure is lacking the qualities you need to make it worth seeking. Not terrible...but not very good either.

Short about what happens when girls (women) are allowed to rule an unnamed town for a day. June Allyson is the mayor and sets out to make the city more pretty (!!). It seems a famous (unnamed) opera singer (Beverly Kirk) is visiting the town that day and they want to make it perfect for her.

The short itself is harmless fun. 95% of the dialogue is sung and all the songs are tuneful it instantly forgettable. It also has a truly jaw-dropping tap dancing number in a train station. This also has some forgotten female dancing and singing acts. So it's fun as a harmless little short and also as a reminder of some really great female singers and dancers.

Girls take over the city for a day and decide to clean up the town.... in the words of the song Mayor-for-a-day June Allyson sings at the beginning of this short, "Gotta make the city pretty" by shining up garbage cans.

This Vitagraph short is a bizarre one, although there is a nice line of identical-looking chorines dancing in Grand Central Station. The plot of this short has the mayor head over to greet visiting opera singer Beverly Kirk.

There are some decent songs by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, but nothing outstanding. Director Lloyd French tries to spice up the standard musical revue that the Warner Brothers' shorts unit had been turning out, but it winds up looking bizarre rather than funny.