Marilyn Monroe

LADIES OF THE CHORUS

Columbia, 1949.  Directed by Phil Karlson.  Camera:  Frank Redman.  With Marilyn Monroe, Adele Jergens, Rand Brooks, Nana Bryant.

Click for larger images

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Peggy Martin and her mother May both work as burlesque chorus girls.  After star Bubbles LaRue quits, Joe, the stage manager, asks May to do a specialty number, but May secretly arranges for Peggy to do the number instead; her performance is so good that she is given the starring spot.

One evening, Randy Carroll, a member of a wealthy society family in Cleveland, Ohio, is brought to a performance by friends and becomes completely enamored of Peggy.  Learning that Peggy generally does not go on dates because her mother disapproves, Randy adopts a subtle strategy.  Every night, he sends Peggy orchids, but does not sign the card.  Curious about her secret admirer, Peggy goes to the florist to learn his identity.  When the florist tells her that the man is due to arrive at any moment, Peggy waits for him.  After they finally meet, Randy asks Peggy to dinner and she accepts, but first she invites him to meet her mother.  Randy is shocked to learn that May is also a dancer, but he politely asks her to join them for dinner.  May declines, but waits anxiously for Peggy to return home.

That night, an ecstatic Peggy tells May that Randy has proposed.  The next day, when Randy asks May for her consent, she warns him that there is a class difference between him and Peggy.  In response to Randy's indifference, May tells him the story of her marriage to a Boston socialite—Peggy's father.  After their marriage, she explains, her husband's family was horrified to learn how she made her living and had the marriage annulled.  Randy protests that people are more broadminded now than they were in her day, and May agrees to the marriage, providing that Randy tells his mother about Peggy's profession beforehand.

Randy then tries to tell his mother Adele about Peggy, but gets cold feet.  Adele, however, is delighted that Randy has fallen in love and invites May and Peggy for a visit.  Adele plans a lavish engagement party for all their friends.  Before the party, May's old friend, Billy Mackay, a retired burlesque comic, joins them.

The trio of musicians that Adele has hired to entertain recognize Peggy and ask her to sing.  The party guests are scandalized, and feeling snubbed, Peggy and May decide to go home.  Mrs. Carroll stops them, because, she declares, if they run away, it will only make things worse.  Adele then asks Billy to help her sing something.  Afterward, she reveals to her shocked friends that she too used to be a chorus girl.

Later, she secretly admits to May and Billy that she made up that story to make Peggy and Randy happy.  She then suggests that it is time for May to marry her old friend Billy, who has loved her for years.

American Film Institute Catalog

Poster artwork courtesy of Dieter