Rita Hayworth

MY GAL SAL

20th Century Fox, 1942.  Directed by Irving Cummings.  Camera:  Ernest Palmer.  With Rita Hayworth, Victor Mature, John Sutton, Carole Landis, James Gleason, Phil Silvers, Walter Catlett, Mona Maris, Frank Orth, Stanley Andrews, Margaret Moffat, Libby Taylor, John Kelly, Curt Bois, Hermes Pan, Gregory Gaye, Andrew Tombes, Albert Conti, Charles Arnt, Chief Thundercloud, Robert Lowery, Dorothy Dearing, Ted North, Roseanne Murray, Harry Strang, Billy Wayne, Edward McNamara, Edward Dearing, Rosina Galli, Larry Wheat, Eddie Waller, Judy Ford, Barry Downing, Tommy Seidel, Billy Curtis, Tommy Cotton, Paul Burns, George Melford, Charles Tannen, Clarence Badger, Jr., Kenneth Rundquist, Delos Jewkes, Gene Ramey, William Halligan, Joe Downing, Bill Hazlett, Iron Eyes Cody, J.W. Cody, William P. Wilkerson, Milton Kibbee, Luke Cosgrave, Ernie Adams, Joe Bernard, John "Skins" Miller, Gus Glassmire, Tom O'Grady, Frank Ferguson, Cyril Ring, Pearlie May Norton, Mary Stewart, Vanita Wade, Tom Ladd, Perk Lazelle, Bud Lawler, James Nataro, Bud Carpenter, John Coffey, Jack Barnett, Paul Foltz, Eddie Cutler, Sol Haines, Russell Ash, Jack Boyle, Tex Brodus, Bob Crosby, Ralph Hubbard, Dona La Barr, Peggy Neary, Charles Owens, John Roche, John Stanley, Valerie Traxler, Louise Allen, Mary Carroll, Grace Davies, Virginia Davis, Chuck De Shon, Jack Frost, Edith Haskins, Jack Jackson, Roger Miller, Byron Poindexter, Belle Richards, Ruth Riley, Jack Ross, Eddie Searles, Nondas Wayne, Dan Wyler, Eugene Morgan, Aileen Haley, Joe Hickey, Bill Alcorn, Matt Duffin.

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In the late 1800's, ambitious Paul Dreiser runs away from his Indiana home, leaving behind his mother, father and younger brother Theodore.  Paul does not want to study for the ministry, as his father desires, and instead wants to be a musician.  His first foray as an entertainer ends disastrously when Corbin, a con man, uses Paul, who has changed his surname to Dresser, as a front while selling fake jewelry.  The angry townspeople catch Paul after Corbin disappears, and tar and feather him.  Paul is then found and nursed by Mae Collins, a common but good-hearted singer in Colonel Truckee's Kickapoo Indian Remedy Extravaganza.

Once Paul recovers from his ordeal, he joins the medicine show and reciprocates Mae's affections.  Paul is thrilled by the appreciative crowds and the easy money, which allows him to buy many loud suits.

One evening, as Paul is performing, a group of high-class entertainers from New York City, led by singer Sally Elliott and her producer, Fred Haviland, laugh at Paul's cheap clothes and exuberant performance.  Sally likes one of Paul's melodies, however, and invites him to see her show.  Paul and Mae go to New York, and although Paul laughs at Sally for revenge, he is impressed by the quality of her show.

Determined to better himself and never be laughed at again, Paul leaves Mae and the medicine show for New York.  Upon his arrival, Paul learns from music publisher Pat Howley that Sally wrote lyrics to accompany his melody and has included the song in her new show.  Despite his anger, Paul listens to Pat's advice that an association with Sally would be good publicity.  Paul soon writes a string of hit songs that Pat publishes and Sally sings in her shows.

Fred, who is in love with Sally, is forced to step aside as Paul pursues her.  Paul's success goes to his head, however, and he pays little attention to Sally and his songwriting in order to go out with his new group of society friends.  Sally is especially concerned about the married Countess Mariana Rossini, and is furious to learn that Paul is to go with her on a cruise.  Sally cuts up all of Paul's clothes, and he is arrested when he destroys her wardrobe.

The couple reconciles after his release from jail, and Sally accepts Paul's marriage proposal.  Later that night, however, Paul is tricked into going to Mariana's house, where she convinces him to stay for a night of innocent, if drunken, revelry.  When Sally sees the countess dropping Paul off at his hotel in the morning, she assumes the worst and refuses to see him.  She goes on tour with Fred and, as the weeks pass, Paul writes nothing but flops.

Finally, music broker Wiley tricks Sally into accepting Paul's new song, "My Gal Sal," by claiming that an unknown Southern composer wrote it. The song is a huge hit, and soon after its debut, Sally and Paul are reunited.

Notes
The film's opening title cards read:  "Twentieth Century-Fox presents Rita Hayworth, Victor Mature, John Sutton, Carole Landis in Theodore Dreiser's My Gal Sal."  The film is based loosely on the life of Paul Dresser, the older brother of writer Theodore Dreiser.  Dresser, who was born Paul Dreiser in Terre Haute, Indiana on April 2, 1857, wrote more than 400 songs in his lifetime and was a popular performer in musical comedies.  He died on January 30, 1906 from heart disease.  Pat Howley and Fred Haviland were Dresser's partners in a music publishing company.

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		Lux Radio Theater (1/18/1943)

According to the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department, located at the UCLA Arts--Special Collections Library, the studio purchased from Dreiser the rights to the story of Dresser's life and sixty of his songs for $35,000.  The legal files also note that the studio purchased from Dreiser and his wife, Helen Richardson, an "original, unpublished, uncopyrighted" story about Dresser, which was used as the basis of the final screenplay.  Although a March 5, 1941 HR news item stated that Dreiser had published a biography of his brother entitled My Gal Sal , Dreiser did not write such a book.  The legal records indicate that Eugene Thackrey worked on an early draft of the screenplay, and March 1941 HR news items noted that Sam Hellman had been assigned to work on their screenplay.  The extent of their contributions to the completed film has not been determined.

A March 5, 1941 DV news item indicates that Columbia and RKO were initially interested in the project, but "sales were stymied in both cases by Dreiser's asking price."  According to HR news items, Twentieth Century-Fox purchased the story as a vehicle for Alice Faye, and Fritz Lang was originally assigned to direct the picture, with first Fred Kohlmar and then Robert T. Kane assigned to produce.  Studio press releases noted that Faye was replaced by Rita Hayworth, who was borrowed from Columbia for the production, when Faye temporarily retired from the screen to have a baby.  Lang was taken off the project in order to direct Moontide.  (Moontide was ultimately directed by Archie Mayo, however.)  Co-stars for Faye, announced in HR news items, included George Montgomery and Don Ameche.  A December 15, 1941 HR news item stated that Ameche was replaced by Victor Mature because "the studio decided it might not be good box-office to have Ameche play a composer again after having played Stephen Foster in Swanee River a few years ago."  According to studio records, Stuart Erwin was originally assigned the role of "Pat Howley," and Jonathan Hale was signed to play "Mr. Dreiser."

According to information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the film's December 22, 1941 screenplay was rejected by the PCA because "the lead, Paul, has indulged in various sex affairs without the proper compensating moral values."  The PCA warned the studio that it was "essential that the present characterization of Paul be changed from that of a man who frequently indulges in sex affairs."  A later version of the screenplay was approved by the PCA.  According to the legal records, the studio prepared a one-reel short entitled Movie Going Millions to advertise My Gal Sal and three other Twentieth Century-Fox productions:  This Above All, Moontide and Ten Gentlemen from West Point.  My Gal Sal won an Academy Award for Achievement in Art Direction.  For his work on the film, Alfred Newman received an Academy Award nomination for Achievement in Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture), but lost to Max Steiner and Heinz Roemheld (Yankee Doodle Dandy).  On January 18, 1943, Mary Martin and Dick Powell starred in a Lux Radio Theater version of My Gal Sal.

Songs include:  "Come Tell Me What's Your Answer, Yes or No," "I'se Your Honey If You Wants Me, Liza Jane," "On the Banks of the Wabash," The Convict and the Bird," "My Gal Sal," and "Mr. Volunteer (You Don't Belong to the Regulars, You're Just a Volunteer)," music and lyrics by Paul Dresser; "Me and My Fella," "On the Gay White Way," "Oh, the Pity of It All" and "Here You Are," music and lyrics by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger; "Daisy Bell," music and lyrics by Harry Dacre.

American Film Institute Catalog