Henry Workman, a mogul of the film studio Monarch Pictures, is forced to recast the lead of his new musical film after Toddy Tobin, the dancing partner and wife of star Freddy Tobin, discovers she is pregnant. In an attempt to salvage the production, press agent Joe Drews devises a scheme of staging a dance contest at a small Midwestern college in order to find a replacement.
Patty Marlow, the daughter of esteemed vaudevillian Pops Marlow, is planted in the competition to be the winner of the contest. Joe goes to significant lengths to secure Patty's position, forcing her to take entrance exams and officially enroll at the college. Pug Braddock, a student and editor of the campus newspaper, is suspicious of Patty and the competition, and begins investigating.
Through several interactions with Pug, Patty swiftly falls in love with him, as well as becoming significantly interested in journalism. After Pug and Patty publish scandalous photographs of the college faculty, they are threatened with expulsion. The college's president sends for Patty's father, prompting Patty to confess the truth to Pug. Patty insists on completing her role in the competition, which angers Pug.
On the day of the competition, Henry arrives on campus to announce the winner. To prevent the plot from being completed, Pug and his friends kidnap Patty, but she convinces Pug to allow her to return to the contest. Meanwhile, Joe has placed student Eve Greeley in the competition in Patty's absence to stall for time. Henry ultimately picks Eve as the contest winner and offers Pop a job as a dancing coach. Meanwhile, Pug proposes to Patty.
Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, and Roscoe Karns in Dancing Co-Ed
Dancing Co-Ed was adapted from a 1938 story by Albert Treynor published in American Magazine, which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer originally purchased the rights to as a planned vehicle for Eleanor Powell.[7] The project was shelved for approximately a year before producer Edgar Selwyn revived it, casting Lana Turner in the lead.[7]
Stars Turner and Shaw were married shortly after making the film, but the marriage ended in divorce within four months.[8]
Release
Dancing Co-Ed was theatrically released in the United States on September 29, 1939.[1]
According to MGM records the film earned $518,000 in the US and Canada and $195,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $21,000.[3]
Critical response
Jimmie Fidler of The Daily Breeze praised the film as an "indirect indictment" of the Hollywood studio system, deeming it a "fine picture" and praising Turner's lead performance.[10]
Variety favorably assessed the film, describing it as a "light and amusing comedy-drama...S. Sylvan Simon's direction is crisp, moving his story along at a good pace. Songs are chiefly confined to the Artie Shaw band's jive sessions, being his own arrangements of a flock of pops."[11]
Tucker, David C. (2021). S. Sylvan Simon, Moviemaker: Adventures with Lucy, Red Skelton and Harry Cohn in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN978-1-476-68219-8.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dancing Co-Ed.
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