Meet Me After the Show is a 1951 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and released through 20th Century Fox. The film was one of Grable's last musical films for Fox during her box office reign of the past decade.
| Meet Me After the Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Richard Sale |
| Screenplay by | Mary Loos Richard Sale |
| Story by | Erna Lazarus Scott Darling |
| Produced by | George Jessel |
| Starring | Betty Grable Macdonald Carey Rory Calhoun |
| Cinematography | Arthur E. Arling |
| Edited by | J. Watson Webb, Jr. |
| Music by | Ken Darby Songs by Jule Styne (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) |
| Distributed by | Twentieth-Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2 million (US rentals)[1][2] |
Plot
editDelilah Lee (Betty Grable) is groomed by her husband Jeff Ames (Macdonald Carey) for his new Broadway show. Delilah becomes such a success to a point where she feels that Jeff thinks of her more as an asset than a wife. When the show's backer Gloria Carstairs (Lois Andrews) begins coming on to Jeff, Delilah leaves him, but regrets it later on and tries to win him back. She devises a scheme involving amnesia to lure Jeff back to her.
Cast
edit- Betty Grable as Delilah Lee
- Macdonald Carey as Jeff Ames
- Rory Calhoun as David Hemingway
- Eddie Albert as Chris Leeds
- Fred Clark as Timothy 'Tim' Wayne
- Lois Andrews as Gloria Carstairs
- Irene Ryan as Tillie
- Gwen Verdon as Sappho, Dancer in "No-Talent Joe" (uncredited)[3]
- Arthur Walge as "No-Talent Joe"[3]
Production
editBetty Grable had been reigning the box office throughout the 1940s. Her films always made big money for 20th Century Fox and they rewarded her by increasing her salary over the years to a point where she was making more money than Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck. By the end of the decade she was making $300,000 a year which made her the highest paid person in Hollywood and one of the highest paid people in America. Meet Me After the Show was a box office hit when released, especially due to the successes of her two films the previous year; Wabash Avenue and My Blue Heaven.
Rory Calhoun co-starred in this movie. He would also co-star with Betty Grable in How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953 playing her romantic interest in that film.
Meet Me After the Show also features a supporting performance by Irene Ryan later of The Beverly Hillbillies fame. She played Grable's maid Tillie.
Gwen Verdon is an uncredited singer and dancer in some of the musical numbers composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Leo Robin, including "No-Talent Joe"[4] and "I Feel Like Dancing".[5] In her only solo album, The Girl I Left Home For (1955), Verdon sang three songs from the film: It's a Hot Night in Alaska, Bettin' on a Man and No-Talent Joe.[6]
Arthur Walge, a 6'6" former weightlifter and professional wrestler, plays the statuesque "No-Talent Joe" in a musical number performed by Betty Grable.[7]
References
edit- ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952
- ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 223
- ^ a b Meet Me After the Show full cast list at IMDb
- ^ "No-Talent Joe" on YouTube
- ^ "I Feel Like Dancing" on YouTube
- ^ Gwen Verdon album "The Girl I Left Home For" at discogs.com
- ^ Arthur Walge at IMDb