Phil Karlson’s LADIES OF THE CHORUS (1948, TCM, Tubi, YouTube) is of more archaeological than aesthetic interest. Made during her brief stint at Columbia Pictures between her two 20th Century-Fox contacts, the low-budget musical was the first film in which Marilyn Monroe played a leading role and the first in which she sang and danced. And this was before her acting coach, Natasha Lytess, convinced her to adopt that breathy, over-enunciated line delivery that managed to be funny, sexy and maddening all at the same time. She stars as a chorus girl in the Hollywood version of burlesque, which is just naughty vaudeville. When the star walks out, her mother (Adele Jergens, who was only nine years older than she) pushes her into the spotlight, and she scores a hit. that leads to a romance with a young society man (Rand Brooks) and sets the stage for scandal among his upper-crust friends. The plot is crammed into 61 minutes along with five songs, a reprise and an extended flashback about Jergens’ own ill-fated marriage into society. A lot of the film’s comedy is cringeworthy, and there’s a horribly racist musical number about African tribal love done by the band at Monroe’s engagement party, suggesting the rich are perfectly fine with low-brow entertainment as long as it’s at the expense of the other. But Monroe is sweet and natural, and one of her numbers, “Every Baby Needs a Da-da-daddy,” gives a preview of her star persona. Jergens is good as usual, and there’s a very good performance from Nana Bryant as Brooks’ mother, a society lady with her own down-and-dirty side. There’s also an interesting representation of sisterhood in the film. The chorus girls are all supportive of Monroe’s rise to stardom. The only negative female characters are the burlesque show’s original leading lady and Bryant’s society friends, and one of them is Almira Sessions, who manages to get a laugh on every one of her lines, even those delivered from off-screen, so that’s some sort of redeeming social value.
