Best Foot Forward (film)
| Best Foot Forward | |
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 Original window card |
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| Directed by | Edward Buzzell |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | John Cecil Holm (book) Irving Brecher Fred F. Finklehoffe Dorothy Kingsley |
| Starring | Lucille Ball William Gaxton Virginia Weidler |
| Music by | Lennie Hayton |
| Cinematography | Leonard Smith |
| Editing by | Blanche Sewell |
| Distributed by | Metro Goldwyn Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.125 million |
Best Foot Forward is a 1943 American film adapted from the 1941 Broadway musical comedy of the same title. The film was released by MGM, directed by Edward Buzzell, and starring Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Chill Wills, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Nancy Walker.
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Plot [edit]
The story centers around Lucille Ball who plays herself against an unlikely backdrop, namely, a military academy full of frisky boys. Ball is the reluctant guest of a diminutive cadet, Bud Hooper (Tommy Dix), who wrote her a mash note and invitation to be his date at a school prom.
Ball's publicity man, Jack O'Riley (William Gaxton), seizes upon the situation as a perfect PR stunt and convinces her to travel 3,000 miles to join Hooper at Winsocki Military Academy's dance. When Ball actually shows up, mayhem ensues. Hooper, who never dreamed she would accept, has to disinvite his girlfriend, Helen (Virginia Weidler), and ask Ball to pretend to be Helen, lest the actress herself not pass muster with the institution's screening committee.
Helen fights back while Hooper tries to keep Ball from the clutches of other cadets who want to steal her for their dates of their own. Meanwhile, Harry James and his orchestra perform various songs, including "The Flight of the Bumblebee". The cast also sing and dance their way through such numbers as "Buckle Down, Winsocki" (the tune co-opted in the 1960s for "Buckle Up for Safety"), "Wish I May," "Three Men on a Date", "Alive and Kickin'", "The Barrelhouse, The Boogie-Woogie and the Blues", and "Ev'rytime." [The soundtrack CD also includes the cut "What Do You Think I Am?"]
Cast [edit]
- Lucille Ball as Herself
- William Gaxton as Jack O'Riley
- Tommy Dix as Bud Hooper
- Virginia Weidler as Helen Schlesinger
- Nancy Walker as Nancy
- June Allyson as Minerva
- Chill Wills as Chester Short
- Gloria DeHaven as Ethel
- Henry O'Neill as Major Reeber
- Sara Haden as Miss Talbert
- Donald MacBride as Captain Bradd
- Darwood "Waldo" Kaye as Killer
- Morris Ankrum as Colonel Harkrider
- Kenny Bowers as Dutch Miller
- Bob Stebbins as Greenie
- Jack Jordan as Hunk
- Beverly Tyler as Miss Delaware Water Gap (she has one scene with Virginia Weidler, using the term "BO for Brush OFF" and a solo song with chorus. Virginia calls her "GAP".)
- Nana Bryant as Mrs. Dalrymple
- Harry James and His Music Makers as Themselves
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Best Foot Forward |
- Best Foot Forward at the Internet Broadway Database
- Best Foot Forward at the Internet Movie Database
- Best Foot Forward at AllRovi
- Best Foot Forward at the TCM Movie Database
- Best Foot Forward at Rotten Tomatoes
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