Stage Struck

A mustached Dick Powell stars with Joan Blondell and Warren William in "Stage Struck," a 1936 musical that pokes fun at a couple of characters of the day. Blondell plays Peggy Revere, a wealthy woman in the news for shooting her husband. Peggy's decided that she wants to be a Broadway star and is backing a show being choreographed by George Randall (Dick Powell). Unfortunately, the two mix like oil and water and Revere demands Randall's job. And gets it. However, that show doesn't go on.

Revere then gives $50,000 to producer Fred Harris (Warren William) who has gotten Randall to sign an iron-clad contract. Now, can he keep these two from killing one another during rehearsals? Harris decides to rely on psychology and tells Revere that her hatred of Randall indicates deep love. Randall, meanwhile, has met an ingenue (Jeanne Madden) and, rather taken with her, is trying to discourage her from getting a job in the show.

Blondell is in fact doing a takeoff on the outrageous Peggy Hopkins Joyce, an heiress known for her six marriages, love affairs, million dollar shopping sprees and for being the owner of the Portugese diamond, which she sold to Harry Winston. She actually worked in the Ziegfeld Follies and Earl Carroll's Vanities. William's character is based on ruthless producer Jed Harris, the man so hated by Laurence Olivier that he modeled his Richard III after him.

The numbers by Arlen and Harburg aren't their greatest, but a standout is a quartet about taxes done by The Yacht Club Boys. Powell and Madden sing a lovely "Fancy Meeting You," and Frank McHugh replaces the female lead in the funny Lady of the Moon number.

Good fun - Dick Powell and Joan Blondell got married before the release of this film, which helped it at the box office. They stayed married for eight years, until she complained about all the guests they constantly had, at which point, he said, 'If you don't like it, you can get the hell out.' I guess I prefer to think of them as newlyweds.