Campus Cinderella

I consider myself a major Penny Singleton fan, so needless to say I enjoyed this little two-reel musical made only months before she achieved stardom in the "Blondie" movie series. Penny stars as co-ed who woos a major basketball recruit to the campus where her father is dean. This movie was shot in early Technicolor and was recently included as a special feature on the "Bringing up Baby" DVD - the print is gorgeous and almost flawless with the exception of a few brief scenes. This little short gives us a rare chance to see Penny return to her vaudeville roots with singing and unique knockabout dancing style. Johnnie Davis was a radio jazz singer/comedian of the era who was never that big and he's OK - more appealing is Anthony Averill who never really got anywhere in the movies, just 14 films including unbilled bits and often cast as a "henchman" in Warner Bros. melodramas. He is quite handsome and if that studio were smarter it would have tried to make him a romantic tough guy like Steve Cochran a decade later. I agree with another reviewer's comments that you don't know if Penny and Johnnie are supposed to be just friends or dating at first, presumably just friends given Johnnie's eagerness that Penny vamp Anthony and get him to register at their college. The movie's name is kind of odd too given the movie is not really a romance but a sports film. Of special note for movie buffs future superstar Susan Hayward in a bit part as one of the co-eds in Averill's first scene (she's the redhead in the blue bathing suit)- she is also briefly spotted to the extreme right in Davis' next song number. This director clearly was no star maker - Susan is one of the co-eds who never gets a really good shot in the film. Another coed is future "Citizen Kane" actress Dorothy Comingmore - she is much tougher to spot because presumably she is not a blonde like she is "Kane". In all, this film is quite a little treat for movie buffs.