The Dolly Sisters is another of those nostalgic biographical film salutes to a pair of twin sisters from Hungary who became celebrated entertainers in those years before World War I and the Roaring Twenties. Both sisters had a few marriages and suffered many ups and downs in their lives. Of course this being Hollywood we're getting quite a sanitized version of them.
They were in fact identical twins, but 20th Century Fox did not decide to cast one actress in both roles. Originally it was supposed to be Alice Faye and Betty Grable, but Alice took her screen retirement when Darryl Zanuck would not give her more dramatic roles and June Haver was brought in to replace. Both Grable and Haver had their hair done in the same style, wore the same outfits all the time and my guess was that Haver who was slightly smaller wore platforms to give her equal height or almost equal height with Grable.
A lot of interpolated period music is used, but Jimmy Monaco and Mack Gordon wrote one original song I Can't Begin To Tell You which was nominated for an Oscar. It also has the unique distinction of being the only song Betty Grable commercially recorded during her stint at Fox because Zanuck did not like his stars singing for records. She did a vocal with her husband Harry James's band under a pseudonym at the time. Later releases credit Betty. But the big selling record of this song was by Bing Crosby with only a piano accompaniment by Carmen Cavallaro. It was one of Bing's biggest sellers. It's sung at various times in the film by Betty, June and John Payne and a few combinations thereof.
John Payne plays Harry Fox, song and dance man who Grable marries and leaves. In real life they never got back together which is what the film alludes to. Also it shows Fox as being jealous of the success of the sisters. In fact he was a success before they were and Jenny Dolly was accused of marrying him to boost her career. In fact that was an accusation leveled at both sisters who made a few advantageous matches.
In real life there was no happy ending for Jenny Dolly, she committed suicide in 1941, she was in a lot of pain and never recovered from the automobile accident that Betty Grable was shown to have. Rosie Dolly's final marriage was to a department store heir and she survived her sister by 29 years.
Since much was made in real life of the sister's Hungarian ancestry you had to have S.Z. Sakall in this film as their lovable uncle who's constantly losing money at pinochle. My grandfather was a heavy pinochle player as well so it's something I could identify with. Sakall was with Warner Brothers at the time and I'd love to know what Darryl Zanuck had to give in return to Jack Warner for Sakall's services. As always Sakall is his lovable self, you could just reach into the TV to pinch his cheeks.
The Dolly Sisters is a fine nostalgic and sanitized biographical film with a lot of gaudy color for a pair of gaudy sisters. It should only have gone this easy for the real Dolly Sisters.
They were in fact identical twins, but 20th Century Fox did not decide to cast one actress in both roles. Originally it was supposed to be Alice Faye and Betty Grable, but Alice took her screen retirement when Darryl Zanuck would not give her more dramatic roles and June Haver was brought in to replace. Both Grable and Haver had their hair done in the same style, wore the same outfits all the time and my guess was that Haver who was slightly smaller wore platforms to give her equal height or almost equal height with Grable.
A lot of interpolated period music is used, but Jimmy Monaco and Mack Gordon wrote one original song I Can't Begin To Tell You which was nominated for an Oscar. It also has the unique distinction of being the only song Betty Grable commercially recorded during her stint at Fox because Zanuck did not like his stars singing for records. She did a vocal with her husband Harry James's band under a pseudonym at the time. Later releases credit Betty. But the big selling record of this song was by Bing Crosby with only a piano accompaniment by Carmen Cavallaro. It was one of Bing's biggest sellers. It's sung at various times in the film by Betty, June and John Payne and a few combinations thereof.
John Payne plays Harry Fox, song and dance man who Grable marries and leaves. In real life they never got back together which is what the film alludes to. Also it shows Fox as being jealous of the success of the sisters. In fact he was a success before they were and Jenny Dolly was accused of marrying him to boost her career. In fact that was an accusation leveled at both sisters who made a few advantageous matches.
In real life there was no happy ending for Jenny Dolly, she committed suicide in 1941, she was in a lot of pain and never recovered from the automobile accident that Betty Grable was shown to have. Rosie Dolly's final marriage was to a department store heir and she survived her sister by 29 years.
Since much was made in real life of the sister's Hungarian ancestry you had to have S.Z. Sakall in this film as their lovable uncle who's constantly losing money at pinochle. My grandfather was a heavy pinochle player as well so it's something I could identify with. Sakall was with Warner Brothers at the time and I'd love to know what Darryl Zanuck had to give in return to Jack Warner for Sakall's services. As always Sakall is his lovable self, you could just reach into the TV to pinch his cheeks.
The Dolly Sisters is a fine nostalgic and sanitized biographical film with a lot of gaudy color for a pair of gaudy sisters. It should only have gone this easy for the real Dolly Sisters.