The Girl in the Show
About The Girl in the Show
An Uncle Tom's Cabin company traveling through Kansas is stranded when manager Ed Bondell takes their stake. Hattie Hartley (Bessie Love), the fifth Little Eva in her family, loves Mal Thorne (Raymond Hackett) but is about to marry undertaker Newton Wampler (Jed Prouty), whose money would keep the show going and send her sister Oriole to school. Thorne gets the act a booking, and Oriole is put in as Eva in Hattie's place. Hattie gives Oriole a dose of candy meant to be lethal. Oriole sickens during the show, Hattie takes the part, and she and Thorne marry.
Cast & crew
More about The Girl in the Show
Edgar Selwyn directed and, with Joseph Farnham, wrote the screenplay from the 1928 play Eva the Fifth by Kenyon Nicholson and John Golden. Arthur Reed photographed it. Harry Reynolds edited it. MGM released it on 31 August 1929 as a Movietone picture and also in a silent version. Copyright 9 September 1929 (LP663). The negative is listed at 7,574 feet, nine reels.
Themes
Look
Arthur Reed photographed the black-and-white company, including the Kansas towns and the Eva scenes.
Music
The sound version is Movietone. MGM also issued a silent copy.
Notes
- AFI prints the running time as 74 or 77 minutes. Wikipedia and IMDb list 82.
- Edward Nugent plays Dave Amazon. Mary Doran plays Connie Bard. Ford Sterling is in the cast.
- Train-depot scenes were shot at the Palms railway station.
- Love is pictured in the Eva costume on the film's advertising.
Scenes
- Bondell leaves with the company's money.
- Hattie feeds Oriole the candy so she can take Eva back.
- Oriole fails mid-performance and Hattie goes on.
Influenced by
- Eva the Fifth, play by Kenyon Nicholson and John Golden (1928)
