''The Shocking Miss Pilgrim'' is a 1947 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

written and directed by

George Seaton George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. Life and career Early life Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish des ...

and starring

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

and

Dick Haymes Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host, ...

. The screenplay, based on a story by Ernest Maas and Frederica Maas, focuses on a young typist who becomes involved in the

Women's Suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

in 1874. The songs were composed by George and

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

made her film debut as an uncredited voice as a telephone operator.

Plot

Cynthia Pilgrim is the top typewriting (i.e. typing) student of the first graduating class of the

Packard Business College Packard's Business College or Packard Business College was a post-secondary business college in New York City which provided a concentrated one-year education in practical business subjects, such as arithmetic, bookkeeping, penmanship, and busines ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and as such she is offered a position as a typewriter (i.e. typist) with the Pritchard Shipping Company in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. There, she finds an office of men overseen by office manager Mr. Saxon. When Cynthia introduces herself to company co-owner John Pritchard, he tells her he thought all expert typists were male and his policy is to hire only men. Cynthia asks for an opportunity to prove she's as efficient as her male counterparts, but John refuses and offers her train fare back to New York. John's Aunt Alice, an avowed

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, has the controlling interest in the company and insists that Cynthia be given a chance. Cynthia finds lodgings at Catherine Dennison's ( Elizabeth Patterson) boarding house, where she meets an eclectic group of tenants, including poet Leander Woolsey, artist Michael Michael, and musician Herbert Jothan. John invites Cynthia to dinner but she prefers not to socialize with her employer. She does allow him to escort her to one of his aunt's suffragist rallies, where she impresses the other women, despite John's standing up from the audience and asking her awkward questions about management and labor getting closer together. When John's mother asks her to dine with them on the evening of the Regimental Ball, Cynthia feels she won't fit in with the woman's social circle, so her rooming house companions coach her on how to behave unpleasantly, thinking the mother would be a snob. Cynthia is delighted to discover their efforts were unnecessary, because Mrs. Pritchard proves to be down-to-earth and a supporter of Cynthia's desire to be treated equally in the workplace. John begins to date Cynthia, and eventually they become engaged. He tries to persuade her to give up her involvement in the suffrage movement, but she insists she cannot abandon such a worthy cause. They break their engagement and she is fired from her job, but none of the people hired by Mr. Saxon to replace her please Mr. Pritchard. He and John go, in desperation, to a local school to find yet another candidate for the position. There, John discovers that its general manager is Cynthia, and the two are reunited in business as well as in love.

Cast

Production

In 1941, husband-and-wife screenwriting team Ernest Maas and Frederica Sagor collaborated on ''Miss Pilgrim's Progress'', a story about a young woman who enters the business world by demonstrating the newly invented typewriter in the window of a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

establishment. When she tries to fend off the unwanted advances of one of the firm's clerks, her employer comes to her rescue but is killed when he falls down the stairs in the ensuing altercation. Abigail Pilgrim becomes the focus of a murder trial that attracts widespread coverage by the media and the attention of Susan B. Anthony when the concept of women working in offices comes under fire. Acting as their agent, Paul Kohner brought the story to several studios. RKO and MGM expressed some interest, but both eventually passed.

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

finally purchased the screen rights, and initially planned on starring Jeanne Crain, but the project stalled. Finally, studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, searching for material for

, decided to tailor it to her talents, cutting Crain loose. After it underwent several rewrites, Zanuck assigned the task of whipping the screenplay into shooting shape to George Seaton, who would also direct. Working with

Kay Swift Katharine Faulkner "Kay" Swift (April 19, 1897 – January 28, 1993) was an American composer of popular and classical music, the first woman to score a hit musical completely. Written in 1930, the Broadway musical '' Fine and Dandy'' includes s ...

, Ira Gershwin sorted through songs he and his brother George had written but never used and selected eleven for the film's musical numbers. Frederica Sagor was unhappy with the tunes and later observed, "Not even if they had scraped the very bottom of the barrel could they have come up with something so unmelodious." Displeased with the treatment her and her husband's original story was given, she called the end result "another stupid boy-meets-girl Zanuck travesty." Despite Betty Grable's popularity as a top moneymaking film star at this time, ''The Shocking Miss Pilgrim'' was a box office disappointment.

Song list

* ''Sweet Packard'' ** Music by

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

** Lyrics by

** Performed by ensemble * ''Changing My Tune'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Betty Grable * ''Stand Up and Fight'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Anne Revere, Betty Grable, Dick Haymes and ensemble * '' Aren't You Kinda Glad We Did?'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Dick Haymes and Betty Grable * ''The Back Bay Polka'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Allyn Joslyn, Charles Kemper, Elizabeth Patterson, Lillian Bronson Arthur Shields and Betty Grable * ''One, Two, Three'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Dick Haymes and ensemble ** Danced by Betty Grable and Dick Haymes * ''Waltzing is Better Sitting Down'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Dick Haymes and Betty Grable * ''Demon Rum'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by ensemble * '' For You, For Me, For Evermore'' ** Music by George Gershwin ** Lyrics by Ira Gershwin ** Performed by Dick Haymes and Betty Grable

Critical reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' felt in a few of the songs "a certain exuberance is momentarily achieved," but he thought "the bulk of the music is as sticky as toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube." He added, "Miss Grable and Mr. Haymes are neither given nor deserve a script if the caliber of their performances is a valid criterion, and several other minor actors behave ridiculously in silly roles. There is no more voltage in ''The Shocking Miss Pilgrim'' than in a badly used dry cell."

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shocking Miss Pilgrim, The 1947 films 1947 musical comedy films 1947 romantic comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s feminist films 1940s romantic musical films 20th Century Fox films American feminist comedy films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films directed by George Seaton Films produced by William Perlberg Films scored by Alfred Newman Films scored by David Raksin Films set in 1874 Films set in Massachusetts George Gershwin in film 1940s American films