My Gal Sal

My Gal Sal is a 1942 20th Century Fox musical starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s composer and songwriter Paul Dresser and singer Sally Elliot. It was based on a biographical essay, sometimes erroneously referred to as a book, by Dresser's younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser. (Dreiser was the original family name.) Some of the songs portrayed as Dresser's work were actually written by him, but several were created for the film by the Hollywood songwriting team of Ralph Grainger and Leo Robin.
Plot summary.
Sally Elliott (Rita Hayworth), a musical star meets up with Indiana boy Paul Dresser (Victor Mature), a runaway who after a brief stopover with a medicine show arrives in Gay Nineties New York. He composes the title tune for the fair lady and becomes the toast of Tin Pan Alley.
Cast.
Choreographer Hermes Pan appears as Hayworth's dance partner in the "Gay White Way" number.
Awards.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright and Thomas Little). It was nominated for Best Score.
Production.
20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck purchased the story of "My Gal Sal" from Theodore Dreiser for $50,000 in the summer of 1942. Zanuck initially had the script and the lead role of Sally Elliott tailor-made to fit the talents of Fox's biggest female star at the time, Alice Faye. Faye was going to star with Carole Landis, George Montgomery, and John Shepperd.
However, Faye stated that she was tired of starring in costume musicals and turned the film down. Afterward, the part was offered to Betty Grable, who was becoming known as a successor to Faye at Fox, but who turned it down, believing Fox was over-working her.
Zanuck thereafter had the script rewritten and redirected to showcase Irene Dunne, but her busy film schedule meant holding up production on "My Gal Sal" for eighteen months. Zanuck subsequently approached Mae West with the role, but she too turned it down. Zanuck considered grooming newcomer Carole Landis for the part, but her screen test failed to impress the producers. Despite not winning the part of Sally Elliott, Landis did end up playing the secondary lead of Mae Collins in the film, because she had already been publicized as appearing in the film.
Zanuck finally approached Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, about borrowing Rita Hayworth for the film. Zanuck had been impressed with Hayworth's performance in the 1941 film version of "Blood and Sand", also for Fox. Cohn, on the other hand, was hoping to buy "My Gal Sal" from Fox and cast Hayworth in the part upon the film's transfer to Columbia. Zanuck, however, rebuffed at selling the film, but instead offered Hayworth an exclusive two-movie contract to star in "My Gal Sal" and "Tales of Manhattan" (1942). Cohn eventually agreed to loan Hayworth to Fox for both movies.
Victor Mature's role was originally meant to be played by Don Ameche.
Reception.
"My Gal Sal" received positive reviews upon its 1942 release.
"Daily Variety" said the film was a very "lively, merry musical treat. A pricture crammed with color, songs, and movement, carrying broad appeal for all theatergoers, both young and old." Hayworth was proclaimed to have done a "beautiful job" as Sally, while Victor Mature turned out an "impressing performance" as Dresser.
"Life" stated: "My Gal Sal" hits a current demand, both in the movies and in radio, for the nostalgic delights of the 1890s."
The film went on to become one of the most-successful Fox films during 1942.
Some of Rita Hayworth's lines were sampled in the Pet Shop Boys 1996 track "Electricity." The film happened to be playing on television while the track was being recorded, and was not publicly identified until 2019.