She's Working Her Way Through College
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by Elliott Nugent
James Thurber
| She's Working Her Way Through College | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| Screenplay by | Peter Milne |
| Based on | The Male Animal (1940 play) by Elliott Nugent James Thurber |
| Produced by | William Jacobs |
| Starring | Virginia Mayo Ronald Reagan Gene Nelson |
| Cinematography | Wilfred M. Cline |
| Edited by | Clarence Kolster |
| Music by | Ray Heindorf |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.4 million |
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She's Working Her Way Through College is a 1952 American comedy film produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. A musical comedy in Technicolor, it is directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, and stars Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan. The screenplay is based on the 1940 Broadway play The Male Animal by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent, although the play's title is not mentioned in the screen credits.[1]
In the early 1950s, Angela Gardner is a burlesque star known as Hot Garters Gertie. She started working as an exotic dancer solely to earn money for a college education. She wants to be a writer, and has been working on a play for many years. She enrolls at Midwest State, where her former high-school teacher John Palmer is now a professor of English. Palmer, aware of Angela's occupation after having seen her perform, encourages her enrollment. Angela mistakenly thinks that Palmer wants to meet her privately after she receives a fur coat, but she discovers that the coat was sent by one of her admirers who tries unsuccessfully to seduce her. Palmer has a longstanding rivalry with former college-football jock Shep Slade, who is fond of Palmer's wife Helen. With the help of fellow student Don Weston, and despite interference from the jealous "Poison Ivy" Williams, Angela succeeds in her studies. Palmer suggests that she turn her play into a musical. When the theatrical arts class votes to stage a musical instead of the usual work by Shakespeare, Angela's play is a natural. After "Poison Ivy" discovers Angela's past and exposes it in the college newspaper, chairman Fred Copeland of the board of trustees demands her expulsion. Palmer is defiant and defends Angela at an open-school assembly. Angela asks Copeland not to expel her and discovers that he is the man who had tried to seduce her. Embarrassed, he accepts her return of the mink coat, which his wife unknowingly wears at the performance of Angela's play.
Cast
- Virginia Mayo as Angela Gardner / "Hot Garters Gertie" (singing voice dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams)
- Ronald Reagan as Professor John Palmer
- Gene Nelson as Don Weston (singing voice was partially dubbed by Hal Derwin)
- Don DeFore as Shep Slade
- Phyllis Thaxter as Helen Palmer
- Patrice Wymore as "Poison" Ivy Williams
- Roland Winters as Fred Copeland
- Raymond Greenleaf as Dean Rogers
- Ginger Crowley as Lonnie - Ivy's Friend
- Norman Bartold as "Tiny" Gordon
- Ramon Blackburn as Singer / Dancer
- Royce Blackburn as Singer / Dancer