Lillian Russell

20th Century Fox, 1940
Starring Alice Faye, Henry Fonda, Don Ameche, and Edward Arnold
Directed by Irving Cummings
Music by Bronslaw Kaper and others; Lyrics by Gus Kahn and others

Our remaining three weekday reviews for March will be biographies of pioneering female performers in honor of Women's History Month. Lillian Russell was one of the most popular singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She sang on the phone when it was a new invention and championed women's rights, raised her daughter, and had a career at a time when most women were still encouraged to stay in the kitchen. Does this movie do her glamorous life justice? Let's head to New York City in the mid-19th century to find out...

The Story: Helen Leonard (Faye) is born to Charles (Ernest Truex) and Cynthia (Dorothy Peterson) Leonard in the 1860's. She takes singing lessons; her teacher says her voice is pleasant, but not good enough for grand opera. Cynthia is involved in politics and women's rights, but her attempt at becoming mayor of New York garners less than 100 votes. Indeed, the lovely Helen has to calm a mob who has come to taunt her mother over her loss. Among the men who help clear out the rabble is Alexander Moore (Fonda), an earnest young fellow who had saved Helen and her crotchety grandmother (Helen Westley) from a runaway carriage a few days before. He's trying to become a newspaper reporter and promises to take Helen out if he can get a job before her.

One night while singing, Helen is overheard by theatrical producer Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo). He's so impressed by her voice and stunning beauty, he hires her for his vaudeville theater. He also creates a new name for her to keep her mother from figuring out what she's doing. (Her mother finds out anyway.)

The newly-christened Lillian Russell becomes the toast of New York and has a long line of suitors, including financiers "Diamond" Jim Brady (Arnold) and Jesse Lewisohn (Warren William), but she ultimately marries penniless composer Edward Solomon (Ameche). Solomon takes her to London to star in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, but he clashes with the composers and she bows out. It ends up being just as well when they discover that she's pregnant. Unfortunately, her husband dies just as he's composing a new song for her and Alexander, now a rising reporter, is about to interview her. She cancels the interview, but Diamond Jim, who has remained a good friend of hers, encourages her to move on...and she does, to success in the hit variety shows featuring comics Weber and Fields (themselves). Meanwhile, Alexander is still interested in that interview...and her...

The Song and Dance: Faye gives one of her best performances as Russell, one of the most beloved stars of the late 19th and early 20th century. She's warm and elegant, and looks amazing in the glittering period costumes. Helen Westley is a lot of fun as her outspoken grandmother. Arnold has a wonderful time as Brady, who keeps hoping she'll see him as more than a friend. He and urbane William have a very funny sequence in the rain where they bet which one of them will get Lillian first. The detailed and period-accurate sets were nominated for an Oscar. The real Weber and Fields demonstrates the type of ethnic humor that would have been in their shows and add authenticity to the second half.

It's interesting how this movie handles feminism and women's rights, especially given many women still didn't work outside the home in 1940. Cynthia tries hard to push herself into something that was still seen then as a "man's job," but it's Lillian who winds up being more successful. Several of the men, including her father, praise her for keeping her "femininity," but her mother is worried that people will see her for her beauty, rather than the whole package.

Favorite Number: "Blue Lovebird," the song Solomon was (supposedly) writing when he died, is given a nifty star routine, with Faye performing it in black against a black background; only her white jewels stand out. "Ma' Blushin' Rosie," her first number at Tony Pastor's, becomes a cute beach-inspired routine for her and the chorus.

Trivia: This is the second time Arnold played Diamond Jim Brady. He also portrayed the famous financier in the 1935 film Diamond Jim.

What I Don't Like: Like The Greatest Showman, this movie is wildly fictionalized, to the point where the plot can be a little bland. Russell's mother did run for mayor of New York, but her parents eventually divorced. She married four times, not twice; she left Solomon not because he died, but because he was a bigamist and already had another wife. She'd also had another child, but it died as an infant. A composer did die after writing her most famous hit song, "Come Down Ma Evening Star," but he committed suicide, and he wasn't married to her. Her marriage to Moore, at least, was successful and lasted the rest of her life, but she didn't marry him until she retired in 1912.

Fonda is totally out-of-place here. He was never comfortable in musicals, and he just seems awkward. Ameche does slightly better as Russell's hot-tempered first husband, but neither of them are really around long enough to make much of an impression. The supporting cast is far more enjoyable, including Arnold, William, the wonderfully cranky Westley, and Una O'Connor as Russsell's supportive maid.

The Big Finale: The plot can be dull, but the music, some excellent performances, and a couple of interesting discussions of feminism and "femininity" make this worth checking out for fans of Faye or 40's musicals.

Home Media: Available on DVD as part of 20th Century Fox's Marquee Musicals series; it can also be found on a few streaming platforms.

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