Directed by Robert Pirosh and based on a story by Henry and Phoebe Ephron (Nora's parents), the musical rom-com The Girl Rush is hardly the best sample of its hybrid genre, showcasing entirely forgettable songs as Rosalind Russell takes charge of a long-derelict Las Vegas casino and finds herself caught between two possible courtships with an affable business partner (Eddie Albert) and the rival entrepreneur of the gambling house across the street (Fernando Lamas). Still, these and other familiar faces in the cast - James Gleason, Gloria De Haven, Marion Lorne, Jesse White and dancers Matt Mattox and Don Crichton among them - provide some welcome charm and there is enough energy put into the musical numbers to make them fun to watch, if probably not hummable afterwards. This is all a silly, frothy affair, but Roz and Fernando have pretty decent chemistry, the Edith Head-designed costumes are attractive (there's an enjoyably odd musical number called "Champagne" in which the chorines are dressed as various bottles of alcohol, seemingly nude under the carefully placed modesty labels) and the film is a cool time capsule of mid-50s Vegas Strip footage, emphasizing neon signs for revues headlined by the likes of Mae West, Eartha Kitt, Sophie Tucker, Louise Beavers and Joe E. Ross.Anyway, most importantly, I purchased my homemade DVD of The Girl Rush through eBay after seeing photos from the film in George Chakiris's memoir My West Side Story. Here's a neat anecdote from p. 29-30:After White Christmas came chorus work on a Rosalind Russell movie, The Girl Rush, also being choreographed by Robert Alton. Robert Emmett Dolan was the producer on both films. One day during rehearsals for The Girl Rush he came to me with a stack of fan letters asking who the guy was with Rosemary Clooney in that number in White Christmas. It seems Life magazine had done a pictorial spread on the movie, including those shots of Rosie with us four dancers. The fans who'd written letters had enclosed the photos and drawn arrows and circles to specify that I was the guy they were asking about.Apparently, fan mail was the 1955 version of Facebook likes and Twitter followers, because Robert Emmett Dolan was so impressed by the volume of those letters that he set up a screen test for me at Paramount.I was thrilled, not only by the offer of a screen test but also by the generous support I found myself surrounded by for it. Mr. Dolan asked Bob Alton to direct the musical part of the test. Robert Alton, directing a screen test? How lucky was I? I even overheard Bob telling the cinematographer before we started, "I want you to photograph this boy like Dietrich." I also learned that Danny Kaye, who'd been wonderful to me when we shot White Christmas, was instrumental in getting me tested. It's amazing how much extra confidence it gives you when you know that people you admire have your back. [...] Next thing I knew I was signing a seven-year contract at Paramount. Unbelievable. To congratulate me, Danny Kaye gave me a beautiful pair of gold cufflinks. I still have them, and I treasure them. Now if I could just find a copy of that screen test, although it probably doesn't exist anymore. I would love an opportunity to see that young, hopeful boy on film today and look back at where it all started.Now, two notes on GC's appearance in this film: he's incorrectly listed as "George Chakaris" in the opening credits, and the IMDb describes him as "Chorus Boy in 'Hillbilly Heart' Number," although he actually pops up in three numbers over the course of the film; this despite being a background dancer hovering at the fringes of every given stage, never granted the kind of spotlight that a screen credit would suggest, this production and White Christmas certainly gave the performer grand ideas about his future. Here's another passage from his book (p. 32), mentioning an audition for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers that he'd intentionally screwed up because the shoot would have conflicted with White Christmas - another big block of text, to be sure, but such a delightful read:[Producer] Jerry Wald was warm and welcoming, and he introduced me to Columbia's drama coach, Benno Schneider, with the added comment that in his opinion, I was "the next Montgomery Clift." I was still reeling a little from that when Mr. Wald told me he was interested in arranging to have Paramount loan me out for a role in his upcoming movie for 20th Century Fox, Peyton Place.Just when I thought that day couldn't get any better, I thanked Jerry Wald and Benno Schneider and said goodbye, left the building, headed for "my" ([friend] Drusilla's) car and ran into Kim Novak, who was in search of a lift to Hollywood and Vine. Right on my way home, and even if it hadn't been, I would have pretended it was. So after my meeting with Jerry Wald, who thought I was the next Montgomery Clift and wanted to talk to me about his next movie, I dropped Kim Novak off at Hollywood and Vine, drove back to my sweet little apartment, and probably didn't get a wink of sleep that night as I relived that very heady day.I did not get the part in Peyton Place, but I've always wished I'd had a chance to work with Jerry Wald. He was held in such high regard in the film industry, and he obviously had a rich imagination to see me in a brief dance number with Rosemary Clooney and make the jump to picturing my potential as a dramatic actor. I was, and have always been very flattered.By the way, I never knew what part I (badly) auditioned for in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but I know an incredibly gifted young actor and dancer named Russ Tamblyn played one of the brothers in that movie. And that role in Peyton Place Jerry Wald mentioned to me went to Russ Tamblyn and earned him an Academy Award nomination.Now if I could just stop forgetting to tell Russ that story...The Films of George Chakiris: Ranked (So Far)
