Billie Burke was a silent movie star, but all she has left of those days is a silver tea service gifted her by her fans. In the days since, she worked at a department store, and has now retired with a pension. Four girls form the various departments -- Gail Russell, Claire Trevor, Ann Dvorak, and Jane Wyatt, come to her with a proposition. If they combine their money, they can rent an estate in the wealthy suburbs and pretend to be a family who has money, with Miss Burke as their mother. Then they can snag rich husbands. To fill in a missing $32.50 per month, they rope in penny-pinching, irascible Adolphe Menjou, and soon have suitable suitors or at least Broadway careers.
Girls in search of rich husbands was not new when writer-director-producer Andrew Stone decided to make this variation, but he fills it up with some real issues and conflicts between the girls, and some good music; one of the suitors is played by concert pianist Eugene List, who can act, but does fill in the time nicely with classical music. Also, Menjou has one of his better roles, as he ranges from a petty bureaucrat to someone who goads Broadway producer Russell Hicks into giving Miss Dvorak a contract by belittling her, to someone who ultimately cares about everything: the girls, the store he works in, and of course, his 20% of Miss Dvorak's contract.
Girls in search of rich husbands was not new when writer-director-producer Andrew Stone decided to make this variation, but he fills it up with some real issues and conflicts between the girls, and some good music; one of the suitors is played by concert pianist Eugene List, who can act, but does fill in the time nicely with classical music. Also, Menjou has one of his better roles, as he ranges from a petty bureaucrat to someone who goads Broadway producer Russell Hicks into giving Miss Dvorak a contract by belittling her, to someone who ultimately cares about everything: the girls, the store he works in, and of course, his 20% of Miss Dvorak's contract.