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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ladiesofthechorus.jpg]]
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4''Ladies of the Chorus'' is a 1948 American romance / musical film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Adele Jergens, Creator/MarilynMonroe, Rand Brooks and Nana Bryant.
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6Peggy Martin (Monroe) and her mother Mae (Jergens) both work as burlesque chorus girls. After star Bubbles [=LaRue=] quits, the stage manager Joe asks Mae to replace her, but Mae secretly arranges for Peggy to do the number instead, and her performance is so good that she is given the starring spot. One evening, Randy Carroll (Brooks), a member of a wealthy society family in Cleveland, Ohio, is brought to a performance of Peggy by his friends, and he becomes completely enamored of Peggy. Learning that Peggy generally does not go on dates because her mother disapproves, Randy adopts a subtle strategy.
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8This was Marilyn Monroe's first starring role. When her popularity surged in TheFifties, the film was reedited down to one hour to prop her up and re-released. There were also [[BillingDisplacement new posters for said re-release and the credits were modified]] (she got top billing, while Adele Jergens was the main star originally).
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10!!''Ladies of the Chorus'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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12* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Mae was played by 31 year old Adele Jergens, while her daughter Peggy was played by a 22 year old Marilyn Monroe. You'll be forgiven for mistaking them for sisters at some points.
13* {{Burlesque}}: The genre in which the eponymous ChorusGirls (including Mae and Peggy) perfom.
14* TheChanteuse: Because Mae arranges for Peggy to perform the "Anyone Can See I Love You" number, everyone sees how good Peggy is at it and she quickly becomes the chorus' leading singer.
15* ChorusGirls: It's the job of the two female protagonists and, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin it's in the title]].
16* CoolOldLady: Randy Carroll's mother Adele. She's an OpenMindedParent who has no issue with her son marrying a chorus girl, and even performs a song for the two soon-to-be-wed couples at the end (and said song is about how being a SerialSpouse is no big deal).
17* [[DatingWhatDaddyHates Dating What Mommy Hates]]: Subverted. Randy does know his mother is an OpenMindedParent and that she will accept Peggy regardless of her job, but for some reason he decides not to tell her that she's a chorus girl, which causes some drama.
18* FlowersOfRomance: After getting enamored with Peggy, Randy anonymously sends her orchids everyday.
19* FourthDateMarriage: Peggy and Randy project to marry after only one date.
20* HappyEnding: The two couples (Randy and Peggy, Mae and Billy) are about to get married with the blessing of Adele.
21* MotivationalLie: Adele pretends she too was a chorus girl once, to ease the minds of both Mae and Peggy and have them feel fully accepted by her. A close one of Adele says she never was a chorus girl, but at that point it doesn't matter.
22* MumLooksLikeASister: Adele Jergens was eight years and a half older than Marilyn Monroe and played the mother of Marilyn's character. They look more like sisters than a mother and her daughter (Jergens was 31 and Marilyn was 22 at the time).
23* OpenMindedParent: The fact that her son wants to marry a chorus girl doesn't bother Adele Carroll the slightest (it's implied that such job is frowned upon in the upper class the Carrolls belong to).
24* ReCut: When the film was first released in 1948, it was close to one hour and a half long. It was then cut down to one hour flat in order to give more importance to Marilyn Monroe's character (or at least more than she already had) when she started getting very popular in the early [[TheFifties 50s]]. As a result, the character arc of Mae (Adele Jergens) got considerably reduced, which is why her romance with Billy Mackay (Eddie Garr) feels rushed.
25* SpokenWordInMusic: Most of the song Adele performs at the end for the two soon-to-be-wed couples is spoken words.
26* StageMom: Mae, to Peggy. Unlike most examples, she kept working in the show business, she voluntarily kept her career low to prop that of her daughter up, and she doesn't appear to have been abusive (she's not too overprotective either).
27* TitleDrop: Mae says "ladies of the chorus" at one point when Randy introduces Peggy and her to his mother.

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