Ladies of the Chorus is a 1948 American romance / musical film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Adele Jergens, Marilyn Monroe, Rand Brooks and Nana Bryant.
Peggy 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.
This was Marilyn Monroe's first starring role. When her popularity surged in The '50s, the film was reedited down to one hour to prop her up and re-released. There were also new posters for said re-release and the credits were modified (she got top billing, while Adele Jergens was the main star originally).
Ladies of the Chorus provides examples of the following tropes:
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: 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.
- Burlesque: The genre in which the eponymous Chorus Girls (including Mae and Peggy) perfom.
- The Chanteuse: 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.
- Chorus Girls: It's the job of the two female protagonists and, well, it's in the title.
- Cool Old Lady: Randy Carroll's mother Adele. She's an Open-Minded Parent 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 Serial Spouse is no big deal).
- Dating What Mommy Hates: Subverted. Randy does know his mother is an Open-Minded Parent 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.
- Flowers of Romance: After getting enamored with Peggy, Randy anonymously sends her orchids everyday.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Peggy and Randy project to marry after only one date.
- Happy Ending: The two couples (Randy and Peggy, Mae and Billy) are about to get married with the blessing of Adele.
- Motivational Lie: 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.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: 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).
- Open-Minded Parent: 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).
- Re-Cut: 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 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.
- Spoken Word in Music: Most of the song Adele performs at the end for the two soon-to-be-wed couples is spoken words.
- Stage Mom: 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).
- Title Drop: Mae says "ladies of the chorus" at one point when Randy introduces Peggy and her to his mother.
