Incendiary Blonde

Incendiary Blonde is a 1945 American musical drama film biography of 1920s nightclub star Texas Guinan. Filmed in Technicolor by director George Marshall and loosely based on a true story, the picture stars actress Betty Hutton as Guinan. The movie's title is a play on incendiary bombs being used in World War II.

Incendiary Blonde
theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Marshall
Produced byJoseph Sistrom
Written byContract writer:
Ken Englund
James Edward Grant
Screenplay byClaude Binyon
Frank Butler
StarringBetty Hutton
Arturo de Córdova
Charles Ruggles
Barry Fitzgerald
Albert Dekker
Music byRobert Emmett Dolan
John Leipold
CinematographyRay Rennahan
Edited byArchie Marshek
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • July 25, 1945 (1945-07-25) (NYC)
  • August 31, 1945 (1945-08-31) (US)
  • [1] ([1])
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The score was written by Robert Emmett Dolan, and was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture."

Plot

A tomboy named Mary Louise "Texas" Guinan lands a job with a Wild West show after proving she can ride a bucking bronco. The rodeo's new owner is Romero "Bill" Kilgannon, who doubles Texas's pay after the attention she gets from saving a toddler's life from a runaway wagon at a show.

Tim Callahan comes along, looking for a job as the show's press agent by promising not to tell what he has found out, that Texas's "heroism" was a staged act, with a midget pretending to be the endangered child.

Texas sends money home to her impoverished family. Tim falls in love with her, but she prefers Bill, unaware that he is legally bound to an institutionalized wife. Tim ends up marrying Texas and promoting her new career on stage in New York.

Bill tries making movies in Hollywood, but things go badly. A gangster acquaintance, Joe Cadden, takes control of Nick the Greek's nightclub in New York and ends up making Texas his headliner there. Her fame grows, but a feud develops between Cadden and two other racketeers, the Vettori brothers, that leads to bloodshed and threats against Texas and Tim.

Bill saves her life, but is arrested and sentenced to jail. His own wife passes away, making him free to marry again, but Texas has discovered that she has an inoperable condition, and that she will die before Bill can get out of prison.

Cast

Cast notes

  • This was the final film for character actor Bud Jamison. Jamison, best known for his work with slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Disorder in the Court), died suddenly in September 1944. Jamison played the Head bartender, however, he did not receive credit for his work.

Production

The film was announced in 1942 and was originally to have co-starred Hutton and Alan Ladd.[2]

Songs

References
  1. Incendiary Blonde at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. "SCREEN: Hedda Hopper's HOLLYWOOD". Los Angeles Times. Nov 23, 1942. p. 14.
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