Lady of burlesque

Set in the late 1930s, this backstage mystery-comedy stars Barbara Stanwyck as Dixie Daisy, a burlesque artist who also arbitrates frequent disagreements between the chorus girls. When two girls are strangled with a G-string, the police point the finger at various crew members including Daisy and Biff (Michael O’Shea), a comic with designs on Daisy. Stanwyck plays Daisy as a tough-as-nails no-nonsense broad with enough chutzpah to carry the show, whose dialogue at times has a Howard Hawks-esque quality. This is a well-mounted independent production by a veteran ex-Metro producer with an authentic backstage atmosphere and directed at a fast pace by Wellman. Stanwyck sings “Take it off the E-string, Play it on the G-string” while dancing a ‘strip’ number. Also features: J. Edward Bromberg, Charles Dingle, and Frank Conroy. The film attracted an Oscar nomination for music score and Edith Head designed the costumes worn by Barbara Stanwyck. Based on a novel by the famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee.