Script Girl (1938) User Reviews

That's Script not Strip

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 5 June 2018]

Dumb Dora Claire Carlton a wannabe Marie Wilson is hitting the casting offices and hears that a Script Girl is needed. She's done a bit of that before, but that's spelled s-t-r-i-p however. It gets her in the door and thereby hang the weak plot of this Warner Brothers Vitagraph short subject.

Which mostly features the work of the forgotten comedy team of Cross and Dunn as the two do two routines. One involves writing and some familiar melodies explaining the work of Ibsen, Shaw and Shakespeare. The second is a Smith&Dale type routine involving ordering a hamburger.

Singer Joan Abbott sings and some of Warner Brothers best chorus girls demonstrate the Big Apple. The songs are written by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn, both of whom wrote better stuff together or in collaboration with others in the future.

Passably entertaining and at least Cross and Dunne have a record of their work for posterity.

Weak Short

[Michael_Elliott · 22 August 2012]

Script Girl (1938)

** (out of 4)

Bland two-reeler from Warner has a couple good ideas but the end results just aren't there. The "story" here has a wannabe actress (Joan Abbott) showing up at a studio but being informed that there aren't any jobs today. Then, a couple come out and say that the director of a picture is demanding a "script girl" but the woman thinks they said "strip girl," which is something she's done before. It's strange because this bit of story doesn't come until after the ten-minute mark. What precedes it are a few vaudeville acts including Cross & Dunn doing a few numbers. We also get a couple music numbers along the way and then we get the stuff with the script girl. From here there are a couple other music numbers. I'm really not sure why they didn't introduce the story sooner but either way it wouldn't have saved the film. The music numbers for the most part are pretty forgettable with the exception being one dealing with New York being the apple of the world and the dance is done with large apples. The Cross & Dunn comedy with the hamburger really doesn't work either. This one here is certainly just for those who like watching every short they can.