Ten Cents a Dance
Directed by Lionel Barrymore
Written by Jo Swerling and Dorothy Howell; inspired by a song by Rogers and Hart
1931/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
Barbara O’Neill: She’s got to keep the place hot enough to avoid bankruptcy and cold enough to avoid raids.
Lionel Barrymore’s directorial debut was this pretty good melodrama with Barbara Stanwyck in fine form.
Barbara Stanwyck is a taxi dancer that hates her job and most men. It does pay the bills, however. She has a secret boyfriend named Eddie (Monroe Owsley) to whom she is devoted. She has also attracted the attention of millionaire Bradley Carlton (Ricardo Cortez). He obliges when she asks him if he has a job for Eddie, whom she refers to as a friend.
After they secretly marry, Barbara quits her job and attempts to make ends meet as a housewife. However, Eddie reveals himself to be an irresponsible loser and Barbara is back on the dance floor. Carlton does not stop pursuing Barbara.
I enjoyed this one. Stanwyck and Cortez have good chemistry and the story, if hackneyed, moves right along and sustains interest. This was the first movie Lionel Barrymore directed and I think he did a good job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfUniuD-jsY
Doris Day sings “Ten Cents a Dance” in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), a biopic about Ruth Etting, who first made the song a hit
