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Released November 25, 1944
Featuring Joe DeRita (Solo)
Warner Bros.
102 min. (Feature Film)

In his first on-screen role Joe DeRita is very funny, costarring as a wandering businessman who's lost his room reservation, and wants nothing more than a place to sleep. He appears in a running gag throughout the film, interrupted from whatever safe haven or sofa he's found, and forced to move on. The film's fadeout is rewarded with the payoff to Joe's role in the film.

Film adaptation of the Broadway play, a fast-paced, dialogue driven screwball comedy, and satire on the housing and hotel shortages in wartime Washington DC.

Newlyweds Arthur Halstead and his scatter-brained wife Vivian (Jack Carson and Jane Wyman) check into a DC hotel's bridal suite, to find newlyweds Edna and Julian Cadman (Ann Sheridan and John Ridgely), who refuse to give up the accomodations. It's actually a reunion however, because Vivian and Edna are old friends who had a vaudeville act, and they're soon joined by the third member of their showgirl trio, when fellow newlywed Nan Dillon (Alexis Smith) drops in to surprise Vivian. But a convergance of bureaucratic red tape, the measles, a phony Justice of the Peace, and an ex-wife (Irene Manning) with invalid divorce papers surprises everyone to discover that no one is actually married. So the three newly-single brides take up residence in the hotel suite, along with a female Russian soldier (Eve Arden) who's on an escorted tour of Washington with Edna's State Department "husband." Over the course of a month, the hotel suite becomes a virtual 'Grand Central Station' when Arthur's officious government boss Mr. Slade (Charlie Ruggles) hires Vivian as his assistant, a nationally famous radio commentator (Alan Mowbray) takes residence in an adjoining bedroom, the FBI (Regis Toomey) begins investigating the three unwed brides and their Russian military friend, and the hotel manager is tried to the end of his patience.

Look closely at the scene with three women carrying babies into the hotel suite... the third woman is actress Natalie Schafer (GILLIGAN'S 'Lovey' Howell).

View the original theatrical trailer at TCM.com

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Avg. Rating: [6.00/10]
 
DOUGHGIRLS, THE on IMDb

Jane Wyman
Vivian Halstead

Jack Carson
Arthur Halstead

Ann Sheridan
Edna Cadman

Alexis Smith
Nan Dillon

Irene Manning
Sylvia Cadman

Charlie Ruggles
Stanley Slade

John Ridgely
Julian Cadman

Eve Arden
Sgt. Natalia Moskoroff

Donald MacBride
Judge Franklin

Craig Stevens
Lt. Tom Dillon

John Alexander
Warren Buckley

Alan Mowbray
Breckinridge Drake

Regis Toomey
Timothy Walsh

Francis Pierlot
Mr. Jordan

Barbara Brown
Elizabeth Brush Cartwright

Joe DeRita
Wandering stranger

Lou Marcelle
Announcer

Walter DePalma
Justice of the Peace

Jack Mower
Doorman

Grandon Rhodes
1st hotel desk clerk

Thomas Martin
Head bellhop

Dick Hirbe
Bellhop

George Magrill
Soldier in lobby

Dink Trout
Short husband

Glen Walters
Short husband's tall wife

Larry Steers
Man in lobby

Fred Kelsey
Man in lobby

Earle S. Dewey
Clumsy fat man

Harry Tyler
Angular man

Charles Sullivan
Man with grip

Dolores Donlon
School girl in lobby

Yolanda Baiano
School girl in lobby

Dorothy Reisner
School girl in lobby

Helen Gerald
School girl in lobby

Joan Breslau
School girl in lobby

Julie Arlington
School girl in lobby

Joan Winfield
Miss Brown

Elmer Jerome
Elderly bellhop

Tiny Jones
Little maid

Audley Anderson
Waiter with cake

Mark Stevens
Lt. Kerry

William Frambes
Laundry bellhop

Mary Landa
Young matron

Lucille La Marr
Young matron

Dorothy Schoemer
Young matron

Janet Barrett
Young matron

Natalie Schafer
Young matron

Bill Kennedy
Man who punches Drake

Paul Brooks
Drake's announcer

John O'Connor
Sound technician

Robert Dudley
Waiter with fruit bowl

Larry Rio
Steamroom attendant

William Forrest
Howard Forbes

Nicholas Kobliansky
Father Nicolai

Will Fowler
Lieutenant

Minerva Urecal
Hatchet-faced woman

Almira Sessions
Hatchet-faced woman in lobby

Tom Quinn
2nd hotel clerk

Ferike Boros
Irena, scene deleted

Unidentified THE DOUGHGIRLS 2
Schoolgirls in lobby

Unidentified THE DOUGHGIRLS 8
Room service waiters


Jack L. Warner
Executive Producer

Joseph Fields
Original Play

Sam Hellman
Screenplay

James V. Kern
Screenplay

Wilkie C. Mahoney
Additional Dialogue

Ernest Haller
Director of Photography

Folmar Blangsted
Film Editor

Hugh Reticker
Art Director

Clarence Steensen
Set Decoration

Leo F. Forbstein
Musical Director

Adolph Deutsch
Original Music

Philip Quinn
Assistant Director

William C. McGann
Special Effects

Jack Gage
Dialogue Director

Nicholas Kobliansky
Technical Advisor

Max Gordon
Stage Play Producer


















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