Best Foot Forward is the 1943 American film version of the hit 1941 Broadway musical comedy. The film was released by MGM, directed by Edward Buzzell, and starring Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Chill Wills, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Nancy Walker.

Plot

The story centers around Lucille Ball who plays herself against an unlikely backdrop, namely, a military academy full of frisky boys. Ball is the reluctant guest of a diminutive cadet, Bud Hooper (Dix), who wrote her a mash note and invitation to be his date at a school prom.

Ball's publicity man, Jack O'Riley (Gaxton), seizes upon the situation as a perfect PR stunt and convinces her to travel 3,000 miles to join Hooper at Winsocki Military Academy's dance. When Ball actually shows up, mayhem ensues. Hooper, who never dreamed she would accept, has to disinvite his girlfriend, Helen (Weidler), and ask Ball to pretend to be Helen, lest the actress herself not pass muster with the institution's screening committee.

Helen fights back while Hooper tries to keep Ball from the clutches of other cadets who want to steal her for their dates of their own. Meanwhile, Harry James and his orchestra perform various songs, including "The Flight of the Bumblebee". The cast also sing and dance their way through such numbers as "Buckle Down, Winsocki" (the tune co-opted in the 1960s for "Buckle Up for Safety"), "Three Men on a Date", "Alive and Kickin'", "The Barrelhouse, The Boogie-Woogie and the Blues", and "What Do You Think I Am?"

Cast

• Lucille Ball as Herself
• William Gaxton as Jack O'Riley
• Tommy Dix as Bud Hooper
• Virginia Weidler as Helen Schlesinger
• Nancy Walker as Nancy
• June Allyson as Ethel
• Chill Wills as Chester Short
• Gloria DeHaven as Minerva
• Henry O'Neill as Major Reeber
• Sara Haden as Miss Talbert
• Donald MacBride as Captain Bradd
• Darwood "Waldo" Kaye as Killer
• Morris Ankrum as Colonel Harkrider
• Kenny Bowers as Dutch Miller
• Bob Stebbins as Greenie
• Jack Jordan as Hunk
• Beverly Tyler as Miss Delaware
• Nana Bryant as Mrs. Dalrymple
• Harry James and His Music Makers as Themselves

References

External links

de: Best Foot Forward