George Abbott was a brilliant Broadway play writer/director/producer. He won five Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize. His Hollywood career was interesting, although a bit less successful. "Too Many Girls" is one of only three of his Broadway musicals that he brought to film. "Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees" are the other two. While not quite as good as those two, this one is a lot of fun and does have a lot of energy. Abbott also directed nine early sound films from 1929-1931. It is unfortunate that none of these are out on DVD, as far as I know.
People have already noted the excellent cast: Eddie Bracken, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Francis Langford, Richard Carlson, Hal Leroy and Ann Miller. They all sparkle here. They hold a silly and absurd plot together by not taking any of it seriously for a moment. This is a good thing because the plot is unrealistic in wink, wink, nudge, nudge fashion. The absurdity of having Desi Arnaz who looks like he weighs 150 lbs. as a superstar football player is only topped by the absurdity of having Eddie Bracken, who looks 140 lbs., as a star quarterback.
Culturally, it is fascinating to see the way colleges were portrayed in 1940. Apparently, the only reason a woman went to college was, as Lucille Ball bluntly puts it, was to get a man. I also wondered about the women wearing beanies. The movie is unclear, but apparently all the girls who wear beanies, nearly all the women students, are virgins. I assume this was made clear in the play, although in the movie it is not so clear. After Ball and Carlson spend a night together, the movie pointedly shows Ball still wearing her beanie. One is supposed to believe this in the same way that one is supposed to believe Desi and Eddie are football players.
People have already noted the excellent cast: Eddie Bracken, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Francis Langford, Richard Carlson, Hal Leroy and Ann Miller. They all sparkle here. They hold a silly and absurd plot together by not taking any of it seriously for a moment. This is a good thing because the plot is unrealistic in wink, wink, nudge, nudge fashion. The absurdity of having Desi Arnaz who looks like he weighs 150 lbs. as a superstar football player is only topped by the absurdity of having Eddie Bracken, who looks 140 lbs., as a star quarterback.
Culturally, it is fascinating to see the way colleges were portrayed in 1940. Apparently, the only reason a woman went to college was, as Lucille Ball bluntly puts it, was to get a man. I also wondered about the women wearing beanies. The movie is unclear, but apparently all the girls who wear beanies, nearly all the women students, are virgins. I assume this was made clear in the play, although in the movie it is not so clear. After Ball and Carlson spend a night together, the movie pointedly shows Ball still wearing her beanie. One is supposed to believe this in the same way that one is supposed to believe Desi and Eddie are football players.