DANCE, GIRL, DANCE

Original British 17 inch x 11 inch Trade Advertisement for the 1940 Dorothy Arzner Feminist Drama DANCE, GIRL, DANCE, from the story by Vicki Baum and starring Maureen O’Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field, Ralph Bellamy, Mary Carlisle, Katharine Alexander, Edward Brophy, Walter Abel, Harold Huber and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Dorothy Arzner, the sole woman to work as a director in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and early ’40s, brings a subversive feminist sensibility to this juicily entertaining backstage melodrama. Dance, Girl, Dance follows the intertwining fates of two chorus girls: a starry-eyed dancer (O’Hara) who dreams of making it as a ballerina, and the brassy gold digger (Ball) who becomes her rival both on the stage and in love.