Beauty for Sale

Film in Focus

By Ed Garea

Beauty for Sale (MGM, 1933) – Director: Richard Boleslawski. Writers: Eve Greene, Zelda Sears (s/p); Faith Baldwin (novel). Stars: Madge Evans, Alice Brady, Otto Kruger, Una Merkel, May Robson, Phillips Holmes, Edward J. Nugent, Hedda Hopper, Florine McKinney, Isabel Jewell, Louise Carter, John Roche & Charley Grapewin. B&W, 87 minutes.

Beauty for Sale is an interesting little ensemble film. It differs from the usual MGM fare in that the protagonists are working people and not big industrialists, troubled rich folks, or members of the aristocracy. 1933 was a tough year for MGM. With the Depression at its height, the usual stories weren’t that attractive. Thalberg also noticed that one of their hottest stars, Joan Crawford, was at her box office best playing characters from the other side of the tracks. 

Using Faith Baldwin’s best-selling novel, Beauty, as the basis, screenwriters Greene and Sears scripted a film about working women and their travails. It was also a good vehicle for Madge Evans, who the studio was developing for bigger and better fare. Teaming her with solid supporting actors like Una Merkel, Alice Brady, May Robson and Hedda Hopper would give her ample opportunity to shine.

Evans is Letty Lawson, who rooms at the home of beautician Carol Merrick (Merkel) in New York. She confides to Carol that she has gone through the money her poor parents in Kentucky have given her for beauty school and now needs a job in order to make ends meet. Letty asks Carol to get her a job at her workplace, an exclusive salon owned by Madame Sonia Barton (Hopper). Both Carol and her brother Bill (Nugent), who is in love with Letty and thinks she is too good to work in a beauty parlor, warn her that it’s not a fit place for a woman of good character. However, Letty tells them she knows what she’s getting into.     

Soon after starting at Madame Sonia's, Letty is sent to the home of Mrs. Henrietta Sherwood (Brady), a nervous, bored socialite who pays more attention to her dog than to her lawyer husband. After finishing a manicure Letty goes to leave only to notice that Mrs. Sherwood’s dog has chewed up her hat. Mr. Sherwood (Kruger) kindly insists on replacing the damaged hat with a finer one of her choice. When Carol, a self-professed gold digger who has been dating the older, wealthy and married Freddy Gordon (Grapewin), sees the expensive hat (it cost $22.50, which translates into $425 today), she is instantly suspicious of Sherwood's motives.

When Bill sees the hat he confronts Letty about the relationship and chides her for being no better than Carol. Fed up with Bill’s attitude and the interference of his mother (Robson), Letty moves out and rooms with co-worker Jane (McKinney), who is involved with Madame Sonia’s son, Burt (Holmes).

A later chance meeting with Sherwood leads to a series of dinners. During a dinner on his yacht, Sherwood confesses to Letty that he is in love with her and, although presently unable to divorce his wife, wishes to continue their romance. Letty is unsure about this development and asks for a week to think things over.

Meanwhile, Carol has talked Freddy into taking her with him on a business trip to Paris. Seeing her off at the pier Letty runs into the Bartons, who are also taking the same ship, When she mentions this to Jane the next day, Jane reveals that she is pregnant by Burt, who has promised to marry her the next Sunday. Jane becomes hysterical upon hearing the news and despite Letty’s support she jumps to her death from their apartment window.      

Shocked by Jane’s suicide, Letty now heeds Carol’s advice about seeing married men to heart and ends her relationship with Sherwood. Shortly after, Bill shows up at the shop and shyly asks her for a date. Although she’s not attracted to Bill, Letty agrees to date him and later accepts his proposal of marriage. But when the wedding day rolls around, she cannot go through with it. Letty tells Carol, who has returned from Paris engaged to Freddy, of her change of heart.     

Now that Carol has finally gotten Freddy to propose, the couple goes house hunting. The real estate agent takes them to see the newly completed Sherwood mansion, revealing to Carol and Freddy that the reason it’s on the market is because the Sherwoods are divorcing. It turns out that Sherwood had the mansion built to improve his life with Henrietta, but she has fallen in love with the architect, Robert Abbott (Roche) and asked her husband for a divorce. When Carol tells Letty of the new developments, she rushes over to the real estate office to stop the sale and be reunited with her love as his bride-to-be.

Afterwords

Beauty for Sale is a typical programmer for the time, aimed at the female moviegoer. At times it comes across as a working class version of the later The Women (1939). The New York Times described it as “a strange composite of good and bad” with a story “reminiscent of so many others.” But what saves it is the performances from the cast and the energy of director Richard Boleslawski, which give the picture a freshness and a sense of originality. The script is witty, especially in its depiction of the sexual politics of the workplace, with girls who are just glad to have a job in the Depression. They have to wait hand and foot on wealthy, bored customers, who give the girls a yearning of a piece of the good life for themselves. However, the last third of the film sadly becomes predictable, as comedy and romance take over for drama, with the ending  being one of those contrived happy coincidences. 

Evans shines in the film, providing a breath of fresh air into what could have been just another part. She enjoys solid support from the always delightful Merkel as the gold digging Carol and Kruger, who makes for a most unusual romantic lead, to say the least. Hopper turns in an especially inspired performance as Madame Sonia, who will do anything to protect her weak-willed son and who regards her employees with such contempt that she cannot see the relationships forming under her own feet. And watch for Isabel Jewell as Hortense, the shop’s receptionist. Her fast speech and pseudo posh accent  enable her to nearly walk away with the movie. 

The camerawork from James Wong Howe is extraordinary. His use of lighting and depth give the film a look of a more expensive production. He also photographs Evans beautifully; in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her looking as beautiful as she does here. 

As for Madge Evans, she remains a prime example of actress noted for their beauty and ability, but who came up just short of becoming stars. Signed by MGM in 1931, she was strongly pushed by Irving Thalberg as an up and coming star, but aside from starring roles in lesser productions, she worked in supporting roles in the bigger films. Perhaps with such stars as Shearer, Crawford, Harlow and Garbo on the lot there wasn’t really much opportunity for another star, especially as she was in something of the Harlow mold. When her MGM contract expired in 1937 she freelanced at Universal and Republic before retiring to the stage after marrying playwright Sidney Kingsley in 1939. When television took off in the ‘50s and needed actors for its ever expanding product, Evans found her career revitalized. She remained married to Kingsley until her death on April 26, 1981.