She's Working Her Way Through College

I've seen Virginia Mayo in a handful of films, including WHITE HEAT (1949), CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951), and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). She was always a beauty, but I was blown away by her in this film. She's incredibly gorgeous in Technicolor and she shows off her dancing skills in this starring role. (Her singing was dubbed.) While the movie on the whole is only so-so, Mayo sure is wonderful to look at.

Another interesting reason to see this film is to glimpse Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, in his acting days. Reagan had made dozens of other pictures before this one, but this was my first experience seeing him in a movie. (I was first turned on to this film when a clip was featured in the 1985 Cold War comedy SPIES LIKE US, made during the Reagan presidency.)

In this film, Reagan plays a college professor who struggles to make ends meet. Mayo is a dancer who enrolls at the college to better herself. Mayo's popularity among the boys makes one co-ed jealous enough to dig up some dirt on her. Meanwhile, the scholarly Reagan feels as though he's losing his wife to her old flame, an ex-football star who's back in town for the big game.

SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE (1952) is a musical adaptation of an earlier comedy THE MALE ANIMAL (1942), starring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. The story has been tweaked a little, but the inspiration is still pretty clear for those familiar with the original.

Aside from the musical numbers, the big difference is that Ronald Reagan's professor character is in hot water for staging a musical starring an ex-burlesque dancer, while Henry Fonda's professor was in trouble for reading a controversial (communist) letter in his literary lecture series. Some people have noted that SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE is mindless fluff that wipes away the socio-political message of the original story. Well, it is and it does. But the movie is what it is, and that's fine.

I saw THE MALE ANIMAL first (caught it on TCM), and I must say that overall I think I prefer this remake. It doesn't hit the viewer over the head with a message, it's just a lighthearted campus tale. As I said before, Virginia Mayo is stunningly beautiful in a role that was more or less created for this musical version. (Her character's namesake from the earlier film is a different part entirely.) And while Ronald Reagan isn't a top-shelf thespian, I think I prefer his take on the professor character to Henry Fonda's pathetic wimp. I love Olivia de Havilland in most of her films, but her portrayal in the original version made her seem rather unlikeable as a wife all-too-glad to see her ex come into town. (Mind you that I'm trying to recall THE MALE ANIMAL from memory.) One thing I do favor from the earlier film is Jack Carson's performance as the big shot, ex-jock (the role played by Don DeFore in this movie). I think Carson pulled off the "Statue of Liberty play" routine best.

I wasn't a big fan of THE MALE ANIMAL (it had its moments and is an interesting find for film buffs), and on its own merits I'm not a huge fan of SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE. The film's not bad, but it's nothing special. The songs aren't all that memorable and the story isn't anything earth-shattering. (I can't believe a college would want a student expelled for a past life working in a burlesque hall. This is America, darn it.) Of course musicals aren't always my thing. It's a pleasant movie. A likable movie. A neat movie to check out if you get the chance.

One final thought: I was very impressed by Gene Nelson's solo number toward the end of the film. The song ("Am I in Love?") is meh, but Nelson's dance in the gymnasium shows that he is not only a dancer, but a tremendous athlete. The routine involves all sorts of gymnastic feats that Nelson clearly performs himself. The guy had skills.

This is a color musical remake of Warners' classic "The Male Animal". In this version, Henry Fonda is replaced by everyone's favorite future President, Ronald Reagan. Reagan is again cast as a college professor, after his brilliant performance in "Bedtime for Bonzo". Musical-comedy was certainly not Reagan's strong point, but he is not embarrassing at all in this splashy color remake. And Bonzo is nowhere in sight. The "I'll Be Loving You" number, written by expert songwriters Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, is a standout. I find it hilarious that Virginia Mayo's singing is dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams, Gene Nelson's singing is done by Hal Derwin, but the Pres sings his one line in the number for himself. I believe it is Reagan's only performance in a full production musical number. Thank goodness he was not asked to dance! Mayo and Nelson do that very well on their own. It is surprising that none of the Duke-Cahn songs from this film became standards. Their songs in this film, as well as Warner's "April in Paris" are first rate.

Imbibition Technicolor, the most perfect method of adding color to film, was at its glorious apotheosis when the Warner Bros. musical "She's Working Her Way Through College," came along in 1952. Let the words of one of the men who worked on the process, Don Berry, inform us:

"The results were striking. No other color process – notably the cheap processes of Eastman Kodak – could even come remotely close to achieving the vibrant, saturated look of IB (imbibition) Technicolor."

With musical films, especially, looking for a prism through which to display their charms, the wedding of Technicolor and "She's Working Her Way Through College" was a match made in cinematic heaven.

Elsewhere, you may read that this musical was an inferior version of the Warner Bros. 1942 drama (in black and white), "The Male Animal." The names of James Thurber and Elliott Nugent, writers of the 1942 movie, do appear in the credits of "She's Working…" but the musical uses only a few of the former film's lines. . . and it has a great foundation, hummable tunes, and that wonderful Technicolor going for it.

Briefly: "She's Working Her Way Through College" starring Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, and Gene Nelson, is a delight from the first scene on. Reagan plays John Palmer, a college professor who's doing dramatic research; and at one of the theaters he visits, he sees a rousing and colorful production number starring a burlesque queen (played winningly by the beautiful Ms. Mayo). Reagan doesn't remember her at first, but she remembers him as her high school teacher. They meet in her dressing room and she learns that her former teacher is now a professor at a small college, Midwest State. Ms. Mayo decides to quit the theater and enroll in his college.

Once at Midwest State, Ms. Mayo receives a lot of wolf whistles from the male students, but responds only with smiles. She meets Don Weston (Gene Nelson), who is quarterback of the football team, but is also a terrific singer and dancer. Together they co-write a musical play for the school to present at one of the better theaters in town, and give their classmates a sneak performance right in their classroom. Professor Palmer has no objections, and is in fact drawn into the performance. The Mayo-Nelson routine is a winner, to the song "I'll be Loving You" by Sammy Cahn and Vernon Duke.

In all, the production of "She's Working Her Way Through College" is a delight. And those who criticize it as an inferior "The Male Animal" need to look again. The two films are ages apart… and "The Male Animal," whatever its virtues, lacks the effervescent and vivid hues afforded by the Technicolor palette.

By Dan Navarro -- daneldorado93@yahoo.com.

All the social commentary that James Thurber wrote in The Male Animal about academic freedom has been deleted in this scrubbed version of that classic. She's Working Her Way Through College comes out as a rather insipid, but pleasant musical where singing and dancing is taken care of by Virginia Mayo and Gene Nelson. Ronald Reagan in the part that Henry Fonda played of the college professor is defending the right of former burlesque performer Virginia Mayo to attend class and star in a musical show the college is putting on.

Back in the day Mayo was known as 'Hot Garters Gertie' on the stage and all she wants to do is attend college quietly. But when Nelson who was formerly going out with Patrice Wymore starts paying attention to Mayo, Wymore finds out who she is and blows her cover. Which comes to the attention of chair of the board of directors Roland Winters who wants her expelled from the college. He puts it on Reagan's shoulders to do the job.

It was the age of McCarthyism and the original story which dealt with Henry Fonda reading a letter from the jailed Bartolomeo Vanzetti would never have been made at Warner Brothers at that point. And Ronald Reagan who as Governor of California would clash on academic freedom with the Berkeley Free Speech movement is still in an ironic position defending freedom for Mayo to attend college. But Reagan who fought communists in his union, the Screen Actors Guild would never have played the part as originally written and this is before his political career. And Virginia Mayo was also quite the conservative lady in her time as well.

One part of the film is retained where Don DeFore takes Jack Carson's role as the All American football alumnus who was a rival for Reagan for his wife Phyllis Thaxter. Reagan does repeat and does it well, Henry Fonda's drunk scene from The Male Animal.

She's Working Her Way Through College is pleasant enough, but not anything special and Thurber aficionados will not be pleased.

I'm not much of a fan of Hollywood musicals (especially the bloated 50s variety--you can keep Kiss Me Kate, thank you) but there is something riveting about this film that is rather hard to explain. The script is sharply written and the songs are reasonably good, but the capper for me are the production numbers. Watching Gene Nelson bound around a gymnasium is a truly thrilling experience. If you think this is merely another one of President Ronnie's bad films, think again. With its candy cane Technicolor, snappy dialogue, and big productions, it's almost a pre-rock The Girl Can't Help It--and that can only be a good thing!