Dorothy Page Movies
Blonde contralto Dorothy Page (née Dorothy Lillian Stofflett) has gone down in history as Hollywood's first, and only, singing cowgirl. She came to films in 1939 courtesy of producer Don Lieberman, who convinced the struggling Grand National that a cowgirl -- and a musical one at that -- was an idea whose time had come. A good choice as far as it went, Page had earned her spurs on NBC radio shows in Detroit, Chicago, and New York. A regular on humorist Irvin S. Cobb's 1935 radio program Paducah Plantation, she signed a contract with Universal later that year, making her screen debut in Manhattan Moon (1935), in which she sang "First Kiss," by Karl Hajos and E. Y. Harburg, to her leading man Ricardo Cortez. She shared the limelight with Edmond Lowe and the insufferable Pinky Tomlin in King Solomon of Broadway (1935), but her movie career had all but evaporated when she was offered the singing cowgirl gig at Grand National. That studio had recently lost its only true asset, James Cagney, and the powers that be were counting on the backwoods popularity of Tex Ritter and the novelty of Miss Page wearing a gun belt to turn things around. In retrospect, a singing B-Western heroine was an invention doomed to fail. Children, who by 1939 made up the majority of the audience for B-Westerns, barely tolerated the usual blushing prairie flower, much less a take-charge cowgirl who also sang. As it turned out, The Singing Cowgirl, the final of Dorothy Page's three music Westerns, proved the last in-house production released by Grand National. Her screen career at an impasse, Page married a Los Angeles attorney and retired from show business altogether. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1939
The first of Coronado Pictures' three "Singing Cowgirl" Westerns, Water Rustlers stars Dorothy Page as rancher Shirley Martin who goes on the offence when her suit against Robert Weylan (Stanley Price) is dismissed for a lack of witnesses. Weylan, who has dammed up the local Silver Creak for his own selfish purposes, is oblivious to the hardships suffered by the local ranchers and has been using threats of bodily harm to silence the opposition. With the law failing to protect them, Shirley and new foreman Bob Lawson (Dave O'Brien) have only one option left: to take matters into their own hands. In a rare quiet moment, Dorothy Page sings "I Feel at Home in the Saddle," "When a Cowboy Sings a Dogie Lullaby," and "Let's Go on Like This Forever," all with words and music by Al Sherman, Walter Kent, and Milton Drake. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Dave "Tex" O'Brien, (more)
- 1939
In her final of three "singing cowgirl" Westerns for low-budget Grand National, Dorothy Page learns that her neighbors, the Harkinses, have been murdered. Only young Billy Harkins (Dix Davis) was spared in the massacre and soon a bandit also takes a shot at poor Billy. Hooking up with handsome drifter Dick Williams Dave O'Brien and Billy's uncle Rex (Paul Barrett), Dorothy discovers that the killings were ordered by crooked attorney Joe Tolen (Stanley Price), who is after his neighbors' gold-rich land. Held hostage by a desperate Gunhand Garrick (Warner P. Richmond) -- Tolen's chief lieutenant -- Billy, Rex, and Tolen's innocent niece Nora (Dorothy Short) are saved in the nick of time by Dorothy and Dick, who have discovered that they are in love. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Dave "Tex" O'Brien, (more)
- 1939
In what must have seemed like a good idea at the time, Grand National pictures attempted to build a series of westerns around a singing cowgirl, played by Dorothy Page. In Ride 'Em Cowgirl, Page acquits herself nicely as Helen Rickson, who tries to combat the villains all by her lonesome. Though she is helped along by muscular barbed-wire lineman Oliver Shea (played by character actor Milton Frome in a rare romantic lead), it is clear that Helen is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The studio's advertising copy claimed that Dorothy Page did all her own stunts, from roping to riding to shooting, and from the looks of things this was a true assertion. That Ride 'Em Cowgirl was not a particularly good western didn't seem to concern anybody at the studio, which quickly churned out two additional Dorothy Page vehicles, Water Rustlers and (what else?) The Singing Cowgirl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Milton Frome, (more)
- 1938
Veteran character actors Mary Boland and Ernest Truex are aces as the stars of Republic's Mama Runs Wild. "Mama" is social-climbing Alice Summers (Boland), the wife of milquetoast Calvin Summers (Truex). When Alice accidentally causes the arrest of a bank robber, she becomes a local heroine and mayoral candidate. But when she begins to lobby for the closing of a local tavern, the opposition party picks its own candidate -- Calvin. The ending is at once satisfying in the true "worm turns" tradition, and heartwarming in that it demonstrates the deep abiding love the Summerses have for one another. Though clearly inspired by Paramount's popular Mary Boland-Charlie Ruggles vehicles, Mama Runs Wild delivers enough chuckles to stand on its own merits. The film was directed by Ralph Staub, the guiding force behind Columbia's "Screen Snapshots" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Boland, Ernest Truex, (more)
- 1935
Manhattan Moon is predicated on the notion that French songstress Yvonne (Dorothy Page) is so busy with her career that she has to hire a look-alike, Toots Malloy (also Dorothy Page) to take her place at social functions. While posing as Yvonne, Toots makes the acquaintance of the singer's boss, raffish but likeable self-made nightclub proprietor Dan Moore (Ricardo Cortez). As expected, Dan can't understand why the real Yvonne is so cool to his advances after the phony Yvonne was so receptive. By the time Dan has figured out who's who, he's fallen in love with Toots for herself rather than who she represents. The Universal Pictures typecasting system all but demanded that Henry Armetta and Luis Alberni appear in all of the studio's nightclub pictures; they do so here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Dorothy Page, (more)
- 1935
Edmund Lowe stars as big-time gambler King Solomon, so named because of his fairness and sagacity. Naturally, our hero has several enemies to whom fair play is anathema. One of these is gangster boss Ice Larson (Edward Pawley), who demands Solomon's cooperation as payment for a gambling debt. But Solomon becomes Larson's best pal when he clears the man of a phony kidnapping charge by romancing Nikki Bradbury (Louise Henry), the wealthy and gorgeous ex-kidnap victim. All of this does not rest well with King Solomon's ever-lovin' girlfriend, whose name is -- what else? -- Sheba (Dorothy Page). Bespectacled crooner Pinky Tomlin, of "The Object of My Affections" fame, guest-stars as "himself." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Dorothy Page, (more)
