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I Can Get it For You Wholesale
An effervescent performance by Susan Hayward in the starring role makes a slightly predictable, but still compelling little melodrama called I Can Get it For You Wholesale worth a look.
The 1951 film features Hayward as Harriet Boyd, a model at a large Manhattan fashion house, though her real passion is to be a fashion designer. She has even submitted her designs as the work of a male designer to get them seen. The opportunity to start her business with her own designs credited to her comes up when a salesman (Dan Dailey) and a dressmaker (Sam Jaffe) agree to go into business together. Things begin to go off the rails when a wealthy department store owner (George Sanders) is entranced by Harriet and agrees to sponsor her fashion empire, but has no interest in her partners.
Based on a novel by Jerome Weidman, this is the story of a woman trying to compete in man's world, not an uncommon thing in the 1950's, even though the setting is the world of women's fashion. Even more important, this film is focused around a working woman, something you didn't see too much of during the 1950's. This was also a woman who had no problem with stepping over a few people to get what she wanted and then is observed selling herself to get what she wanted, though she doesn't see it. Nor does she seem to see that she is in love with her salesman/partner.
Director Michael Gordon (Pillow Talk)) keeps things moving at a nice pace and had a strong cast to work with, Having already earned two Best Actress nominations, Hayward commands the screen here in a tailor-made role for the bold screen presence she has always been. Love the scene near the beginning of the film where she is trying to get money out of her sister and fakes a phone call pretending that the funding for her project has fallen through. She also manages to create chemistry with both Dailey and Sanders.
I've always felt Dailey was one of the most underrated actors from the era and proves that he can command the screen without his tap shoes. Sanders, fresh off his Oscar win for All About Eve is effective in a similar role, though this guy isn't quite as manipulative as Addison DeWitt. Jaffe, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Asphalt Jungle, but lost the award to Sanders, is lovely as the dressmaker. A Hollywood veteran that I've seen on television for years named Marvin Kaplan has a major role here and eternal classic movie grumpy old man Charles Lane can be glimpsed here as well. The movie was actually turned into a Broadway musical in 1962 that was the Broadway debut of a young singer named Barbra Streisand playing a secretary named Miss Marmelstein.
An effervescent performance by Susan Hayward in the starring role makes a slightly predictable, but still compelling little melodrama called I Can Get it For You Wholesale worth a look.
The 1951 film features Hayward as Harriet Boyd, a model at a large Manhattan fashion house, though her real passion is to be a fashion designer. She has even submitted her designs as the work of a male designer to get them seen. The opportunity to start her business with her own designs credited to her comes up when a salesman (Dan Dailey) and a dressmaker (Sam Jaffe) agree to go into business together. Things begin to go off the rails when a wealthy department store owner (George Sanders) is entranced by Harriet and agrees to sponsor her fashion empire, but has no interest in her partners.
Based on a novel by Jerome Weidman, this is the story of a woman trying to compete in man's world, not an uncommon thing in the 1950's, even though the setting is the world of women's fashion. Even more important, this film is focused around a working woman, something you didn't see too much of during the 1950's. This was also a woman who had no problem with stepping over a few people to get what she wanted and then is observed selling herself to get what she wanted, though she doesn't see it. Nor does she seem to see that she is in love with her salesman/partner.
Director Michael Gordon (Pillow Talk)) keeps things moving at a nice pace and had a strong cast to work with, Having already earned two Best Actress nominations, Hayward commands the screen here in a tailor-made role for the bold screen presence she has always been. Love the scene near the beginning of the film where she is trying to get money out of her sister and fakes a phone call pretending that the funding for her project has fallen through. She also manages to create chemistry with both Dailey and Sanders.
I've always felt Dailey was one of the most underrated actors from the era and proves that he can command the screen without his tap shoes. Sanders, fresh off his Oscar win for All About Eve is effective in a similar role, though this guy isn't quite as manipulative as Addison DeWitt. Jaffe, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Asphalt Jungle, but lost the award to Sanders, is lovely as the dressmaker. A Hollywood veteran that I've seen on television for years named Marvin Kaplan has a major role here and eternal classic movie grumpy old man Charles Lane can be glimpsed here as well. The movie was actually turned into a Broadway musical in 1962 that was the Broadway debut of a young singer named Barbra Streisand playing a secretary named Miss Marmelstein.