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Joan Blondell: Dick Powell
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The real-life marriage between Dick Powell and Joan Blondell was already on the rocks when they costarred in Model Wife. The story is "Working Girl Plot No. 6": Blondell's employer frowns upon married women working. She's married to Powell. The marriage must remain secret. The boss has a "thing" for Blondell. So does every other man. Powell fumes.
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Blondell put home life ahead of career, yet all three marriages failed. Her first husband, Oscar-winning cinematographer George Barnes, was a serial womanizer who didn't want children. He ... rejected the limited birth control methods available. Consequently, he compelled Blondell to abort several pregnancies. Shortly before separating, she insisted on carrying his baby to term, giving birth to a son, Norman. Second husband Powell was a good family man, adopted Norman, and together they had a daughter, Ellen.
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There are two perfunctory love affairs: the first, between Dick Powell and Joan Blondell (the two were husband and wife 1936-1944); the second, between Victor Moore and Glenda Farrell. The latter gives rise to the only funny line in the flick: "double-crossed, by a fan-dancer!" Otherwise the movie leads to the traditional "the show must go on!" ending.
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In the early 1940s, showman/producer Mike Todd became fixated on Blondell. His obsessive courtship doomed her marriage to Powell, who was already smitten with future wife June Allyson. Todd had produced Cole Porter's Something for the Boys (44) starring Ethel Merman, and he convinced Blondell to tour in it. She had minimal singing skills, and couldn't fill Merman's pumps. Unlike Powell... Todd was a passionate lover, and Blondell married him in 1947, shortly after his first wife unexpectedly died. A mercurial gambler, Todd lost money (including much of Blondell's) on various show business ventures. He was possessive and abusive.
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Broadway dance director George Randall (Dick Powell) is stuck with staging a Broadway show starring Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell), a wealthy but untalented performer who is starring only because she is backing the show. ...more about Stage Struck
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Dick Powell