Floradora Girl, The

Set decades before the brassy, bustling contemporary Busby Berkeley musicals to follow three years later, 1930's period pre-code musical The Florodora Girl might also be called Gold Diggers of 1900. Sharpie showgirls of the Florodora Sextette cast their nets wide for rich husbands while advising (with plummy double-entendre aplomb) their beau-less chorus-mate Daisy Dell (radiant Marion Davies) in the finer points of man-trapping. Making a beach party splash, the naive beauty catches the eye of millionaire Jack Vibart (Lawrence Gray). Warned of his dishonorable intentions, Daisy tries to play the game of fascinating a rich man but rejects becoming a kept woman. But Jack keeps persisting, and Daisy stops resisting. Matrimonial bliss is another matter: Jack gambles away his fortune and his mother favors an arranged marriage to shore their finances. Will Daisy land her man and make a fine romance? Leave it to the two-strip Technicolor "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden" finale for the lovebirds to claim center stage and bring The Florodora Girl home.

• musical