Du Barry Was A Lady

Cole Porter, Buddy De Sylva, and Herbert Field's risque and charming stage musical was bowdlerized to satisfy the Hays Office in this film adaptation, a pallid imitation of the show that delighted Broadway. Broadway leads Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr were replaced by redheads Lucille Ball and Red Skelton, whom the studio felt were bigger draws and whose hair would show up nicely in dazzling Technicolor. The second leads on Broadway were played by Ronald Graham and Betty Grable, who was under contract at Fox and was consequently not allowed to appear in this MGM musical, so she and Graham were replaced by Virginia O'Brien and Gene Kelly. In its timidity, MGM changed t...