Give a Girl a Break

After providing excellent support in previous MGM musicals, the singing-dancing team of Marge and Gower Champion were rewarded with their own starring vehicle, Give the Girl a Break. Marge plays one of three actresses competing for the leading role in a Broadway show directed by Gower. The other two girls are Debbie Reynolds and Helen Wood, so Marge is hardly a shoe-in. Another topnotch dancer/choreographer, Bob Fosse, co-stars as the show's leading man. Highlights include the aptly named Challenge Dance and the grand finale Applause, Applause. Kurt Kasner provides a few chuckles as the show's neurotic composer. Several real composers collaborated on the score of Give the Girl a Break, among them Burton Lane, Ira Gershwin, Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin.