Too Many Girls (1940)

My Review

“Too Many Girls” is not one of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s best musical comedies. This picture is most noteworthy for being the first film in which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz appeared in together eleven years before the debut of their legendary television show “I Love Lucy.” They met on the set, and were married six months later in November, 1940. Desi and Lucy were divorced in 1960.

Director George Abbott (“Damn Yankees” 1958) put together this fun story about a partying young woman (Ball) who is expelled from a European college and is sent by her rich parents to a remote college in New Mexico. The high jinks proceed from there, with co-stars Richard Carlson, Ann Miller, Eddie Bracken, Frances Langford, Desi Arnaz, Van Johnson, Jay Silverheels, and Harry James and his Orchestra.

The screenplay was written by John Twist, adapted from the 1939 musical of the same name by George Marion Jr. and Rodgers & Hart. “Too Many Girls” was a modest success at the box office for producer George Abbott and RKO Radio Pictures. It was filmed at RKO Studios in Hollywood.