Jessie Matthews was the delicate and bright-eyed star of the British musical, The Dancing Divinity who made her name on the stage in productions by Noel Coward and Rodgers and Hart. Unfortunately, after a scandal where actor Sonnie Hale left his wife to marry Matthews, British audiences rejected the "homewrecker", and the stress of audience rejection contributed to nervous breakdowns that left theatrical backers reluctant to book the sensitive star. Finally, director Victor Saville gently guided her to success in movies like First A Girl (1935), a remake of the German farce Viktor Und Viktoria (1933). Here, Matthews plays a shy dressmaker's apprentice who, after a chance meeting with a female impersonator (Hale, her real-life husband), comes to his rescue by taking over his drag act when he gets a sore throat. However, the complicated woman-dressed-as-a-man-dressed-as-a-woman lifestyle takes its toll. (Sounds familiar? This story was remade once again as the Blake Edwards/Julie Andrews musical Victor/Victoria (1982). Matthews is not in the least bit believable as a man, but for an actress of her charm, that's mostly beside the point.

By Violet LeVoit