The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

A) How does the film relate to the chapter in Foner?

The Girl Can’t Help it is a film about a girl named Jerri, whose boyfriend, a slot-machine mobster, wants her to become a star so that he can marry her. This film celebrates the new rock ‘n’ roll music culture that had sprung up in the United States. Jerri’s boyfriend “Fats” Murdock enlists the talent agent Tom Miller to promote Jerri’s career. Miller proceeds to bring Jerri to multiple nightclubs where her beauty attracts the attention of the owners. Throughout the film, we see numerous young people performing on stage in their rock groups. In chapter 24, Foner describes this emergent youth culture as “juvenile delinquency… that rejected middle-class norms” (897). One of the main connections that can be made between this chapter and the film was the rise of suburbia and the assumption that “the most important goal of American women” (880) was marriage. Candy’s desire to stay home and take care of her husband reflected the idea that women’s freedom lay in the ability to stay home rather than go to work. Another connection between the film and chapter 24 of Give Me Liberty! was the affluence that was enjoyed by many Americans of the time. We can see in the film that Americans took part in a great amount of leisurely activities as a result of this affluence.

B) What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?

By interpreting the film as a primary historical document, we can learn that American culture at the time was greatly dependant on leisure. Most of the scenes of the film took place at nightclubs where middle and upper class Americans enjoyed hearing local performers. The rock ‘n’ roll culture is also very evident in the film. We see tons of different bands performing new types of music. We can also tell that the American youth had become an increasingly important member of society; many of the rock bands were made up of young performers. The film also promotes the American thinking of women as being domesticated and not meant to work outside the home. We see this when Jerri says, “I’m domestic. It’s one of my favorite pastimes” and then cooks and cleans for Miller. Jerri claims that all she wants is a husband and kids to take care of. She even pretends like she cannot sing so that Murdoc does not make her become a star. An additional aspect of American culture at the time revealed through the film was the growth of affluence and consumerism. The characters in the film wear stylish, expensive clothing, drive fancy cars, and live in big houses with tons of appliances.

C) What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race?

As in practically every film we have seen this quarter, women were shown as highly sexualized individuals. The female singers in the nightclubs always wore tight, low-cut dresses that made them attractive to men. Miller has Jerri wear sexy dresses and act mysteriously in order to attract the attention of various nightclub owners in order to make her a star. It is funny that she becomes a star based on her looks and not her talents; it shows how shallow some people can be. The film also showed that the main purpose of women at the time was to please men and support their families. Both Jerri and Miller’s previously love interest/client Julie London wanted to stay home and raise a family rather than have a career. In regards to race, this movie showed how the rock ‘n’ roll culture brought together blacks and whites in a non-segregated environment. We see many blacks and whites performing together in all of the film’s nightclubs. The fact that the film’s producer made an attempt to show this meant that whites must have been becoming more accepting of integration. However, there is not much evidence of black-white integration off of the stage, showing that integration was probably a new idea that did not relate to all aspects of life. This film did not show what life was like for lower class citizens at the time, showing that the new consumer culture did not have much concern for the needs of the lower class.

D) What was the most important scene in the film?

I think that the most important scene in the film was the one in which Jerri reveals that she has no desire to be a star or to have a job other than being a housewife. Jerri’s favorite pastime is cooking and cleaning and taking care of her man. I’m not sure whether this portrayed the actual thinking of women at the time but it definitely portrayed the American image of women. Many Americans believed that the only reason for a woman to have a job was to support her husband in maintaining their middle-class status. Other than that, Americans believed that women should find freedom and happiness in their homes. They believed that a woman’s personal freedom could be found at home rather than in the workplace and that her share in the consumer culture came through the earnings of her husband. The lack of feminist dissent to this aspect of culture represented a real backwards movement in the fight for women’s rights.