Betty Garrett makes romantic pursuit funny by giving it conviction and refusing to apologise for it. We value her firmness, her musical wit and the sense that a supporting part need not mean waiting politely.
Fi1m perspective
In On the Town (1949), Betty Garrett's taxi driver Brunhilde Esterhazy pursues Frank Sinatra's Chip with a firmness that makes his reluctance part of the fun. She knows what she wants, and Garrett does not ask us to find that embarrassing. We laughed at her persistence because she plays the pursuit so directly, without making an apology part of the joke. It is a strong comic performance in a musical whose romances could use more substance. Even when the writing gives her little beyond wanting a man, she gives us someone with a will of her own.
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen give her an ensemble in which that approach has company. Ann Miller's Claire Huddesen is equally forthright, while Vera-Ellen's Ivy Smith brings a gentler manner to the romantic scenes. Garrett helps keep the women from becoming decoration for a sailors' outing, and her singing and dancing belong to the same assertive character as her dialogue. The physical comedy allows her to look ridiculous without losing that determination. We recommend the film in large part for the company, and she is a substantial reason why.
The late-1940s musicals gave her a recognisable job, with Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) also pairing her with Sinatra and Kelly. Repeated casting as the determined woman pursuing a reluctant man could become a restriction: there is only so much another variation on the chase can ask of an actor. My Sister Eileen (1955), with Garrett as Ruth Sherwood, is another place to find her musical and verbal comedy. Her timing matters as much as her energy. A sceptical delivery gives the lines something beyond sheer eagerness.
As film work dwindled after the mid-1950s, stage work and nightclubs took a larger place, followed by recurring television parts in the 1970s. In All in the Family (1973–75) she played the plain-spoken neighbour Irene Lorenzo; Laverne & Shirley (1976–81) gave her the sardonic landlady Edna Babish. Those roles offered another use for the directness that the musicals had channelled into pursuit. Start with On the Town, provided a slight story will not spoil an evening of good company.
Biography
Betty Garrett (23 May 1919 – 12 February 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She appeared in several MGM musical films of the late 1940s, including On the Town (1949) as Brunhilde Esterhazy, Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) and Neptune's Daughter (1949).
She began her career on Broadway in musicals such as Call Me Mister (1946) before moving to Hollywood. Her film work was curtailed after she and her husband, actor Larry Parks, were investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s; Parks was blacklisted following his testimony. Garrett later worked in nightclub acts, stage productions and television, with recurring roles in All in the Family (1971–1975) as Irene Lorenzo and Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983) as Edna Babish.
