After reading Marek Kohn's "Dope Girls" it is obvious that this film was based on the life of Kate Meyrick who became a night club entrepreneur after her husband left her with two sons at Harrow and four daughters to support. She answered an advertisement for someone to help give "tea dances" and with the club attracting both villains and the cream of society she was soon a notorious celebrity. Often hauled into court on corruption and morals charges, her fines were low (20 pounds) probably because she was having an affair with a Vice Squad officer who was later jailed on corruption charges. It didn't stop them from raking in 1,000's of pounds though!! This film may have been inspired by her 1932 autobiography.
Life is hard for Evelyn Dean (Isobel Elsom) - her husband is a compulsive gambler who (surprise, surprise) always loses and when he is home he knocks her about before taking her money. She does manage to save enough though, to buy him a one way ticket to Cape Town and with him gone good luck rolls her way. Her good friend Albert tells her of a dream he has to open a gambling club - the one he worked at has just closed and he knows exactly what they did wrong. Just as he has almost won her over the local bookie comes calling. True to his word he has put a bet on for her (in appreciation as she has paid her husband's gambling debts) and it comes through to the tune of 180 pounds!!!
As gambling and drink have taken from her, so she decides to take from them and with Albert as her adviser opens "The Scarecrow" which proves the means of giving her two daughters the best education possible. I agree Margot Grahame was a knockout as rebellious daughter Dorothy. She exuded sex appeal at a time when British actresses were not noted for it. She and her sister Ann (Moira Lynd) are forced to leave school when the notoriety of a reported prison sentence catches up with their mother. Dorothy, while still at school, proves she could find a job anywhere as a singer with a soulful rendition of "Can't We Talk It Over". Her steadier sister decides to re-open "The Scarecrow" with Albert's help and on legitimate lines with Dorothy as resident singer ("Too Late" and "Was That the Human Thing to Do"): it is a huge success - then her stepfather reappears.......
When Margot Grahame left for Hollywood in the mid 1930s she was Britain's highest paid actress and compared to Moira Lynd who plays conventional, insipid Ann, it is not hard to see why she was easily noticed.
Life is hard for Evelyn Dean (Isobel Elsom) - her husband is a compulsive gambler who (surprise, surprise) always loses and when he is home he knocks her about before taking her money. She does manage to save enough though, to buy him a one way ticket to Cape Town and with him gone good luck rolls her way. Her good friend Albert tells her of a dream he has to open a gambling club - the one he worked at has just closed and he knows exactly what they did wrong. Just as he has almost won her over the local bookie comes calling. True to his word he has put a bet on for her (in appreciation as she has paid her husband's gambling debts) and it comes through to the tune of 180 pounds!!!
As gambling and drink have taken from her, so she decides to take from them and with Albert as her adviser opens "The Scarecrow" which proves the means of giving her two daughters the best education possible. I agree Margot Grahame was a knockout as rebellious daughter Dorothy. She exuded sex appeal at a time when British actresses were not noted for it. She and her sister Ann (Moira Lynd) are forced to leave school when the notoriety of a reported prison sentence catches up with their mother. Dorothy, while still at school, proves she could find a job anywhere as a singer with a soulful rendition of "Can't We Talk It Over". Her steadier sister decides to re-open "The Scarecrow" with Albert's help and on legitimate lines with Dorothy as resident singer ("Too Late" and "Was That the Human Thing to Do"): it is a huge success - then her stepfather reappears.......
When Margot Grahame left for Hollywood in the mid 1930s she was Britain's highest paid actress and compared to Moira Lynd who plays conventional, insipid Ann, it is not hard to see why she was easily noticed.