One critic referred to her as that for the 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical "Follies" where she introduced the pastiche "Folies Bergere" number, "Ah, Paree!". Throughout her career, Fifi was never without feathers or wacky costumes, whether as the temperamental movie star in "Going Hollywood", the obvious prostitute in "Wonder Bar", or the aging art patron in "What a Way to Go!". In one of her few leading parts, Fifi plays a role similar to Ruby Keeler's in "42nd Street", except that she goes from the nightclub, cabaret and occasional rodeo to becoming a huge Broadway star. Ironically, in "Going Hollywood", she played the equivalent of the Dorothy Brock "42nd Street" role, screaming at everybody and everything around her until they pretty much just had enough.
For her to be the leading lady in this unbelievable Cinderella story is not enough to carry my interest for even just over an hour. She might be fine as the leading lady in a short, but for a feature is too difficult to tolerate. Lupe Velez could pull it off, because she knew when to tone it down, but after a while, D'Orsday just starts to grate on the nerves. Along with jealous roommate pal Astrid Allwyn, they make the move from Calgary to Pittsburgh to Manhattan, with beaus Paul Kelly and Robert Warwick at their sides. A few musical interludes are thrown in (mostly outtakes of the campy "The Great Gabbo") and D'Orsday does sing in a few of them. But with a heroine you really just don't care too much about, the result is flaccid indeed.
One funny sequence has Kelly and Warwick escorting the ladies home in a cab and being forced to sleep in a barn where they share bedding with a huge pig and a goat who makes a breakfast out of Warwick's necktie. D'Orsday is fine for supporting parts and in small doses, and even with "Follies", she is barely remembered other than looking like something out of the beast's home in "Beauty and the Beast". For the most part, however, this isn't even mildly amusing or remotely something you'll remember much about the next day.
For her to be the leading lady in this unbelievable Cinderella story is not enough to carry my interest for even just over an hour. She might be fine as the leading lady in a short, but for a feature is too difficult to tolerate. Lupe Velez could pull it off, because she knew when to tone it down, but after a while, D'Orsday just starts to grate on the nerves. Along with jealous roommate pal Astrid Allwyn, they make the move from Calgary to Pittsburgh to Manhattan, with beaus Paul Kelly and Robert Warwick at their sides. A few musical interludes are thrown in (mostly outtakes of the campy "The Great Gabbo") and D'Orsday does sing in a few of them. But with a heroine you really just don't care too much about, the result is flaccid indeed.
One funny sequence has Kelly and Warwick escorting the ladies home in a cab and being forced to sleep in a barn where they share bedding with a huge pig and a goat who makes a breakfast out of Warwick's necktie. D'Orsday is fine for supporting parts and in small doses, and even with "Follies", she is barely remembered other than looking like something out of the beast's home in "Beauty and the Beast". For the most part, however, this isn't even mildly amusing or remotely something you'll remember much about the next day.