Betty sure does overdo it. What about June allyson who was under contract to metro at the time. She was quite a tomboy in "Little Women" and would have been good at this. She started her career as a musical comedy star on Broadway.
shareDoris Day would have been great. I think Virginia O'Brien would have been even better.
shareAfter Judy Garland was fired from the film, and before MGM made arrangements to borrow Betty Hutton from Paramount to play "Annie," they offered the role to Betty Garrett. Garrett had been under contract to the studio for a few years and had just made a great impression in ON THE TOWN, so she was ripe for a starring role.
I've read that Garrett turned the role down because the studio wanted her to sign another long-term contract at the same salary. I think she could have been great as "Annie." She was a triple-threat talent and just as good at singing ballads as she was at belting out the more energetic numbers. Like Garland and Hutton, Garrett also had a wistful quality that would have made her Annie very sympathetic.
I actually think MGM did it right by casting Betty Hutton. While she is over the top in some scenes I think Hutton actually makes the movie and I think thats how the role should be played. If Hutton wasn't cast I think I would like to see Betty Grable in the role. Grable was starting to get older but I think she would have been decent in the role and years earlier she starred in The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend and showed she had a knack for comedy. In the movie she played a saloon singer that has a temper and shoots a local judge instead of her cheating boyfriend by mistake and runs off and hides in a nearby town as a school teacher. In the end, Zanuck wouldn't loan her out and Grable was very angry with his decision.
I love Judy Garland but looking at the outtakes I'm glad she didn't do the role. She looked so tired and exhausted, and she just didn't seem right for the role.
While she is over the top in some scenes
YOu nailed it, Susenet. Betty Hutton is just too much. The thing I can't understand is why she is so wrong. She is very cute and energetic. She can really belt and she is kind of a tomboy.
I think I detect in the love scenes when she sings the duet with HOward Keel that she is really reining it in. She is very subdued and you can believe that she is overcome with shyness and love.
But the rest of the time? She is cranked up way too high. I feel that the director must have tried to calm her down and then gave up.
I think a remake would be called for. I always wanted to see Reba McIntyre do it on Broadway.
Funny! Doris Day would have been my choice, though previous suggestions of Betty Grable, June Allyson, Debbie Reynolds, and Ginger Rogers, are interesting. Any of these would have been better than Betty, though she has a certain charm, here and there.
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