Everybody’s pimping Loretta Young at the Ladies’ Apparel outfit where she works. Secretary by day, she’s being lent out as an overnight plaything, a ‘Customer’s Girl’ to lonely (make that horny) out-of-town buyers. The company owner encourages the tactic, even offers bonuses. Fiancé Regis Toomey, who’s also her boss, has some misgivings, but needs the sales. (It also gives him the occasional free night for two-timing.) One ‘date’ (Lyle Talbot) falls for her big time once he figures out she really isn’t ‘that kind of girl.’ But as a special favor, just this once, maybe she could play up to a rival exec and help him close a big deal. Heck, by this point, Loretta’s pimping herself out! But adding a touch of blackmail to the mix with help from her tough-as-nails roommate Winnie Lightner. It’s like some 1933 #Me Too portent. (Or is it a How-To Manual?) And if it's no great shakes as drama, it is something of an eye-opening historical astonishment into pink-collar sexual politics/harassment. Busby Berkeley is no more than competent in his first non-dance helming assignment (with a co-directing assist from editor George Amy, presumably to make sure Busby got all the necessary shots), but a lot of sleazy honesty finds its way to the screen. Right thru a tacked on feel-good ending that offers Pre-Marital sex in place of conviction. Where has this Pre-Code treasure been hiding?
DOUBLE-BILL: Released just four months earlier, Loretta Young worked the other side of the counter, so to speak, in the naughty & hilarious department store dramedy EMPLOYEES’ ENTRANCE which, unlike this film, is also quite a good movie.
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