Only two days of Summer Under the Stars left and, like yesterday, I only watched one film (might seem like slacking but I know that tomorrow and especially the day after are going to be tough). As for Paul Lukas…
Working Girls (1931)
I am genuinely happy and excited right now because I attempted to watch all films directed by Dorothy Arzner a few years ago but could not track all of them. But now I watched Working Girls! Thank you, Paul Lukas!
Two young sisters from Indiana move to New York City. They find lodging in a hotel for girls and jobs as: a telegraph operator and as an assistant to a scientist – that’s Paul Lukas. They seemingly find themselves in the city fairly quickly.
Someone on Letterboxd found similarities between Working Girls and Sex and the City and I think that’s very accurate. Despite more than sixty years between the film and the show, it seems that there always were young girls coming tom New York City and finding themselves surrounded by possibilities – in a large part romantic possibilities. Besides the fact that Paul Lukas wants to marry „his” sister almost immediately, the girls get into the going out/dating scene very organically. Everything in New York is exciting and romantic, I guess. I’ve been reading one journalist’s account about moving to NYC at eighteen and this has all been on mind so that film came to me at a very appropriate time.
Dorothy Arzner does not do romance in a straight (haha, get it?) way, but she does seem to believe in love for her characters. Working Girls might be a silly comedy but it does have heart and it does present a very real part of culture.
Swingin' at the Seance 