"MARY BETH HUGHES - CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH" - 3/03/2025For those of you who don't know the charms of MARY BETH HUGHES, when she was under contract at MGM, she was dubbed "the poor man's LANA TURNER." It was a rather unfair assessment since MGM gave Lana all the plum roles, and Mary Beth got her hand-me-downs. But still, Mary Beth had great comic chops, and no one played bitchy, hard-boiled blondes as well as she. Despite her beauty and talent, she never managed to get out of B-pictures. She did have small parts in great films like The Women (1939) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1942). She played the good girl as often as she played the bad girl, but when she played bad....you were in for a treat. Her pouty lips, snappy dialogue, and petulant attitude lit up many a lackluster production. This week, we celebrate her as our Star of the Month.SHOW NOTES: Sources:The Official Mary Beth Hughes Website;“Mary Beth Hughes, Born in Alton, Benign Groomed for Stardom in Movies,” January 4, 1939, Alton Evening Telegraph;“Mary Beth Hughes,” October 1971, by T.P. Turton, Films in Review;“Mary Beth Hughes Stars In A New Shampoo,” December 20, 1976, People Magazine;Mary Beth Hughes: She Never Gave Up,” December 2015, by Dave White, Classic Images;“The Look of Mary Beth Hughes,” June 6, 2019, www.grandoldmovies.com;http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/marybethhughes.htmlWikipedia.com;TCM.com;IMDBPro.com;Movies Mentioned: The Women (1939), starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, & Rosalind Russell;The Ox-Bow Incident (1942), starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, Dana Andrews, MBH, & Anthony Quinn;Broadway Serenade (1939), starring Jeanette MacDonald & Lew Ayres;Dancing Co-Ed (1939), starring Lana Turner & Richard Carlson; These Glamour Girls (1939), starring Lana Turner & Lew Ayres:Fast and Furious (1939), starring Franchot Tone & Ann Sothern;Free, Blonde & 21 (1940), starring Lynn Bari, MBH, & Joan Davis;Star Dust (1940), starring Linda Darnell & John Payne;Four Sons (1940), starring Don Ameche, Alan Curtis, Eugenia Leontivich, & MBH;Lucky Cisco Kid (1940), starring Cesar Romero, Dana Andrews, & MBH;The Great Profile (1940), staring John Barrymore & MBH;Sleepers West (1941), starring Lloyd Nolan & MBH: Ride on Vaquero (1941), starring Cesar Romero & MBHs;Charlie Chan In Rio (191410, starring Sidney Toler & MBH;Dressed To Kill (1941), starring Lloyd Nolan & MBH;Design For Scandal (1941), starring Rosalind Russell & Walter Pidgeon;The Cowboy and The Blonde (1941), starring MBH & George Montgomery;Blue, White, and Perfect, (1942), starring Lloyd Nolan & MBH;The Night Before The Divorce (1942), starring Lynn Bari, Joseph Allen, & MBH;Orchestra Wives (1942), starring Ann Rutherford & George Montgomery:Over My Dead Body (1942), starring Milton Berle & MBH;Timber Queen (1944), starring Richard Arlen & MBH;Men On Her Mind (1944), starring MBH;I Accuse My Parents, (1944), starring MBH & Robert Lowell;The Lady Confesses (1945), starring MBH & Hugh Beaumont;The Great Flamarion (1945), starring Erich von Stroheim, MBH, & Dan Duryea;Holiday Rhythm (1950), starring MBH & David Street;Young Man With A Horn (1950), starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, & Doris Day;Highway Dragnet (1954), starring Richard Conte & Joan Bennett;Loophole (1955), starring Barry Sullivan, Charles MacGraw, & Dorothy Malone;Gun Battle At Monterey (1957), starring Sterling Hayden & MBH;How's Your Love Life? (1971), starring John Agar, Leslie Brooks, Grant Willians, & MBH;The Working Girls (1974), starring Sarah Kennedy, Laurie Rose, & Cassandra Peterson;---------------------------------http://www.airwavemedia.comPlease contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices