BEST BATHTUB SCENES OF 1939

February 1, 1940

In advance of the whoop-de-do with which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences grants its annual awards and closes the guessing season, almost everybody in town – from Mr. Benny’s Rochester to Miss Dietrich’s Sealyham – is making up a list. The best pictures, the best actor, best actress, best direction, best writing – they’re all making the same conventional, categorical selections.

 But I’m not. If the boys will hang onto their hats, this leering correspondent will nominate the Ten Best Bathtub Scenes of 1939: 

• Most Luxuriant Bather: Joan Crawford in “The Women." 
• Most Startled Bather: Ann Sheridan in "Indianapolis Speed Way.’‘ 
• Most Voluptuous Bather: Hedwige Feuillere in "Lucrezia Borgia." 
• Most Businesslike Bather: Marjorie Weaver in “The Honeymoon is Over.” 

• Dirtiest Bather: Golden-haired Lucille Ball in "Beauty for the Asking.” She took a mud bath which actually was more revealing than those of most actresses immersed in foam. 

• Most Thoroughly Scrubbed Bather: Madeleine Carroll in “Safari." 
• Merriest Soap-Bubble Queen: Ellen Drew in "French Without Tears." 
• Best Singer-in-the-Bathtub: Jeanette MacDonald in "New Moon." 
• Most Contented Bather: Isa Miranda in "Adventure in Diamonds." 
• Most Startlingly R e-v-e-a-l-e-d Bather: Irene Dunne in "My Favorite Wife.”