Beauty for the Asking

Beauty for the Asking is a 1939 film drama produced by RKO Pictures, and starring Lucille Ball and Patric Knowles.

Plot

Jean Russell is a beautician who is jilted by her boyfriend so he can marry an older but wealthy woman. Russell invents a new facial cream, and with the financial backing of her former boyfriend's wife, starts a business that makes her a millionaire.

Cast

Lucille Ball as Jean Russell
Patric Knowles as Denny Williams
Donald Woods as Jeffrey Martin
Frieda Inescort as Flora Barton-Williams
Inez Courtney as Gwen Morrison
Leona Maricle as Eve Harrington
Frances Mercer as Patricia Wharton
Whitney Bourne as Peggy Ponsby
George Beranger as Cyril
Kay Sutton as Miss Whitman, Jean's Secretary
Ann Evers as Lois Peabody

Reception

RKO's pre-release publicity claimed that the film was to be an "exposé of the beauty racket" but reviewers of the day concluded that it was a standard "romantic love triangle".
Leonard Maltin has written favorably of the film, suggesting that the film offered an unusual feminist viewpoint for its time, and acknowledging that Ball delivered a strong performance.