Show Girl (1928 film)

Show Girl is a 1928 American silent comedy-drama film starring Alice White and Donald Reed. It was based on the first of J. P. McEvoy's two Dixie Dugan novels, as was the 1929 musical. It was followed by a sequel, Show Girl in Hollywood (1930). While the film has no audible dialogue, it is accompanied by a Vitaphone sound-on-disc soundtrack with a musical score and sound effects.

Dixie Dugan, a Brooklyn cutie, goes to the offices of theatrical producers Eppus and Kibbitzer and exposes her perfections in a bathing suit. Eppus and Kibbitzer express interest in her future and arrange for her to work in a nightclub act with Álvarez Romano. One evening Dixie accompanies wealthy sugardaddy Jack Milton to his apartment, and Álvarez stalks in and wounds Milton with a knife. Jimmy Doyle, a cynical tabloid reporter in love with Dixie, gets the story for his newspaper's front page. Dixie is then kidnaped by Álvarez, but quickly manages to free herself. Jimmy persuades her to hide low as a publicity stunt and puts the "kidnaping" on page one. Dixie is found by Milton, who, by way of apology for ruining her stunt, finances her in a Broadway show written by Jimmy. The show is a success, and Jimmy and Dixie are married.

The film was considered a lost film, with only the Vitaphone soundtrack still in existence. However, a print was discovered in an Italian film archive in 2015. A restored version, with the original Vitaphone soundtrack synched to the print, screened at New York's Film Forum on October 25, 2016, marking the first time the film was publicly exhibited in 88 years. The screening was introduced by Vitaphone Project founder Ron Hutchinson. The film will be planned released by Warner Home Video.