The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

Hot-headed Winifred "Freddie" Jones is a saloon singer in the Old West who catches her boyfriend, gambler Blackie Jobero, flirting with another woman and takes a shot at him with the six-shooter she always carries. Unfortunately, she hits a judge in the rear end instead, so her friend Conchita and she take it on the lam. When they get to a tiny hole-in-the-wall town, Freddie and Conchita are mistaken for the new schoolmarm and her Indian maid. They meet the local muckety-mucks, including wealthy Charles Hingelman, owner of a valuable gold mine, who starts to romance Freddie. When Blackie shows up while tracking Freddie down, complications and hilarious chaos ensue. ==Cast==

• "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" - by Lionel Newman and Don George • "Clementine Capers" - by Cyril Mockridge • "Every Time I Meet You" - by Josef Myrow (music) and Mack Gordon (words) • "In the Gloaming" - by Annie Fortesque Harrison and Meta Orred ==Production==

Earl Felton's original screen story was titled "The Lady from Laredo", and the film had the working titles of "Teacher's Pet" and "The Blonde from Bashful Bend". The film had been scheduled to go into production in September 1947, but was "temporarily shelved" in October because Fox production head Darryl F. Zanuck was concerned about the high cost of doing a film in Technicolor. While the production was delayed, Sturges made Unfaithfully Yours (1948) as his first film for Fox. Whether Sturges or another director worked on the January shoot, which was to change the ending of the film at the insistence of Zanuck, is unclear. ==Release==

The film premiered in Hollywood and New York City on 27 May 1949 and went into general American release in June. The film was budgeted at an estimated $2,260,000 and brought in during its initial American release only about $1,489,000. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend was released on video in the U.S. on 25 May 1989. Variety listed the film as a box office disappointment. == References ==