A Life of Her Own (1950)

Mary Ashlon: Nobody can help anybody.

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Mary Ashlon: If it's not you it's somebody like you. Somebody fresh and new, not tired.

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Lily Brannel James: I could put lipstick on like this too.
Steve Harleigh: Yeah, I know.
Lily Brannel James: That's right... you know.

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The ending in the original script had washed-up model Lily James, played by Lana Turner, at forty-five years of age working as a hotel maid. The original ending as filmed had Lily James committing suicide, following in the footsteps of Mary Ashton, the older model Lily meets earlier in the film who jumps to her death from a window. After filming finished in late March 1950 the film was shown to test audiences who gave such a negative reaction to this ending that retakes were done in mid-April 1950, to provide the film with the happier ending that's used in the finished film, much to the dismay of director George Cukor.
The haunting theme music here by Bronislau Kaper was reused two years later in MGM's _Invitation (1952)_, and under the title Invitation became an enduring jazz standard, especially associated with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.
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