Betty Hutton vs. Dorothy Lamour by simguy

According to Hollywood lore, the film that featured the most on-set scraps between female participants during shooting was undoubtedly Cecil B DeMille's circus epic, 'The Greatest Show on Earth.'

"It was insane," recalls one MGM exec. "You had all these muscular extras calling each other out. Every night was like a free-for-all - most of it un-sanctioned. I'd never seen anything like it. And the crazy thing was, Heston hated the boxing scene on a set - he'd actually break a fight up if he saw it. We always had to make sure Chuck was elsewhere, or otherwise occupied. Yeah - crazy."

Needless to say, against this antagonistic backdrop, it didn't take long for co-stars Betty Hutton and Dorothy Lamour to butt heads. Brawny little blonde Hutton had long been known as one of the strongest pound for pound celebs in Hollywood. Having brawled for pennies on streetcorners during the depression - she was often referred to as the 'Mickey Walker' of showgirls for her reckless frontal assaults. Lamour was a tough cookie in her own right, but more of a stylist in the ring. She refused to show any respect until Betty 'earned it' woman to woman. Fought in a ring set up in the sawdust under the big top, Hutton wore a black leotard with V-neck and sleeves rolled up to the elbows, bare legs. Lamour entered in a red halter top bikini - bottoms extending over her navel.

Round 1: Betty Hutton still fought the pre-war style with her hands down, fists rolling at her stomach as she stalked. Lamour tried to take advantage with a pawing jab to no avail early. Once in range, Hutton started up the pinwheel - gorgeous overhand rights and clobbering lefts, a fierce snarl on her lips as she haymakered Lamour to the ropes. Dorothy, with her back to the ropes bent at the waist, tried to bob under punches but Hutton's fists crashed home seemingly at random. The right hands slammed against the back of Lamour's head while the whistling lefts lifted up tough into her belly. Dorothy grimaced as she faltered along the rough hemp ropes, getting her back badly burned on top of everything else. The final minute was pure Hutton - straining to pin Dorothy to the ropes, using her left hand to palm Lamour back by the neck, Betty pitched in Fullmer-esque right hands sidearm to the breadbasket - grunting as her back foot came off the canvas with each blow. Dorothy was beaten into a daze at the bell; wide eyed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. After a huge blonde round, Lamour's trainer could be heard admonishing, "Dot - you gotta move yer bricks honey - she's killin' ya!"

Round 2: Dorothy Lamour leaned away as she pushed 'don't hurt me' jabs at Betty and the blonde freight train ate it up. Crashing overhand rights and zinging lefts - Hutton left her feet to pull leather into Lamour. Once again, Dorothy couldn't stand her ground. Seated on the ropes, arms crossed, stooping forward, Lamour was a brutalized victim this round as Betty squared up and got off from bell to bell. Hutton would strain to palm Lamour up out of a deep crouch, then with the left at the neck, Hutton would hurl in murderous right hands - big sinking blasts to the lower belly, or cracking blows to the face that had Lamour stumbling to her right. Dorothy showed heart: she'd take welting abuse, then somehow stumble off the ropes, only to be hounded and battered back into them somewhere else. After 2 - Hutton was seething, anxious to finish the auburn haired vixen as Lamour trembled on buttery thighs, barely able to get to her corner.

Round 3: Dorothy had no choice - she had to punch, had to offer something back as Hutton's attack simply could not be blunted. Meeting mid-ring, the small crowd was treated to wild back and forth - Hutton loading up and lunging into pitching lefts and rights and Dorothy trying to roll back with the punches, then answer with shorter, straighter, jamming shots on the chin. Hutton bulldozed her way through and after two minutes of blistering give and take - Lamour's legs began to give way. Going to Dorothy's belly with both mitts plunging - Hutton banged Lamour to the ropes, then went back into the gutter, palming with the left at Dot's neck, bludgeoning away with blacksmith rights. Lamour could take no more - staring blankly at the incoming - she was beaten senseless as fists found her body and head without mercy. Finally, Lamour toppled to her side in a cloud of sawdust, stretched out hurt on woodchips as Betty Hutton stood over her, roaring incoherently until her corner could bundle her away. KO3 Betty Hutton.

It was a vintage Betty Hutton performance, firmly putting Dorothy in her place for the rest of the shooting schedule, not to mention holding things up for 3 weeks while Lamour recovered from one of the worst beatings of her career. It was Hutton as fans had seen her against Grable and Esther Williams, and although she would go on to be exposed by true boxers like Cyd Charise and Eva Gardner, Betty Hutton would remain a dangerous wild card for the remainder of the 50s. Only in 1960, at the age of 40 would she finally be beaten into retirement by the up and coming Ann Margaret. Hutton was one of many older celebrities carefully chosen by Margaret's handlers to be served up during Ann's infamous 'legends' tour.