With their New York attitudes, Blondell and Cagney were both natural talent for gangster films. They appeared together in The Public Enemy (1931) and crime dramas such as He Was Her Man (1934). But Blondell's sex appeal overpowered her tough image and the studio lined up teasing pre-Production Code comedies for her. Her blonde bob and brash personality helped make Blondell an irresistible chorus girl in Busby Berkeley's Depression-era musical extravaganzas, especially Gold Diggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade.

List of films Today! on TCM Blonde Crazy (1931) Lady For A Night (1942) Desk Set (1957) Nightmare Alley by William Lindsey Gresham Center Door Fancy by Joan Blondell

In Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Blondell was a standout even among the talents of Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers. Gold Diggers is pure fun; Busby Berkeley's orgasmic chorus line patterns of kicking legs and swinging arms provided audiences with the perfect escapism from a bleak and depressed world. While Ruby Keeler was so sweet and Rogers played a tart, Blondell fit in as the voice of reason. She sang the show-stopping tune "Remember Your Forgotten Man." Like a chanteuse, she intones a memorial for WWI veterans and victims of the Depression like a cross between Sarah Vaughn and Jean Harlow. The song is a shock of realism in the frothy musical and proves that, from a contemporary perspective, yesterday's entertainment can indeed be valuable as a social document.

In Footlight Parade (1933), the studio recycled the same backstage musical formula - but it's still just as good. With dance sequences once again directed by Busby Berkeley, James Cagney joined Blondell, Keeler and Rogers. Cagney's presence gave the movie an added toughness, especially when you compare it to Gold Diggers with Dick Powell. Rather than standing on a political platform, Footlight aims straight for sexual titillation with exotic numbers such as "Shanghai Lil" and the almost-too-naughty "Honeymoon Hotel."

As the era of Warner Bros. musicals waned, Blondell relied on her tough-gal image. She supported Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart in Bullets or Ballots (1936), a typical Warner Bros. crime drama made exceptional by a first-rate cast. Blondell went to war in Cry Havoc (1943), the story of quarrelsome army nurses forced to work together under fire on Bataan. Her own tough attitude was matched by her leading men's; in later years she found a kinship with Clark Gable in Adventure (1945) and Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid (1965). Blondell might be familiar to some nostalgic viewers as Vi, the principal's assistant in Grease (1978).

From tough molls to wisecracking gold diggers, Joan Blondell was a Warner Bros. star who brought her own brand of swagger and style to each film from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the twilight of her career.