In 1930, at age 13, Grable (under the pseudonym Frances Dean) signed with producer Samuel Goldwyn; she thereby became one of the original Goldwyn Girls, along with Ann Sothern, Virginia Bruce, Lucille Ball and Paulette Goddard. As a member of the ensemble group of attractive young chorines, Grable appeared in a series of small parts in movies, among them the mega-hit "Whoopee!" (1930), starring Eddie Cantor. Although she received no on-screen credit for her performance, she led the film's opening musical number, titled "Cowboys".