Gold Diggers of 1933
Encyclopedia
Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pre-code Warner Bros.
musical film
directed by Mervyn LeRoy
with songs by Harry Warren
(music) and Al Dubin
(lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley
. It stars Warren William
, Joan Blondell
, Aline MacMahon
, Ruby Keeler
and Dick Powell
, and features Guy Kibbee
, Ned Sparks
and Ginger Rogers
.
The story is based on the play The Gold Diggers by Avery Hopwood
, which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920. The play was made into a silent film in 1923
by David Belasco
, the producer of the Broadway play, as The Gold Diggers
, starring Hope Hampton
and Wyndham Standing
, and again as a talkie in 1929
, directed by Roy Del Ruth. That film, Gold Diggers of Broadway, which starred Nancy Welford
and Conway Tearle
, was the biggest box office hit of that year, and Gold Diggers of 1933 was one of the top grossing films of 1933. This version of Hopwood's play was written by James Seymour and Erwin S. Gelsey, with additional dialogue by David Boehm
and Ben Markson.
In 2003
, Gold Diggers of 1933 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
, Carol the torch singer
, Trixie the comedienne, and Fay the glamour puss.
The film was made in 1933 during the Great Depression
and contains numerous direct references to it. It begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditor
s who close down the show because of unpaid bills.
At the unglamorous apartment shared by three of the four actresses (Polly, Carol, and Trixie), the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), is in despair because he has everything he needs to put on a show, except money. He hears Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), the girls' neighbor and Polly's boyfriend, playing the piano. Brad is a brilliant songwriter and singer who not only has written the music for a show, but also offers Hopkins $15,000 in cash to back the production. Of course, they all think he's pulling their legs, but he insists that he's serious – he'll back the show, but he refuses to perform in it, despite his talent and voice.
Brad comes through with the money and the show goes into production, but the girls are suspicious that he must be a criminal since he is cagey about his past, and will not appear in the show, even though he is clearly more talented than the aging juvenile lead they have hired. It turns out, however, that Brad is in fact a millionaire's son whose family does not want him associating with the theatre. On opening night, in order to save the show when the juvenile can't perform (due to his lumbago acting up), Brad is forced to play the lead role.
With the resulting publicity, Brad's brother, J. Lawrence Bradford and the family lawyer, Fanuel H. Peabody discover what he is doing, and arrive in New York to prevent him from being seduced by "gold diggers". Their goal is to break up the romance between Brad and Polly.
Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, and his heavy-handed effort to dissuade the "cheap and vulgar" showgirl from marrying Brad by buying her off annoys her so much that she goes along with the gag in order to eventually pull the rug out from under him. Trixie meanwhile targets "Fanny" the lawyer as the perfect rich sap ripe for exploitation. But what starts as gold-digging turns into something else, and when the dust settles, Carol and Lawrence are in love and Trixie marries Fanuel, while Brad is free to marry Polly after all. All the "gold diggers" (except Fay) end up married to wealthy men.
Cast notes
was an early casting idea for the role played by Warren William. It was made for an estimated $433,000, at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank
, and went into general release on May 27, 1933.
In 1934, the film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound Recording for Nathan Levinson
, the film's sound director.
The film contains four song and dance sequences designed, staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. All the songs were written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. (In the film, when producer Barney Hopkins hears Brad's music he picks up the phone and says: "Cancel my contract with Warren and Dubin!")
"We're in the Money" is sung by Ginger Rogers accompanied by scantily-clad showgirls dancing with giant coins. Rogers sings one verse in Pig Latin
.
"Pettin' in the Park
" is sung by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. It includes a tap dance
from Keeler and a surreal sequence featuring dwarf
actor Billy Barty as a baby who escapes from his stroller. During the number, the women get caught in a rainstorm and go behind a backlit screen to remove their wet clothes in silhouette. They emerge in metal garments, which thwart the men's attempts to get them off, until Billy Barty gives Dick Powell a can opener. This number was originally planned to end the film.
"The Shadow Waltz" is sung by Powell and Keeler. It features a dance by Keeler, Rogers, and many female violinists with neon-tubed violins that glow in the dark. Berkeley got the idea for this number from a vaudeville act he once saw - the neon on the violins was an afterthought. An earthquake hit Burbank while this number was being filmed:
"Remember My Forgotten Man" is sung by Joan Blondell and Etta Moten and features sets influenced by German Expressionism
and a gritty evocation of Depression-era poverty. Berkeley was inspired by the May 1932 war veterans' march
on Washington, D.C. When the number was finished, Jack Warner
and Darryl F. Zanuck
(the studio production head) were so impressed that they ordered it moved to the end of the film, displacing "Pettin' in the Park".
An additional production number was filmed, but cut before release: "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" was to have been sung by Ginger Rogers, but instead appears in the film sung by Dick Powell near the beginning.
used lavish production numbers as a showcase of the female anatomy that were both "lyrical and lewd". In this film, "Pettin' in the Park" and "We're in the Money" are prime examples. The state censorship boards had become so troublesome that a number of studios began filming slightly different versions of censorable scenes. In this way, when a film was edited, the "toned down" reels were labeled according to district. One version could be sent to New York
, another to the South
, and another to the United Kingdom, etc. According to Vieira, this film had two different endings — in one, the rocky romance between Warren William
and Joan Blondell
(whom he calls "cheap and vulgar") is resolved backstage after the "Forgotten Man" number; in an alternate ending, the film ends with the number.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
with songs by Harry Warren
Harry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
(music) and Al Dubin
Al Dubin
Alexander "Al" Dubin was an American lyricist. He became known through his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.-Life and works:...
(lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
. It stars Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, Aline MacMahon
Aline MacMahon
Aline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed .-Early life:Aline Laveen MacMahon was born...
, Ruby Keeler
Ruby Keeler
Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street . From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson...
and Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
, and features Guy Kibbee
Guy Kibbee
Guy Bridges Kibbee was an American stage and film actor.Born in El Paso, Texas, Kibbee began his entertainment career on Mississippi riverboats and eventually became a successful Broadway actor...
, Ned Sparks
Ned Sparks
Ned Sparks was a Canadian character actor. Sparks was well known for his deadpan expression and deep, gravelly voice.-Early life and career:...
and Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
.
The story is based on the play The Gold Diggers by Avery Hopwood
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood , was the most successful playwright of the Jazz Age, having four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.-Biography:...
, which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920. The play was made into a silent film in 1923
1923 in film
-Events:*April 15 - Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1923:U.S.A...
by David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
, the producer of the Broadway play, as The Gold Diggers
The Gold Diggers (1923 film)
The Gold Diggers is a Warner Bros. silent film directed by Harry Beaumont with screenplay by Grant Carpenter based on the play of the same name by Avery Hopwood which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920. Both the play and the film were produced by David Belasco...
, starring Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton was an American silent motion picture actress, who was noted for her seemingly effortless incarnation of siren and flapper types in silent-picture roles during the 1920s....
and Wyndham Standing
Wyndham Standing
Wyndham Standing was an English film actor. He appeared in 131 films between 1915 and 1948. A popular and much beloved leading man in the silent film era, he starred and costarred along many famous names of the day, both men and women. He and Ronald Colman were the stars of the now lost classic...
, and again as a talkie in 1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
, directed by Roy Del Ruth. That film, Gold Diggers of Broadway, which starred Nancy Welford
Nancy Welford
Nancy Welford was an American actress in the early talkie era. She was daughter of Ada Loftus and actor Dallas Welford. Welford acted in five films between years 1929 and 1933. She is probably today mostly known for starring in the 1929 Warner Brothers musical Gold Diggers of Broadway, which was...
and Conway Tearle
Conway Tearle
Conway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...
, was the biggest box office hit of that year, and Gold Diggers of 1933 was one of the top grossing films of 1933. This version of Hopwood's play was written by James Seymour and Erwin S. Gelsey, with additional dialogue by David Boehm
David Boehm
David Boehm was an American screenwriter.He is best known for the 1944 World War II heavenly fantasy A Guy Named Joe , for which he received an Academy Award nomination...
and Ben Markson.
In 2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
, Gold Diggers of 1933 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
The "gold diggers" are four aspiring actresses: Polly the ingenueIngenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...
, Carol the torch singer
Torch song
A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship...
, Trixie the comedienne, and Fay the glamour puss.
The film was made in 1933 during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and contains numerous direct references to it. It begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditor
Creditor
A creditor is a party that has a claim to the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property or...
s who close down the show because of unpaid bills.
At the unglamorous apartment shared by three of the four actresses (Polly, Carol, and Trixie), the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), is in despair because he has everything he needs to put on a show, except money. He hears Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), the girls' neighbor and Polly's boyfriend, playing the piano. Brad is a brilliant songwriter and singer who not only has written the music for a show, but also offers Hopkins $15,000 in cash to back the production. Of course, they all think he's pulling their legs, but he insists that he's serious – he'll back the show, but he refuses to perform in it, despite his talent and voice.
Brad comes through with the money and the show goes into production, but the girls are suspicious that he must be a criminal since he is cagey about his past, and will not appear in the show, even though he is clearly more talented than the aging juvenile lead they have hired. It turns out, however, that Brad is in fact a millionaire's son whose family does not want him associating with the theatre. On opening night, in order to save the show when the juvenile can't perform (due to his lumbago acting up), Brad is forced to play the lead role.
With the resulting publicity, Brad's brother, J. Lawrence Bradford and the family lawyer, Fanuel H. Peabody discover what he is doing, and arrive in New York to prevent him from being seduced by "gold diggers". Their goal is to break up the romance between Brad and Polly.
Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, and his heavy-handed effort to dissuade the "cheap and vulgar" showgirl from marrying Brad by buying her off annoys her so much that she goes along with the gag in order to eventually pull the rug out from under him. Trixie meanwhile targets "Fanny" the lawyer as the perfect rich sap ripe for exploitation. But what starts as gold-digging turns into something else, and when the dust settles, Carol and Lawrence are in love and Trixie marries Fanuel, while Brad is free to marry Polly after all. All the "gold diggers" (except Fay) end up married to wealthy men.
Cast
- Warren WilliamWarren WilliamWarren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
as Lawrence Bradford, Brad's brother - Joan BlondellJoan BlondellRose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
as Carol King, the torch singer - Aline MacMahonAline MacMahonAline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed .-Early life:Aline Laveen MacMahon was born...
as Trixie Lorraine, the comedienne - Ruby KeelerRuby KeelerRuby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street . From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson...
as Polly Parker, the ingenue - Dick PowellDick PowellRichard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
as Brad Roberts, the songwriter and singer (aka Robert Treat Bradford) - Guy KibbeeGuy KibbeeGuy Bridges Kibbee was an American stage and film actor.Born in El Paso, Texas, Kibbee began his entertainment career on Mississippi riverboats and eventually became a successful Broadway actor...
as Fanuel H. Peabody, the Bradford family lawyer - Ned SparksNed SparksNed Sparks was a Canadian character actor. Sparks was well known for his deadpan expression and deep, gravelly voice.-Early life and career:...
as Barney Hopkins, the producer - Ginger RogersGinger RogersGinger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
as Fay Fortune, the glamourpuss - Etta Moten as soloist in "Remember My Forgotten Man" (uncredited)
- Billy BartyBilly BartyBilly Barty was an American film actor.-Biography:Barty, an Italian American, was born William John Bertanzetti in Millsboro, Pennsylvania...
as The Baby in "Pettin' in the Park" (uncredited)
Cast notes
- Character actors Sterling HollowaySterling HollowaySterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
and Hobart CavanaughHobart CavanaughHobart Cavanaugh was an American character actor in films and on stage.Born in Virginia City, Nevada, Cavanaugh made his film debut in San Francisco Nights...
appear in small roles, as does choreographer Busby Berkeley (as a backstage call boy who yells "Everybody on stage for the 'Forgotten Man' number"). - Other uncredited cast members include Robert AgnewRobert AgnewRobert Agnew , also known as Bobby Agnew, born in Dayton, Kentucky, was an American movie actor who worked mostly in the silent film era, making 65 films in both the silent and sound eras....
, Joan BarclayJoan BarclayJoan Barclay was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, starring mostly in B-movies and cliffhangers, with her career starting during the silent film era.-Early life and career:...
, Ferdinand GottschalkFerdinand GottschalkFerdinand Gottschalk was an English film actor. He appeared in 76 films between 1917 and 1938. He was born and died in London, England....
, Ann HoveyAnn HoveyAnn Hovey was an American chorus girl and minor film actress of the 1930s, primarily in B-movies.Born Ann Jacques Hovey in Mount Vernon, Indiana, Hovey was born into a wealthy and prominent family...
, Fred KelseyFred KelseyFrederick Alvin "Fred" Kelsey was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. He appeared in 404 films between 1911 and 1958, often playing policemen or detectives . He also directed 37 films between 1914 and 1920...
, Charles LaneCharles Lane (actor)Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
, Wallace MacDonaldWallace MacDonaldWallace Archibald MacDonald was an Canadian silent film actor, and film producer....
, Wilbur MackWilbur MackWilbur Mack was an American film actor and early vaudeville performer from the 1920s through the 1960s. His film acting career began during the silent film era....
, Dennis O'KeefeDennis O'KeefeDennis O'Keefe was an American actor. Born as Edward Vance Flanagan he was the son of Irish vaudevillians working in the United States...
, Fred ToonesFred ToonesFred "Snowflake" Toones was an African-American film actor comedian of the early sound era...
, Dorothy WellmanDorothy WellmanDorothy Coonan Wellman was an American actress and dancer. Wellman was the widow of film director William Wellman, to whom she was married from 1934 until his death in 1975. Wellman cast her in several of his films.-Early life:Wellman was born Dorothy Coonan in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, Renee WhitneyRenee WhitneyRenee Whitney , was an American actress. She appeared in 53 films between 1928 and 1936.-External links:...
, Jane WymanJane WymanJane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
, and Tammany YoungTammany YoungTammany Young was an American stage and film actor, who appeared with W.C. Fields in seven films.-Early life:...
.
Production
Gold Diggers of 1933 was originally to be called "High Life", and George BrentGeorge Brent
George Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, the son of a British Army officer.During the Irish...
was an early casting idea for the role played by Warren William. It was made for an estimated $433,000, at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, and went into general release on May 27, 1933.
In 1934, the film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound Recording for Nathan Levinson
Nathan Levinson
Nathan Levinson was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording for the film Yankee Doodle Dandy and was nominated for 16 more in the same category...
, the film's sound director.
Musical numbers
"We're in the Money" is sung by Ginger Rogers accompanied by scantily-clad showgirls dancing with giant coins. Rogers sings one verse in Pig Latin
Pig Latin
Pig Latin is a language game of alterations played in English. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant is moved to the end of the word and an ay is affixed . The object is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules...
.
"Pettin' in the Park
Pettin' in the Park
Pettin’ In The Park was released on 27 January 1934 by Warner Bros. Studio. It was directed by Bernard Brown and animated by Jack King and Bob Clampett . The musical score was by Norman Spencer. It was a Merrie Melodies cartoon....
" is sung by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. It includes a tap dance
Tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...
from Keeler and a surreal sequence featuring dwarf
Dwarfism
Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....
actor Billy Barty as a baby who escapes from his stroller. During the number, the women get caught in a rainstorm and go behind a backlit screen to remove their wet clothes in silhouette. They emerge in metal garments, which thwart the men's attempts to get them off, until Billy Barty gives Dick Powell a can opener. This number was originally planned to end the film.
"The Shadow Waltz" is sung by Powell and Keeler. It features a dance by Keeler, Rogers, and many female violinists with neon-tubed violins that glow in the dark. Berkeley got the idea for this number from a vaudeville act he once saw - the neon on the violins was an afterthought. An earthquake hit Burbank while this number was being filmed:
[it] caused a blackout and short-circuited some of the dancing violins. Berkeley was almost thrown from the camera boom, dangling by one hand until he could pull himself back up. He yelled for the girls, many of whom were on a 30 feet (9.1 m)-high platform, to sit down until technicians could get the soundstage doors open and let in some light.
"Remember My Forgotten Man" is sung by Joan Blondell and Etta Moten and features sets influenced by German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
and a gritty evocation of Depression-era poverty. Berkeley was inspired by the May 1932 war veterans' march
Bonus Army
The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates...
on Washington, D.C. When the number was finished, Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
and Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
(the studio production head) were so impressed that they ordered it moved to the end of the film, displacing "Pettin' in the Park".
An additional production number was filmed, but cut before release: "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" was to have been sung by Ginger Rogers, but instead appears in the film sung by Dick Powell near the beginning.
Circumventing censorship with alternate footage
According to the book Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood by Mark A. Vieira, this was one of the first American films made and distributed with alternate footage in order to circumvent state censorship problems. Busby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
used lavish production numbers as a showcase of the female anatomy that were both "lyrical and lewd". In this film, "Pettin' in the Park" and "We're in the Money" are prime examples. The state censorship boards had become so troublesome that a number of studios began filming slightly different versions of censorable scenes. In this way, when a film was edited, the "toned down" reels were labeled according to district. One version could be sent to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, another to the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, and another to the United Kingdom, etc. According to Vieira, this film had two different endings — in one, the rocky romance between Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
and Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
(whom he calls "cheap and vulgar") is resolved backstage after the "Forgotten Man" number; in an alternate ending, the film ends with the number.
See also
- The Gold DiggersThe Gold Diggers (1923 film)The Gold Diggers is a Warner Bros. silent film directed by Harry Beaumont with screenplay by Grant Carpenter based on the play of the same name by Avery Hopwood which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920. Both the play and the film were produced by David Belasco...
- Gold Diggers of Broadway
- Gold Diggers of 1935Gold Diggers of 1935Gold Diggers of 1935 is a Warner Bros. musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley and starring Dick Powell, Gloria Stuart, Adolphe Menjou, Winifred Shaw, Alice Brady, Hugh Herbert and Frank McHugh...
- Gold Diggers of 1937Gold Diggers of 1937Gold Diggers of 1937 is a 1936 Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley, and starring Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, who were married at the time, and Victor Moore. The film features songs by the teams of Harold Arlen and E.Y...
- Gold Diggers in ParisGold Diggers in ParisGold Diggers in Paris is a 1938 Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Ray Enright with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins.-Plot:...
- Pre-Code Hollywood