Gold Diggers of Broadway (film)
Encyclopedia
Gold Diggers of Broadway is a 1929 Warner Bros.
comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second two-strip Technicolor all-talking feature length movie (after On With the Show, also released that year by Warner Bros). Gold Diggers of Broadway was also the third movie released by Warner Bros. to be in color; the first was a black-and-white, part-color musical, The Desert Song
(1929). Gold Diggers of Broadway became a box office
sensation, making Winnie Lightner
a worldwide star and boosting guitarist crooner Nick Lucas
to further fame as he sang two songs that became 20th-century standards: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips
" and "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine."
Based on the 1919 play The Gold Diggers – which was also turned into a silent film of the same name
in 1923, now lost – Gold Diggers of Broadway utilized Technicolor
, showgirls and sound as its main selling points.
It earned a domestic gross of $3.5 million, extending to over $5 million worldwide (adjusted for inflation in 2007 this would be a gross of around $60 million). The original production cost was approximately $500,000. This film was so popular that it quickly became the top-grossing film of all time in 1929 and held this record until 1939. It was chosen as one of the ten best films of 1929 by Film Daily
. As with many early Technicolor films, no complete print survives, although the last twenty minutes do, but are missing a bridging sequence and the last minute of the film. Contemporary reviews, the soundtrack and the surviving footage suggest that the film was a fast-moving comedy which was enhanced by Technicolor and a set of lively and popular songs. It encapsulates the spirit of the flapper
era, giving us a glimpse of a world about to be changed by the Great Depression
.
Because the film is considered a partially lost film
, the loose remake, Gold Diggers of 1933
, is the most frequently seen version of the story.
showgirls who are all looking for love and money but not sure which is the most important.
The film opens on an audience watching a lavish Broadway
show, featuring a giant gold mine production number ("Song of the Gold Diggers"). This is followed by famous guitarist Nick Lucas
who sings the song "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" which climaxes on stage with a huge art deco
revolving sun.
Backstage, the star of the show (Ann Pennington
) is fighting over Nick with another girl. We are also introduced to a group of chorus girls who are all 'man hungry'. They are visited by a faded star who is reduced to selling cosmetic soap. They gossip about how they all want a man with plenty of money so they don't end up selling soap. We then discover that a stuffy businessman called Stephen Lee (Conway Tearle
) angrily forbids his nephew Wally (William Bakewell
), to marry one of the showgirls (Violet).
A corpulent lawyer friend, Blake (Albert Gran
), advises him to befriend the showgirl first before making a decision. However, the showgirls are a group of friends who stick together and the most raucous girl called Mabel (Winnie Lightner
) takes a fancy to Blake calling him 'sweetie' and shows her appreciation by singing him a song ("Mechanical Man").
That evening, they all visit a huge night club. Mabel ends up on a table singing another song to Blake, "Wolf from the Door" before jumping into his lap. Showgirl Jerry (Nancy Welford
) extends the party to her apartment. Everyone gets drunk and after seeing Ann Pennington dance on the kitchen table, Lee decides he is 'getting to like these showgirls'. Blake says he is 'losing his mind or just plain mad'.
Keeping the fun going, Lucas sings "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Complications come thick and fast after a balloon game with both Blake and Lee falling under the spell of Mabel and Jerry. Blake gets fed drinks from Mabel. The party ends with Lucas singing "Go to Bed" and Jerry contrives to get Lee back after everyone has left. She gets him more drunk whilst tipping her own drinks away when he isn't looking. Her aim is to get Lee to agree to allow Wally to marry. To do this she lies and is shown up by her own mother who accidentally finds both of them together.
Next morning Jerry is feeling disgraced. Mabel has been given an extra line for the show 'I am the spirit of the ages and the progress of civilisation', but cannot get the words right. Lucas is told off for singing poor songs and sings another "What will I do without you". Ann Pennington fights with another showgirl and hurts her eye. Jerry is asked to take her place as the star of the evening performance. Mabel receives a proposal of marriage from Blake, but worries about her extra line.
The show starts with Nick Lucas reprising "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"' with full orchestra in a huge stage set that shows girl tulips in a huge greenhouse. Backstage, Uncle Steve comes back to give his consent to his nephew and tell Jerry he wants to marry her.
The finale starts with Jerry leading the "Song of the Gold Diggers" against a huge art deco backdrop of Paris at night. Various acrobats and girls litter the stage as all the songs are reprised in a fast moving, lavish production number. This ends with Jerry sweeping through the middle as the music reaches a climax. Mabel then says her line, but forgets the end!
Cast notes
signed up for the film (he was hired by Darryl Zanuck) it was spotted as a potential hit and 'Tip-toe through the Tulips' was written to enlarge the film and proved, against expectations to be just as popular. Zanuck provided an extra production number for the tune. It became his theme song, yet ended up being emulated in a much different version by the 1960s singer Tiny Tim
who recorded it as a novelty, and eventually attached a campy stigma to the tune that would remain, seemingly forever after. Lucas was a favorite of Tiny Tim's, however, and even appeared as a guest at Tim's infamous wedding ceremony on The Tonight Show
in 1969, singing both of their trademark number.
The two production numbers for "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips
" both start on a smaller set and move to a larger one. To change between sets while the song was sung and create a seamless transition, instead of using a curtain, a shot of a stagehand was shown, throwing a sparking electric lighting switch which darkens one scene out and fades in another.
The basic storyline was modified and reused in later Warner Bros. films such as Gold Diggers of 1933
(1933) and Painting the Clouds With Sunshine
(1951).
Majestic Pictures attempted to cash in on the "Gold Diggers" concept by naming a feature Gold Diggers of Paris, however Warner Bros. prevented this via legal action. Warners released a film called Gold Diggers in Paris
in 1938.
wrote in his review for the New York Times:
The Technicolor
process used for this film could not reproduce a full range of color. Normally, color in movies and photographs is created by recording the image using filter
material sensitive to red, green and blue light values. This early Technicolor was a simplified compromise that kept the red, but used a blue/green combination with the emphasis on the green. Hence, it is known as 'two-color Technicolor', as opposed to later, 'three-color Technicolor'.
The resulting prints reproduced a rich "sepia like" browns, "reds" that varied from a muddied brick red to a coral pink and "greens" that were slightly muted and at their most pale, struggling to look like blue. No pure blue, yellow or purples were possible.
The Technicolor camera was specially constructed for the purpose of color photography, but used standard black-and-white panchromatic
negative
film. The gate
of the camera contained a prism
which split the incoming light into an image pair of film frames instead of the usual single image frame. Each image pair consisted of two back to back images, one exposed through a red filter and the other through green. The effect on the black-and-white negative was to have a record of the different color values from each filter recorded in shades of gray. This meant the negative was double the length of a conventional black-and-white negative.
This camera negative was cut and reprinted to form a complete reel
, but this was done twice, once for each colour, using a special printer to strip off the images. The negative was then printed to a special print called a matrix. This was developed to convert the image into a gelatin relief which acted like a printing plate. To create Technicolor prints, a clear 35mm film reel was run into a special dye
transfer machine. Underwater, the red exposed matrix was dyed green and brought into contact with the blank through a heated pressure roller. The dye in the matrix was stronger or weaker according to the thickness of the gelatin, which varied according to the values of the photographic image derived from the negative. The green dye transferred an image based on the original photographic values. This is known as imbibition
printing (it has also been used for professional still photography). The complete reel was then fed through a second pass using the green exposed matrix and this was dyed red. When the red-dyed image was stamped over the green, a complete color image was formed (the process was later refined for full color to add a third pass (known as 3 strip Technicolor) and a silver
or sometimes dye image to sharpen the print).
The prints were expensive (compared to black and white). The prints were never as well defined as a black-and-white print and this was due to unavoidable dye spread. The speed of the camera was around 4 ISO/ASA. The studio lighting was therefore very intense. Pure white was forbidden on costumes because of the glare and the resulting 'white out' on the matrix, which lead to transfer problems.
"VITAPHONE recreates The Gold Diggers of Broadway in 100% natural color in Technicolor"
"One hundred percent Color, an additional feature of Vitaphone all talking pictures, doubles the 'life-likeness' of this most vivid and enjoyable of all talking pictures."
"Look for the thrill of a lifetime the day you see Gold Diggers of Broadway.....And look for the Vitaphone sign when you want talking picture entertainment-always!"
"Picture a profuse procession of revue spectacle scenes in amazing settings....superbly staged chorus dancing numbers......the flashing wit of Winnie Lightner....the charm of Nancy Welford.....the astounding dancing of Ann Pennington.....the crooning of Nick Lucas.....love scenes as only Conway Tearle can play them......a story that had New York gasping and giggling for one solid year....and you only begun to imagine the treat that is in store for you"
sound-on-disc system and released on ten reels of full frame
35mm nitrate film, two-component imbibition prints by Technicolor
, with accompanying Vitaphone soundtrack discs
. The discs, including the overture, have survived, but until around 1986 nothing was thought to have survived from the prints. At that time, an original print of the final reel, minus the final minute, was donated to the British Film Institute
. It was faithfully copied to safety film and thus preserved. Nearly ten years later, another reel was discovered in Australia, the end of the distribution line. It proved to be the penultimate reel, featuring the "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" production number. It was missing a short bridging sequence. Only three brief fragments from earlier reels are known to survive: a few seconds from the "Song of the Gold Diggers" number, in black-and-white and with superimposed text, in the trailer for Gold Diggers of 1937
; a 35mm nitrate fragment from the same number, running about twenty seconds, found included with a toy projector bought on eBay
; and another 35mm nitrate fragment, also running less than a minute, from a non-musical scene featuring Lightner and Gran, which was found with fragments from another film in a small museum.
Although the film's copyright was renewed in the late 1950s, it does not appear to have been shown on television. 16mm prints of early Warner Bros. films, including sound-on-disc films, were made in the 1950s for distribution to local television stations, and some two-color Technicolor films now survive (in black and white) only because of those prints. It is unclear why this film is not among them. Because it was one of the studio's greatest successes and was then less than thirty years old, it appears unlikely that it was simply overlooked. It may be that a sufficiently complete set of picture and sound elements could not be located at that time.
Two excerpts from the film were to have been released as bonus features on the 80th Anniversary 3-Disc Deluxe Edition DVD of The Jazz Singer
, but due to an error only one was included. The excerpt identified as "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" is actually the finale, and the excerpt identified as the finale is actually a ballet sequence from The Rogue Song, another two-color Technicolor film for which only fragments of the picture element are known to exist.
The correct pair of excerpts can be found on the Warner Bros. DVD release of Gold Diggers of 1937
.
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,...
comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second two-strip Technicolor all-talking feature length movie (after On With the Show, also released that year by Warner Bros). Gold Diggers of Broadway was also the third movie released by Warner Bros. to be in color; the first was a black-and-white, part-color musical, The Desert Song
The Desert Song (1929 film)
The Desert Song is a musical operetta film photographed partly in two-color Technicolor. This was the first movie released by Warner Bros. to be in color. Although some of the songs from the show have been omitted, the film is otherwise virtually a duplicate of the stage production...
(1929). Gold Diggers of Broadway became a box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
sensation, making Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
a worldwide star and boosting guitarist crooner Nick Lucas
Nick Lucas
Nick Lucas born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese was an American singer and pioneer jazz guitarist, remembered as "the grandfather of the jazz guitar", whose peak of popularity lasted from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.-Career:In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions...
to further fame as he sang two songs that became 20th-century standards: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
"Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is a popular song originally published in 1929. The song was written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke .‘Crooning Troubadour’ Nick Lucas’ recording of "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips" hit the top of the charts in May 1929. The song he introduced in the 1929 musical talkie Gold...
" and "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine."
Based on the 1919 play The Gold Diggers – which was also turned into a silent film of the same name
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...
in 1923, now lost – Gold Diggers of Broadway utilized Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, showgirls and sound as its main selling points.
It earned a domestic gross of $3.5 million, extending to over $5 million worldwide (adjusted for inflation in 2007 this would be a gross of around $60 million). The original production cost was approximately $500,000. This film was so popular that it quickly became the top-grossing film of all time in 1929 and held this record until 1939. It was chosen as one of the ten best films of 1929 by Film Daily
Film Daily
The Film Daily was a daily publication that existed from 1915 to 1970 in the United States.For 55 years, Film Daily was the main source of news on the film and television industries...
. As with many early Technicolor films, no complete print survives, although the last twenty minutes do, but are missing a bridging sequence and the last minute of the film. Contemporary reviews, the soundtrack and the surviving footage suggest that the film was a fast-moving comedy which was enhanced by Technicolor and a set of lively and popular songs. It encapsulates the spirit of the flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
era, giving us a glimpse of a world about to be changed by 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...
.
Because the film is considered a partially lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
, the loose remake, Gold Diggers of 1933
Gold Diggers of 1933
Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pre-code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin , staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley...
, is the most frequently seen version of the story.
Plot
The story is set in the contemporary New York City of 1929, and is about a group of 'gold digging' BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
showgirls who are all looking for love and money but not sure which is the most important.
The film opens on an audience watching a lavish Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
show, featuring a giant gold mine production number ("Song of the Gold Diggers"). This is followed by famous guitarist Nick Lucas
Nick Lucas
Nick Lucas born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese was an American singer and pioneer jazz guitarist, remembered as "the grandfather of the jazz guitar", whose peak of popularity lasted from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.-Career:In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions...
who sings the song "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" which climaxes on stage with a huge art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
revolving sun.
Backstage, the star of the show (Ann Pennington
Ann Pennington (Ziegfeld star)
This article is about Ann Pennington, the stage actress. For the Playboy model of the same name, go to Ann Pennington .Ann Pennington was an actress, dancer, and singer who starred on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, notably in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White's Scandals.She became famous for...
) is fighting over Nick with another girl. We are also introduced to a group of chorus girls who are all 'man hungry'. They are visited by a faded star who is reduced to selling cosmetic soap. They gossip about how they all want a man with plenty of money so they don't end up selling soap. We then discover that a stuffy businessman called Stephen Lee (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:...
) angrily forbids his nephew Wally (William Bakewell
William Bakewell
William Bakewell , also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.-Life and career:...
), to marry one of the showgirls (Violet).
A corpulent lawyer friend, Blake (Albert Gran
Albert Gran
Albert Gran was a Norwegian born American movie actor. He is most associated with his appearance in drama and light comedy films....
), advises him to befriend the showgirl first before making a decision. However, the showgirls are a group of friends who stick together and the most raucous girl called Mabel (Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
) takes a fancy to Blake calling him 'sweetie' and shows her appreciation by singing him a song ("Mechanical Man").
That evening, they all visit a huge night club. Mabel ends up on a table singing another song to Blake, "Wolf from the Door" before jumping into his lap. Showgirl Jerry (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...
) extends the party to her apartment. Everyone gets drunk and after seeing Ann Pennington dance on the kitchen table, Lee decides he is 'getting to like these showgirls'. Blake says he is 'losing his mind or just plain mad'.
Keeping the fun going, Lucas sings "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Complications come thick and fast after a balloon game with both Blake and Lee falling under the spell of Mabel and Jerry. Blake gets fed drinks from Mabel. The party ends with Lucas singing "Go to Bed" and Jerry contrives to get Lee back after everyone has left. She gets him more drunk whilst tipping her own drinks away when he isn't looking. Her aim is to get Lee to agree to allow Wally to marry. To do this she lies and is shown up by her own mother who accidentally finds both of them together.
Next morning Jerry is feeling disgraced. Mabel has been given an extra line for the show 'I am the spirit of the ages and the progress of civilisation', but cannot get the words right. Lucas is told off for singing poor songs and sings another "What will I do without you". Ann Pennington fights with another showgirl and hurts her eye. Jerry is asked to take her place as the star of the evening performance. Mabel receives a proposal of marriage from Blake, but worries about her extra line.
The show starts with Nick Lucas reprising "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"' with full orchestra in a huge stage set that shows girl tulips in a huge greenhouse. Backstage, Uncle Steve comes back to give his consent to his nephew and tell Jerry he wants to marry her.
The finale starts with Jerry leading the "Song of the Gold Diggers" against a huge art deco backdrop of Paris at night. Various acrobats and girls litter the stage as all the songs are reprised in a fast moving, lavish production number. This ends with Jerry sweeping through the middle as the music reaches a climax. Mabel then says her line, but forgets the end!
Cast
- Nancy WelfordNancy WelfordNancy 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...
as Jerry Lamar (the understudy) - Conway TearleConway TearleConway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...
as Stephen Lee (Uncle Steve) - Winnie LightnerWinnie LightnerWinnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
as Mabel Munroe - Ann PenningtonAnn Pennington (Ziegfeld star)This article is about Ann Pennington, the stage actress. For the Playboy model of the same name, go to Ann Pennington .Ann Pennington was an actress, dancer, and singer who starred on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, notably in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White's Scandals.She became famous for...
as Ann Collins (the leading lady) - Gertrude ShortGertrude ShortGertrude Short was an American film actress of the silent and early sound era. She appeared in 132 films between 1912 and 1945.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Hollywood, California, aged 66....
as Topsy St Clair - Lilyan TashmanLilyan TashmanLilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'...
as Eleanor - William BakewellWilliam BakewellWilliam Bakewell , also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.-Life and career:...
as Wally Saunders (the nephew) - Nick LucasNick LucasNick Lucas born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese was an American singer and pioneer jazz guitarist, remembered as "the grandfather of the jazz guitar", whose peak of popularity lasted from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.-Career:In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions...
as Nick
- Helen FosterHelen Foster (actress)Helen Foster was an American film actress.-Early life and career:Born in Independence, Kansas, Foster attending school in Kansas City and later attended finishing school in Florida. She began acting in 1924, appearing in comedy shorts and early Westerns...
as Violet Dayne - Albert GranAlbert GranAlbert Gran was a Norwegian born American movie actor. He is most associated with his appearance in drama and light comedy films....
as Jim Blake (the lawyer) - Julia Swayne GordonJulia Swayne GordonJulia Swayne Gordon , was an American actress. She appeared in 228 films between 1908 to 1933.Born in Columbus, Ohio, she starred in the first film version of the Lady Godiva legend in 1911...
as Cissy Gray - Lee MoranLee MoranLee Moran was an American actor, director and writer. He transcended the silent era of motion pictures to the talkies. Moran appeared in 462 films, directed 109 and wrote for 92 between 1912 and 1935....
as the Dance Director - Armand KalizArmand KalizArmand Kaliz was a French born American film actor of the silent film and early sound period of the 1930s.Born in Paris, Kaliz began his career in vaudeville...
as Barney Barnett - Louise BeaversLouise BeaversLouise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...
as Sadie the Maid - Neely EdwardsNeely EdwardsNeely Edwards was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 174 films between 1915 and 1959...
as the Stage Manager
Cast notes
- Winnie Lightner became one of Warner Bros. biggest stars in 1930. She starred in two lavish Technicolor features in that year: Hold EverythingHold Everything (1930 film)Hold Everything is a 1930 early all-talking film. It was the first musical comedy film to be released that was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and...
and The Life of the PartyThe Life of the Party (1930 film)The Life of the Party is a 1930 American musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. The musical numbers of this film were cut out before general release in the United States because the public had grown tired of musicals by late 1930. Only one song was left in the picture...
. Winnie Lightner's first appearance as the title character in the 1931 Olsen & Johnson comedy Gold Dust GertieGold Dust GertieGold Dust Gertie is an All-Talking musical comedy released by Warner Brothers. It was originally completed as a full musical. Due to the backlash against musicals, however, all the songs were cut from the film in all release prints in the United States...
pays homage to her success in Gold Diggers of Broadway by utilizing "Song of the Gold Diggers" as the musical underscoring during this sequence. Her flapperish care-free demeanor became decidedly dated as the conservatism of the 1930s took its course and this probably explains why she retired from films in 1934. - In a late 1960s audiotaped interview with Winnie Lightner, she speculated that her extremely poor eyesight (which began to fail unusually early) was due to her frequent exposure to the brilliant lighting required for the string of early Technicolor films she appeared in between 1929 and 1930.
- Director Roy Del Ruth married Winnie Lightner in 1940.
- The two only actors in the 1929 film to have also appeared in the 1923 silent version, 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...
, were Gertrude Short and Louise BeaversLouise BeaversLouise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...
. Largely forgotten today, Short is perhaps best known to film buffs as the aggressive reporter who hounds Robert Armstrong in the opening reel of Son of Kong (1933). Beavers, who made her (uncredited) film debut in the silent The Gold Diggers would eventually make 156 film appearances, many of them as scene-stealing maids, and played "Beulah" for a season on the TV series of that nameBeulah (series)The Beulah Show is an American situation-comedy series that ran on CBS radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC television from 1950 to 1952. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American actress.-Radio:...
. She also starred with Claudette ColbertClaudette ColbertClaudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
in the original 1934 version of Imitation of LifeImitation of Life (novel)Imitation of Life is a popular 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst, which was adapted into two successful films for Universal Pictures: a black-and-white film in 1934, and a color remake in 1959.-Plot summary:...
, largely considered her greatest role.
Production
The song 'Painting the Clouds With Sunshine' was originally the main theme for the film. After Nick LucasNick Lucas
Nick Lucas born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese was an American singer and pioneer jazz guitarist, remembered as "the grandfather of the jazz guitar", whose peak of popularity lasted from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.-Career:In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions...
signed up for the film (he was hired by Darryl Zanuck) it was spotted as a potential hit and 'Tip-toe through the Tulips' was written to enlarge the film and proved, against expectations to be just as popular. Zanuck provided an extra production number for the tune. It became his theme song, yet ended up being emulated in a much different version by the 1960s singer Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
who recorded it as a novelty, and eventually attached a campy stigma to the tune that would remain, seemingly forever after. Lucas was a favorite of Tiny Tim's, however, and even appeared as a guest at Tim's infamous wedding ceremony on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
in 1969, singing both of their trademark number.
The two production numbers for "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
"Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is a popular song originally published in 1929. The song was written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke .‘Crooning Troubadour’ Nick Lucas’ recording of "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips" hit the top of the charts in May 1929. The song he introduced in the 1929 musical talkie Gold...
" both start on a smaller set and move to a larger one. To change between sets while the song was sung and create a seamless transition, instead of using a curtain, a shot of a stagehand was shown, throwing a sparking electric lighting switch which darkens one scene out and fades in another.
The basic storyline was modified and reused in later Warner Bros. films such as Gold Diggers of 1933
Gold Diggers of 1933
Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pre-code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin , staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley...
(1933) and Painting the Clouds With Sunshine
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (film)
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine is the title of a Technicolor musical film released in 1951, directed by David Butler and starring Dennis Morgan and Virginia Mayo...
(1951).
Majestic Pictures attempted to cash in on the "Gold Diggers" concept by naming a feature Gold Diggers of Paris, however Warner Bros. prevented this via legal action. Warners released a film called Gold Diggers in Paris
Gold Diggers in Paris
Gold 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:...
in 1938.
Technicolor
Mordaunt HallMordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times, from October 1924 to September 1934....
wrote in his review for the New York Times:
- "The fun, coupled with the lovely pastel shades, the tuneful melodies, a sensible narrative, competent acting and elaborate stage settings, resulted in an extraordinarily pleasing entertainment. It caused one to meditate in the end on the remarkable progress of the screen, for not only are the voices reproduced with rare precision, but every opportunity is taken of the Technicolor process in producing the hues and glitter of a musical comedy."
The Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
process used for this film could not reproduce a full range of color. Normally, color in movies and photographs is created by recording the image using filter
Filter (optics)
Optical filters are devices which selectively transmit light of different wavelengths, usually implemented as plane glass or plastic devices in the optical path which are either dyed in the mass or have interference coatings....
material sensitive to red, green and blue light values. This early Technicolor was a simplified compromise that kept the red, but used a blue/green combination with the emphasis on the green. Hence, it is known as 'two-color Technicolor', as opposed to later, 'three-color Technicolor'.
The resulting prints reproduced a rich "sepia like" browns, "reds" that varied from a muddied brick red to a coral pink and "greens" that were slightly muted and at their most pale, struggling to look like blue. No pure blue, yellow or purples were possible.
The Technicolor camera was specially constructed for the purpose of color photography, but used standard black-and-white panchromatic
Panchromatic
Panchromatic film is a type of black-and-white photographic film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. A panchromatic film therefore produces a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye. Almost all modern photographic film is panchromatic, but some types are...
negative
Negative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
film. The gate
Gate
A gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls, or a moderately sized opening in a fence. Gates may prevent or control entry or exit, or they may be merely decorative. Other terms for gate include yett and port...
of the camera contained a prism
Prism (optics)
In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use...
which split the incoming light into an image pair of film frames instead of the usual single image frame. Each image pair consisted of two back to back images, one exposed through a red filter and the other through green. The effect on the black-and-white negative was to have a record of the different color values from each filter recorded in shades of gray. This meant the negative was double the length of a conventional black-and-white negative.
This camera negative was cut and reprinted to form a complete reel
Reel
A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...
, but this was done twice, once for each colour, using a special printer to strip off the images. The negative was then printed to a special print called a matrix. This was developed to convert the image into a gelatin relief which acted like a printing plate. To create Technicolor prints, a clear 35mm film reel was run into a special dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
transfer machine. Underwater, the red exposed matrix was dyed green and brought into contact with the blank through a heated pressure roller. The dye in the matrix was stronger or weaker according to the thickness of the gelatin, which varied according to the values of the photographic image derived from the negative. The green dye transferred an image based on the original photographic values. This is known as imbibition
Imbibition
'Imbibition' is defined as the displacement of one fluid by another immiscible fluid. This process is controlled and affected by a variety of factors...
printing (it has also been used for professional still photography). The complete reel was then fed through a second pass using the green exposed matrix and this was dyed red. When the red-dyed image was stamped over the green, a complete color image was formed (the process was later refined for full color to add a third pass (known as 3 strip Technicolor) and a silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
or sometimes dye image to sharpen the print).
The prints were expensive (compared to black and white). The prints were never as well defined as a black-and-white print and this was due to unavoidable dye spread. The speed of the camera was around 4 ISO/ASA. The studio lighting was therefore very intense. Pure white was forbidden on costumes because of the glare and the resulting 'white out' on the matrix, which lead to transfer problems.
Songs
- "Song of the Gold Diggers" (WB Vitaphone orchestra and stage chorus)
- "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" (Nick Lucas with WB Vitaphone orchestra and stage chorus)
- "And Still They Fall in Love" (Winnie Lightner with backing)
- "Song of the Gold Diggers" (Nancy Welford)
- "Blushing bride" (Nancy Welford)
- "Mechanical Man" (Winnie Lightner with backing)
- "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" - reprise (Nick Lucas with band)
- "Keeping the Wolf from the door" (Winnie Lightner with band)
- "Tip-toe thru the Tulips" (Nick Lucas with guitar and band)
- "The Pennington Glide" (Instrumental - Apartment Party Sequence) (Title cited in script)
- "The Poison kiss of that Spaniard" (need confirmation of this band instrumental) is connected with above entry?
- "In a KitchenetteKitchenetteA kitchenette is a small cooking area.In motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink...
" (Nick Lucas on guitar) - "Go to Bed" (Nick Lucas on guitar)
- "What Will I Do Without You?" (Nick Lucas on guitar)
- "Tiptoe Through the TulipsTiptoe Through the Tulips"Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is a popular song originally published in 1929. The song was written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke .‘Crooning Troubadour’ Nick Lucas’ recording of "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips" hit the top of the charts in May 1929. The song he introduced in the 1929 musical talkie Gold...
" - reprise (Nick Lucas with WB Vitaphone orchestra and chorus) - Finale featuring Nancy Welford with WB Vitaphone orchestra - "Song of the Gold Diggers" introduction/"Tip-toe thru the Tulips" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) /"Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) and chorus/"Mechanical Man" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) / Nancy Welford with WB Vitaphone orchestra - "Song of the Gold Diggers" - reprise and finale.
Advertising
Original advertisements for the film promised:"VITAPHONE recreates The Gold Diggers of Broadway in 100% natural color in Technicolor"
"One hundred percent Color, an additional feature of Vitaphone all talking pictures, doubles the 'life-likeness' of this most vivid and enjoyable of all talking pictures."
"Look for the thrill of a lifetime the day you see Gold Diggers of Broadway.....And look for the Vitaphone sign when you want talking picture entertainment-always!"
"Picture a profuse procession of revue spectacle scenes in amazing settings....superbly staged chorus dancing numbers......the flashing wit of Winnie Lightner....the charm of Nancy Welford.....the astounding dancing of Ann Pennington.....the crooning of Nick Lucas.....love scenes as only Conway Tearle can play them......a story that had New York gasping and giggling for one solid year....and you only begun to imagine the treat that is in store for you"
Preservation
Gold Diggers of Broadway was filmed using the VitaphoneVitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
sound-on-disc system and released on ten reels of full frame
Full frame
In cinematography, full frame refers to the use of the full film gate at maximum width and height for 35 mm film cameras. It is sometimes also referred to as silent aperture, full gate, or a number of other similar word combinations. It is the original gate size pioneered by William Dickson and...
35mm nitrate film, two-component imbibition prints by Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, with accompanying Vitaphone soundtrack discs
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
. The discs, including the overture, have survived, but until around 1986 nothing was thought to have survived from the prints. At that time, an original print of the final reel, minus the final minute, was donated to the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
. It was faithfully copied to safety film and thus preserved. Nearly ten years later, another reel was discovered in Australia, the end of the distribution line. It proved to be the penultimate reel, featuring the "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" production number. It was missing a short bridging sequence. Only three brief fragments from earlier reels are known to survive: a few seconds from the "Song of the Gold Diggers" number, in black-and-white and with superimposed text, in the trailer for Gold Diggers of 1937
Gold Diggers of 1937
Gold 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...
; a 35mm nitrate fragment from the same number, running about twenty seconds, found included with a toy projector bought on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
; and another 35mm nitrate fragment, also running less than a minute, from a non-musical scene featuring Lightner and Gran, which was found with fragments from another film in a small museum.
Although the film's copyright was renewed in the late 1950s, it does not appear to have been shown on television. 16mm prints of early Warner Bros. films, including sound-on-disc films, were made in the 1950s for distribution to local television stations, and some two-color Technicolor films now survive (in black and white) only because of those prints. It is unclear why this film is not among them. Because it was one of the studio's greatest successes and was then less than thirty years old, it appears unlikely that it was simply overlooked. It may be that a sufficiently complete set of picture and sound elements could not be located at that time.
Two excerpts from the film were to have been released as bonus features on the 80th Anniversary 3-Disc Deluxe Edition DVD of The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...
, but due to an error only one was included. The excerpt identified as "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" is actually the finale, and the excerpt identified as the finale is actually a ballet sequence from The Rogue Song, another two-color Technicolor film for which only fragments of the picture element are known to exist.
The correct pair of excerpts can be found on the Warner Bros. DVD release of Gold Diggers of 1937
Gold Diggers of 1937
Gold 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...
.
| Reel(s) | Preservation |
|---|---|
| 1 - 8 | Film presumed lost, soundtrack disc exists. |
| 9 | Film survives nearly complete, soundtrack disc exists. |
| 10 | Film survives except final minute, soundtrack disc exists. |
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 1933Gold Diggers of 1933Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pre-code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin , staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley...
- 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:...
- List of early color feature films