Rafter Romance
Encyclopedia
Rafter Romance is a 1933
RKO romantic comedy film
directed by William A. Seiter
. The film, which was based on the novel of the same name by John Wells, stars Ginger Rogers
and Norman Foster
and features George Sidney, Laura Hope Crews
, Guinn Williams
and Robert Benchley
.
) is a young woman from upstate who came to New York City to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Jack Bacon (Norman Foster
) is an aspiring artist who lives in the same Greenwich Village
building as her, in the attic loft. Both are months behind on their rent, and their landlord, Max Eckbaum (George Sidney), a good-natured soul who nevertheless has expenses to meet, comes up with a solution, to move Mary into Jack's loft, and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary is taking a job selling refrigerators by telephone, which keeps her out all day.
However, each still manages to get a very bad impression of what the other is like, when each realizes that the other is of the opposite sex from articles of clothing lying about. A series of misunderstandings leads to a series of increasingly annoying pranks aimed at each other. Jack places a bucket in the shower, and when Mary takes one it falls on her head. Then she places Jack's suit in the shower, so that it gets wet. In retaliation, he saws her bed in half so that it would come apart when she sits on it.
Their situation really gets complicated when Mary and Jack manage to accidentally meet out of the apartment, each not knowing who the other is, and begin to fall in love. Matters get worse when Mary's boss, lecherous H. Harrington Hubbell (Robert Benchley
), tries to invite her out for dinner, and Jack's would-be "patron", lonely, libidinous and rich older woman Elise Peabody Willington Smythe (Laura Hope Crews
), tries to maintain her monopoly on the artist.
When Jack accompanies Mary to a company picnic, they slip away from the group together and miss the bus back to town, forcing them to take a taxi. When they arrive at Jack's home, Mary realizes that Jack is her roommate. Trying to allay what he assumes are her suspicions about the arrangement, and unaware that Mary is the person he's been sharing the attic with, Jack strongly denounces his co-tenant to her, until the landlord comes and lets them know who is who. Both Elise and Hubbell also arrive, Elise tries to bribe Mary, and a protective cabdriver, Fritzie (Guinn Williams
), punches Hubbell, mistaking him for Jack. Realizing his mistake, Fritzie then goes to his cab where Jack is pleading with Mary. Fritzie is about to punch Jack when Mary intervenes, and the cab drives off with Jack and Mary kissing in the backseat. Asked if they will get married, the landlord says, "I arranged it."
and Dorothy Jordan
would star in the film, and then paired Lew Ayres
with Ginger Rogers, before casting Norman Foster as the male lead. Foster and Rogers had been teamed before on Young Man of Manhattan
in 1930, and would also make Professional Sweetheart together later in 1933, also directed by William A. Seiter
. Rogers also began her partnership with Fred Astaire
in 1933 on Flying Down to Rio
, produced by Merian C. Cooper.
Four years after the release of Rafter Romance, producer Merian C. Cooper
re-made it as Living on Love, with James Dunn
and Whitney Bourne, also for RKO. The plots of other films, including the German film Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (1932), the French film A Moi le jour, à toi nuit (1932) and the British Early to Bed
(1933) have similarities to Rafter Romance, but are actually based on a completely separate screenplay by Robert Liebmann. Also, Ernst Lubitsch
's The Shop Around the Corner
(1939) starring James Stewart
and Margaret Sullavan
, is similar in some respects as well.
Merian C. Cooper accused RKO of not paying him all the money contractually due for the films he produced in the 1930s. A settlement was reached in 1946, giving Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles: Rafter Romance, Double Harness
(1933) with Ann Harding
and William Powell
, The Right to Romance (1933), One Man's Journey
(1933) with Lionel Barrymore
, Living on Love (1937), and A Man to Remember
(1938). According to an interview with a retired RKO executive, Cooper withdrew the films, only allowing them to be shown on television in 1955-1956 in New York City
. In 2007 the films were shown at the Film Forum
in New York, and Turner Classic Movies
, which had acquired the rights to the six films after extensive legal negotiations, broadcast them, their first full public exhibition in over 70 years. TCM, in association with the Library of Congress
and the Brigham Young University
Motion Picture Archive, had searched many film archives throughout the world to find copies of the films in order to create new 35mm prints.
1933 in film
-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
RKO romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter was an American film director. He was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, doubling a cowboy...
. The film, which was based on the novel of the same name by John Wells, stars 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....
and Norman Foster
Norman Foster (director)
Norman Foster was an American film director and actor.Born John Hoeffer in Richmond, Indiana, Foster originally became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in Indiana before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies...
and features George Sidney, Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
, Guinn Williams
Guinn Williams (actor)
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as Dodge City , Santa Fe Trail , and The Comancheros...
and Robert Benchley
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor...
.
Plot
Mary Carroll (Ginger RogersGinger 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....
) is a young woman from upstate who came to New York City to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Jack Bacon (Norman Foster
Norman Foster (director)
Norman Foster was an American film director and actor.Born John Hoeffer in Richmond, Indiana, Foster originally became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in Indiana before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies...
) is an aspiring artist who lives in the same Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
building as her, in the attic loft. Both are months behind on their rent, and their landlord, Max Eckbaum (George Sidney), a good-natured soul who nevertheless has expenses to meet, comes up with a solution, to move Mary into Jack's loft, and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary is taking a job selling refrigerators by telephone, which keeps her out all day.
However, each still manages to get a very bad impression of what the other is like, when each realizes that the other is of the opposite sex from articles of clothing lying about. A series of misunderstandings leads to a series of increasingly annoying pranks aimed at each other. Jack places a bucket in the shower, and when Mary takes one it falls on her head. Then she places Jack's suit in the shower, so that it gets wet. In retaliation, he saws her bed in half so that it would come apart when she sits on it.
Their situation really gets complicated when Mary and Jack manage to accidentally meet out of the apartment, each not knowing who the other is, and begin to fall in love. Matters get worse when Mary's boss, lecherous H. Harrington Hubbell (Robert Benchley
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor...
), tries to invite her out for dinner, and Jack's would-be "patron", lonely, libidinous and rich older woman Elise Peabody Willington Smythe (Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews
Laura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
), tries to maintain her monopoly on the artist.
When Jack accompanies Mary to a company picnic, they slip away from the group together and miss the bus back to town, forcing them to take a taxi. When they arrive at Jack's home, Mary realizes that Jack is her roommate. Trying to allay what he assumes are her suspicions about the arrangement, and unaware that Mary is the person he's been sharing the attic with, Jack strongly denounces his co-tenant to her, until the landlord comes and lets them know who is who. Both Elise and Hubbell also arrive, Elise tries to bribe Mary, and a protective cabdriver, Fritzie (Guinn Williams
Guinn Williams (actor)
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as Dodge City , Santa Fe Trail , and The Comancheros...
), punches Hubbell, mistaking him for Jack. Realizing his mistake, Fritzie then goes to his cab where Jack is pleading with Mary. Fritzie is about to punch Jack when Mary intervenes, and the cab drives off with Jack and Mary kissing in the backseat. Asked if they will get married, the landlord says, "I arranged it."
Cast
- Ginger Rogers as Mary Carroll
- Norman FosterNorman Foster (director)Norman Foster was an American film director and actor.Born John Hoeffer in Richmond, Indiana, Foster originally became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in Indiana before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies...
as Jack Bacon - George Sidney as Max Eckbaum
- Robert BenchleyRobert BenchleyRobert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor...
as H. Harrington Hubbell - Laura Hope CrewsLaura Hope CrewsLaura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
as Elise Peabody Whittington Smythe - Guinn WilliamsGuinn Williams (actor)Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as Dodge City , Santa Fe Trail , and The Comancheros...
as Fritzie - Sidney Miller as Julius Eckbaum
Production
Production on Rafter Romance began in mid-June 1933. RKO initially announced that Joel McCreaJoel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
and Dorothy Jordan
Dorothy Jordan
Dorothea Jordan was an Irish actress, courtesan, and the mistress and companion of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom, for 20 years while he was Duke of Clarence...
would star in the film, and then paired Lew Ayres
Lew Ayres
Lew Ayres was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr...
with Ginger Rogers, before casting Norman Foster as the male lead. Foster and Rogers had been teamed before on Young Man of Manhattan
Young Man of Manhattan
Young Man of Manhattan is a 1930 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Monta Bell, and starring Claudette Colbert, Norman Foster, Ginger Rogers and Charles Ruggles...
in 1930, and would also make Professional Sweetheart together later in 1933, also directed by William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter
William A. Seiter was an American film director. He was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, doubling a cowboy...
. Rogers also began her partnership with Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
in 1933 on Flying Down to Rio
Flying Down to Rio
Flying Down to Rio is a 1933 RKO musical film noted for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Astaire and Rogers were not the stars of the film, however, Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond were top-billed. Among the featured players Franklin Pangborn and Eric Blore are...
, produced by Merian C. Cooper.
Four years after the release of Rafter Romance, producer Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
re-made it as Living on Love, with James Dunn
James Dunn
James Dunn, Jim Dunn or Jimmy Dunn may refer to:James Dunn:*James Dunn , an actor who performed in Bad Girl and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn*James Dunn , Australian Senator...
and Whitney Bourne, also for RKO. The plots of other films, including the German film Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (1932), the French film A Moi le jour, à toi nuit (1932) and the British Early to Bed
Early to Bed
Early to Bed is a 1928 short comedy silent film starring Laurel and Hardy. When the homeless pair learn that Hardy has inherited a fortune, they move into a mansion...
(1933) have similarities to Rafter Romance, but are actually based on a completely separate screenplay by Robert Liebmann. Also, Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
's The Shop Around the Corner
The Shop Around the Corner
-External links:* Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, Issue 1, 2010...
(1939) starring James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
and Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan started her career on the stage in 1929. In 1933 she caught the attention of movie director John M. Stahl and had her debut on the screen that same year in Only Yesterday...
, is similar in some respects as well.
Merian C. Cooper accused RKO of not paying him all the money contractually due for the films he produced in the 1930s. A settlement was reached in 1946, giving Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles: Rafter Romance, Double Harness
Double Harness
Double Harness is a film starring Ann Harding and William Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Edward Poor Montgomery. A young woman maneuvers a lazy playboy into marrying her....
(1933) with Ann Harding
Ann Harding
Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...
and William Powell
William Powell
William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
, The Right to Romance (1933), One Man's Journey
One Man's Journey
One Man's Journey was a 2005 documentary series on PBS, featuring the canoe travels of naturalist and filmmaker Robert Perkins.-References:-External links:...
(1933) with Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
, Living on Love (1937), and A Man to Remember
A Man to Remember
A Man to Remember is a American drama film directed by Garson Kanin, his first film credit as a director. The picture was based on the novel The Failure, written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor, and the screenplay was penned by Dalton Trumbo. The story tells of a saintly small town doctor working...
(1938). According to an interview with a retired RKO executive, Cooper withdrew the films, only allowing them to be shown on television in 1955-1956 in New York City
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...
. In 2007 the films were shown at the Film Forum
Film Forum
Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...
in New York, and Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, which had acquired the rights to the six films after extensive legal negotiations, broadcast them, their first full public exhibition in over 70 years. TCM, in association with 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...
and the Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
Motion Picture Archive, had searched many film archives throughout the world to find copies of the films in order to create new 35mm prints.