The Life of the Party is a
1930-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front - Universal Studios*Best Actress: Norma Shearer - The Divorcee*Best Actor: George Arliss - Disraeli...
musical comedy film photographed entirely in
TechnicolorTechnicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation , now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood...
. 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. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred.
The Life of the Party is a
1930-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front - Universal Studios*Best Actress: Norma Shearer - The Divorcee*Best Actor: George Arliss - Disraeli...
musical comedy film photographed entirely in
TechnicolorTechnicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation , now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood...
. 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. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists. The film only survives in a black and white copy (of the United States release print) made in the 1950s for television.
Plot
The girls try to find a millionaire in Havana but end up finding a male "gold-digger" who is looking for a rich woman to help pay his bills. Eventually, the dressmaker arrives in Havana...
Pre-Code Sequences
One of the Pre-Code gags in this comedy include a scene where the dressmaker is showing the girls some dresses and says "And this one the prince wanted to wear but his mother would not let him."
Towards the end of the film LeMaire catches up with the two golddiggers and literally destroys a room while shouting "I Will Call The Police If I Don't Get The Money For The Dresses" After he gets a check he says: "And I'm glad I didn't lose my temper!"
Songs
- "Poison Ivy"
- "Can It Be Possible?"(Cut from United States release print)
- "One Robin Doesn't Make A Spring" (Cut from United States release print)
- "Somehow" (Cut from United States release print)
Preservation
Only a black and white copy of the cut print released in the United States (without most of the musical numbers) seems to have survived. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists.
Trivia
The music heard of the credits at the beginning of the film was added in the 1950s. These credits are also not original but have been redrawn, removing all indication that the film was photographed in Technicolor. The original music survives on
VitaphoneVitaphone was a sound film process used on features and nearly 2,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. This was not the original process. The first process was called Fuchessound. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the...
disks. The rest of the film, beginning with the first title card ("New York was originally purchased from the Indians..."), has the original sound.
Cast (in credits order)
- 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...
as Flo
- Irene Delroy as Dorothy 'Dot' Stottsbury
- Jack Whiting as Jerry 'A.J.' Smith
- Charles Butterworth
Charles Butterworth, Ph.D. is a noted philosopher of the Straussian school and currently a professor of political philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park.Butterworth is also a translator and editor of numerous books, including:...
as Colonel Joy
- Charles Judels
Charles Judels was a Dutch-born American film actor. He appeared in 137 films between 1915 and 1949.He was born in Amsterdam, and died in San Francisco, California.-Selected filmography:...
as Monsieur LeMaire (the Dressmaker)
- John Davidson
John Davidson was an American film actor. He appeared in 148 films between 1915 and 1963.He was born in New York, New York and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...
as Mr. A.J. Smith
- Arthur Hoyt
Arthur Hoyt was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34 year film career, about a third of them silent films. He was a brother of Harry O...
as Jerry's secretary
also the
Our GangOur Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, Our Gang was produced at the Roach studio starting in 1922 as a...
kids did appear in the flim