Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies
She's A Lady!
Part XXXI
Yes, sometimes? It takes a lady.
Or so these films would have us believe.
They promise lots of drama, the occasional comedy or musical, and a little bit of dirt!
Let's take a walk down Hollywood Blvd. and shine a light on these magnificent classic films.
This way, if you please. But remember...
Ladies first!
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Dancing Lady
(1933)
Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Rich playboy Tod Newton discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.
Co-stars Franchot Tone and Joan Crawford were married from 1935-39. They made seven films together between 1933-37. Dancing Lady (1933) was originally to have starred Robert Montgomery in the part of Tod Newton. According to contemporary news items, Franchot Tone replaced him when Montgomery became unavailable because he had not yet completed Another Language (1933). A fight for Tone's affections started the feud between Crawford and Bette Davis.
Film debut of Fred Astaire. Joan Crawford was Fred Astaire's first on-screen dance partner. Crawford would pass away on Astaire's 78th birthday.
This is also the credited film debut of Nelson Eddy. In addition, Algonquin Round Table humorist Robert Benchley plays a supporting role.
Eve Arden has a bit part in the film. In one memorable scene, she plays an actress faking a Southern accent. Twelve years later, she and Crawford teamed for the noir classic Mildred Pierce (1945), which won Crawford a Best-Actress Oscar and Arden a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
In the original film, Larry Fine completes his jigsaw puzzle only to discover to his disgust that it's a picture of Hitler. This was removed by the Production Code before the film was released to theaters, because they claimed it was an insult to a foreign head of state. The scene was restored to the TV release but not to the video release.
The blonde wig Joan Crawford wears during the finale of this film is the exact same wig Bette Davis wears in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
Dancing Lady was a box office hit upon its release and drew mostly positive reviews from critics. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote, "It is for the most part quite a lively affair. The dancing of Fred Astaire and Miss Crawford is most graceful and charming. The photographic effects of their scenes are an impressive achievement. Miss Crawford takes her role with no little seriousness."
According to MGM records the film earned $1,490,000 in the US and Canada and $916,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $744,000.
Clark Gabel and Joan Crawford
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Hitch Hike Lady
(1935)
In this touching tale, an elderly British woman saves up enough money to visit her son in the US. She believes that he is doing well, but he is actually a prisoner in San Quentin!
This American comedy was directed by Aubrey Scotto and stars Alison Skipworth, Mae Clarke, Arthur Treacher, James Ellison, Warren Hymer and Beryl Mercer. The film was released on December 28, 1935, by Republic Pictures.
Alison Skipworth, a renowned British thespian, appeared opposite W.C. Fields as his nemesis in four films: If I Had a Million (1932), Tillie and Gus (1933), Alice in Wonderland (1933), and Six of a Kind (1934).
A nitrate print of this film is currently held by the UCLA Film and Television Archives, but is not listed for preservation. You can watch this film in its entirety on YouTube for free.
In January 1941, the director of this picture, Aubrey Scotto was one of several men named in divorce proceedings, accused of "committing improper acts" with actress Marion Talley. He had directed her in the 1936 film Follow Your Heart. Scotto was married at the time to Florida socialite Natalie H. Scotto, but his relationship with Talley was cited in the divorce suit against him in March 1941. Born in 1895, by October 1948, he had been married four times.
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Fugitive Lady
(1950)
AKA: La Strada Buia
An insurance investigator looks into the death of a man who drove his car off a cliff in an apparent suicide. After looking into the incident, the investigator begins to suspect it may not have been suicide after all.
Based on the novel Dark Road by Doris Miles Disney, this Italian crime drama was directed by Sidney Salkow and an uncredited Marino Girolami, and stars Janis Paige, Binnie Barnes, and Massimo Serato.
The New York Times staff wrote in a review: "Mr. Frankovitch (the producer) has unwound this meandering claptrap, which is recounted in an interminable series of flashbacks by practically everybody in the cast, against the eye-popping magnificence of Rome's café society playground. John O'Dea (screenwriter) has pounded out a laboriously one-dimensional scenario, Sidney Salkow's direction is vacuous and fumbling and the cast responds accordingly. As the passion-blinded spouse, Eduardo Ciannelli grits his teeth and grins like an agonized possum. Binnie Barnes, who is also Mrs. Frankovitch, does a stiff but at least restrained job as his protecting sister. And Massimo Serato makes an honest but unsustained try as the gigolo. But Miss Paige, who ranges from Louisa M. Alcott demureness to snarling tantrums, takes the cake for water-level histrionics. Just why Mr. Frankovitch bothered with such a diabolically dull heroine is anyone's guess. Maybe Doris Miles Disney, who wrote the original novel, knows. At any rate, somebody should have opened a window to let in some more air - and scenery."
Janis Paige was an American actress and singer. With a career spanning nearly 60 years, she was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was equally successful on Broadway and television.
Stardom came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. She was on the December 1954 cover of Esquire, where she was featured in a seductive pose taken by American photographer Maxwell Frederic Coplan. For the screen version, the studio wanted one major movie star to guarantee the film's success, so John Raitt's role of Sid was offered to Frank Sinatra, who would have been paired with Paige. When Sinatra declined, the producers offered Paige's role of Babe to Doris Day, who accepted and was paired with Raitt.
Paige married three times and had no children.
In 2001, Paige found that her voice was cracking with nearly irreparable vocal-cord damage. She went to a singing teacher a friend recommended. Paige's voice ended up worse with her not being able to talk at all. "He literally took my voice away," she said. "I lost all my top voice. I couldn't hold a pitch for a second. Finally, I couldn't make a sound. He said that this will all come back. It didn't." After working with two other coaches, she finally was introduced by a doctor to another voice teacher, Bruce Eckstut, who helped her regain her speaking voice and singing voice.
In 2017, at age 95, Paige wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter in which she stated that Alfred Bloomingdale had attempted to rape her when she was 22 years old. She alleges that she was sexually assaulted after being lured into Bloomingdale's apartment under false pretenses.
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That Lady
(1955)
Ana, the Princess of Eboli, wears a black patch over her right eye, where she was blinded as a youth while fighting a duel in defense of her King, the despotic Philip. Thereafter, she and the monarch were close friends, although his passion for her was never consummated. She marries one of Philip's ministers, bore him a son, and soon became a widow. Now Philip calls upon her to assist in coaching a commoner, Antonio Perez, for the office of First Secretary to the Crown. The result is more than Philip bargained for as Ana and Antonio become lovers and create a scandal in court, always the scene of perpetual intrigue. Philip has Antonio arrested on a drummed-up charge of murder, and when Ana refuses to leave Madrid, she too is arrested. After spending time in jail, she is transferred to her home and held in check. Antonio escapes and makes his way to Ana, who persuades him to leave the country and take her son.
Director Terence Young tried to interest Greta Garbo in starring in this film, without success. Vivien Leigh was interested, but due to her declining health and tuberculosis, it was impossible to insure her. Olivia de Havilland was the third choice for the film. Terence Young, went on to direct three James Bond films: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball.
Christopher Lee appears in a minor role as the Captain of the Guard.
Olivia de Haviland
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Foxy Lady
(1971)
Hero is a nice kid who helps everyone in trouble and Leander is the richest girl in the world. They meet and fall in love.
This Canadian comedy was directed by Ivan Reitman and stars Alan Gordon and Sylvia Feigle.
This was Reitman's debut feature film. Reitman would go on to direct such blockbusters as Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. It also served as the first film appearance of both Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin.
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And that's all for now, folks!
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
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Love Theme from Foxy Lady - Doug Riley / Ivan Reitman
(1971)
