Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: All The World Is A Stage - Part 9 of 12

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies:

All The World Is A Stage

Part 9 of 12

This is the ninth of a twelve-part series of posts dealing with show business, be it the stage or soundstage.

Yes, show people, their tawdry little lives - in the theatre or movie studio - in all their glory, projected up there on the big screen, bigger than life; and they wouldn't have it any other way. For you see, they live for the stuff; the imitation glamor, the insufferable players, the exhausting rehearsals, and the oh-so important reviews - but above all else - they do it for the applause.

So hit the lights, for today, all the world is, indeed, a stage!

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Walking Down Broadway

(1933)

AKA: Hello, Sister!

Peggy and her friend Millie are strolling down Broadway while Jimmy and Mac are trolling Broadway, and the four get together. Jimmy and Peggy get together in many romantic ways and Peggy soon finds that her expected baby needs a father. Since Jimmy is the father (to-be) she informs him, but Jimmy thinks she is lying!

Based on Dawn Powell's un-produced play of the same name, this American pre-Code drama-romance was directed by Erich von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh, Alfred L. Werker, and Edwin Burke, although none of those directors are credited. The film was drastically re-edited and released as Hello, Sister. The film stars James Dunn, ZaSu Pitts, Minna Gombell, Terrance Ray, and Boots Mallory.

Erich von Stroheim was famous for going over budget and over schedule on his previous films, but this one was finished within budget. Erich von Stroheim's directorial contract for this film limited him to a film of 8500 feet and prohibited him from appearing on-screen. This is the final credited film of Eric von Stroheim as a director.

Fox executives were pleased with von Stroheim's timeliness and planned to hire him to direct another film. But upon viewing the footage, they balked at the "sexual obsessions, neuroses, and other grim aspects of the film". According to White, the screening audience was composed of "studio lot secretaries" and the feedback was that the production was "morbid, unpleasant, strange, and unsavory"

Before Stroheim completed this film, it was taken from him by the studio and re-shot almost entirely. When released, the film flopped. After director Erich von Stroheim was fired, a studio spokesperson told the press that Stroheim's original cut had been twenty reels and that, while he was planning to edit it down to twelve, another director was being brought in to bring it down to nine reels. There was no truth to this story, but it was widely believed due to Stroheim's reputation for over shooting and for attempting to release films that were commercially too long.

James Dunn and Boots Mallory

ZaSu Pitts, the star of von Stroheim's silent films Greed (1924) and The Wedding March (1928), was chosen by the director to play the part of Millie. Von Stroheim once called Pitts "the greatest psycho-pathological actress in the American cinema"; in this film, he envisioned her as the centerpiece of the story, the "romantic martyr". Von Stroheim originally wanted George Raft to play Mac, but the part was ultimately filled by Terrance Ray. Boots Mallory was a newcomer to film, and James Dunn was a Fox contract player.

Boots Mallory

Cinematographer James Wong Howe alleged that von Stroheim physically bruised Mallory when she was too exhausted to cry on cue. Von Stroheim also ran a 12 foot length of thread up Dunn's pant leg, tied to the actor's genitals, and tugged upon it every time he wanted the actor to show more emotion in his scenes.

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Walking On Broadway

(1938)

Five close-knit showgirls sign a pact to reunite one year after the closing of their Broadway production, but the lives of all five take many different turns, often for the worse.

Based on Mark Hellinger's story Six Girls and Death, this American drama was directed by Norman Foster and stars Claire Trevor, Phyllis Brooks, Leah Ray, Dixie Dunbar, Lyn Bari, and Jayne Regan.

Phyllis Brooks

Claire Trevor

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Babes On Broadway

(1941)

Tommy Williams desperately wants to get to Broadway, but, since he's only singing in a spaghetti house for tips, he is a long way off. He meets Penny Morris, a great singer, and, through her, gets the idea to promote a show to send orphaned children on a country holiday. But he is only using the kids to get attention for himself, which Penny quickly comes to realize. What with his romance hitting the skids, an engagement in Philadelphia he can't get to, and war in Europe? Life, indeed, can be difficult.

This American musical was directed by Busby Berkeley, with Vincente Minnelli directing Judy Garland's big solo numbers. It stars Mickey Rooney and Garland, and features Fay Bainter and Virginia Weidler.

Babes on Broadway was the third film in the 'Backyard Musical' series, which included Babes in Arms (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940) and Girl Crazy (1943).

The role of Barbara Jo was originally intended for Shirley Temple but after the failure of her film, Kathleen (1941), MGM canceled the rest of her three-picture deal. Virginia Weidler was cast instead.

Mickey Rooney met his first wife Ava Gardner on the set of this film while dressed in drag as Carmen Miranda.

The film was stalled in the middle of production when Garland secretly flew to Las Vegas to wed her first husband David Rose. She was 19 years old.

(The movie ends with a minstrel show performed by the main cast in blackface.)

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Meet Me On Broadway

(1946)

Believing he can produce better Broadway shows without the hindrance of his producer, Eddie Dolan quits the musical he is directing, taking his starring actress and sweetheart, Ann Stallings, and his songwriter, Deacon McGill, with him.

This American comedy was directed by Leigh Jason stars Marjorie Reynolds, Frederick Brady, Jinx Falkenburg, Spring Byington, Allen Jenkins, Gene Lockhart and Loren Tindall.

The sets, costumes, dancers, choreography, and even Marjorie Reynolds' voice double, Martha Mears are all recycled from Tonight and Every Night (1945).

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The Barkleys of Broadway

(1949)

Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful, though argumentative, musical-comedy team, yet Dinah chafes at playing Galatea to her husband's Pygmalion. When serious playwright Jacques Barredout envisions her as a great dramatic actress, Dinah is not hard to persuade.

This American Technicolor musical comedy film from the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers after ten years apart. Directed by Charles Walters, the screenplay is by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Sidney Sheldon.

This was originally planned for Fred Astaire and Judy Garland to star in after their success together in Easter Parade (1948), but when Garland's addiction to drugs spiraled out of control, producer Arthur Freed replaced her with Ginger Rogers. The original title of the film was supposed to be You Made Me Love You, after a hit song of Garland's. The film actually went into rehearsals with Garland, but it was soon clear that she would not be physically and emotionally able to do it.

 

Fred Astaire had sung They Can't Take That Away from Me to Ginger Rogers previously in Shall We Dance (1937), but they had never danced to it. Rogers suggested that they use the song again (this time dancing), and so it was included.

This was the tenth and final film to co-star Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and their first in ten years since The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). Also, it was their only film together in color, and the only one they made for a studio other than RKO.

Fred Astaire's wife Phyllis was widely rumored to have forbidden him to kiss  Rogers in their first nine films together. To end the gossip, in The Barkleys of Broadway, Fred and Ginger performed a kiss that was the longest recorded in a Hollywood film to that date.

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next time...

Same place, same channel.

How About You - Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney

From the 1941 motion picture Babes On Broadway