Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

David Boehm (dialogue)
Erwin S. Gelsey (writer)

Release Date:

27 May 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

The Biggest Show On Earth!

Plot:

Millionaire turned composer Dick Powell rescues unemployed Broadway people with a new play.

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Chorus Girl | Doughboy | Stage Performance | Hard Boiled Dame

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Warren William	...	J. Lawrence Bradford
Joan Blondell	...	Carol King
Aline MacMahon	...	Trixie Lorraine
Ruby Keeler	...	Polly Parker
Dick Powell	...	Brad Roberts (Robert Treat Bradford)
Guy Kibbee	...	Fanuel H. Peabody
Ned Sparks	...	Barney Hopkins
Ginger Rogers	...	Fay Fortune

Also Known As:

Golddiggers of 1933 (USA) (alternative spelling)
High Life (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Was originally planned to end with the production number "Petting in the Park", but after seeing the complete numbers, the studio added the politically charged "My Forgotten Man" at the end, pointing out that while the cast is "in the money", many others were not Depression-era America were not. Remains of the old order are visible; in the final backstage scene, Ruby Keeler and the chorus girls are all wearing costumes for the number "Petting in the Park".

Goofs:

Continuity: During the violin sequence, the cord for the lights on the violin disappears and reappears throughout.

Quotes:

Barney Hopkins: Who are you?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: The Kentucky Hillbillies.
Barney Hopkins: Who?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: The Kentucky Hillbillies.
Kentucky Hillbilly #1: Singing!
Kentucky Hillbilly #2: Dancing!
Kentucky Hillbilly #3: Music!
Kentucky Hillbilly #4: Wisecracks!
Barney Hopkins: Do you know Your Old Kentucky Home?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: You said it!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Censored (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I've Got to Sing a Torch Song

Great Pre-Code Stuff

This is the most perfect example of "history on the silver screen" that I can think of. When Ginger Rogers says, "It's the Depression, dearie" at the beginning to explain the chorus girls' bad luck, it's the key to the whole film. While the "Shadow Waltz" number was being filmed during an actual 1933 earthquake in L.A. a number of the girls toppled off the Art Deco "overpass" where they were swaying with their filmy hoop skirts and their neon violins short-circuited. The electrical hook-ups were also rather dangerous, especially if the neon bows came in contact with the girls' metallic wigs in that number. The culminating production number, "Remember My Forgotten Man," is the most significant historically and illustrates Warner Bros.' "New Deal" sensibilities. Warner Bros. was the only studio that "bought" the whole Roosevelt approach to economic recovery. The year before, under Hoover, WWI vets were not only neglected in terms of benefits but were run out of their shanty town near the Capitol building. Starving guys were camping on the edges of most communities who'd served in the Great War fifteen years before. Of course, why or how this number fits into such a '30s girlie-type musical revue is anyone's guess. Berkeley never looked for reality, just eye-popping surrealistic effects.

About ten years ago I found myself sitting next to Etta Moten Barnett at a Chicago NAACP banquet. I was flabbergasted. She was in her 90s yet still looked lovely. She's the singer who sang "Forgotten Man" in the window. She also sang "The Carioca" in Astaire and Rogers' first pairing, "Flying Down to Rio." She was quite gracious, though she did not have wonderful things to say about Hollywood of that era. The African Americans in both pictures were fed in a tent away from the general commissary area.

Ruby Keeler has a certain odd-ball appeal, like a homely puppy. She can't sing, she watches her leaden feet while she dances, and almost all her lines are read badly. Yes, she was married to Al Jolson, but that may have HURT her career more than anything. He was not exactly always likable. He was much older than Ruby and so full of himself.

This film is also a classic example of the PRE-CODE stuff that was slipping by---the leering "midget baby" (Billy Barty), the naked girls in silhouette changing into their "armor," the non-stop flashing of underwear or lack of underwear, Ginger Rogers having her large coin torn off by the sheriff's office mug so she's essentially standing there in panties, and so forth.

A good comparison of before and after the code would be to examine this picture and "Gold Diggers of 1935." The latter is so much more chaste, discreet, and less fascinating except for the numbers. There's not the lurid, horny aura of the Pre-Code pictures. And it's not quite as much naughty fun, either.