Lady for a Day (1933)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay)
Damon Runyon (story)

Release Date:

13 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Takes its place among the greatest pictures ever made!

Plot:

A gangster tries to make Aple Annie, the Times Square apple seller a lady for a day

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Count | Apple | Comedy Of Manners | Class Differences

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Warren William	...	Dave the Dude
May Robson	...	Apple Annie
Guy Kibbee	...	Judge Henry G. Blake
Glenda Farrell	...	Missouri Martin
Ned Sparks	...	Happy
Walter Connolly	...	Count Romero
Jean Parker	...	Louise
Nat Pendleton	...	Shakespeare
Barry Norton	...	Carlos
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Butler
Hobart Bosworth	...	Governor
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Inspector
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Irving Bacon	...	Pool Hall Dupe (uncredited)
Vangie Beilby	...	Woman on Street (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Mounted Policeman (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Lloyd - Hotel Mail Clerk (uncredited)
Raymond Brown	...	Seated Man in Mayor's Office (uncredited)
Wallis Clark	...	Commissioner (uncredited)
George Cooper	...	Cheesecake (uncredited)
Jay Eaton	...	Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Frank Fanning	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Ship News Reporter (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey	...	Oscar - Hotel Employee with Letter (uncredited)
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Mayor (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Flower Peddler (uncredited)
Lew Kelly	...	Harry the Horse (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Man in Mayor's Office (uncredited)
Marc Lawrence	...	Nick - Mug at Reception (uncredited)
Edward LeSaint	...	Police Captain Moore (uncredited)
Dad Mills	...	Blind Man (uncredited)
Miki Morita	...	Dave the Dude's Butler (uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	The Greek - 'Fly on Sugar' Winner (uncredited)
Shorty	...	Legless Man (uncredited)
Charles Sullivan	...	Butch - Mug at Reception (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Pierre (uncredited)
William Worthington	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Capra

Writing credits
Robert Riskin		(screenplay and dialogue)
Damon Runyon		(story "Madame la Gimp")

Produced by
Harry Cohn	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Howard Jackson		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(photography)

Film Editing by
Gene Havlick

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
George Rhein	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound (uncredited)
Irving 'Buster' Libbott	....	assistant sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
André Barlatier	....	camera operator (uncredited)
William Fraker Jr.	....	still photographer (uncredited)
George Hager	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
George F. Kelley	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
James Lloyd	....	grip (uncredited)
Michael Walsh	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Charles Nelson	....	editorial assistant (uncredited)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director (as Bakaleinikoff)

Other crew
Harry Cohn	....	president: Columbia Pictures Corporation
George Brown	....	general press agent (uncredited)
Lester Cowan	....	assistant: Mr. Cohn (uncredited)
Stanley Kramer	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1933-1960)
• Kamera Film (1933) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1933) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (1933) (Ireland) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films (1933) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films (1933) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Near East (1933) (Egypt) (theatrical)
• Ese Films Columbia Films S.A. (1933) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Consorzio Cinematografico (1933) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures of Argentina (1933) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures do Brasil (1933) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures de Cuba (1933) (Cuba) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures of Peru (1933) (Peru) (theatrical)
• Christiaan van der Ree (1933) (Venezuela) (theatrical)
• Medal Fim Exchange (1933) (Puerto Rico) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures of Panama (1933) (Panama) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films of China (1933) (China) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films of India (1933) (India) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures of Philippines (1933) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films of Netherlands Indies (1933) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films of Malaya (1933) (Malaysia) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Proprietary (1933) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures Proprietary (1933) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1938) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2000) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• International Entertainment Enterprises (2001) (worldwide) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• DNA (2006) (Italy) (DVD) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Beggar's Holiday (USA) (working title)
Madame la Gimp (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | USA:Approved (PCA #1326-R: 29 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

When Frank Capra was nominated for his first Best Director Oscar in 1933 (for Lady for a Day (1933)), presenter Will Rogers merely opened the envelope and said "Come and get it, Frank!" Already halfway to the stage, Capra realized that Rogers wasn't referring to him, but to Frank Lloyd, who was getting the Oscar for Cavalcade (1933).

Goofs:

Continuity: The position of the pool/billiard balls changes between shots in both the pool hall scene and the billiard room scene (obviously to set up the trick shots that follow).

Quotes:

Dave the Dude - 'Dave Manville': If we have to dig up a husband for Annie, let's to it and get over it.
Happy McGuire: Now you got to dig up a husband for...
[shouting]
Happy McGuire: Where you gonna get a husband just like that?
Dave the Dude - 'Dave Manville': How about you, Happy?
Happy McGuire: Me?
Missouri Martin: Oh, that's a swell idea. I think you'd be just precious.
Happy McGuire: That's a wonderful idea but there's one thing that stands on the way. I got a wife that is very fussy. She don't like me to go around and marrying people!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ji ji (1989)

Soundtrack:

String Quintet In E, Op. 13 No. 5: Minuet

It Made Columbia Pictures With A Second Choice Cast

Back in the days of the studio system only one B picture outfit managed to vault itself into the big time and compete with the majors. That studio was Harry Cohn's Columbia and the film that did it was Frank Capra's Lady For A Day.

In his very candid memoirs Capra said unabashedly that his goal was to win one of those statues nicknamed Oscar. The Motion Picture Academy Awards were only five years old, but still the awards were coveted then because it meant prestige and far bigger salaries and in a director's case, bigger budgets to work with.

Capra said he tried and failed with a very arty film, The Bitter Tea of General Yen which lost money for Columbia and Cohn. He set out try it a different way with a sentimental story from that most sentimental of writers, Damon Runyon. The original story was entitled Madame LaGimp and it was about a street beggar who the great city of New York takes to its heart for a brief period with the assistance of a gangster with a streak of sentiment.

But this was Columbia, the poverty row studio so Capra couldn't get the only old lady movie star around in Marie Dressler from MGM. May Robson was his second choice for Apple Annie, the street beggar who has a daughter in a convent school in Spain and engaged to marry into Spanish nobility.

As for the gangster Capra wanted James Cagney, but Harry Cohn couldn't pry him loose from Jack Warner. He was offered Warren William instead and certainly the dapper and elegant William played a different kind of gangster than Cagney would have. For William's moll, Capra's partner and screenwriter for Lady for a Day Robert Riskin persuaded his then girl friend Glenda Farrell to take the part. She Jack Warner was willing to part with.

With the great skill that Capra had in casting his films, some of the best character actors around like Guy Kibbee, Nat Pendleton, Ned Sparks, and Walter Connolly filled out his roster. A lot of these people would work for Frank Capra again and again.

Came Oscar time and Lady for a Day had the great distinction of being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay adapted from another source. This was the first film from Columbia Pictures that was ever nominated for anything by the Motion Picture Academy. May Robson made Capra forget he ever wanted Marie Dressler. Unfortunately she lost to a young actress picking up her first of four Oscars, Katharine Hepburn.

Riskin lost to the writers of Little Women and the film itself lost that year to the British story Cavalcade. One of the most embarrassing moments in Frank Capra's life occurred when Awards host Will Rogers in announcing the Best Director said "come up and get it Frank."

Capra rose thinking it was him and the spotlights came down on him. Then there was a frantic buzzing and the spotlight shifted to the opposite side of the hall where Frank Lloyd got up to accept the award that was meant for him for directing Cavalcade. Talk about feeling like a nickel looking for change.

However next year Capra's next film It Happened One Night swept all the major Oscars including his first. It sounds like something that only could have happened in a Frank Capra movie.