Gold Diggers of Broadway became a box office sensation, making Winnie Lightner a worldwide star and boosting guitarist crooner Nick Lucas to further fame as he sang two songs that became 20th-century standards: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" and "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine".
It was chosen as one of the ten best films of 1929 by Film Daily. As with many early Technicolor films, no complete print survives, although the last twenty minutes do, but missing are a bridging sequence and the last minute of the film. Contemporary reviews, the soundtrack and the surviving footage suggest that the film was a fast-moving comedy which was enhanced by Technicolor and a set of lively and popular songs. It encapsulates the spirit of the flapper era, giving a glimpse of a world about to be changed by the Great Depression.
Because Gold Diggers of Broadway has been considered a partially lost film since the 1970s, the loose remake, Gold Diggers of 1933, is the most frequently seen version of the story.
Backstage, the star of the show Ann Collins(Ann Pennington (actress)) fights over Nick with another girl. The main character, Jerry Lamar(Nancy Welford) goes to see her boyfriend, Barney Barnett(Armand Kaliz) about an after party. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to the gang of chorus girls, Eleanor(Lilyan Tashman), Mabel Munroe(Winnie Lightner), Topsy St. Clair(Gertrude Short), and Violet Dayne(Helen Foster). All are 'man hungry', except Violet. Most are looking for love and money, but are not sure which is more important. Violet is engaged to Wally Saunders(William Bakewell). Jerry comes over and lets them all know that they are going to Barney’s party.
The next day, Mabel wakes up, hung over on the couch of Jerry’s apartment, in a balloon and a party hat. Violet wakes up Mabel and pops the balloon. She gets up and washes her face In Jerry’s ensuite bathroom. Eleanor and Topsy arrive and sit down in Jerry’s bedroom. Violet and Jerry Arrive and start conversing about marriage. They are then visited by a faded star named Cissy Grey(Julia Swayne Gordon) who is reduced to selling cosmetic soap. Jerry signs them up for a lot of it, signing Mabel up for a gross, saying that, “she’s got a lot to wash”. It is all forgotten when Jerry gets flowers from Barney. They gossip about how they all want a man with plenty of money, but do not care about love so they do not end up like Cissy Grey. Mabel sings, "And Still They Fall in Love", which is about how love is a sham and that you shouldn’t get married.
The doorbell rings and Violet’s boyfriend, Wally Saunders(William Bakewell), says that his uncle, Stephen Lee(Conway Tearle) forbids him from marrying Violet because she is a chorus girl. While Steve was on the way, Jerry plans to say that she is marrying Wally and make herself seem bad in order to make Violet look like an angel, and uncle Steve will let her marry Wally. Jerry also says that Wally should lay low, but Violet should do little favors for Uncle Steve to win his trust. She kicks Eleanor and Topsy out, but Mabel stays behind in Jerry’s bedroom while Wally and Violet listen from the kitchen. Uncle Steve arrives and fights with Jerry until he calls up his corpulent lawyer friend, Mr. Jim Blake (Albert Gran). Mr. Blake advises him to befriend the showgirl first before making a decision. Not long after, Mabel came out of the bedroom and took a fancy to Mr. Blake, calling him 'sweetie' and showing her appreciation by singing him a song, ("Mechanical Man").
That evening, they all visit a huge party. Nick sings, "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine". Mabel ends up on a table singing another song to Mr. Blake, "Keeping the Wolf from the Door", before jumping into his lap. Mr. Blake says he is 'losing his mind or just plain mad'. Ann Collins gets up on the table and does a dance to, "The Pennington Glide". Keeping the fun going, Lucas sings "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Afterward, Jerry moves the party to her apartment. Everyone drinks a lot and gets tired and drunk. Uncle Steve says he’s, “getting to like these showgirls”after seeing Ann Collins dance on the table. Ann Collins starts wooing Nick and asks him to sing, "In a Kitchenette". Complications come thick and fast after a balloon game, with both Mr. Blake and Steve falling under the spell of Mabel and Jerry. Mabel goes into another room with Mr. Blake and asks him for a car. He declines and says that a man only buys a woman a car if they’re getting married. Mabel takes this as a proposal and jumps on the couch, saying, "Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed!" She drags him out the door and go window shopping for a car. The party ends with Lucas singing "Go to Bed" and Jerry contriving to get Steve back after everyone has left. She gets him more drunk whilst tipping her own drinks away when he is not looking. Her aim is to get Steve to agree to allow Wally to marry Violet. To do this, she lies about being born in a small town called Chillicothe and had many husbands and fiancées, all of the relationships ending in absurd ways. She finally gets to Wally and tells Uncle Steve that Wally really loved Violet and not her and that he should let Wally marry Violet. But as soon as she said that, her visiting mother came out of the bedroom and unassumingly finds them together and debunks her lies, saying that she always lived in Boston. Steve leaves in a fit of anger and says that he will not let Wally and Violet get married.
The next morning at practice, Jerry feels disgraced. Mabel has been given an extra line for the show "I am the spirit of the ages and the progress of civilization", but cannot get the words right. Mabel receives a proposal of marriage from Mr. Blake, and accepts, saying that she doesn’t want to turn into Cissy Grey and can’t get her face lifted much more. She inquires about the car money and says that, “old Mabel can’t be pedaling stone”. She worries about her extra line and cannot remember it. Nick is told off for singing poor songs and sings another song, "What will I do without you". Ann Collins fights with another showgirl and hurts her eye. Jerry is asked to take her place as the star of the evening performance.
The show starts with Nick Lucas reprising "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"' on stage with Violet in the window of a house, and Nick in a garden with a large moon. The set climaxes to a huge stage set that shows girls in large, mechanical tulip costumes in a huge greenhouse. Backstage, Wally comes into Jerry’s dressing room and tells her that uncle Steve gave him and Violet his consent to get married. Uncle Steve comes into the dressing room and tells Wally and Violet that if they need ring money, he will pay for some of it. They leave and Jerry asks him if he remembers anything from last night, and he remembered saying that he wanted to marry Jerry. He asks Jerry if she wants to marry him, and she says yes. Jerry says, “Steve, you’re a darling.”, and they embrace.
The finale starts with Jerry leading the "Song of the Gold Diggers" against a huge art deco backdrop of Paris at night. Various acrobats and girls litter the stage as The Song of the Gold Diggers, "Tip Toe Thru the Tulips", "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine", a very upbeat version of, "Go To Bed", and, "Mechanical Man" are reprised in a fast moving, lavish production number. Finally, the whole cast come to the front of the stage singing the Song of the Gold Diggers. The music stops and male choristers lift Mabel into the air, whereupon she strikes a pose resembling the Statue of Liberty and exclaims, "I am . . . I am . . . Oh, darn it, I've forgotten that second line!" The music swells, and the film comes to its glorious end.[5]
Cast
A still of Lilyan Tashman in her lavish "Song of the Gold Diggers" costume
Winnie Lightner became one of Warner Bros. biggest stars in 1930. She starred in two lavish Technicolor features in that year: Hold Everything and The Life of the Party. Winnie Lightner's first appearance as the title character in the 1931 Olsen & Johnson comedy Gold Dust Gertie pays homage to her success in Gold Diggers of Broadway by utilizing "Song of the Gold Diggers" as the musical underscoring during this sequence. Her flapperish care-free demeanor became decidedly dated as the conservatism of the 1930s took its course and this probably explains why she retired from films in 1934.
Director Roy Del Ruth began a relationship with Winnie Lightner in 1929, but they did not marry until 1948.
The only actors in the 1929 film to have also appeared in the 1923 silent version, The Gold Diggers, were Gertrude Short and Louise Beavers. Largely forgotten today, Short is perhaps best known to film buffs as the aggressive reporter who hounds Robert Armstrong in the opening reel of Son of Kong (1933). Beavers, who made her (uncredited) film debut in the silent The Gold Diggers would eventually make 156 film appearances, many of them as scene-stealing maids, and played "Beulah" for a season on the television series of that name.[6] She also starred with Claudette Colbert in the original 1934 version of Imitation of Life, largely considered her greatest role.
Production
The song "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" was originally the main theme for the film. After Nick Lucas signed up for the film – he was hired by Darryl Zanuck – the film was spotted as a potential hit and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was written to enlarge the film; Zanuck provided an extra production number for the tune. The song was later performed in a much different version by the camp singer Tiny Tim, who recorded it as a novelty, accompanying himself on ukulele. The notoriety attached a stigma to the tune that would remain. However, Lucas was a favorite of Tiny Tim's, and even appeared as a guest at Tim's noted wedding ceremony on The Tonight Show in 1969,[7] singing the song together.
The two production numbers for "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" both start on a smaller set and move to a larger one. To change between sets while the song was sung and create a seamless transition, instead of using a curtain, a shot of a stagehand was shown, throwing a sparking electric lighting switch which darkens one scene out and fades in another. The basic storyline was modified and reused in later Warner Bros. films such as Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951).
Majestic Pictures attempted to cash in on the "Gold Diggers" concept by naming a feature Gold Diggers of Paris, but Warner Bros. prevented that via legal action. Warner Bros. released a film called Gold Diggers in Paris in 1938.
From Gold Diggers of Broadway, an example of the early use of color in the film. Though the film is mostly lost, it is known that the entire feature utilized the process.
Gold Diggers of Broadway was filmed in Technicolor.[8] According to Herbert Kalmus, the co-founder and President of the company,[9] the system Technicolor used at that time was a subtractive imbibition two-color process introduced in 1928[8][10] that utilized filters and a normal-thickness dye-transfer print, as opposed to two prints cemented together, as had previously been the case.[10] Warner Bros. was one of the primary users of the new system, although other studios utilized it as well, often for color sequences within an otherwise black-and-white film. Warner Bros., however, often made films that were color throughout: In 1930, they released 15 films that used two-color Technicolor, only four of which used color only for limited sequences.[10]
¶ – Finale featuring Nancy Welford with WB Vitaphone orchestra – "Song of the Gold Diggers" introduction/"Tip-toe thru the Tulips" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) /"Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) and chorus/"Mechanical Man" (instrumental WB Vitaphone orchestra) / Nancy Welford with WB Vitaphone orchestra – "Song of the Gold Diggers" – reprise and finale.
Reception
Box office
According to Warner Bros records, the film earned $2,540,000 domestically and $1,427,000 foreign. It was the studio's most popular film of the year.[3]
The fun, coupled with the lovely pastel shades, the tuneful melodies, a sensible narrative, competent acting and elaborate stage settings, resulted in an extraordinarily pleasing entertainment. It caused one to meditate in the end on the remarkable progress of the screen, for not only are the voices reproduced with rare precision, but every opportunity is taken of the Technicolor process in producing the hues and glitter of a musical comedy.[13]
Variety called it "a very good entertainment on the screen" and highly acclaimed Lightner's performance, writing, "Somebody tossed the picture right into Winnie Lightner's lap, or else she stole it." It, too, was very impressed by the color process, writing, "While the Warners' Say It with Songs is also an all-colored talker, somehow here the Technicolor process appears to give a greater strength to the picture; a part of it."[14]
John Mosher of The New Yorker gave the film a positive review, calling the songs "exceptionally audible" and "unusually good".[15]Film Daily said it had "good music" and a story that was "generally amusing even if not particularly substantial", concluding that Lightner "does much to send the picture over."[16]
Preservation
A frame of film from the reprise of "Tip-toe Thru the Tulips".
Gold Diggers of Broadway was filmed using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system and released on ten reels of full frame35mmnitrate film, two-component imbibition prints by Technicolor, with accompanying Vitaphone soundtrack discs. The discs, including the overture, have survived, but until around 1986 nothing was believed to have survived of the prints. At that time, an original print of the final reel, minus the final minute, was donated to the British Film Institute. It was copied to safety film and thus preserved. Nearly ten years later, another reel was discovered in Australia, the end of the distribution line. It proved to be the penultimate reel, featuring the "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" production number. It was missing a short bridging sequence. Only three brief fragments from earlier reels are known to survive: a few seconds from the "Song of the Gold Diggers" number, in black-and-white and with superimposed text, in the trailer for Gold Diggers of 1937; a 35mm nitrate fragment from the same number, running about twenty seconds, found included with a toy projector bought on eBay; and another 35mm nitrate fragment, also running less than a minute, from a non-musical scene featuring Lightner and Gran, which was found with fragments from another film in a small museum. The first three reels of this film (2463 feet or a total of 27 minutes) exist at the BFI archive in a 35mm color print.[17] In addition, the BFI holds various excerpts in color.[18]
Two excerpts from the film were to have been released as bonus features on the 80th Anniversary 3-Disc Deluxe Edition DVD of The Jazz Singer,[19] but due to an error only one was included. The excerpt identified as "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" is actually the finale, and the excerpt identified as the finale is actually a ballet sequence from MGM's The Rogue Song, another two-color Technicolor film for which only fragments of the picture element are known to exist. The correct pair of excerpts can be found on the Warner Bros. DVD release of Gold Diggers of 1937.[20][21]
Preservation status of Gold Diggers of Broadway
Reel(s)
Preservation
1–3
Film presumed lost, soundtrack discs exist.
4–8
Film presumed lost, soundtrack discs exist.
9–10
Film survives except final minute of reel and bridging sequence, soundtrack disc exists.
In popular culture
Gold Diggers of Broadway is referenced in Michael Moorcock's book Breakfast in the Ruins. In a scene set in 1929, an American boy takes his girlfriend to see it.
Another reference is in Ariel Archer's book “Bridges of Onyx and Gold,” where the two protagonists attend the film's debut in New York in late August 1929.
↑ Glancy, H Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 15: 55–73. doi:10.1080/01439689500260031.
1 2 Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1–31 p 10 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
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