The Gay Divorcee is a 1934 American musical film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It also features Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes. The screenplay was written by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost, and Edward Kaufman. Robert Benchley, H. W. Hanemann, and Stanley Rauh made uncredited contributions to the dialogue. It was based on the Broadway musical Gay Divorce, written by Dwight Taylor, which had been adapted into a musical by Kenneth S. Webb and Samuel Hoffenstein from an unproduced play by J. Hartley Manners.
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Kitty Foyle (1940), and performed during the 1930s in RKO's musical films with Fred Astaire. Her career continued on stage, radio and television throughout much of the 20th century.
42nd Street is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon, and a script by Rian James and James Seymour, adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by Bradford Ropes. Starring an ensemble cast of Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers, the film revolved around the rehearsals of a Broadway show at the height of the Great Depression, and its cast and crew. The film was choreographed by Busby Berkeley, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin.
Perfect Strangers, also released as Too Dangerous to Love in some territories, is a 1950 American comedy-drama film directed by Bretaigne Windust. Edith Sommer wrote the screenplay from an adaption written by George Oppenheimer, based on the 1939 play Ladies and Gentlemen by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht. The film stars Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan as two jurors who fall in love while sequestered during a murder trial. Thelma Ritter, Margalo Gillmore, and Anthony Ross co-star in supporting roles.
The Barkleys of Broadway is a 1949 Technicolor musical film from the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that 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, the songs are by Harry Warren (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) with the addition of "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin, and the choreography was created by Robert Alton and Hermes Pan. Also featured in the cast were Oscar Levant, Billie Burke, Jacques François and Gale Robbins. It is the last film that Astaire and Rogers made together, and their only film together in color. Rogers came in as a last minute replacement for Judy Garland, whose frequent absences due to a dependence on prescription medication cost her the role.
Joe Butterfly is a 1957 American comedy film directed by Jesse Hibbs starring Audie Murphy, George Nader and Keenan Wynn, with Burgess Meredith in the title role as a Japanese man. The movie was action star Murphy's only outright comedy, and it suffered by comparison to the similar Teahouse of the August Moon, released seven months earlier. The film was based on an unproduced play.
Carefree is a 1938 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. With a plot similar to screwball comedies of the period, Carefree is the shortest of the Astaire-Rogers films, featuring only four musical numbers. Carefree is often remembered as the film in which Astaire and Rogers shared a long on-screen kiss at the conclusion of their dance to "I Used to Be Color Blind," all previous kisses having been either quick pecks or simply implied.
Romance in Manhattan is a 1935 American comedy/romance film directed by Stephen Roberts, starring Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.
The 22nd Academy Awards was held on March 23, 1950, at the RKO Pantages Theatre and awarded Oscars for the best in films in 1949. This was the final year in which all five Best Picture nominees were in black and white, and the first year in which every film nominated for Best Picture won multiple Oscars.
The 18th Academy Awards was the first such ceremony after World War II. As a result, the ceremony featured more glamour than had been present during the war. Plaster statuettes that had been given out during the war years were replaced with bronze statuettes with gold plating. Despite this, director Billy Wilder's grim and socially significant drama The Lost Weekend took the top honors. It became the first film to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Palme d'Or. Joan Crawford was absent, claiming she had pneumonia. As it turned out, she did win, and the award was delivered to her while in bed that night.
Constantin Romanovich Bakaleinikov was a Russian-born composer who worked in Hollywood, California.
Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 drama film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan and James Craig, based on Christopher Morley's 1939 bestseller Kitty Foyle. Rogers won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the title character, and the dress she wore in the film became known as a Kitty Foyle dress.
Rafter Romance is an American 1933 pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film, which was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by John Wells, stars Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster and George Sidney, and features Robert Benchley, Laura Hope Crews and Guinn Williams.
The Girl Most Likely (1958) is a musical and comedy film about a young woman who becomes engaged to three men at the same time. The film, a remake of Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), was directed by Mitchell Leisen, and stars Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, and Keith Andes. The choreography is by Gower Champion.
Alan Marshal was an actor who performed on stage in the United States and in Hollywood films. He was sometimes billed as Alan Marshall or Alan Willey.
Fifth Avenue Girl, sometimes stylized as 5th Ave Girl, is a 1939 RKO Radio Pictures comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Verree Teasdale, and James Ellison. The screenplay was written by Allan Scott with uncredited contributions by La Cava and Morris Ryskind.
Lucky Partners is a 1940 American comedy romance drama film directed by Lewis Milestone for RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the 1935 Sacha Guitry film Good Luck, and stars Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers in their only film together, and Rogers' eleventh and final film written by Allan Scott.
In Person is a 1935 romantic musical comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and George Brent.
Smartest Girl in Town is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Joseph Santley, written by Viola Brothers Shore, and starring Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Erik Rhodes and Harry Jans. It was released on November 27, 1936, by RKO Pictures.
Stage Door is a 1936 stage play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman about a group of struggling actresses who room at the Footlights Club, a fictitious theatrical boardinghouse in New York City modeled after the real-life Rehearsal Club. The three-act comedy opened on Broadway on October 22, 1936, at the Music Box Theatre and ran for 169 performances. The play was adapted into the 1937 film of the same name, and was also adapted for television.
