A lot of these movies are the 'B & B movies' Ginger speaks of when she was breaking into the industry, and for the immediate timeframe, trying to stay afloat during the Depression... as a result, some of these only have Ginger in limited roles (...NOT 'small' roles, mind you, cause Ginger was NEVER a 'small' actress!)
So, you may or may not be that interested in some of these - can probably tell by the length of each synopsis whether Ginger is featured prominently or not... but of course, the staff here at Gingerology definitely recommends that you take a look at each of them, cause even a bit of Ginger is worth the time and effort!!!
42nd Street (3/17/10 - 8:00 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Ann “Anytime Annie” Lowell, one of many hopefuls trying out for a new musical, which is bankrolled by the “Sugar Daddy” of the female lead, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels). After Miss Brock sustains an injury after late night shenanigans, the lead role must be taken over by Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), who becomes a star overnight and hooks up with Billy Lawler (Dick Powell), the show’s ‘juvenile’. Check out Ginger and Una Merkel singing ‘Shuffle Off to Buffalo’…very cool.
Gold Diggers of 1933 (3/17/10 - 9:45 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Fay Fortune, a showgirl working on a premier of a new show which is shut down by the law due to unpaid bills by the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks). As Fay and the other girls fret about their next working gig, a nearby songwriter, Brad Roberts (Dick Powell) catches the fancy of Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler). Brad’s tunes catch the ear of Barney, and a new show is in the works. Along the way, two of the girls, Carol King (Joan Blondell) and Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), mess with Brad’s brother Lawrence and the family attorney Peabody, who track Brad down to ‘save’ him from these ‘Gold Diggers’…to no avail. The first scene is arguably one of Ginger’s most well-known routines (sans Fred), although there’s not much in the way of dancing. ‘We’re In the Money’ is a song folks still know today, and Ginger’s ‘pig-latin stanza’ is about the coolest thing ever caught on film, IMHO…
Professional Sweetheart (3/17/10 - 11:30 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Glory Eden, A.K.A. “The Purity Girl”, a squeaky-clean ‘character’ she portrays on a hit radio show for “Ippsie Wippsie Wash Cloths”, which is owned by Sam Ipswich (Gregory Ratoff). The ‘real’ Glory wants to kick up her heels and go out on the town, or as she puts it, “I want to sin and suffer!” Seeing that Glory is at her ‘breaking point’, Sam decides to pick a random male fan letter and invite him to the show, ultimately to ‘marry Glory off’. The lucky dude is Kentucky ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Jim Davey (Norman Foster); he makes short work of getting Glory in line with the ways of being a wife (in the 1930’s, anyway), but eventually they both end up on the airwaves. For some reason, Ginger's singing voice is 'dubbed in' with some other lady's, who is more high-pitched and warbly... the only 'distracting' aspect of this movie, IMHO...
Rafter Romance (3/18/10 - 1:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Mary Carroll, who, like most folks in 1933, is struggling to stay afloat, but she does find work hawking refrigerators. She lives in an apartment in N.Y. owned by Mr. Eckbaum (George Sidney), who relegates her to the attic area when she can’t make rent for her current room. Unbeknownst to Mary, another tenant already lives there, Jack Bacon (Norman Foster). The catch is, he works nights, and she works days, so they never see each other; they do communicate, but soon are fighting about space issues. Of course, fate throws them together outside the ’rafter’, and love blooms. Watch for Robert Benchley, who plays Mary’s boss (and relentless pursuer), Mr. Hubbell; Laura Hope Crews of GWTW fame also appears as Jack’s soused ‘Sugar Mama’, Elise. One of my Mom's favorite 'non-Fred' Ginger movies...
Carnival Boat (3/18/10 - 2:15 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Honey, a show girl on a show boat (i.e., the “Carnival Boat”), which runs up and down a river, by a large logging operation; the company’s owner is worried his son and heir apparent, Buck Gannon (Bill Boyd), does not take his role seriously, and does not want him visiting the ‘CB’ when it docks at the camp; of course, he does, and falls for Honey. Ginger has a really cute vocal performance of the song, "How I Could Go For You".
Suicide Fleet (3/18/10 - 3:30 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Sally, the owner of a taffy stand at Coney Island; she is courted by Baltimore Clark (Bill Boyd), Skeets O’Reilly (James Gleason), and Dutch Herman (Robert Armstrong), three fellows who join the Navy in order to prove their mettle to her. Ginger has a somewhat limited role, as most of the movie takes place at sea.
Chance at Heaven (3/18/10 - 5:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Marjorie “Marje” Harris, who is the fiancée of Blackstone ‘Blacky’ Gorman (Joel McCrea), who owns a gas station in a small resort town. One day, New York socialite/debutant/rich chick Glory Franklyn (Marion Nixon) pulls into the station, and Blacky falls hard for her (even with Ginger wearing his ring…right.) Anyway, he basically abandons Ginger (again…WT…?), has a whirlwind marriage to Glory, but finds that money doesn’t necessarily make for a happy couple… Marje (inexplicably) helps Glory out, teaching her how to cook, clean, etc…even that doesn’t help. The ending isn't too hard to determine, but it is a somewhat entertaining process.
The Tenderfoot (3/18/10 - 6:15 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Ruth, a secretary for a struggling theatrical production company run by Sam Lehman (Lew Cody). Texas cowboy Peter Jones (Joe E. Brown) shows up in New York with life savings in hand to invest in a Broadway play. Jones and Lehman meet and form an improbable partnership with many wacky ups and downs, and Peter and Ruth fall in love. After financial troubles reach critical mass, Peter has to resort to tricks from his cowpoke upbringing to get the mob off his back. Not a bad little movie - I kinda liked Brown's character, for whatever reason...
You Said a Mouthful (3/18/10 - 7:30 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Alice Brandon, a rich socialite who befriends Joe Holt (Joe E. Brown), who has claimed to have invented an ‘unsinkable’ bathing suit, and ends up in a big swimming contest (quite inadvertently) to win her love. Ginger is not as prominent in this one as the previous Joe E. Brown 'vehicle', "The Tenderfoot".
The Tip-Off (3/18/10 - 9:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Baby Face, the girlfriend of Kayo McClure (Robert Armstrong), champion prize fighter who is mixed up with the mob. Radio repairman Tommy Jordan (Eddie Quillan) gets unwittingly pulled into the gang warfare by wooing Edna (Joan Peers), who just happens to be the girlfriend of the mob boss, Nick Vatelli (Ralf Harolde). Kayo protects Tommy from Nick after Tommy gets him out of a jam. Baby Face floats in and out of the picture, forcing Kayo's hand...in marriage, that is...
Finishing School (3/18/10 - 10:15 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Celeste (Pony) Ferris, a rambunctious student at the Crockett Hall finishing school for ladies. She is paired with a new roommate, Victoria Radcliffe (Frances Dee). After a few days, Pony ‘initiates’ Victoria on the ‘wild side’ of the school, and they end up on a ‘lost weekend’ in the city with some ‘less than’ gentlemen; when one tries a bit much with Victoria, she is ‘rescued’ by a hotel waiter, Ralph “Mac” McFarland (Bruce Cabot). Of course, Victoria and Mac fall in love, much to the dismay of Victoria’s parents…well, her mom, anyway, nicely played by Billie Burke.----
OK - Hope everyone gets the ones they need! I will try to post some more stuff on here soon - getting 'back to normal', as it were... BTW, GingerFan11's Blog, Ginger's Corner, has a link from YouTube which contains a 'overview' of Ginger as Star of the Month from TCM - COOL!!! Here is the link - Thanks, GF11!!!
Until next time, KIG!!!
VKMfan
---
Welcome back my friend! Ive been checking these out on Gormogon and Ive got the ones I want to record narrowed down a little bit. I think Im going to get
ReplyDeleteProfessional Sweetheart
Rafter Romance
Chance at Heaven and maybe
Finishing School
but until then its back to work - first day back after DST is always interesting. Atleast its pajama day!
Another great job, VKMfan! I actually haven't seen most of these, but I plan on recording all of the ones I don't have in my collection. So at least I'm working on catching up. : )
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! Some of these look really great. I'm particularly interested in "Rafter Romance." I saw a short with the same storyline on TCM a good while ago (although I can't remember the name). I have to say that I absolutely love the poster for "Chance at Heaven." Movie posters are so beautiful sometimes. Thank you so much for the run-down on all of these films. I can't wait to see them!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I completely agree with you that it's well worth the time to watch a movie even if Ginger is in it for a little bit. One of my favorite parts in "42nd Street" is the casting scene: "It must have been tough on your mother not having any children!" I love it!
SG - hope pajama day went well... was it pa-JAH-ma, or pa-JAM-ah ? ...the ones you note are the ones that are the most Gingery, for sure... I think my copies and 'back-ups' of most of these are ok... a lot of these were the ones they showed last April when I took off work to tape them...
ReplyDeleteAC - Hope you get the ones you need! All of them have their 'good points', Ginger-wise - at least worth a look - a few of the movies are pretty decent in general... heck, you have to get them all, anyway... it's a 'principle' thing, right? :-)
Sally - Rafter Romance is a pretty neat ovie - you can tell it was made on a 'shoestring budget', but Ginger has a pretty spunky personality in it, and the support cast is pretty strong. I agree the Chance at Heaven poster is pretty cool - I happened upon that from somewhere - can't remember...Googled it. There were a few which I could not find a poster for, so I just put a Ginger pic there. And yep, 42nd Street has some pretty cool parts - her role is not bad in that one - sad that Golddiggers wasn't as much of a part for her - and they cut her second tune...