"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause*...Coming Soon to 'The Corner'... HAT CHECK GIRL (1932)"
(* - can be taken as the proper spelling in this context... )
...now, when you click on the link, it sends ya to her site, but no info as of yet regarding HCG... I honestly have heard some 'rumblings' here and there regarding a supposed copy of HCG floating around... if it DOES surface, that would be pretty much the coolest thing to ever occur in Gingerology's short history (well, for me, being at 100 West Moore Street in Independence, MO. on 07/16/11 was pretty awesome...) but, THIS would obviously complete the GingerFilm collection...well, save for a few of her early 'shorts'...
SO, here's hopin', right? Molly has dug up a LOT of Gingery stuff over the last year or so, so... until proven otherwise, I'm drinking that gingery-infused Kool-aid!!! How bout Y'ALL???
KIG!
Hu
----
I actually spoke with her through email, and she said it was a draft post, but the catch was-
ReplyDeleteThat 20th Century Fox had a big fire at the warehouse in 1937. But a nitrate 35mm survived it. Then she said the copy is held safely in New York.
Hopefully they convert it, and then Molly can crack down on it!!! :)
would be so exciting if Hat Check Girl really had decided to reappear!!!! We all know its out there somewhere afterall!!
ReplyDeleteOMG, that would be a GREAT Christmas present for Gingerology!! I hope Santa Claus knows how very good, and gingery, you've been this year. Let's have the first screening at your house! I can bring chips and dip ;)
ReplyDeleteUntil then, save me a cup of that Kool-aid!
...a sign that the Mayans were right! ORRRRR, is this why they 'ended' their calendar, as they knew that HCG would resurface for all Gingerologists?
ReplyDelete...if it DID show up, how cool would it be to rent out a theater...heck, the Craterian would be awesome, albeit a wee bit far away for Hu... I'd figure it out, tho...
Which I guess leads to THIS... if it becomes 'available'...what's the asking price for MB? oof...y'all might need to sock away a few bones for winter... hopefully she'll take it easy on us... I would bestow her as a charter member of the G-ology Hall of Fame...well, heck, ALL of y'all belong in that, so...
Anyway, hope it pans out... I'll try to keep tabs on the info as it becomes available...guess I need to mosey over and sweet talk MB, right? That usually doesn't end well for me... :-/
OK - KIG, y'all!
Hu
---
I like your Mayan theory... they figured with the return of HCG, they would no longer need to be counting the days!!
DeleteI was reading in the "Hollywood Reporter" from June 1933, I'm a little behind in my reading, that Warners paid Ginger Rogers $5000 for her Torch Song number so they could use it as a special short subject and THAT was why the number was cut from "Gold Diggers of 1933". I wonder if that piece of film still exists. And wouldn't it make for a stupendous bonus feature on a "Hat Check Girl" dvd? I have a feeling the level of ginergy-ness might be low in HCG and may equal "Broadway Bad" in VKM screen time. But you never know!
I'll keep my eyes open for updates, so KIG!
hmmm...never knew that about Torch Song....well, it explains it somewhat...although they STILL should have kept it in the feature film...
DeleteAs to HCG - it is actually supposed to have some pretty good scenes with ginger...not sure about 'quantity' of time, but the 'SassyGinger' index is supposedly set quite high! So worth the wait, more than likely...
keep your ear to the ground, your nose to the grindstone, and your eye on the prize... if that's actually possible!
If not...then just KIG!!!
Hu
---
Not that you are still speaking of Torch Song but.... I found another article on that missing number, this time in Motion Picture magazine (July 1933). Apparently, the writer was on the set during shooting of the movie (or made it sound like he was) and here is what he wrote:
DeleteIt may be remembered that Ginger Rogers who plays "Fay" and Mervyn LeRoy, the director, were once announced engaged, but have since broken up. The matter was never mentioned on the set until Ginger did this number. She has never been in better voice, and every word of her song was delivered right at Merv. There is no denying that he was flustered. His fiery red face attested that, when Ginger sang, "Romance passes by-that's why; I've got to sing a torch song; To someone far apart; For the torch I bear; Is burning there-; Right in my heart."
THAT might be why the number was cut... Merv! ...of all the nerve!
The entire article is worth reading if you have the time. It describes the movie scene by scene and includes behind the scenes tidbits.
http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture45moti#page/42/mode/2up
and
http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture45moti#page/62/mode/2up
and
http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture45moti#page/64/mode/2up
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE archive.org?!
KIG!
TCM suggests the same thing that Merv was behind it although they say it differently
Delete'Ginger Rogers, who had scored a small hit in Forty-Second Street, was still free-lancing in Hollywood when her boyfriend, director Mervyn LeRoy, got her cast in this film and prominently featured her in the opening number. The relationship didn't last the production shoot, and her other song, "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song," was largely cut.'
my knowledge of Ginger and Merv's relationship isnt great but does that mean they were still dating when I'm in the Money' was filmed..
...well, guess it would have been pretty heavy to see Ginger sing a song pretty much about how you and her have broken up... but dang, man, suck it up and see the awesomeness that is the performance - and KEEP IT IN THE FILM!!! It would have probably vaulted the 'Gingery Goodness scale' at least 5-6 films up the rankings.... and, as I've written before, I feel there were other scenes which were 'cropped' which had Ginger in them...the scene where she is doing the 'guess who?' to ol' Kibbie - the dialogue seems pretty 'uneven' in that scene...
Deleteanyway, a sad deal if true...
Thanks for the info, y'all!
KIG!
Hu
---
I don't have anything to offer :( only maybe a trip to the US... oh wait that'd be me travelling... who owns this copy in New York anyone?
ReplyDelete..that's kinda what I'd like to know...where IS it? I guess they 'transfer' the original to computer best they can, and work on it from there...it may be that Fox is about to release some of their 'classics'...I'm pretty sure they have a collection of them... of course, HCG is mandatory, but would also love a 'true' copy of Broadway Bad...not the best movie per se, but it's just awesome to see Ginger and Joan together...I've become a pretty big JB fan as well...
DeleteWe'll figure it out...we typically do, right? Just have to channel the 'Inner Ginger' to make it so!!! :-]
KIG, Kat!!!
Hu
---