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Home , A Notorious Affair, Blessed Event, Broadway Melody of 1936, Chad Hanna, Cowboy from Brooklyn, Destry Rides Again

January 25, 2011 (XXII:2) , (1933, 89 min)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon Dance Ensembles designed by Written by Rian James, James Seymour, Bradford Ropes (novel) Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Cinematography by Costume Design by Orry-Kelly Music Composed by Lyrics by

Warner Baxter...Julian Marsh Bebe Daniels...Dorothy Brock ...Pat Denning ...Peggy Sawyer Guy Kibbee...Abner Dillon ... Lorraine Fleming Ginger Rogers...Ann 'Anytime Annie' Lowell Ned Sparks... Barry ... Billy Lawler

National Film Registry (1998) choreographer who did not just choreograph the dancing, but also the cameras and the audiences, in a host of grand, outlandish LLOYD BACON (December 4, 1889, San Jose, – musicals. His sweeping, novel style was his hallmark, with the fine November 15, 1955, Burbank, California) has 130 director credits, set pieces in a fine example. ...Busby always some of which are 1954 She Couldn't Say No, 1953 The French experimented with unusual camera angles and editing to liven up Line, 1953 Walking My Baby Back Home, 1953 The Great Sioux the proceedings. The films tried to go one better than the stage Uprising, 1951 Call Me Mister, 1950 , 1950 The musicals by going one bigger, with huge set pieces and opulent Good Humor Man, 1949 , 1948 Give My surroundings. This was where many who arrived in Hollywood Regards to Broadway, 1948 You Were Meant for Me, 1944 The seeking stardom found their dream. The set pieces of many a Sullivans, 1943 Action, the North Atlantic, 1940 Knute Rockne All Berkeley musical would call for a cast of hundreds of dancing girls American, 1939 , 1937 San Quentin, 1936 Gold in a kaleidoscopic, co-ordinated extravaganza. Gold Diggers of Diggers of 1937, 1935 Devil Dogs of the Air, 1933 Footlight 1933 has some of the most outlandish of these, as does one of the Parade, 1933 Mary Stevens, M.D., 1933 42nd Street, 1932 later remakes, (not to mention Gold Diggers Fireman, Save My Child, 1931 , 1931 Gold Dust of 1937).” Before Berkeley, the choreographer or dance director Gertie, 1930 Moby Dick, 1930 , 1930 She would design the dances and train the dancers, then the film’s Couldn't Say No, 1927 Brass Knuckles, 1926 Private Izzy Murphy, director would control the actual filming. Berkeley talked producer 1924 Don't Fail, 1922 The Educator, and 1922 The Speeder. He Sam Goldwyn into letting him direct the entire dance sequences. also acted, 74 films, the last of which was 1935 Broadway Not only did he bring his own genius to the dances but he changed Gondolier and the first of which was 1914 His Taking Ways. the way they were filmed—using only one camera (which meant the shots became part of the choreography rather than merely a BUSBY BERKELEY (William Berkeley Enos, 29 November 1895, documentation of it) and doing closeups of the dancers. "Well, —14 March 1976, Palm Springs, California) was we've got all the beautiful girls in the picture, why not let the public arguably the greatest choreographer in film. He invented the camera see them?" he said. Darryl Zanuck at Warner Brothers hired him to as a character in the dance. Scott M. Keir wrote in the 1997-1998 direct the musical segments of 42nd Street 1932, after which his Edinburgh University Film Society program, “Berkeley was a style and position were solidly established and he and his team Bacon—42ND STREET—2

(composer Harry Warren and Road, 1941 Union, 1940 , 1940 lyricist Al Dubin) got a 7-year Brigham Young, 1940 The Return of Frank James, 1940 Star Dust, contract. Some of Berkeley’s 1940 The Grapes of Wrath, 1939 Swanee River, 1939 Drums Along other films were Billy Rose's the Mohawk, 1939 , 1939 The Adventures of Jumbo 1962, Rose Marie 1954, Sherlock Holmes, 1939 , 1939 Young Mr. 1952, Lincoln, 1939 Rose of Washington Square, 1939 The Story of Call Me Mister 1951, Girl Crazy Alexander Graham Bell, 1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1939 1943, The Gang's All Here 1943, Jesse James, 1938 , 1938 Rebecca of Lady Be Good 1941, Gold Sunnybrook Farm, 1937 Heidi, 1937 , 1937 Wee Diggers in Paris 1938, Stars Willie Winkie, 1937 Nancy Steele Is Missing!, 1936 Banjo on My Over Broadway 1935, Roman Knee, 1936 White Hunter, 1936 Ramona, 1936 White Fang, 1936 Scandals 1933, Under Two Flag, 1936 A Message to Garcia, 1936 The Prisoner of 1933, Girl Crazy 1932, and Shark Island, 1935 Metropolitan, 1935 Les Misérables, 1934 The Whoopee! 1930. He was also Affairs of Cellini, 1934 The House of Rothschild, 1934 Moulin director of 22 films, among them Rouge, 1933 The Bowery, 1933 42nd Street, 1932 20,000 Years, Take Me Out to the Ball Game 1949, For Me and My Gal (Gene Sing Sing, 1932 Three on a Match, 1932 The Rich Are Always with Kelly’s first film) 1942, Babes in Arms 1939, and They Made Me a Us, 1931 , 1931 Little Caesar, and 1925 Lady Criminal 1939. The famous neon violin “Shadow Waltz” sequence Windermere's Fan. He also wrote all or a significant part of the in Gold Diggers of 1933 had an afterlife: the song was included in scripts for about 80 films. the 1970s stage version of 42nd Street on Broadway and the violins themselves are on display in the Warner’s Studio museum. Nicole SOL POLITO (November 12, 1892, Palermo, Sicily, Italy – May 23, Armour’s interesting Images article , “The Machine Art of Dziga 1960, Hollywood, California) was cinematographer for 168 films, Vertov and Busby Berkeley,” is on-line at some of which were 1949 Anna Lucasta, 1948 Sorry, Wrong http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue05/features/berkeley- Number, 1947 The Voice of the Turtle, 1946 Cloak and Dagger, vertov.htm. 1945 Rhapsody, Blue, 1945 The Corn Is Green, 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944 The Adventures of Mark Twain, 1943 This Is the RIAN JAMES (October 3, 1899, Eagle Pass, Texas – April 26, 1953, Army, 1942 Now, Voyager, 1941 Sergeant York, 1940 Santa Fe Newport Beach, California) wrote the screenplay, story or original Trail, 1940 The Sea Hawk, 1940 Virginia City, 1939 Dodge City, dialogue for 42 titles, some of which were 1947 Whispering City, 1938 , 1938 Gold Diggers, Paris, 1938 The 1947 The Fortress, 1942 Parachute Nurse, 1942 Not a Ladies' Man, Adventures of Robin Hood, 1937 The Prince and the Pauper, 1936 1942 This Time for Keeps, 1941 Broadway Limited, 1940 The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1936 The Petrified Forest, 1935, Turnabout, 1939 The Gorilla, 1938 , 1935 To Caliente, 1935 'G' Men, 1935 The Woman, Red, 1934 Madame Du Beat the Band, 1935 Redheads on Parade, 1934 The White Parade, Barry, 1934 Dames, 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 42nd Street, 1934 The Big Shakedown, 1933 Mary Stevens, M.D., 1933 Private 1932 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1932 Three on a Match, Detective 62, 1933 42nd Street, 1933 , 1932 1932 Union Depot, 1931 , 1931 , , and 1932 Love Is a Racket. 1930 Madonna of the Streets, 1930 The Girl of the Golden West, 1930 No, No, Nanette, 1929 Seven Footprints to Satan, 1926 Satan JAMES SEYMOUR (April 23, 1895, Boston, Massachusetts – January Town, 1925 The Bad Lands, 1923 The Bad Man, 1919 Should a 29, 1976, London, England) wrote the story or script for 25 films, Woman Tell?, 1916 Fruits of Desire, 1915 The Sins of Society, 1915 among them 1947 The Ghosts of Berkeley Square, 1947 Meet Me at The Butterfly, 1915 M'Liss, and 1914 Rip Van Winkle. Dawn, 1943 The Saint Meets the Tiger, 1943 We'll Meet Again, 1933 Footlight Parade, 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 42nd ORRY-KELLY (December 31, 1897, Kiama, New South Wales, Street, 1932 Lawyer Man, 1930 What a Widow!, 1929 Acquitted, Australia – February 27, 1964, Hollywood, California) won three and 1929 Lucky, Love. for Costume Design: 1951 (An American, Paris), 1957 (), and 1959 (Some Like It Hot). Orry-Kelly did DARRYL F. ZANUCK (September 5, 1902, Wahoo, Nebraska – costumes for 289 other films, some of which were 1963 Irma la December 22, 1979, Palm Springs, California) produced 191 films, Douce, 1962 Gypsy, 1962 , 1962 Five Finger among them 1970 Tora! Tora! Tora!, 1969 The World of Fashion, Exercise, 1962 Sweet Bird of Youth, 1958 Auntie Mame, 1955 1968 D-Day Revisited, 1962 The Chapman Report, 1962 The Oklahoma!, 1950 Harvey, 1948 For the Love of Mary, 1948 One Longest Day, 1961 Sanctuary, 1958 The Roots of Heaven, 1958 The Touch of Venus, 1947 Mother Wore Tights, 1947 The Shocking Barbarian and the Geisha, 1957 The Sun Also Rises, 1957 Island, Miss Pilgrim, 1945 The Dolly Sisters, 1945 The Corn Is Green, the Sun, 1956 The Man, the Gray Flannel Suit, 1954 The Egyptian, 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944 Mr. Skeffington, 1944 The 1952 The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 1952 Viva Zapata!, 1951 David Adventures of Mark Twain, 1943 Watch on the Rhine, 1943 This Is and Bathsheba, 1950 , 1950 No Way Out, 1950 Night the Army, 1942 Casablanca, 1942 Now, Voyager, 1942, This Our and the City , 1950 Cheaper by the Dozen, 1949 Twelve O'Clock Life, 1942 Murder, the Big House, 1942 Kings Row, 1942 The Man High, 1949 Pinky, 1949 Thieves' Highway, 1948 , Who Came to Dinner, 1941 The Maltese Falcon, 1941 The Little 1947 Gentleman's Agreement, 1947 Forever Amber, 1947 Foxes, 1941 The Strawberry Blonde, 1940 All This, and Heaven Boomerang!, 1946 The Razor's Edge, 1946 Dragonwyck, 1945 Too, 1940 Virginia City, 1939 Essex and Elizabeth, 1939 Dark Leave Her to Heaven, 1944 Buffalo Bill, 1944 , Victory, 1938 Angels with Dirty Faces, 1938 Jezebel, 1937 Kid 1944 Lifeboat, 1942 , 1941 How Green Was My Valley, Galahad, 1936 , 1936 Jailbreak, 1936 Satan 1941 Sun Valley Serenade, 1941 Blood and Sand, 1941 Tobacco Met a Lady, 1936 The Petrified Forest, 1935 We're in the Money, Bacon—42ND STREET—3

1935 Oil for the Lamps of China, 1935, Caliente, 1935 Gold Wife?, 1919 Male and Female, 1919 I'm on My Way, 1918 Bride Diggers of 1935, 1935 Devil Dogs of the Air, 1934 , 1934 and Gloom, 1910 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and 1910 The Madame Du Barry, 1934 Dames, 1934 , 1934 Courtship of Miles Standish And here are all the short films she , 1934 Merry Wives of Reno, 1934 Mandalay, 1933 appeared in in 1916, which was typical for her, those years: 1916 Lady Killer, 1933 Mary Stevens, M.D., 1933 Baby Face, 1933 Luke's Shattered Sleep, 1916 Luke Locates the Loot, 1916 Luke's Private Detective 62, 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 42nd Street, Fireworks Fizzle, 1916 Luke, Rank Impersonator, 1916 Luke's 1932 20,000 Years, Sing Sing, 1932 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Movie Muddle, 1916 Luke's Newsie Knockout, 1916 Luke, Patient Gang, and 1932 The Rich Are Always with Us. Provider, 1916 Luke, the Gladiator, 1916 Luke's Preparedness Preparations, 1916 Luke, the Chauffeur, 1916 Luke and the Bang- HARRY WARREN (December 24, 1893, Brooklyn, City, Tails, 1916 Luke's Speedy Club Life, 1916 Luke and the Mermaids, New York – September 22, 1981, Los Angeles, California) won 1916 Luke Joins the Navy, 1916 Luke Does the Midway, 1916 three Best Music, Original Song Oscars: 1936 Gold Diggers of Luke's Lost Lamb, 1916 Luke, Crystal Gazer, 1916 Luke Rides 1935 (shared Oscar w. Al Dubin [lyrics] for “Lullaby of Roughshod, 1916 Luke's Washful Waiting, 1916 Luke's Society Broadway”), 1943 Hello Frisco, Hello (shared w. Mixup, 1916 Luke's Fatal Flivver, 1916 Luke Laughs Last, 1916 [lyrics] for “You’ll Never Know”), and 1952 Just for You (shared Luke's Late Lunchers, 1916 Luke and the Bomb Throwers, 1916 w. Johnny Mercer [lyrics] for “On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Them Was the Happy Days!, 1916 Luke's Double, 1916 Lonesome Fe.” His songs have been used, thousands of films and tv programs. Luke, Circus King, 1916 The Flirt, 1916 Luke Pipes the Pippins, Some of his best known compositions, often with lyrics by Al 1916 Luke and the Rural Roughnecks, 1916 Luke Foils the Villain, Dubin, are "The Gold Diggers' Song We’re in the Money," "Lullaby 1916 Luke, the Candy Cut-Up, 1916 Lonesome Luke Lolls, Luxury, of Broadway," "Jeepers Creepers," "," "The 1916 Luke Lugs Luggage, and 1916 Lonesome Luke Leans to the More I See You," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "Forty-Second Street," Literary. "There Will Never Be Another You," "September, the Rain," "I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Five and Ten Cent Store," "I GEORGE BRENT... Pat Denning (March 15, 1899, Shannonbridge, Love My Baby My Baby Loves Me," "Serenade, Blue," "You Must Offaly, Ireland – May 26, 1979, Solana Beach, California) appeared Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "Lulu's Back, Town," "I Only Have in 104 films and TV series, among them 1978 Born Again, 1959 Eyes for You," "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," and “Rawhide”, 1956 “Celebrity Playhouse”, 1955 “Science Fiction "We’re in the Money." Theatre”, 1953 “The Revlon Mirror Theater”, 1953 Mexican Manhunt, 1953 Tangier Incident, 1952 Man Bait, 1951 FBI Girl, AL DUBIN (June 10, 1891, Zurich, Switzerland – February 11, 1945, 1947 Slave Girl, 1946 Temptation, 1945 The Spiral Staircase, 1945 , New York) wrote the lyrics for many Broadway The Affairs of Susan, 1942, This Our Life, 1940 South of Suez, 1940 standards, some of which are "I Only Have Eyes for You," The Man Who Talked Too Much, 1940 The Fighting 69th, 1939 The "Lullaby of Broadway," "Forty-Second Street," "You're Getting to Rains Came, 1939 Dark Victory, 1937 Submarine D-1, 1935 Be a Habit with Me," "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,", "The Special Agent, 1934 Desirable, 1933 Female, 1933 Baby Face, Gold Diggers' Song We’re in the Money," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," 1933 42nd Street, 1932 So Big!, 1931 Charlie Chan Carries On, and "Tip-Toe thru' the Tulips with Me." and 1924 The Iron Horse.

WARNER BAXTER... Julian Marsh (March 29, 1889, Columbus, RUBY KEELER...Peggy Sawyer (August 25, 1910, Halifax, Nova Ohio – May 7, 1951, Beverly Hills, California) won a Best Actor Scotia, Canada – February 28, 1993, Rancho Mirage, California) Oscar, 1928 for, Old Arizona. He was in 108 films, some of which was in only 15 films, some of which were 1964 “The Greatest Show were 1950 State Penitentiary, 1949 Prison Warden, 1949 The on Earth”, 1937 Ready, Willing and Able, 1935 Go Into Your Crime Doctor's Diary, 1947 Crime Doctor's Gamble, 1946 Crime Dance, 1934 Flirtation Walk, 1934 Dames, 1933 Footlight Parade, Doctor's Man Hunt, 1945 Crime Doctor's Warning, 1945 The 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933,and 1933 42nd Street. She had a long Crime Doctor's Courage, 1943 Crime Doctor's Strangest Case, career on Broadway and was, from 1928 through 1940, married to 1943 Crime Doctor, 1939 Return of the Cisco Kid, 1938 singer . Kidnapped, 1937 Slave Ship, 1936 White Hunter, 1936 The Prisoner of Shark Island, 1934 Broadway Bill, 1933 Penthouse, GUY KIBBEE...Abner Dillon (March 6, 1882, El Paso, Texas – 1933 42nd Street, 1932 6 Hours to Live, 1931 The Cisco Kid, 1931 May 24, 1956, East Islip, Long Island, New York) appeared in113 The Squaw Man, 1931 Daddy Long Legs, 1931 Doctors' Wives, films, some of which were 1948 3 Godfathers, 1948 Fort Apache, 1929 Behind That Curtain, 1928, Old Arizona, 1928 Ramona, 1926 1946 Gentleman Joe Palooka, 1945 The Horn Blows at Midnight, The Great Gatsby, 1926 Miss Brewster's Millions, 1925 The Air 1943 Girl Crazy, 1942 Scattergood Rides High, 1941 Design for Mail, 1924 The Female, 1924 Alimony, and 1922 The Girl, His Scandal, 1941 It Started with Eve, 1941 Scattergood Meets Room. Broadway, 1941 Scattergood Pulls the Strings, 1941 , 1940 , 1940 , 1939 Mr. Smith Goes BEBE DANIELS... Dorothy Brock (January 14, 1901, Dallas, Texas to Washington, 1938 Three Comrades, 1936 Three Men on a Horse, – March 16, 1971, London, England) appeared in 232 films and TV 1936 Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1935 Captain Blood, 1934 Babbitt, series, among them 1955-1960 “Life With the Lyons”, 1936 1934 Dames, 1933 Footlight Parade, 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933, Treachery on the High Seas, 1935 , 1934 Registered 1933 42nd Street, 1932 The Conquerors, 1932 Rain, 1932 The Nurse, 1933 Counsellor at Law, 1933 42nd Street, 1931 Honor of Mouthpiece, 1932 So Big!, 1932 Union Depot, 1931 Laughing the Family, 1931 The Maltese Falcon, 1929 Rio Rita, 1928 The Sinners, 1931 City Streets, and 1931 Stolen Heaven. Fifty-Fifty Girl, 1927 A Kiss, a Taxi, 1926 Volcano, 1926 Miss Brewster's Millions, 1923 The Exciters, 1920 Why Change Your Bacon—42ND STREET—4

UNA MERKEL...Lorraine Fleming (December 10, 1903, he had his hand in (42nd Street 1933, and Footlight Parade 1933) Covington, Kentucky, USA – January 2, 1986, Los Angeles, are so overshadowed by the dazzling surrealistic choreography of California) was in 114 films and TV series, some of which were Busby Berkeley to the extent that casual film buffs today often 1963-1965 “Burke's Law”, 1961 Summer and Smoke, 1959 The forget they were directed by him. While his resume lacks the drama Mating Game, 1958 “The Steel Hour”, 1957 of failed productions and tales of an unbridled ego, he consistently “Climax!”, 1957 “Playhouse 90”, 1956 Bundle of Joy, 1956 The enriched the studio's coffers, directing a handful of their biggest hits Kettles, the Ozarks, 1952 “Four Star Playhouse”, 1952 The Merry of the late 1920s and 30s. Lloyd Bacon's career amounts to that of a Widow, 1952 With a Song, My Heart, 1950 My Blue Heaven, 1940 competent -- at times brilliant -- director who did the best with the The Bank Dick, 1939 , 1939 Four Girls, White, material handed to him in assembly line fashion. Lloyd Bacon was 1937 Saratoga, 1937 Don't Tell the Wife, 1936 Speed, 1935 born in San Jose, California on January 16, 1890 into a theatrical , 1934 The Merry Widow, 1934 Bulldog family (his father was Frank Bacon, a playwright and legitimate Drummond Strikes Back, 1933 Reunion, Vienna, 1933 42nd Street, actor). His parents enlisted all the Bacon children onto the stage. 1933 Whistling, the Dark, 1932 Red-Headed Woman, 1931 Wicked, Despite having a strong interest in law as a student at Santa Clara 1931 The Maltese Falcon, 1930 The Eyes of the World, and 1930 College, Lloyd opted for an acting career after appearing in a Abraham Lincoln. student production of "The Passion Play." In 1911 he joined 's Los Angeles Stock Company (with fellow actor Lewis GINGER ROGERS...Ann 'Anytime Annie' Lowell Stone), touring the (July 16, 1911, Independence, Missouri – April 25, 1995, Rancho country and gaining good Mirage, California) won a Best Actress Oscar, 1940 for Kitty Foyle: notices in a Broadway The Natural History of a Woman. She appeared, 89 other films and run of the hit, "Cinderella TV series, some of which were 1987 “Hotel”, 1965 Harlow, 1963- Man" and gaining further 1964 The Red Skelton Hour”, 1964 The Confession, 1960 “Zane experience during a Grey Theater”, 1954 Black Widow, 1954 Forever Female, 1951 season of vaudeville. Storm Warning, 1949 The Barkleys of Broadway, 1947 It Had to Be Lloyd switched gears in You, 1944 I'll Be Seeing You, 1942 The Major and the Minor, 1942 1915 and took a stab at Roxie Hart, 1941 Tom Dick and Harry, 1940 Kitty Foyle: The silent Hollywood, Natural History of a Woman, 1939 The Story of Vernon and Irene playing the heavy in Castle, 1935 Top Hat, 1935 Roberta, 1934 The Gay Divorcee, 1934 'Gilbert M. 'Broncho , 1933 Flying Down to Rio, 1933 Sitting Pretty, 1933 Billy' Anderson' shorts Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 42nd Street, 1933 Broadway Bad, 1932 and pulling duty as a The Tenderfoot, 1930 Queen High, and 1929 A Day of a Man of stunt double. With Affairs. America's entry into WWI in 1917, Lloyd enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to the NED SPARKS...Barry (November 19, 1883, Guelph, Ontario, Photo Department. This began a lifelong admiration for the service Canada – April 3, 1957, Victorville, California) appeared in 86 and might explain the Navy being a favorite reoccurring theme in films, some of which were 1947 Magic Town, 1941 For Beauty's many of his films. Sake, 1939 The Star Maker, 1936 One, a Million, 1935 George After the Armistice, Lloyd moved from Mutual (Charles White's 1935 Scandals, 1934 Sweet Adeline, 1934 Imitation of Life, Chaplin's studio at the time) to Triangle as a comedy actor. It was at 1934 Sing and Like It, 1933 Alice, Wonderland, 1933 Gold Diggers this point that he got his first taste of directing -- Bacon had let of 1933, 1933 Secrets, 1933 42nd Street, 1931 Corsair, 1931 Iron everyone at the studio know he had an interest in helming a picture Man, 1928 On to Reno, 1927 Alias the Lone Wolf, 1927 Alias the and when the director of a now forgotten Lloyd Hamilton comedy Deacon, 1925 Seven Keys to Baldpate, 1920 Nothing But the Truth, short fell ill, he was given his chance. Constantly moving, Bacon and 1915 The Little Miss Brown. joined tightwad producer as a gag writer, who, sensing a bargain, happily accommodated Lloyd's desire to become DICK POWELL...Billy Lawler (November 14, 1904, Mountain a full time director by early 1921. The Sennett studio was already in View, Arkansas – January 2, 1963, West Los Angeles, California) an irreversible decline during Bacon's tenure there but it allowed the appeared in 69 films and TV series, some of which were 1962 “The novice director to gain a wealth of experience. He apprenticed for Dick Powell Theatre”, 1961 “The Law and Mr. Jones”, 1957-1961 Sennett until joining Warner Brothers in 1925, an association that “Zane Grey Theater”, 1952-1956 “Four Star Playhouse”, 1954 would last a remarkable 18 years and begin when the working “Climax!”, 1952 The Bad and the Beautiful, 1951 Cry Danger, man's studio was building a strong stable of contract directors that 1950 The Reformer and the Redhead, 1948 To the Ends of the included , Alan Crosland, John G. Adolfi and Earth, 1947 Johnny O'Clock, 1944 Murder, My Sweet, 1943 True to Mervyn LeRoy. Life, 1938 , 1937 , 1935 Although Lloyd never became known for a particular style A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1935 Gold Diggers of 1935, 1934 other than a well-placed close up, his ability to bring an entertaining Dames, 1933 Footlight Parade, 1933 Gold Diggers of 1933, 1933 film in on time and within budget earned him such enormous 42nd Street, 1932 Too Busy to Work, and 1932 . respect from five Warner Brothers that he was soon handed control over important projects, including (1928), an Al Lloyd Bacon (from IMdB) Jolson follow up to (1927) which grossed an As one of the work horses in Warner Brothers stable of 1930s unheard of (for Warner's at least) $4,000,000 in domestic receipts directors, Lloyd Bacon's career isn't comparatively loaded with alone — the studio's #1 hit for 1928. Bacon was rewarded by classic films as many of his more famous contemporaries. What few becoming the highest paid director on the studio's payroll, earning Bacon—42ND STREET—5 over $200,000.00 a year throughout the Depression. He was called Berkeley’s main contribution to the film musical was the upon to direct their big budget production of Moby Dick (1930) staging of dances especially for the camera, using all the cinematic which gained good notices, but it's a version that's barely resources at his command. He is famous for the moving camera remembered today. (which roved through, around, under, and over his dancers rather The 1930s saw Bacon assigned to the assembly line; aside than remaining fixed in one position), and is particularly known for from the 'Busby Berkeley' choreographed films, he directed many the overhead shot in which the camera peers down at the dancers as of 's crowd pleasing 2-week wonders, including they form everchanging patterns. Using dancers as elements in an (1933), and (1935), occasionally abstract design to create his effects rather than as individuals who being afforded more time and money on productions such as, Here perform dance routines is one of his trademarks…. Comes the Navy (1934), and Devil Dogs of the Air (1935). He also The musical numbers in 42nd Street are not as opulent or directed Cagney's return effort, miscast in the frenetic Boy Meets dazzling as those in later Berkeley films, but their comparative Girl (1938) after the actor's ill-advised move to Grand National restraint and their vitality more than compensate for that. while engaging in a legal war with Jack L. Warner. This was one of The film musical was never quite the same after 42nd Cagney's least critically popular Warner Brothers films of 1930s, Street. It confirmed the emergence of a major new talent—Busby but a smash hit for the studio. Berkeley—and the emergence of the musical as a new art form. It During his years at Warner's, Bacon gained a reputation as was one of the top-grossing films of the year and is credited with a clothes horse, the dapper rescuing Warner Bros. from director, arriving on the set bankruptcy. dressed to the nines, wearing expensive hats, that he would 42nd Street. Edited with an toss around the set when introduction by Rocco expressing his dissatisfaction (he Fumento. Published for the ruined a lot of hats) at an actor's Wisconsin Center for Film and performance or missed cue. Theater Research by The Bacon continued to grind out University of Wisconsin Press. profitable films for the studio Madison, Wisconsin, 1980. until moving to 20th Century Fox Tino Balio, General Editor: “Our from 1944-49 (a logical move, goal in publishing these Warner since the recently discharged Brothers screenplays is to Darryl F. Zanuck knew Bacon explicate the art of screenwriting from his early days at Warner's), during the thirties and forties, the then bounced between Columbia, so-called Golden Age of Fox, Universal and the Hollywood.” chaotically-ran RKO in 1954. Lloyd worked virtually until his Introduction From Bastards and death from a cerebral hemorrhage Bitches to Heroes and Heroines at age 65. Rocco Fumento

“42nd Street” Magill’s American Film Guide. V.2. Salem Press, If the movie version of 42nd Street had been as frank and as Englewood Hills, N.J., 1980. Entry by Julia Johnson. gritty as the novel, it would have been a genuine first for American In 1933, Warner Bros. released three important musicals Musicals. The novel is too busy and certainly some of the which revitalized the moribund film musical and renewed its subplots…could have been omitted. Yet a daring, but honest, movie popularity with the moviegoing public. The films are notable for based on the novel could have been made back in those days, before their vitality, their originality in presenting musical numbers on awakened the censors with her second film, She Done film, and the emergence of a major new talent in the world of the Him Wrong, and with such lines as “Are you packin’ a rod or are film musical—Busby Berkeley. The first of these, 42nd Street, is the you just glad to see me?”… quintessential . The familiar story of putting on a Official censorship first came to Hollywood in 1922, after play, with the star breaking her ankle at the last minute and the a series of scandals that made the headlines and brought the film young unknown stepping in to save the show, has been done many business to the attention of the U.S. Congress. To avoid federal times, but seldom with such zest and verve. censorship, the film industry decided to be its own watchdog. As its Under Lloyd Bacon’s skillful direction that catches all the white knight and master, the industry chose Will H. Hays to be bustle and excitement of the backstage atmosphere, a group of president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of engaging performers made their niche in film history secure— America, which came to be known as the Hays Office. Hays Ginger Rogers as a shrewd chorus girl; Warner Baxter as the seemed the perfect choice. He was a Presbyterian elder, he was tyrannical director of the show; Bebe Daniels as the unhappy star postmaster general of the United States, he had been President who breaks her ankle just before opening night, giving Ruby Keeler Harding’s campaign manager, and he was a non-smoker, a (in her screen debut) her big chance; and the baby-faced, mellow- teetotaler, and a conservative small-town boy from the conservative voiced Dick Powell, whose screen presence seemed tailored to fit state of Indiana. The Hays Office’s first list of thou-shalt-nots was Warner Bros. musicals. But the biggest star, and possibly the most published in 1927; in 1930 the list was recast into what came to be talented, was Busby Berkeley, the man behind the cameras who known as the Production Code. But the Hays Office did little to conceived, staged, and directed the musical numbers. enforce its Code until, in 1934, it was forced to do so by a public Bacon—42ND STREET—6 outcry, spearheaded by the newly formed Catholic Legion of Hollywood studio and its future was far from bright. It had neither a Decency, against excessive violence and sex in films. Joseph Breen, national distribution system nor access to a steady supply of money a Catholic layman, was hired by the Hays Office to be the stern to permit the company to grow. How was it possible for this studio enforcer of the Code. to compete with the Big Three, Famous Players- Lasky (later But there was no Breen when 42nd Street was made and Paramount), Loew’s (later MGM), and First National? released. In such films as Red It was a man named Dust, A Free Soul, Rain, Little Waddill Catchings, the head of Caesar. The Public Enemy, and the investment division of the Scarface, Hollywood did not shy great Wall Street firm of away from either sex or violence. Goldman Sachs, who helped put Like the prostitute with the heart Warners into the big leagues. of Gild,42nd Street is tough on Through New York’s National the outside and soft on the inside. Bank of Commerce, Catchings It is a good film that could have set up a $3 million revolving been better if Warners had dared credit fund. Then he went to the to stick more closely to Bradford Colony Tryst Company of Ropes’s novel. Boston and to four other banks. Not that the Ropes novel Through them, Catchings is a great novel. It is, in fact, a provided Warners with a bad one. The characters are either permanent method of financing stereotypes (Dorothy Brock, the future productions. Meanwhile, aging bitchy Broadway star) or Warners acquired the Vitograph caricatures (Mrs. Blair, the stridently ambitious backstage Corporation with its nearly fifty mother) or merely flat…. exchanges throughout the world, The novel comes alive plus two studios, a processing only in the hard-as-nails, off- lab, and a film library. With a $4 color, often amusing million debenture issue, Warners wisecracks….None of these established a worldwide wisecracks is in the film. Just one distribution system, acquired ten such line from the novel is theaters, and was well on its way recognizable in the film. A to competing with the majors. Its gossipy, homosexual chorus boy final expansionary move led to says, “Sophie only said no once the coming of sound. an’ then she didn’t understand Contrary to popular what the man asked her.” In the belief, it was not really The Jazz film, Andy Lee offers a more Singer that broke the sound compact and cutting version: barrier. There had been “She only said no once, and then experimentations with sound she didn’t hear the almost since film making began. question!”…Hollywood’s major But no studio, with the exception concern is not whether a book is good or bad, but whether it can be of Warners and Fox, was particularly interested in bringing sound to made into a money-making movie…. the screen. Numerous people were working on sound systems, but The question becomes, Why not make a movie of 42nd Warners formed an alliance with Western Electric, and out of this Street? Its title alone would bring in all those starry-eyed youngsters alliance the Vitaphone Corporation emerged. Vitaphone, through who dreamed of going to New York and to Forty-second Street, contracts with the Victor Talking Machine Company, with the perhaps the most glamorous street in the world to starry-eyed Metropolitan Opera Company, and with individual vaudeville stars, youngsters back in 1933. Its multiple-plot story offered variety and soon had enough talent for the making of short subjects. At about the opportunity to use an all-star cast; its backstage setting offered the same time Vitaphone engaged the New York Philharmonic to excitement and pretty chorus girls; and if the characters were too record background music for the big-budgeted John Barrymore tough and the wisecracks too rough, Warners’ scriptwriters could film, Don Juan. On August 6,1926, eight “Vitaphone Preludes” and soften the toughness and smooth the roughness and still retain Don Juan opened at the Warner theater in New York. In the enough of both to please the customers without offending them…. following year, on October 6, The Jazz Singer, a part-talkie, opened at the same theater and Warners was on its way to the top of the A musical hailed as the first talkie (The Jazz Singer) American film industry. rescued Warner Brothers from bankruptcy in 1927 and, in the midst The public’s love affair with sound ushered in a boom of the Great Depression, another musical (42nd Street) did the same. period for the entire motion picture industry. Between 1928 and So said the sentimental myth-makers of Hollywood. Before The 1929 profits from all the studios jumped considerably. But Warners Jazz Singer, Warners already had a pair of star money-makers in made the biggest leap, with its profits soaring from $2 million to their two handsome profiles John Barrymore and Rin-Tin-Tin. In over $4 million. It was time for consolidation. And Warner those pre-talkie days, however, Warners was still a small Brothers, with its early gamble on sound paying off so handsomely, Bacon—42ND STREET—7 led the way. First it acquired the Stanley Company, which owned a preposterous plots of Dixiana, The Vagabond King, The Desert chain of three hundred theaters along the East Coast and a one-third Song, and Her Majesty, Love. The only really popular musicals of interest in First National. Then it bought out First National’s 1931-32 were The Big Broadcast, featuring a large cast of radio remaining stockholders. In 1925, Warners’ assets were a little over stars including Bing Crosby and Kate Smith; the Eddie Cantor $5 million; in 1930 they were valued at $230 million. In only five vehicles for Samuel Goldwyn, and years Warners had become one of the biggest and most profitable (both with dances staged by Busby Berkeley); and the intimate, companies in the entire film industry. witty, sophisticated boudoir musicals of Ernst Lubistch (The By 1933 the Depression Smiling Lieutenant and One had cut moviegoing attendance in Hour with You) and Rouben half (from 110 million between Mamoulian (Love Me Tonight). 1927 and 1930 to 60 million in John Kobal makes a 1930 and Warners was seriously great deal of sense when he in debt. Like the other majors, credits much of 42nd Street’s Warners had overextended itself, appeal to the lowly chorus girl; mainly by having acquired those “Once a demure non-participant three hundred theaters. It was she now becomes a predatory impossible for the studio to meet calculator, deceptively soft in its long-term indebtedness. But garters and silk. Her crude, the Depresssion wolf was at gutsy, and very funny line of every studio’s door except repartee made her eminently MGM’s, which was under the capable of coping with the protection of Leo the Lion and wolves and sugar-daddies, such formidable box-office stars swapping fast lines, outsmarting as Dressler, Beery, Harlow, the Babbits and generally casting Gable, Crawford, and Shearer. a caustic look at the world Warners managed to pacify the around her. No lost lamb she, wolf, barely, with the films of quite aware that the best way of that tough guy trio of little giants, keeping the wolf from the door Edward G. Robinson, James was to coax him inside, where Cagney, and Paul Muni, with she could fleece him in comfort. such fluke box-office hits as the Her redeeming virtue (though - she was really too much fun to sudser One Way Passage, and need one) was her tendency to with the tight-budgeted comedies see that the sugar daddies’ of loose-mouthed comedian Joe money went toward financing the E. Brown. And if the prestige show, which would in turn give films of Ruth Chatterton and employment to the entire George Arliss erased not one company of chorines.” This is penny of Warners’ huge debt, hindsight, however; critics of the that was the price the studio paid day contented themselves mainly in order to give it some class. with heaping praise (in bad They were Warners’ answer to prose) upon Bacon, Berkeley, the MGM’s Garbo and Paramount’s performers, and the production in Dietrich. general. Though 42nd Street was After its sneak preview not Warner Brothers’ salvation, it was, like Columbia’s It early in the year, Variety Bulletin (January 13, 1933) hailed the Happened One Night (1934), a surprise smash hit, a big money- movie: “as the prelude to a possible cycle of musicals, Warners has maker, a sleeper that practically no one expected would be a front- given the other studios something to shoot at in 42nd Street. As runner, a movie that would serve as a model for dozens of received by the preview audiences, it is evident the public is not fed subsequent films including Ken Russell’s The Boy Friend (which up on musicals if there is a logical reason for tunes and dance tried to satirize it but ended as an exercise in tedium). When 42nd routines being inserted in the story. In 42nd Street there’s a Street came along, musicals were supposed to be dead. The public legitimate reason for everything. It’s a back stage play, but one of had had enough of posturing heroes and prissy heroines, of the best that has hit the screen…. cramped, smothered-by-sets stagings, of witless dialogue and the

Bacon—42ND STREET—8

COMING UP IN THE SPRING 2011 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXII: Feb 1 Ernst Lubitsch NINOTCHKA 1939 Feb 8 Luchino Visconti OSSESSIONE 1942 Feb 15 Robert Bresson AU HASARD BALTHAZAR 1966 Feb 22 Martin Ritt THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD 1965 Mar 1 Nicholas Roeg WALKABOUT 1971 Mar 8 John Mackenzie THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY 1980 Mar 22 Bertrand Tavernier COUP DE TORCHON/CLEAN SLATE 1981 Mar 29 Werner Herzog FITZCARRALDO 1982 Apr 5 Nagisa Ôshima MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE 1983 Apr 12 Stephen Frears THE GRIFTERS 1990 Apr 19 Jafar Panahi DAYEREH/THE CIRCLE 2000 Apr 26 Ridley Scott BLADE RUNNER1982

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here’s the url for the original cast recording to “Shuffle Off to Buffalo”: http://www.doctormacro.com/Songs/Berkeley,%20Busby/42nd%20Street%20-%20Shuffle%20Off%20to%20Buffalo.mp3