THE GAIETY… THE GLAMOUR… FOOLISHNESS AND FUN OF SHOWBUSINESS… PLAYED ON THE GREAT WHITE WAY.

Director Gregory La Cava followed up his great success My Man Godfrey (1936) with another comedy about people fighting hard in sophisticated but tough environs to make ends meet.

This one was based on a play and takes place in a New York boarding house for young actresses and dancers hoping to make it big on Broadway. Thanks to a sharp cast of talents and funny lines, the film has some of its best scenes between Ginger Rogers as a cynical dancer, Katharine Hepburn as a polished newcomer and Adolphe Menjou as a producer everybody views as a key to success.

Memorable tribute to friendship in the end.

1937-U.S. 92 min. B/W. Directed by Gregory La Cava. Screenplay: Morrie Ryskind, Anthony Veiller. Play: Edna Ferber, George S. Kaufman. Cast: Katharine Hepburn (Terry Randall), Ginger Rogers (Jean Maitland), Adolphe Menjou (Anthony Powell), Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller. 

Trivia: Burgess Meredith and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. were considered for roles. 

Quote: “The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.” (Hepburn, quote lifted from the play “The Lake”)

Last word: “Gregory La Cava had all of us girls in the movie come to the studio for two weeks before the shooting started and live as though we were in the lodging house itself. He rewrote scenes from day to day to get the feeling of a bunch of girls together — as spontaneous as possible. He would talk to each of us like a lifelong friend. That gave us a feeling of intimacy.” (Leeds, Bright Lights)