Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: ROBERTA (1933)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

ROBERTA (1933)

A very charming musical comedy, with exquisite dancing, beautiful clothes, elegant sets, witty dialogue and one of my favorite Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers films, Roberta (1935). Musical. Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Randolph Scott. It was an adaptation of a 1933 Broadway theatre musical of the same name, which was based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller.

The film kept songs "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" from the play, along with a third song, "I'll Be Hard to Handle". But it replaced three others ("The Touch of Your Hand", "Something Had To Happen" and "You're Devastating") with Jerome Kern's "I Won't Dance" and "Lovely to Look At", both were nominated for the Best Song Oscar.

Roberta is the third Astaire-Rogers film, and the only one to be remade with other actors. MGM did so in 1952, entitling the new Technicolor version Lovely to Look At.

Alexander Voyda, the owner of the Cafe Russe in Paris, not knowing what to expect does not show up to his appointment with the Wabash Indianians, a jazz band led by Huck Haines.

With no work, the band follows John Kent, a college football star who is traveling with them, to Roberta's, a fancy boutique run by John's aunt, Minnie. There John meets Stephanie, an exiled Russian princess, while Huck runs into Lizzie Gatz, who thinks she is now a cabaret performer, Comtesse "Tanka" Scharwenka.

To buy Huck's silence, Lizzie arranges for the Wabash Indianian's to audition at the Russe Cafe, not knowing that Voyda has already rejected them. Even though the band gave a wonderful audition, Voyda still refuses to hire them until Lizzie threatens to sing at a rival club.

John's fiancee, Sophie Teale, broke off their engagement because of his simple country ways, is given a "make over" by Stephanie and Minnie.

Soon after, Minnie dies of a heart attack, and John inherits Roberta's.

John knows nothing about woman's fashion, but.. sparks begin to fly when he tries to learn how to run a company.

Besides the wonderful dance numbers, I really enjoyed the costume designs and beautiful art deco sets. This glamorous movie has it all: shopping at a elegant salon, serenading to balalaikas, Russian princes, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" sung by the very talented Irene Dunne, Old Russian restaurant and fashion show with Astaire and Rogers dancing.

FUN FACTS:

Lucille Ball, appears uncredited as a model in a fashion show. She wears a large feather cape, and her hair is bleached platinum blonde.

The third (of ten) dancing partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Soundtracks:

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"(Back Home Again In) Indiana"
(uncredited)
Music by James F. Hanley
Lyrics by Ballard MacDonald
Performed by The Wabash Indianians

"Let's Begin"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Additional lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Song performed by Fred Astaire and Candy Candido
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Candy Candido, Gene Sheldon and Ginger Rogers

"Russian Lullaby"
Written by Jerome Kern
Performed by Irene Dunne

"I'll Be Hard to Handle"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Additional lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Song performed by Ginger Rogers
Dance performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

"Yesterdays"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Performed by Irene Dunne

"I Won't Dance"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Additional lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Song performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Dance performed by Fred Astaire

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach
Performed by Irene Dunne

"Lovely to Look At"
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern and Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Performed by Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
(uncredited)
Instrumental reprise
Dance performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

"I Won't Dance"
(uncredited)
Instrumental reprise
Dance performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

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Bob Fosse

Was a musical theater choreographer and director, screenwriter and film director. He won an eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. He was identified with his third wife, Gwen Verdon. She was both the dancer/collaborator who he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking, a guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death. Fosse is considered to be one the most influential coreographers of the 20th Century.

Esther Williams.

JANE POWELL

After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens. Once there, the studio utilized her vocal, dancing and acting talents, casting her in such musicals as Royal Wedding, with Fred Astaire, A Date with Judy, with friend Elizabeth Taylor and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Howard Keel. In the late 1950s, her film career slowed, only to be replaced with a busy theater and television career.Click picture to enter websight.

Jeanette MacDonald

Singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour With You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco), and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in grand opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of most influential sopranos of the 20th century. Click picture to view fan website.

Joan Crawford.

Click picture to view website. Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money and by the end of the 1930s

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) the songwriting duo, on our musical page. They created many popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. They won thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys. Click picture to read movie reviews.

Cab Calloway

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86 .Click picture to view official website.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

ROBERTA (1933)

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