Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: stage struck(1936)

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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Stage Struck (1936).

Stage Struck (1936). Cast: Dick Powell and Joan Blondell and Jeanne Madden. Director: Busby Berkeley.

Dance director George Randall, is not too happy and leaves the show when the star of the show is replaced by Peggy Revere, a woman whose only claim to fame is that she shot her husband. Now, that he is free.. Producer Fred Harris, hires him for his new show. What George doesn't know, is that Peggy, is backing and starring in the show. When, she learns that George, has been hired she tears up his contract. Fred, decides to use reverse psychology on Peggy and convinces her that hatred is really a sign of love.

George, is in love with Ruth Williams, who wants a job in show business. George, tries to talk Ruth out of it. Actor Gilmore Frost, helps Ruth get the job. When, Ruth sees George, singing a love song to Peggy, she thinks he is in love with her. The show is a failure, because Peggy is not very talented. Frost, hits her and George, insists that she go to the hospital. Ruth, plans to go on stage and in the last minute, Peggy insists she is well enough to perform. The police arrest both her and Frost for assault. George, asks Ruth to marry him.

Fun Fact:

The movie box office got a big boost when Dick Powell and Joan Blondell were married shortly before its release.

Stage Struck, is one of the least known of Busby Berkeley's Warner Bros. musicals, because there are no major production numbers. Although, There are some wonderful songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg :"Lady of the Moon" (sung by chorus girls during rehearsals, with Frank McHugh); "Fancy Meeting You" (sung by Dick Powell and Jeanne Madden); "In YOUR Own Quiet Way" (sung by Powell) and "In HIS Own Quiet Way" (a try-out, sung by Jeanne Madden). The film's highlight is the musical number by the Yacht Club Boys. Also featured in the cast are: Spring Byington and Carol Hughes, Hobart Cavanaugh,a young Jane Wyman and Jeanne Madden, in her movie debut.

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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.