Dancing Lady (1933)

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Allen Rivkin (screenplay) and
P.J. Wolfson (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

24 November 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

An attractive dancer is rescued from jail by a rich man, who helps her to have her first big opportunity at a musical play on Broadway.

Plot Keywords:

Dancer | Director | Jail | Burlesque | Producer

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Janie Barlow
Clark Gable	...	Patch Gallagher
Franchot Tone	...	Tod Newton
May Robson	...	Dolly Todhunter - Tod's Grandmother
Winnie Lightner	...	Rosette LaRue
Fred Astaire	...	Himself
Robert Benchley	...	Ward King
Ted Healy	...	Steve - Patch's Assistant
Arthur Jarrett	...	Art Jarrett - Vocalist (as Art Jarrett)
Grant Mitchell	...	Jasper Bradley, Sr.
Nelson Eddy	...	Specialty Singer
Maynard Holmes	...	Jasper Bradley, Jr.
Sterling Holloway	...	Pinky - the Show's Author
Gloria Foy	...	Vivian Warner
Moe Howard	...	Moe - Stagehand
Curly Howard	...	Curly - Stagehand (as Jerry Howard)
Larry Fine	...	Harry - Pianist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shirley Aaronson	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Jean Alden	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Eve Arden	...	Marcia - the Southern Actress (uncredited)
Gail Arnold	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Lee Bailey	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Lynn Bari	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Bonita Barker	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Kathryn Barnes	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Jack Baxley	...	Burlesque Barker (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	Traffic Cop (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley	...	Pinky's Pal (uncredited)
Esther Brodelet	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Edna Callaghan	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Lorena Carr	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Dalie Dean	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Dorothy Dearing	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Dale Dee	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Nadine Dore	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Veleda Duncan	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Eleanor Edwards	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Bill Elliott	...	Cafe Extra (uncredited)
Fay Estelle	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Muriel Evans	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Kay Gordon	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	Judge (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Mary Halsey	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Edith Haskins	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Jean Howard	...	Girl with Tod (uncredited)
Peaches Jackson	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Isabelle Keith	...	Miss Allen - Secretary (uncredited)
Patsy Lee	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Robert Lees	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Harry Leroy	...	Burlesque Patron (uncredited)
Jean Malin	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Chicquita Marcia	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Miriam Marlin	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Margaret McConnell	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Matt McHugh	...	Marcia's Agent (uncredited)
Florine McKinney	...	Grace Newton (uncredited)
Lucille Miller	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Ruth Moody	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Man in Bradley Sr.'s Outer Office (uncredited)
Iris Nicholson	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Patsy O'Dea	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
May Packer	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Jackie Page	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Linda Parker	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Worker (uncredited)
Frances Sawyer	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Geneva Sawyer	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw	...	First Nighter (uncredited)
John Sheehan	...	Pinky's Pal (uncredited)
Pat Somerset	...	Tod's Friend (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	First Nighter (uncredited)
Charles Sullivan	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Anita Thompson	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Irene Thompson	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Marjorie Timm	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Ardelle Unger	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Zelda Webber	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Marion Weldon	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Mary Wilbur	...	Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Charles Williams	...	Man Arrested in Burlesque Theater (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson	...	Club Manager (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Z. Leonard

Writing credits
Allen Rivkin		(screenplay) and
P.J. Wolfson		(screenplay)
James Warner Bellah		(book)
Robert Benchley		uncredited
Zelda Sears		uncredited

Produced by
John W. Considine Jr.	....	associate producer
David O. Selznick	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Maurice De Packh		(uncredited)
Louis Silvers		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Oliver T. Marsh		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Margaret Booth

Art Direction by
Merrill Pye

Costume Design by
Adrian		(gowns)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert A. Golden	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Edwin B. Willis	....	interior decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director
Paul Neal	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Slavko Vorkapich	....	special effects

Stunts
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Eddie Fitzgerald	....	camera operator (uncredited)
James Manatt	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Kyme Meade	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Ted Wurtenberg	....	chief electrician (uncredited)

Editorial Department
W. Donn Hayes	....	supervising editor: musical sequences (uncredited)

Music Department
Louis Silvers	....	conductor (as Lou Silvers)
Wayne Allen	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Maurice De Packh	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Charles Maxwell	....	music arranger (uncredited)
David Snell	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Jack Virgil	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Sammy Lee	....	ensembles director
Eddie Prinz	....	ensembles director
Eddie Prinz	....	dance instructor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Bros. Television (????) (USA) (TV)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1307-R: 26 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Joan Crawford was Fred Astaire's very first on-screen dance partner.

Goofs:

Continuity: While chasing Patch, Janie is splashed by mud from a passing car; when she hops out of a cab minutes later, her shoes and stockings are clean.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Girl with Tod: I don't like the looks of this place Todd.
Tod Newton: Ah, come on. You'll get a lot of laughs.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)

Soundtrack:

(That's The) Rhythm of the Day

A Hollywood Curio

Perhaps the most eclectic cast in movie history. Here we have Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone in his man-about-town mode, Fred Astaire playing himself in his movie debut, Nelson Eddy in his second film, Robert Benchley contrasting with Ted Healy and the Three Stooges, (in by far their most prominent role before the TV era) and even a young Eve Arden. Gable spends the film snarling at everybody and demanding that they produce a "modern, up-to-date musical" that's about what's happening now. Somehow this morphs into a finale in which Astaire and Crawford are prancing about in liederhosen, (which has a relevance to 1933 they perhaps didn't anticipate). What it all proves it that MGM, while it had the know-how to make the greatest musicals of all-time in the 1940's and 1950's, just didn't quite "get it" yet in 1933. RKO and Warners were still miles ahead of them.