Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

David Boehm (dialogue)
Erwin S. Gelsey (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

27 May 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

The Biggest Show On Earth!

Plot:

Millionaire turned composer Dick Powell rescues unemployed Broadway people with a new play.

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Chorus Girl | Scheme | 1930s | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Warren William	...	J. Lawrence Bradford
Joan Blondell	...	Carol King
Aline MacMahon	...	Trixie Lorraine
Ruby Keeler	...	Polly Parker
Dick Powell	...	Brad Roberts (Robert Treat Bradford)
Guy Kibbee	...	Fanuel H. Peabody
Ned Sparks	...	Barney Hopkins
Ginger Rogers	...	Fay Fortune
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Agnew	...	Dance director (uncredited)
Loretta Andrews	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Monica Bannister	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Bonnie Bannon	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Joan Barclay	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Billy Barty	...	Baby in 'Pettin' in the Park' (uncredited)
Busby Berkeley	...	Call boy (uncredited)
Audrene Brier	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Lynn Browning	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Maxine Cantway	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Margaret Cathew	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Dog salesman (uncredited)
Kathy Cunningham	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Virginia Dabney	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Mildred Dixon	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Patricia Douglas	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Shirley Dunstead	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Jay Eaton	...	Diner (uncredited)
Bill Elliott	...	Chorus Boy (uncredited)
Gloria Faythe	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
June Glory	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Sam Godfrey	...	Society reporter (uncredited)
Muriel Gordon	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	Clubman (uncredited)
Ebba Hally	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Woman in Couple (uncredited)
Grace Hayle	...	Society reporter (uncredited)
Sterling Holloway	...	Messenger boy (uncredited)
Ann Hovey	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Amo Ingraham	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Alice Jans	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey	...	Det. Jones (uncredited)
Charles Lane	...	Society reporter (uncredited)
Lorena Layson	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Cynthia Lindsay	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Wallace MacDonald	...	Stage manager (uncredited)
Wilbur Mack	...	Society reporter (uncredited)
Mae Madison	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Chorus Boy (uncredited)
Etta Moten	...	Forgotten Man singer (uncredited)
Clarence Nordstrom	...	Don Gordon (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Chorus Boy (uncredited)
Ty Parvis	...	Chorus Boy (uncredited)
Donna Mae Roberts	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Churchill Ross	...	Small Blond Man (uncredited)
Jayne Shadduck	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Bee Stevens	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Anita Thomson	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Man in Couple (uncredited)
Dorothy Coonan Wellman	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Billy West	...	Medal of Honor winner (uncredited)
Dorothy White	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Renee Whitney	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Pat Wing	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Jack Wise	...	Mystery man with Bob at stage door (uncredited)
Jane Wyman	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Tammany Young	...	Gigolo Eddie (uncredited)

Directed by
Mervyn LeRoy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
David Boehm		dialogue
Erwin S. Gelsey		writer
Avery Hopwood		play
Ben Markson		dialogue
James Seymour		writer

Produced by
Robert Lord	....	producer
Jack L. Warner	....	producer
Raymond Griffith	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Sol Polito

Film Editing by
George Amy

Art Direction by
Anton Grot

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur Lueker	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Buddy Longworth	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Ray Heindorf	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Busby Berkeley	....	dance director

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. First National Films (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1933) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Golddiggers of 1933 (USA) (alternative spelling)
High Life (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Following his quip about Warren and Dubin, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) refers to "the Astaires" in pointing out theatrical excellence. Fred Astaire and his sister Adele Astaire had been the reigning brother/sister duo on Broadway until Adele's retirement the previous year. Ginger Rogers, soon to become Mr. Astaire's screen partner at RKO, is in this scene in which Fred and Adele are mentioned.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the violin sequence, the cord for the lights on the violin disappears and reappears throughout.

Quotes:

Barney Hopkins: Who are you?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: The Kentucky Hillbillies.
Barney Hopkins: Who?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: The Kentucky Hillbillies.
Kentucky Hillbilly #1: Singing!
Kentucky Hillbilly #2: Dancing!
Kentucky Hillbilly #3: Music!
Kentucky Hillbilly #4: Wisecracks!
Barney Hopkins: Do you know Your Old Kentucky Home?
The Kentucky Hillbillies: You said it!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Murder Most English: A Flaxborough Chronicle: The Flaxborough Crab: Part 2 (#1.5)" (1977)

Soundtrack:

High Life

"A Woman's Got To Have A Man"

Made in the year when the global economic crash hit rock bottom, and the first signs of recovery began to appear, 'Gold Diggers' is very much a product of the Depression. Bread lines and penury are all around, but there is a jaunty air of optimism, too: "the long-lost dollar has come back to the fold".

Polly, Trixie and Carol are three vivacious and attractive showgirls who room together and scrape a precarious living by getting hired for each new Broadway musical as it crops up, and riding their luck until it closes - which is often before it even opens. On the fringe of their group hovers Fay, the smart blonde with the waspish tongue (Ginger Rogers).

The girls are 'gold diggers' in that they waste no opportunity to batten onto rich men. It is hinted during the course of the film that showgirls inhabit a shadowy region on the borders of prostitution, and the harsh economic realities of 1933 force the girls to regard their good looks as a marketable commodity.

A kind of innocent carnality runs through the film. Our three heroines actually sleep together. Fay thinks nothing of changing clothes with Carol, and she gets her backside slapped several times - by both men AND women. Trixie bathes with the door wide open, while Carol preens herself in the scantiest of negligees. The girls contrive to embarrass a rich snob by having him wake up undressed in Carol's bed. The script is loaded with playful smuttiness - taking 'Back Bay codfish' for a ride, making bedroom eyes and so forth.

It is in the show numbers, however, that the real naughtiness is on display. Busby Berkeley had had a phenomenal impact earlier in the year with his staged routines for "42nd Street", and a similar (but more risque) format is used here. Girls strip naked in silhouette, Ginger sings and dances all but nude for "We're In The Money", and metal chastity bodices are breached using can openers.

Ruby Murray and Dick Powell once again team up as the ingenue lovers, this time playing Brad and Polly - "a knockout for the mush interest". Murray is all coy charm and Powell's tenor voice is magnificent. Ginger is, as always, a beautiful and intelligent performer. Watch her pull off the gibberish verses in 'Money', and breezing through the comic dialogue in the apartment scene. Joan Blondell as Carol is simply adorable. Her sad face during the trick played on Lawrence is enough to tell us that she is falling in love. Her performance as The Spirit Of The Depression in "My Forgotten Man" is one of the great images in cinema history.

Warren and Dubin wrote the songs - and what songs! There are amusing, playful numbers like "Pettin' In The Park", with Berkeley choreography to match, and "We're In The Money" is deservedly famous. "In The Shadows" is a lovely ballad, with a set of geodesic walkways and electrically-illuminated violins. The spine-tingling climax is the anthemic "My Forgotten Man".

"Pettin' In The Park" was originally intended to be the closing number (hence Polly in her park outfit during the final reel), but the running-order was changed. A reprise of "Pettin'" as aural wallpaper in the restaurant scene is an understated gem, with a lovely arrangement featuring muted cornets. In a nice little in-joke, the producer likes Brad's songs so much, he decides to fire Warren and Dubin. By the way - who is the girl who sits silently in the armchair throughout that long scene?

The conception for "My Forgotten Man" was "men marching, marching, marching!" A sweeping epic is told in song and action as we see breadlines, tenements, Great War doughboys and much, much more - all in one song! Joan Blondell deters the heartless cop by pulling back the bum's lapel in a vignette of great emotional power. The musical styles range through torch song, jazz, blues and more. Listen out for the trumpet's counter melody as Joan speaks the verses, the negress on the window sill with the divine alto voice, the clarinet and sax obbligato after each sung line, and the gospel-style descant. "Gee, don't it get ya?"