Morning Glory (1933)

Director:

Lowell Sherman

Writers:

Zoe Akins (play)
Howard J. Green (writer)

Release Date:

18 August 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

She'll give you the heart thrill of your life !

Plot:

When a naively innocent, aspiring actress arrives on the Broadway scene, she is taken under the wing of several theater veterans who mentor her to ultimate success.

Plot Keywords:

New York | Theater | Playwright | Mentor | Aspiring Actress

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Eva Lovelace
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Joseph Sheridan
Adolphe Menjou	...	Louis (Lewis) Easton
Mary Duncan	...	Rita Vernon, blonde star
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Robert Harley 'Bob' Hedges
Don Alvarado	...	Pepi Velez
Fred Santley	...	Will Seymour, Easton's bespectacled asst. (as Fredric Santly)
Richard Carle	...	Henry Lawrence, elderly critic
Tyler Brooke	...	Charley Van Duesen, alcoholic writer
Geneva Mitchell	...	Gwendoline Hall, brunette actress
Helen Ware	...	Nellie Navarre, Lovelace's dresser
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adair	...	Roberts, Easton's Butler (uncredited)
Ralph Bard	...	Head Usher (uncredited)
Billy Bletcher	...	Actor (uncredited)
Robert Bolder	...	Actor (uncredited)
John Carradine	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Louise Carver	...	Miss Waterman, Woman at Party (uncredited)
Helene Chadwick	...	Miss Murray, Easton's stenographer (uncredited)
Shirley Chambers	...	Woman at Party (uncredited)
Helen Collins	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Nathan Curry	...	Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Harry D'Arcy	...	Pedestrian (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	Miss Tracy (uncredited)
Joan Dix	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Florence Dudley	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
James Duffy	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Jay Eaton	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Bill Fisher	...	Grip (uncredited)
Carter Gibson	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
John Gough	...	Actor (uncredited)
Carlton Griffin	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Charlie Hall	...	Actor (uncredited)
Theresa Harris	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Althea Henley	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Lloyd Ingraham	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Leroy Johnson	...	Theater Janitor (uncredited)
Julanne Johnston	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
John Kelly	...	Prop Man (uncredited)
Winifred Landis	...	Dowager (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Actor (uncredited)
George Periolat	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Arthur Rankin	...	Frank, Easton's front desk clerk (uncredited)
Frances Raymond	...	Dowager (uncredited)
Sana Rayya	...	Emma, Rita's Maid (uncredited)
Harrington Reynolds	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Jack Rice	...	Newspaperman (uncredited)
Vera Steadman	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Al Stewart	...	Actor (uncredited)
Ray Stewart	...	Pedestrian (uncredited)
Jerome Storm	...	Actor (uncredited)
Edward Thomas	...	Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Smoker in Diner (uncredited)
Pauline Wagner	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Mildred Washington	...	Emma, Rita Vernon's dresser (uncredited)
Florence Wix	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
William Worthington	...	Banker (uncredited)
Otto Yamaoka	...	Servant (uncredited)

Directed by
Lowell Sherman

Writing credits
Zoe Akins		(play)
Howard J. Green		(writer)

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman	....	producer
Merian C. Cooper	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Bert Glennon

Film Editing by
William Hamilton

Set Decoration by
Chick Kirk		(settings)
Van Nest Polglase		(settings)
Ray Moyer		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Mel Berns	....	key makeup artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Hugh McDowell Jr.	....	sound

Special Effects by
Harry Redmond Sr.	....	special effects supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Bernhard Kaun	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• RKO Radio Pictures

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• Tobis-Sascha Film-Vertrieb (1935) (Austria) (theatrical)
• C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Turner Entertainment  package design (2007 release)
• Turner Entertainment  supplementary material (2007 release)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Adolphe Menjou re-created his role as Louis Easton for the "Lux Radio Theatre" hour-long version of this film, broadcast on October 12, 1942 by CBS. Co-starring were Judy Garland as Eva Lovelace and John Payne as Joseph Sheridan.

Quotes:

Robert Harley Hedges: Youth has its hour of glory... but too often it's only a morning glory, the flower that fades before the sun is very high.

Movie Connections:

References Flaming Guns (1932)

Another Delicious "Star is Born" Film

Sometimes I get irritated at how narcissistic Hollywood is, even on the subject matter of its films: there's an obvious Hollywood bias in favor of stories about show business, especially show business people. It seems as if, even if the main story isn't about show business, there's inevitably a girlfriend who's a nightclub singer or someone's putting on a skit or having a talent show. However, there are some exceptions to this tiresome self-promotion. The Gaynor and Garland versions of "A Star is Born," "What Price Hollywood," "Stage Door" and "Sunset Boulevard" come to mind. Here's another film about becoming a star that I love. "Morning Glory" is about a stage-struck young girl who makes it to the top. Sound familiar? Yes, but there's a charming little variant here - she achieves her stardom with her naiveté intact. This proposition would seem hard to swallow if it weren't for the fact that the young ingenue happens to be a very young Katherine Hepburn. You don't need gauze over the lens with Hepburn before the camera. She seems to generate her own nimbus. It also helps that Adolphe Menjou is present as the worldly wise, cynical, yet in the end kind impresario.

But for me, the biggest treat is that Hepburn was directed in "Morning Glory" to her first Oscar by the great Lowell Sherman, whose untimely death deprived movie lovers of a great talent, both behind and in front of the camera. What is so eerie about Sherman is his almost autobiographical end-life in film. In "Morning Glory" he was directing a brand new star playing a brand new star. And in "What Price Hollywood," the prototype of "A Star is Born," Sherman actually played a director who discovers and develops a new star, a director who's at the end of his rope - as Sherman actually was! "What Price Hollywood" was Sherman's penultimate film - he died, worn out, two years later.

Sure, "Morning Glory" is dated to modern audiences, but even if you're unable to get over yourself and make allowances for passé cinematic styles, which are inevitable in films not far removed from the pantomime of silents, let yourself get a kick out of watching this story behind the story.