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The Gay Divorcee
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The Gay Divorcee (1934)

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User Rating: 7.6/10 (1,683 votes)
Photos (see all 15 | slideshow)

Overview

Director:
Mark Sandrich
Writers:
J. Hartley Manners (unproduced play)
Dwight Taylor (musical play "Gay Divorce") ...
(more)
Release Date:
12 October 1934 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Musical | Romance more
Tagline:
The King and Queen of 'Carioca' more
Plot:
Mimi Glossop wants a divorce so her Aunt Hortense hires a professional to play the correspondent in apparent infidelity... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 4 nominations more
User Comments:
Sensational more

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Fred Astaire ... Guy Holden

Ginger Rogers ... Mimi Glossop

Alice Brady ... Aunt Hortense

Edward Everett Horton ... Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald
Erik Rhodes ... Rodolfo Tonetti
Eric Blore ... The waiter
Lillian Miles ... Singer, Continental Number
Charles Coleman ... Guy's Valet
William Austin ... Cyril Glossop

Betty Grable ... Dance Specialty
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Norman Ainsley ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
Jimmy Aubrey ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
Finis Barton ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
De Don Blunier ... Chorus girl (uncredited)
Jack Chefe ... Table Extra (uncredited)
Cy Clegg ... Porter (uncredited)
E.E. Clive ... Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
George Davis ... French waiter #1 (uncredited)
Charlie Hall ... Messenger at dock (uncredited)
Shep Houghton ... Dancer (uncredited)
Arthur Jarrett ... Vocalist (uncredited)
Sydney Jarvis ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
Vivian Keefer ... Chorus girl (uncredited)
Lois Lindsay ... Chorus girl (uncredited)
Alphonse Martell ... French waiter #2 (uncredited)
Ted Oliver ... Customs Inspector #3 (uncredited)
Paul Porcasi ... French headwaiter (uncredited)
Sonny Ray ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
Ronald R. Rondell ... Dance Extra, Continental Number (uncredited)
Larry Steers ... Extra (uncredited)
Cyril Thornton ... Customs Inspector #2 (uncredited)
Florence Wix ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
Bruce Wyndham ... Undetermined role (uncredited)
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Directed by
Mark Sandrich 
 
Writing credits
J. Hartley Manners (unproduced play)

Dwight Taylor  musical play "Gay Divorce" and
Kenneth S. Webb  musical adaptation for play and
Samuel Hoffenstein  musical adaptation for play

George Marion Jr. (screenplay) and
Dorothy Yost (screenplay) and
Edward Kaufman (screenplay)

Robert Benchley  uncredited

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman .... producer
 
Original Music by
Samuel Hoffenstein 
Herb Magidson 
Harry Revel 
Kenneth S. Webb  (as Kenneth Webb)
 
Cinematography by
David Abel 
 
Film Editing by
William Hamilton 
 
Art Direction by
Carroll Clark 
Van Nest Polglase 
 
Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett 
 
Makeup Department
Mel Berns .... makeup artist (uncredited)
Robert J. Schiffer .... makeup artist (uncredited)
 
Production Management
J.R. Crone .... production manager (uncredited)
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ray Lissner .... second assistant director (uncredited)
Argyle Nelson .... assistant director (uncredited)
Ivan Thomas .... second assistant director (uncredited)
 
Art Department
Thomas Little .... props (uncredited)
 
Sound Department
George Marsh .... sound editor
Hugh McDowell Jr. .... recording director
Robert Wise .... sound effects editor (uncredited)
 
Special Effects by
Vernon L. Walker .... photographic effects (as Vernon Walker)
Harry Redmond Jr. .... special effects (uncredited)
Harry Redmond Sr. .... special effects supervisor (uncredited)
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Willard Barth .... assistant camera (uncredited)
Joseph F. Biroc .... camera operator (uncredited)
Jim Davis .... grip (uncredited)
Fred Hendrickson .... still photographer (uncredited)
Clifford Stine .... assistant camera (uncredited)
James Vianna .... electrician (uncredited)
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Claire Cramer .... wardrobe (uncredited)
 
Music Department
Philip Faulkner Jr. .... music recordist (as P.J. Faulkner Jr.)
Murray Spivack .... music recordist
Max Steiner .... musical director
Maurice De Packh .... music arranger (uncredited)
Howard Jackson .... music arranger (uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun .... music arranger (uncredited)
Gene Rose .... music arranger (uncredited)
Eddie Sharpe .... music arranger (uncredited)
Max Steiner .... composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Clifford Vaughan .... music arranger (uncredited)
 
Other crew
Peter Croft .... technical director
Dave Gould .... stager: dance ensembles
Zion Myers .... production associate
Hermes Pan .... assistant dance director
Harry Cornbleth .... stand-in: Fred Astaire (uncredited)
Bill Hamberry .... projectionist (uncredited)
Ben Holmes .... dialogue director (uncredited)
Elizabeth McGaffey .... researcher (uncredited)
Marie Osborne .... stand-in: Ginger Rogers (uncredited)
Hermes Pan .... choreographer (uncredited)
Frank Warde .... doll dance director (uncredited)
Trudy Wellman .... continuity (uncredited)
Trudy Wellman .... script clerk (uncredited)
Bill Williams .... photography co-operator (uncredited)
Madeline Wilson .... stand-in: Alice Brady (uncredited)
 
Crew verified as complete



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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Gay Divorce (UK)
more
Runtime:
107 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | Italian
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Certification:
Canada:G (Ontario) | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #282)
MOVIEmeter: ?
^ 5% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This is the only film in which Fred Astaire plays a role that he originally played on Broadway. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: During the "Continental" sequence Rodolfo Tonetti is shown playing a concertina and singing along. Though he moves the concertina in and out, and you can hear the music, his fingers never move on the keys. more
Quotes:
Waiter: That's what they call an igneous intrusion.
Guy Holden: You're somewhat of an igneous intrusion yourself.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Biography: Betty Grable: Behind the Pin-up" (1995) more
Soundtrack:
Don't Let It Bother You more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful:-
Sensational, 29 January 2004
10/10
Author: rick_7 from Manchester, England

Following an apparently accidental teaming in 1933's Flying Down to Rio (a fun Dolores Del Rio vehicle), Fred and Ginger got their first starring feature a year later. It was based on J. Hartley Manners' play 'The Gay Divorce'. The Hays Office insisted on shoving an 'e' on the end, for how could a divorce be so trifling as to be gay? Some UK prints still run with the original title. RKO assembled a sparkling ensemble cast of top-flight farceurs, bringing together (in ascending order of sublimity) Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton and Erik Rhodes ("Are you a union man?"). Mark Sandrich directs the thing with a maximum of fuss and style. Hermes Pan helped Fred choreograph the numbers.

The plot is suitably - and delightfully - trivial. Musical star Guy Holden (Fred) happens upon a girl (Ginger), falls desperately in love with her, then spends the rest of the picture trying to free himself from marvellously silly plot threads and Everett Horton's exquisite quadruple-takes.

Keeping just one song from Cole Porter's original score, the timeless 'Night and Day', and adding only four others, The Gay Divorcée is more a comedy with songs than it is a musical comedy. But what comedy - and what songs! 'Looking For a Needle in a Haystack' is a masterpiece of economy: Fred a whirlwind of frustrated, lovestruck energy as he spins around his hotel room lamenting his missing love in peerless style. "Men don't pine," he memorably concludes, "Women pine. Men ... suffer." Everett Horton's rare excursion into song-and-dance territory is a breath of hysterical, liberating ludicrousness, as he knocks knees with a young Betty Grable. 'Don't Let It Bother You', performed by a chorus of dancing girls (and dolls), then spectacularly reprised by a tapping Astaire, is another treat. 'The Continental', the film's vast production number is peculiarly edited but sporadically fine and offers a fitting climax.

It's exceptional fluff, the sort of heady, heightened escapism that you don't come close to very often. An extravagantly mounted, joyous comedy played to perfection by two stars at their irresistible peak. Unmissable.

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