Several scenes were cut before release, because they presumably would have made the film much too long (films lasting two hours or longer were still a rarity in 1936). Among the scenes omitted were a sequence featuring
Paul Robeson and
Hattie McDaniel in old-age makeup, with Robeson singing an additional reprise of "Ol' Man River" while McDaniel sits beside him in a rocking chair and a modern speedboat is seen in the background; a World War I scene featuring
Irene Dunne and
Charles Winninger, and a vocal reprise of "Gallivantin' Around", one of the additional songs written by
Jerome Kern and
Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1936 film version. This last one would have been part of the movie's final sequence in which Kim (played as an adult by
Sunnie O'Dea) makes her debut in a leading role on Broadway. She was supposed to have sung the song in addition to dancing to it. The vocal of "Gallivantin' Around" was eventually cut from this final sequence, but much of the rest of the scene remains in the film, except for a "modern" portion which shows how dancing evolved from the nineteenth century to the jazz era.
more
