Shopworn (1932)

Director:

Nick Grinde

Writers:

Sarah Y. Mason (story)
Jo Swerling (dialogue) ...

Release Date:

25 March 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A SUPERB ARTISTE IN HER MOST GLAMOROUS ROLE...Barbara STANWYCK (original print ad - mostly caps)

Plot:

A poor but honest and hardworking waitress from way across the tracks meets and falls in love with a college student from the upper-stuffy class...

Plot Keywords:

Waitress | College Student | Stardom | Male Female Relationship | Showgirl

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Kitty Lane
Regis Toomey	...	David Livingston
Zasu Pitts	...	Aunt Dot
Lucien Littlefield	...	Fred
Clara Blandick	...	Mrs. Helen Livingston
Robert Alden	...	Toby
Oscar Apfel	...	Judge Forbes
Maude Turner Gordon	...	Mrs. Thorne
Albert Conti	...	Andre Renoir
James Durkin	...	District Attorney (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

72 min | USA:66 min (re-edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4749-R: for re-release) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

After a full screen newspaper headline that reads "KITTY LANE NAMED IN DIVORCE SUIT" we see Barbara Stanwyck holding a different newspaper that reads "FATAL FALL CLIMAXES FATAL DIVORCE RAID" but no mention is made of such an incident at any time, so this must have been one of the deleted sequences.

Quotes:

Toby: [tries to grab Kitty's hand, but she pushes it away] Say Kit, won't you go to the show with me tonight?
Kitty Lane: For what?
Toby: Well, you can't do much with a crowd around.
Kitty Lane: That's why I like crowds.
[Fred calls out an order from the kitchen, and Kitty walks away.]
Toby: [following her] But Kit, there's a lot of things I want to tell you.
Kitty Lane: Only one, Toby. And the answer is "no."
Toby: Don't you know any three-letter words?
Kitty Lane: Nix!
Toby: [good naturedly] Why you...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)

Barbara Stanwyck vs. the worst mother in the world

Babs is a poor-but-honest small-town waitress in love with Regis Toomey (which in itself can't be easy), but she runs afoul of his mom, a pre-Auntie Em Clara Blandick, who is revealed to be snobbish, dishonest, unreasonable, and insufferably class-conscious. Even by the standards of the time, where lower-class gals always had a hard time of it crashing into society, Babs must endure endless humiliations, including ZaSu Pitts as an underwritten aunt. This Columbia potboiler, written and shot by folks who were also working on Capra early talkies at the time, is rather like Capra without Capra, and the anonymous direction doesn't allow for much style. But Stanwyck was always worth watching, and she gets to run through an impressive gamut of emotions before the hasty and unconvincing happy ending. And it's satisfyingly short.