Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Erwin S. Gelsey (screenplay)
James Seymour (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

27 May 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

Tagline:

The Biggest Show On Earth!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Chorus Girl | Composer | Rainstorm | Marriage Proposal | Song

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Warren William	...	Lawrence
Joan Blondell	...	Carol
Aline MacMahon	...	Trixie
Ruby Keeler	...	Polly
Dick Powell	...	Brad
Guy Kibbee	...	Peabody
Ned Sparks	...	Barney
Ginger Rogers	...	Fay
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' Number (uncredited)
Busby Berkeley	...	Call Boy (uncredited)
Eric Blore	...	Complaining Club Member (uncredited)
Audrene Brier	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Lynn Browning	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Edna Callahan	...	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	...	Second Messenger Boy with Hat (uncredited)
Ann Hovey	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Amo Ingraham	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Alice Jans	...	Gold Digger (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey	...	Detective Jones (uncredited)
Adele Lacy	...	Gold Digger (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	...	The Forgotten Man (uncredited)
Etta Moten	...	Remember My 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 Winner - 'Remember My Forgotten Man' Number (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
Erwin S. Gelsey		(screenplay) (as Erwin Gelsey) &
James Seymour		(screenplay)
David Boehm		(dialogue) &
Ben Markson		(dialogue)
Avery Hopwood		(based on a play by)

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

Cinematography by
Sol Polito		(photography)

Film Editing by
George Amy

Art Direction by
Anton Grot

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

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

Sound Department
Nathan Levinson	....	recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Mike Joyce	....	second camera (uncredited)
Buddy Longworth	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Speed Mitchell	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	conductor: Vitaphone Orchestra
Ray Heindorf	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Busby Berkeley	....	numbers created and directed by
Robert Lord	....	supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1933) (USA) (theatrical) (presents)
• Vitaphone Corporation, The (1933) (USA) (theatrical) (as The Vitaphone Corporation)
• Warner Bros. (1933) (France) (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) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Key Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

97 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

The play "The Gold Diggers" by Avery Hopwood opened at the Lyceum Theatre in New York on 30 September 1919 and closed in June 1920 after 282 performances. The opening night cast included Ina Claire and Lilyan Tashman.

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

Fay Fortune:In the early "cattle call" scene, the girls are asked to raise their skirts for the producer to appraise their legs. Ginger Rogers' character wise-cracks "Not a calf in a carload". This was a pun on the well-known "Not a cough in a carload" slogan of Old Gold cigarettes.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Let's Dance (2009/II)

Soundtrack:

Pettin' in the Park

Classic Depression Era Musical

New York City - the height of the Great Depression. Four showgirls, starving, scheming for that next role in a Broadway musical comedy. Looking for the Big Break. Auditioning for every part. Often down, but never downhearted. Using men, loving men, cheating men. These are the GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933.

This is a wonderful comedy - funny, tuneful & easy on the intellect. Plus, the magic of Busby Berkeley's musical numbers. It's the kind of entertainment that kept audiences happy for a few hours during the dark days of economic despair in the early 1930's.

The cast is first-rate: brassy Joan Blondell; cynical Aline MacMahon; innocent Ruby Keeler & on-the-make Ginger Rogers. Keeler lands handsome & mysterious Dick Powell, (who gets to croon some attractive Harry Warren tunes); and acerbic but loyal producer Ned Sparks.

Warren William & Guy Kibbee turn up late in the proceedings, playing priggish bluenoses who are nonetheless highly susceptible to alcohol & feminine wiles. Movie mavens will recognize Charles Lane as a society reporter; Ferdinand Gottschalk as a disgruntled club member; and Sterling Holloway as a messenger boy.

Some years back, in an introduction to a book about THE WIZARD OF OZ's Munchkins, dwarf Billy Barty stated that he was `too young' to appear in that 1939 movie. This, of course, is nonsense, and he can easily be spotted in the `Pettin' In The Park' number here. As he would in FOOTLIGHT PARADE, he rather disturbingly portrays a lecherous tot, a sure indication, if nothing else, that this is a pre-Production Code film.

Mr. Berkeley does get to have some fun. The film starts with `We're In The Money' featuring Ginger Rogers & girls clad in coins large & small; Rogers even gets to sing one chorus in pig Latin. `Pettin' In The Dark' extols the joys of bucolic lovemaking, segues to simulated, silhouetted female nudity and rather bizarrely ends with the chorus all metal-corseted (Powell is given a can opener to use on Keeler). `The Shadow Waltz' is Berkeley at his most romantic, with its helix-skirted ladies pretending to play fluorescent, fake violins, all moving in a multitude of weaving patterns staged for the famous overhead camera shots. The film's emotional punch comes at the end, with Blondell's tempestuous rendition of `Remember My Forgotten Man' - with its endless marching men, a blues wail for the doughboys of the Great War, ruined by the Depression. The movie ends on this somber note. (Powell also gets to warble `I've Got To Sing A Torch Song').

And just who are those hilarious, Yiddish Kentucky Hillbillies, anyway?