Stage Door Analysis
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- čas přidán 15. 04. 2020
- An in depth comparative analysis of Gregory La Cava's 1937 film 'Stage Door' and Edna Ferber & George Kaufman's 1936 play. Spoilers.
My sources include wikipedia, IMdB, and these fine books and websites:
“The Algonquin Round Table.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 10 Feb. 2020, www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/the-algonquin-round-table-about-the-algonquin/527/.
“The Great Depression 1930-1940.” Talkin' Broadway - Broadway 101 "1930-1940: The Great Depression" Part 1, www.talkinbroadway.com/bway101/5.html.
Kaufman, George S., et al. Kaufman & Co.: Broadway Comedies. Literary Classics of the United States, 2004.
Leadon, Fran. Broadway: a History of New York City in Thirteen Miles. W W NORTON, 2020.
Mordden, Ethan. All That Glittered: the Golden Age of Drama on Broadway, 1919-1959. St. Martin's Press, 2007. - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Bravo! This was such a treat! This classic will never grow old. The dialogue of the ladies is unmatched. And I'm jealous I haven't got friends I can banter with in this way. Millennial Dilemmas....sigh.
Hard agree. Their repartee is goal worthy, and I would volunteer my services but alas I'm more the type who thinks of the perfect reply five days later. So, instead I'll wish you the best of luck in finding them. Maybe not now due to the Rona, but after.
Same. I am quite clever in my head however, in the "real" world not so much. 🙈
the backstage story of this movie is fascinating
After she had retired from producing the Perry Mason tv show, Gail Patrick gave several talks about her career. She recalled how everyone, but everyone in Hollywood detested Katharine Hepburn, from lighting technicians and cameramen to casts and directors and how that basically never changed for fifty years.
Of the 'Stage Door' production, she talked of how everyone on the set was drawn to Ginger Rogers like a magnet, how Rogers was kind and helpful to everyone both on and off the set, and had the highest praise for her completely natural acting; while Hepburn did all she could to turn people away from Rogers. Patrick was scathing about Hepburn's acting ability, calling her a very stagey actress who couldn't improvise but had to have every scene laid out for her to rehearse. Given how warm and friendly Gail was toward her other co-workers, her attitude toward G R A T E Kate (as she spelled it out) was very noticeable.
Lucille Ball has described how she grew so angry on this set at Hepburn's arrogance and petty behavior that Ball threw coffee on her. Apparently the stage crew burst into applause.
It took the full support of both Ginger and Lela Rogers to keep RKO from firing Ball, and all her life Lucy declared that Ginger was her biggest benefactor at the beginning of her career. Rogers felt that she was treated shabbily by the stars of her films when she was starting out, so when she became one herself she made it a point to help new actors all she could. Her mother became a talent scout and coach, discovering and training Lucy, Betty Grable, and Tyrone Power among many others. The Rogerses' view was that helping everyone around them helped the industry as a whole.
Possibly the harshest example of Hepburn's behavior can be seen in how she acted behind Rogers' back. Her career had failed so completely that not even Cary Grant could make her pictures into hits. So RKO put her in a production with their biggest star, hoping to actually make some money from her contract. By this time, Ginger's solo movies were so big that they were paying for her collaborations with Fred Astaire. She was, as Patrick put it, 'the biggest star and greatest actor that RKO ever had.' Hepburn promptly backstabbed Rogers, going to the director while Rogers was away and getting him to change the story line to give Hepburn more screen time. Greg LaCava was a genius, but also a notorious drunk, prone to trying the last idea he heard, so this would have been easy enough to do.
So even though it is a masterpiece of film, it is hard to watch Stage Door, knowing that fine actors like Anjou and Arden and Patrick always left immediately when their scenes were finished because they were revolted by Katharine Hepburn. These events make Rogers' autobiography very revealing, because in it she has praise for the very person who stabbed her.
This Movie showed the CASTING COUCH most movies at this time often showed the skeezy producer dating the beautiful girls. They were more honest about what went on back stage than the movies if the 70s and on
One of the problem I have with video essays on internet is that almost all of them cover films that are already widely seen and thoroughly discussed in media. So at best they offer new perspective on old shit. But you are one of the few who would discuss rare unseen or unheard movies( a movie from 1936!!!!). Also the research and personal analysis is top notch too.
Haha. Thanks. I do like my under served cinema, 'tis true. But I wouldn't go too hard on other CZcamsrs. This is a tough gig to do well and unlike me they're probably using it as a source of income. Which means they have to go where the money is.
CZcams algorithms are more likely to recommend their videos if they're talking about popular movies. Which means more ad revenue. Not to mention, if their Patrons want another video about Marvel, Disney, or DC, CZcamsrs are financially obligated to give it to them. And trust...that ain't always easy to do on time and in an amusing manner. And it has to be amusing because if they anger a fanbase? Hello, hate mail. Which is always worse if they're female, gay, or a POC (or any combo therein).
So, yeah, I'm talking about rare movies but I'm also receiving a lot less shit because of the lack of attention they receive. Which is nice. I wouldn't like receiving death threats over Star Wars. I just wouldn't.
There's a reason why the films discussed are the ones widely seen: because they're the ones worth discussing.
I’ve watched this movie countless times, and I just love every minute of it. It’s so hilarious. The women are so great. All my favorite stores in one movie.
favorite “stars”!!!! damn autocorrect
just finished stage door for the second time and I was so happy to find the exact kind of video I was looking for! thank you!
You're very welcome! It is a great film.
Wonderful insight of a beloved classic. Great commentary 🎉
Brilliant analysis. You watch carefully, analyze deeply, and are a well of information about Broadway and Hollywood in the thirties. Thanks.
These are my opinions. No more, no less.
They are, however, extremely good opinions.
@@YogSothoth_McSnazz Aw thank you! I tried so hard to be objective while covering the two stories. It wasn't easy.
My Great uncle was actually in stage door and also cool.
Oh, Linda! Mr Powell’s car is here. Mr Powell isn’t here. Just his car.
I really enjoyed your appreciation of one of my favorite movies. It’s so witty and sharp. Everyone is perfect in their parts.
Your interpretation of Kay as the theater and Terry as Hollywood is right on the money.
I will look for your other posts.
Thanks so much for this fabulous look into this film. I've not seen it, but definitely plan on it now. I love all the research you've clearly put into this and your insights. You also made me giggle. ❤️
Thank you. It was a long and arduous process. My friends helped me keep sane throughout it all. Without them I couldn't have done this.
This film reveals a highly developed environment with deeply layered and complex characters, except for Hepburn's. She was completely out of her depth, as she herself acknowledged. In the hands of a great actress - Garbo or Colbert, Jean Arthur or Hepburn herself, after about 1965 - Terry Randal would have become one of the greatest roles in history. Claire Trevor would have made it a triumph. Terry Randal as portrayed by Hepburn of 1937 is little more than caricature, a stylized cartoon of an ancient trope: 'you can't sing the blues until you suffer." It's a trite performance, saved only by Hepburn's considerable native intelligence and the sustained brilliance of the actors around her.
The power of Ginger Rogers' performance builds on itself and it is Jean Maitland that becomes one of the great portrayals in the history of film. Her verbal barbs and witty ripostes are thinnest veneer, an attempt to hide the sheer terror she lives with every day. She's dead broke, with no prospects. Broke, but not naive. She knows just exactly who and what Anthony Powell is. She goes to him with her eyes open, getting drunk so she can lie to herself about what it is she is doing and why. She's hard but vulnerable, witty, an urbane woman of the world, with insight into Kay's pain but unable to recognize how deep it goes.
It's an astonishing performance, and the great flaw of Stage Door is that LaCava abruptly changes the plot in midstream. Hepburn herself said that LaCava was usually drunk and would agree with whatever he heard last, so she manipulated him so that she could be the star.
I just seen this movie. I absolutely loved it. So many awesome woman in their prime was in this movie. I love watching Lucille Ball and Eve Arden. My 2 favorite woman.
I've never seen The Stage Door, but now I'm definitely watching it. Your videos really do something for me. Keep it up!
Aw thanks. I really hope you like it.
This is refreshing, because La Cava is so seldom talked about. His films are all about lampooning every ideology, highlighting class issues, and dimensions of dialogue. Character over plot. Sort of an Altman before Altman, but the morality of his films are centered around women.
True but part of me wonders how much of that was deliberate on his part versus the studios pigeon holing him for being able to work really well with that many women. It shouldn't have been unusual but sadly it was that a director of his caliber could appease that many women without comment or backlash. At least none that we know of.
Fun fact: Anthony Powell was also a celebrated British novelist, who was in Hollywood failing to get a job round about the time 'Stage Door' was produced. In his immensely long 'Dance to the Music of Time' there is AFAIAA only one passage discussing movie stars. A woman says she sat next to Adolph Menjou at dinner and 'he had such nice manners'. Coincidence?
I deeply appreciate your examination of Stage Door from stage to screen. I produced this show a good five years ago and fell in love with it and the mid-1930s. The director used incidental music and accurate costumes and props of the time and the entire experience was -- to me, at least -- magical. In fact one spring I had the windows open while Spring cleaning with the production's music playing over the speakers and for the briefest moments I felt like the time WAS the mid 1930s. In preparation for the show, our wonderful director had cast and crew watch Stage Door (the movie) and one of the 1930s Gold Digger movies to pick up on the style and the rapid and rough speech patterns of that time. As for the movie Stage Door, it emphasized different aspects of the play while discarding others entirely. I honestly don't know which I enjoy better. The play had Terry's romantic choice between crass playwright and junior producer (the battle between Hollywood and Broadway) and that's what's sorely missing from the movie. Then, you and I approached this show from opposite ends; you from movie to stage and me from stage to movie. And as it's human nature to consider one's first exposure to be the high point (or superior version), it will remain that either version of Stage Door will satisfy accordingly.
A personal anecdote from our Stage Door: The entire production got along so well and the tone and feel of the 1930s equally strong, that the day I dropped by the theatre to make a audio cassette copy of the play's incidental music, it was after the play's run and as I recorded the music in real time from the theatre's playback system, I looked upon the set and lamented it would no longer see the girls from the Footlight's Club. A very sad feeling. I still listen to the recording in my car.
Those 1930s movie really had a rawness to them. The dialog was quick and sharp and full of the glorious slang of the time. I also developed a taste for Welsh Rarebit because of the play. Thank you very much for taking on this subject and giving it the thought you have.
This was a lovely comment to read! Thank you so much for sharing it. Always interesting to hear from people with a theatrical background.
You're very welcome. I also have one more tale that I hope is as interesting to you as it is to me.
As most community theatres do, one of the performances was recorded and offered to the cast after the run. On this particular day, there was a torrential downpour for an hour that flooded the theatre's basement (which was a mortuary showroom before being purchased by the theater company in the 1930s (another reason Stage Door and its 1930s trappings meant something to me)) and I arrived early to dry out anything left on the floor downstairs. Next to the one dressing room's exit door were the huge costume racks. This day the entire door sill was covered with about ten cave crickets. I ran upstairs, grabbed a can of bug killer (unfortunately, just for ants) and I sprayed the entire sill. Half the crickets jumped into the costume rack.
Back to the recorded performance, one of those crickets made its way around the front of one of the actress's dress (Judith's) as she read Louise's letter to the girls. Luckily, only the actress playing Terry Randall saw it at the time but wisely decided not to say anything. In that same performance, as Terry's doctor father is awaiting his daughter, Mattie hurries up the stairs to get Terry, trips and falls flat onto the landing. That had everyone backstage laughing to themselves but every time I re-watch the DVD of that performance, I laugh at Doc Randall taking his day off seriously and not hurrying over as a concerned doctor would.
Your videos are amazing.
Aw thank you! I try so hard.
Precisely why I'm an old soul. People could laugh at themselves during The Depression, now everything is harassment and bullying.
Glad to see you ok during these... strenuous times. I was not aware even aware of "Stage Door" or any other productions from that era. Might as well do some digging and check at least some of the bigger movies of old - not much to do while staying home anyways. Thank you - that was an interesting peek through time.
There's a lot of hidden gems pre Hayes code Hollywood. I think you'll be surprised.
I watched this film last night and LOVED it. The dialogue/banter, Ginger's dancing and acting, Kate's acting, Andrea's performance were the best. I want Kate's intro outfit when we first meet her as Terry Randall 😍. I loved the part when her bullshit detector went off when she saw through Mr. Powell and tried to protect Jean from the creep. Terry is one of those characters I couldn't stand initially but started to grow on me. Andrea Leeds's performance as Kaye drew me in. The last scene where she walks up the stairs was super powerful and became an emotional rollercoaster for me by the time the film reached its finale. The saddest part that left me crying was when Terry had to find out about Kaye's death the night of her first performance in "Enchanted April" 😭. Kaye was so powerful yet so sad to watch.
Also, can we talk about how Lucille Ball was so cute and funny in this movie too? 😍 I thought she had the best comedic timing. Also, she and Ginger had some of the best sarcasm.
Oh, and Ginger Rodgers and Ann Miller's tap dance routine was so much fun to watch 😊
Couldn't agree with you more. I'm a huge fan of Lucille Ball and LOVE her in this film. Probably not as much as I do Lured (what can I say I'm a sucker for murder mysteries) but she does a fantastic job here as a supporting character and it works. But I have to say Andrea Leeds is the best thing about this film. She is SO sympathetic and as much as I adore Ginger Rogers and Kate the Greats chemistry it can't compete with how sorry I feel for Leeds. It rips my heart out every time when I see her birthday ruined by her friends success. Ugh. I swoon. I SWOON!!
@@moviemonarch1617, Ugh... I know... The thing is that it wasn't completely Terry's fault that she got the part and Kaye didn't because she didn't know that Kaye was desperate for the part in Enchanted April. But... Yeah! I agree! Fun fact! Enchanted April is actually based on Kate's very first play called "The Lake" which was a flop. Her iconic line, "The Calla Lillies are in bloom again..." Actually was a real line she recited in The Lake. She wanted to add that in the film as a way to make fun of herself. I thought that was clever and it shows her self-aware she was
@@moviemonarch1617, I still LIVED for when Mr. Powell tried the same shit he pulled with Ginger on Katharine and she saw through him. I was like, "EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! YES, KATE! SICK THAT CREEP! 😂"
I found you with song of the sea and was blown away, now this is just as good if not better.
Wow! Thank you so much that's very kind of you to say.
Congratulations, you've earned a subscriber. Great video, keep it up!
Aw thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Edna Ferber is from my hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Brilliant in content and production!
Thank you! This really does mean a lot to me right now.
This is my all time favorite movie followed by The Women
You have excellent taste. Can never go wrong with Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell in the same movie...you just can't.
Love this movie
Wonderful movie
Counterargument on the character of Jean Maitland--I'm NOT claiming that this was necessarily how any writers, the director, or the actresses perceived it, but in the movie as it plays (especially to a modern audience), Jean pretty neatly functions as *Terry's* love interest. First, to get it out of the way, there is ZERO evidence/implication at any point in the movie that Terry is attracted to men. This isn't "proof" of anything, but it IS rare to see even in THE main female role anywhere now, let alone a major studio movie in the 1930s. Now moving on, they start off as antagonists with plenty of crackling tension, get to a place of growing reluctant liking, seemingly stronger on Terry's part as she's the one to make the larger overtures. This is complicated both by Terry getting Kaye's role, something Terry doesn't understand the implications of, and by Terry choosing to pretend to be sleeping with Powell in front of Jean, incurring implications she certainly *does* understand, but she decides it's worth it as she realizes Jean would end up hating herself if she actually went down this path, ie, Terry chooses Jean's wellbeing (with some baked-in standards of the time to be sure) above Jean thinking well of her. Between this perceived "betrayal" and then Kaye's suicide Jean is livid and lets Terry know, but then in the truth of Terry's performance Jean realizes she must have something wrong about Terry and forgives her as they come together at a very emotional moment. The ending confirms that they will continue living together (Jean has a semi-boyfriend who shows up for about twenty seconds mid-movie, and he's briefly referenced again at the very end, but this feels more like perfunctory box-ticking than anything else).
Look, everything I just said up there is still subtext at the end of the day, and nobody is obligated to take it up if they don't want to, but even if you don't see the dynamic as potentially romantic, the movie's structure still makes their unlikely social class-bridging friendship into its central dramatic relationship. And in a story of two women falling in friendship with each other, you can't say that one of those two women doesn't have a central function.
When I see Terry look at Jean in a very peculiar way when she's unpacking her clothes, I could tell that Terry secretly had romantic feelings towards her 😍
I am ALL for this interpretation. Makes complete and total sense to me. Love it.
@@moviemonarch1617 Edna Ferber was most likely asexual, but that could have left her sympathetic to lesbians, though there are plenty of attractive men in her novels.
@@esmeephillips5888 Okay.
Nice analysis
Thanks!
I love this film. Probably, the only film of Kate that I like. I've seen The African Queen and Philadelphia Story, I got bored and didn't bother to finish it. I believe that any Ginger Rogers movies are more fun! I mean, I watched 42nd Street even though she had a minor part in it. But I watched it bc of Ginger. I love her!
Really? I loved Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby but I would suggest you stay far, far away from The Lion in Winter given how boring you found The African Queen. As for Ginger Rogers Top Hat was always my favorite.
I think you’d really like Hepburn in Holiday
I just watched Stage Door last night after watching this analysis and Be Kind Rewind's video on Katharine and Ginger's nomination for Best Actress at the 1941 Oscars. Stage Door made me laugh and cry. I agree with you about The Philadelphia Story. I respect that it put Kate back on the map to stardom. Thanks to her making the right decision by buying our her RKO contract. It had some moments in there that made me cringe and was a bit too boring for me. I still liked it but I didn't LOVE it. I actually thought she was great in The African Queen and enjoyed seeing her in the end, take on the role of a hero with Humphrey Bogart (even when they had to think on their feet behind the scenes since they were on location). I enjoyed her performance in The Lion in Winter despite it being too long. Most likely one of her best acting performances ever!
You probably might like her in Keeper of the Flame and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.
@@moviemonarch1617 I LOVED her in The Lion In Winter 😍
@@rebeccassweetmusic4632 Me too! It's one of her greatest dramatic roles and she plays it to perfection against Peter O'Toole.
Good video
Love your analysis but it doesn't quite work for Kate Hepburn. She did what she wanted to do and stuck around a long time. Nice job. Thanks!
Ginger Rogers was the star of this movie, Hepburn was box office poison at this time and her acting was the same in every movie. This movie
This is like an analysis of His Girl Friday that wastes time condemning Cary Grant for being so manipulative. Who cares if Menjou's character stepped over a line. IT'S A MOVIE!
Your last name is Weinstein and you don't understand how Mr. Powell trying to date rape a gal is a problem? Oh sir. This is no place to troll. The jokes just write themselves.
@@moviemonarch1617 Of course it's a problem. It's a huge problems that was, is, and likely will be with us. But Menjou doesn't succeed!!! That doesn't excuse his behavior, but it does make me wonder why so much time is spent on it and why it should be an issue. The scene is much more about Rogers' character's strength of character, he integrity, than what Menjou is doing.
@@steveweinstein3222 How is that scene about Jean's strength of character and integrity? Follow up: why doesn't Mr. Powell succeed? Because I believe we're on two very different pages but I'd be interested to see where you're coming from.
@@moviemonarch1617 As you yourself point out, he could easily have taken advantage of her when she was dead drunk, as sexual abusers do in such situations. He doesn't. If he's a sexual abuser, he's not very good at it, is he? But aside from that, he, like all the men in this film, are only there to shed light on the women of the Footlights Club. It's their movie, their story (stories), their turf. To discuss Menjou's motives & actions is besides the point of the entire film!
@@steveweinstein3222 But you didn't answer my question about Jean's strength of character which was your original supposition. How is her being rejected by him, while drunk, an example of her strength of character? I focus on it because you don't seem to get it. Even in his rejection of her it's not HER character that's exuding power over the situation it's his. He's afraid. He's the one who doesn't want to commit. She has no power. She is a pawn of circumstance that he's manipulating to his benefit and nobody else's. Hence why I talk about it. But you seriously don't seem to understand. And I'm not sure there's any other way to explain it. HE is the one with power. She is not. It is a date rape scene played for laughs in a situation that happens all too often in real life Hollywood a la Harvey Weinstein. If you still don't get where I'm coming from, I'm afraid we'll be at an impasse.
you speak too fast, please slow down. We are not all english natives.