- Footlight Parade
Infobox Film
name = Footlight Parade
image_size = 215px
imdb_id = 0024028
director =Lloyd Bacon
writer = James Seymour
Manuel SeffRobert Lord "(story)"
Peter Milne "(story)"
starring =James Cagney Joan Blondell Ruby Keeler Dick Powell
producer =Robert Lord
music =Harry Warren
"(music)"Al Dubin
"(lyrics)"All Movie Guide [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:18113~T0 Overview] ]Sammy Fain
(music)Irving Kahal
{lyrics)TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3122&category=Full%20Credits Full Credits] ]
cinematography =George Barnes
editing =George Amy
budget = $703,000 (est.)
gross =
released = 30 September fy|1933
"(premiere)"
21 October "(general)"
runtime = 104 minutes
country = FilmUS
language = English"Footlight Parade" (fy|1933) is a
Warner Bros. musical film starringJames Cagney ,Joan Blondell ,Ruby Keeler andDick Powell (whose character is almost autobiographical) and featuringFrank McHugh ,Guy Kibbee ,Hugh Herbert andRuth Donnelly . The movie was written by Manuel Seff and James Seymour from a story byRobert Lord and Peter Milne. It was directed byLloyd Bacon .The spectacular
Busby Berkeley musical numbers, written byHarry Warren (music) andAl Dubin (lyrics) andSammy Fain (music) andIrving Kahal (lyrics), include "By a Waterfall", "Honeymoon Hotel", and "Shanghai Lil".In 1992, "Footlight Parade" was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".Plot
"Footlight Parade" tells the story of Chester Kent (
James Cagney ), who replaces his failing career as a director of Broadway musicals with a new one as the creator of musical numbers called "prologues," short live stage productions presented in movie theaters before the main feature is shown. He faces pressure from his business partners to constantly create a large number of marketable prologues to service theaters throughout the country, but his job is made harder by a rival who is stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone working inside his company. Kent is so overwhemed with work that he doesn't that realize his secretary, Nan (Joan Blondell ), has fallen in love with him, and is doing her best to protect him.Kent's business partners announce that they have a big deal pending with the Apolinaris theater circuit, but getting the contract depends on Kent impressing Mr. Apolinaris with three spectacular prologues, presented on the same night, one after another at three different theatres. Kent then stages "
Honeymoon Hotel ", "By a Waterfall ", featuring the famous 'Human Waterfall', and "Shanghai Lil", featuring Cagney andRuby Keeler dancing together.Cast
*
James Cagney as "Chester Kent, creator of musical prologues"
*Joan Blondell as "Nan Prescott, his secretary"
*Ruby Keeler as "Bea Thorn, dancer turned secretary turned dancer"
*Dick Powell as "Scott 'Scotty' Blair, juvenile lead, former protege of Mrs. Gould"
*Frank McHugh as "Francis, dance director"
*Ruth Donnelly as "Harriet Bowers Gould, the producer's nepotistic wife"
*Guy Kibbee as "Silas 'Si' Gould, producer"
*Hugh Herbert as "Charlie Bowers, Mrs. Gould's brother, the censor"
*Claire Dodd as "Vivian Rich, Nan's friend, a gold digger"
*Gordon Westcott as "Harry Thompson, Kent's assistant"
*Arthur Hohl as "Al Frazer, the other producer"
*Renee Whitney as "Cynthia Kent, Kent's ex-wife"
*Barbara Rogers as "Gracie, a dancer"
*Paul Porcasi as "George Apolinaris, owner of a chain of movie theaters"
*Philip Faversham as "Joe Barrington, juvenile lead, protege of Mrs. Gould"
*Herman Bing as "Fralick, the music director
*Billy Barty as "Mouse and Little Boy"
*Hobart Cavanaugh as "Title-Thinkerupper"Cast notes:
*Dorothy Lamour andAnn Sothern were among the many chorus girls in the film. It was Lamour's film debut.
*It is often written thatJohn Garfield made his (uncredited) film debut in this film, but experts were divided if it was actually him in the very quick (5/6ths of a second) shot.IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024028/trivia Trivia for "Footlight Parade"] ] According to the 2003Turner Classic Movies documentary "The John Garfield Story", it is not Garfield.Musical numbers
*"
Honeymoon Hotel " – by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics)
*"Shanghai Lil" – by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics)
*"By a Waterfall " – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
*"My Shadow" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
*"Ah, the Moon Is Here" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics)
*"Sitting on a Backyard Fence" – by Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics) [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3122&category=Music Music] ]Production
Early casting had
Stanley Smith playing the juvenile lead eventually played by Dick Powell, andDorothy Tennant playing Mrs. Gould instead of Ruth Donnelly. Other actors considered for various roles includedEugene Pallette , George Dobbs andPatricia Ellis . Remarkably, consider that his musical numbers are the highlight of the film, Busby Berkeley was not the original choice to choreograph - Larry Ceballos was signed to direct the dance numbers, and sued Berkeley and the studio for $100,000 for breach of contract when he was not allowed to do so. (Ceballos also claimed to have created a number later used in the Warner Bros. film "Wonder Bar ", which was credited to Berkeley.)Cagney's character, Chester Kent, was modelled after Chester Hale, a well-known impresario at the time, and the offices he worked in were based on the Sunset Boulevard offices of the prologue production company "Fanchon and Marco" in Los Angeles.TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3122&category=Notes "Footlight Parade" notes] ]
"Footlight Parade" was shot at the Warner Bros. studio in
Burbank, California , and cost an estimated $703,000 to make. It premiered on30 September 1933, and was released generally on21 October . [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024028/business Business Data for "Footlight Parade"] ] [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024028/releaseinfo Release Dates for "Footlight Parade"] ] [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3122&category=Overview Overview for "Footlight Parade"] ]Pre-code era
The film was made during the
Pre-Code era, and its humor is sometimes quite risqué, with multiple references to prostitution and suggestions of profanity largely unseen in studio films until the 1960s, when theProduction Code collapsed.One character in the film, played by actor
Hugh Herbert acts as the censor for Kent's productions, constantly telling Kent certain parts of his production numbers have to be changed. His character is portrayed as buffoonish and comical, saying disagreeable lines to Kent such as "You must putbrassiere s on those dolls..." (referring to actual dolls) "...uh uh, you know Connecticut." This character foreshadows the coming Production Code, which was in full force less than a year later.Quotes
"Chester Kent": "Aw, talking pictures, it's just a fad."
Notes
External links
*imdb title|id=0024028|title=Footlight Parade
*tcmdb title|id=3122|title=Footlight Parade
*amg movie|1:18113
*rotten-tomatoes|footlight_parade
* [http://www.filmsite.org/third100_3.html "Footlight Parade"] atFilmsite.org
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