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Roberta (1935 film)
Encyclopedia
Roberta is a 1935 musical film
by RKO starring Irene Dunne
, Fred Astaire
, Ginger Rogers
, and Randolph Scott
. It was an adaptation of a 1933 Broadway theatre
musical of the same name
, which in turn was based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller
. It was a solid hit, showing a net profit of more than three quarters of a million dollars.
The film kept the famed songs "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
" from the play, along with a third song, "I'll Be Hard to Handle". But it replaced three others ("The Touch of Your Hand", "Something Had To Happen" and "You're Devastating") with Jerome Kern
's "I Won't Dance
" and "Lovely to Look At", which both became #1 hits in 1935, the latter being nominated for the Best Song Oscar. These new numbers have remained so popular that they are now always included in revivals and recordings of Roberta. Other songs from the show were omitted from the film.
Roberta is the third Astaire-Rogers film, and the only one to be remade with other actors. MGM
did so in 1952, entitling the new Technicolor
version Lovely to Look At
. Indeed, with an eye to a sequel, MGM bought Roberta in 1945, keeping it out of general circulation until the 1970s.
), a former star football player at Harvard
, goes to Paris with his friend Huck Haines (Fred Astaire
) and the latter's dance band, the Wabash Indianians. Alexander Voyda (Luis Alberni) has booked the band, but refuses to let them play when he finds the musicians are not the Indians he expected, but merely from the state.
John turns to the only person he knows in Paris for help, his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley
), who owns the fashionable "Roberta" gown shop. While there, he meets her chief assistant (and secretly the head designer), Stephanie (Irene Dunne
). John is quickly smitten with her.
Meanwhile, Huck unexpectedly stumbles upon someone he knows very well. "Countess Scharwenka", a temperamental customer at Roberta's, turns out to be his hometown sweetheart Lizzie Gatz (Ginger Rogers
). She gets Huck's band an engagement at the nightclub where she is a featured entertainer.
Two things trouble John. One is Ladislaw (Victor Varconi
), the handsome Russian doorman/deposed prince who seems too interested in Stephanie. The other is the memory of Sophie (Claire Dodd
), the snobbish, conceited girlfriend he left behind after a quarrel over his lack of sophistication and polish.
When Aunt Minnie dies unexpectedly without leaving a will, John inherits the shop. Knowing nothing about women's fashion and that his aunt intended for Stephanie to inherit the business, he persuades Stephanie to remain as his partner. Correspondents flock to hear what a football player has to say about feminine fashions. Huck gives the answers, making a lot of weird statements about the innovations John is planning to introduce.
Sophie arrives in Paris, attracted by John's good fortune. She enters the shop, looking for a dress, but is dissatisfied with everything Stephanie shows her. Huck persuades her to choose a gown that John had ordered discarded as too vulgar. When John sees her in it, they quarrel for the final time.
John reproaches Stephanie for selling Sophie the gown. Terribly hurt, Stephanie quits the shop. With Roberta's putting on a fashion show in a week, Huck takes over the design work, with predictably bad results. When Stephanie sees his awful creations, she is persuaded to return to save Roberta's reputation.
The show is a triumph, helped by the entertaining of Huck, Countess Scharwenka, and the band. (A pre-stardom Lucille Ball
, with platinum blond hair, appears uncredited in her first RKO film as a model in the fashion show.) The closing sensation is a gown modeled by Stephanie herself. At the show, John overhears that she and Ladislaw are leaving Paris and mistakenly assumes that they have married. Later, he congratulates her for becoming a princess. When she informs him that Ladislaw is merely her cousin and that the title has been hers since birth, the lovers are reunited. Huck and Lizzie, who decide to get married, do a final tap dance sequel.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
by RKO starring Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
, Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, and Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
. It was an adaptation of a 1933 Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical of the same name
Roberta
Roberta is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller...
, which in turn was based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller
Alice Duer Miller
Alice Duer Miller was an American writer and poet.-Biography:Alice Duer was born in New York City on July 28, 1874 into a wealthy family. She was the daughter of James Gore King Duer and Elizabeth Wilson Meads. Elizabeth was the daughter of Orlando Meads of Albany, New York...
. It was a solid hit, showing a net profit of more than three quarters of a million dollars.
The film kept the famed songs "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for their 1933 operetta Roberta. It was originally recorded by Gertrude Niesen, on 13 October 1933 on the Victor label 24454. It was performed by Irene Dunne for the 1935 film adaptation,...
" from the play, along with a third song, "I'll Be Hard to Handle". But it replaced three others ("The Touch of Your Hand", "Something Had To Happen" and "You're Devastating") with Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
's "I Won't Dance
I Won't Dance
"I Won't Dance" is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach, for the 1934 London musical Three Sisters. However, Three Sisters flopped and was quickly forgotten, so when the time came to film the Kern-Harbach musical Roberta, the song was...
" and "Lovely to Look At", which both became #1 hits in 1935, the latter being nominated for the Best Song Oscar. These new numbers have remained so popular that they are now always included in revivals and recordings of Roberta. Other songs from the show were omitted from the film.
Roberta is the third Astaire-Rogers film, and the only one to be remade with other actors. MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
did so in 1952, entitling the new Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
version Lovely to Look At
Lovely to Look At
Lovely to Look At, an adaptation of the Broadway musical Roberta, is a 1952 MGM musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy.-Plot:Tony Naylor, Al Marsh and Jerry Ralby are looking for backers for their new Broadway show. They have just run out of options when Al gets a letter from his Aunt's attorneys...
. Indeed, with an eye to a sequel, MGM bought Roberta in 1945, keeping it out of general circulation until the 1970s.
Plot
John Kent (Randolph ScottRandolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
), a former star football player at Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, goes to Paris with his friend Huck Haines (Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
) and the latter's dance band, the Wabash Indianians. Alexander Voyda (Luis Alberni) has booked the band, but refuses to let them play when he finds the musicians are not the Indians he expected, but merely from the state.
John turns to the only person he knows in Paris for help, his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley
Helen Westley
Helen Westley was an American character actress.-Career:Born as Henrietta Remsen Meserole Manney, Helen Westley was a member of the original board of the Theatre Guild, and appeared in many of their productions, among them Peer Gynt, and some of their productions of plays by George Bernard...
), who owns the fashionable "Roberta" gown shop. While there, he meets her chief assistant (and secretly the head designer), Stephanie (Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne
Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
). John is quickly smitten with her.
Meanwhile, Huck unexpectedly stumbles upon someone he knows very well. "Countess Scharwenka", a temperamental customer at Roberta's, turns out to be his hometown sweetheart Lizzie Gatz (Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
). She gets Huck's band an engagement at the nightclub where she is a featured entertainer.
Two things trouble John. One is Ladislaw (Victor Varconi
Victor Varconi
Victor Varconi was a highly successful silent film star in Hungary. Born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda, Austria-Hungary, he was the first Hungarian actor to make a film in the United States....
), the handsome Russian doorman/deposed prince who seems too interested in Stephanie. The other is the memory of Sophie (Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd
Claire Dodd was an American film actress.Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and Ethel V. Cool Dodd, the daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter...
), the snobbish, conceited girlfriend he left behind after a quarrel over his lack of sophistication and polish.
When Aunt Minnie dies unexpectedly without leaving a will, John inherits the shop. Knowing nothing about women's fashion and that his aunt intended for Stephanie to inherit the business, he persuades Stephanie to remain as his partner. Correspondents flock to hear what a football player has to say about feminine fashions. Huck gives the answers, making a lot of weird statements about the innovations John is planning to introduce.
Sophie arrives in Paris, attracted by John's good fortune. She enters the shop, looking for a dress, but is dissatisfied with everything Stephanie shows her. Huck persuades her to choose a gown that John had ordered discarded as too vulgar. When John sees her in it, they quarrel for the final time.
John reproaches Stephanie for selling Sophie the gown. Terribly hurt, Stephanie quits the shop. With Roberta's putting on a fashion show in a week, Huck takes over the design work, with predictably bad results. When Stephanie sees his awful creations, she is persuaded to return to save Roberta's reputation.
The show is a triumph, helped by the entertaining of Huck, Countess Scharwenka, and the band. (A pre-stardom Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, with platinum blond hair, appears uncredited in her first RKO film as a model in the fashion show.) The closing sensation is a gown modeled by Stephanie herself. At the show, John overhears that she and Ladislaw are leaving Paris and mistakenly assumes that they have married. Later, he congratulates her for becoming a princess. When she informs him that Ladislaw is merely her cousin and that the title has been hers since birth, the lovers are reunited. Huck and Lizzie, who decide to get married, do a final tap dance sequel.
Cast
- Irene DunneIrene DunneIrene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...
as Stephanie - Fred AstaireFred AstaireFred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
as Huckleberry 'Huck' Haines - Ginger RogersGinger RogersGinger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
as 'Countess Scharwenka' / Lizzie Gatz - Randolph ScottRandolph ScottRandolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
as John Kent - Helen WestleyHelen WestleyHelen Westley was an American character actress.-Career:Born as Henrietta Remsen Meserole Manney, Helen Westley was a member of the original board of the Theatre Guild, and appeared in many of their productions, among them Peer Gynt, and some of their productions of plays by George Bernard...
as Aunt Minnie / 'Roberta' - Claire DoddClaire DoddClaire Dodd was an American film actress.Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and Ethel V. Cool Dodd, the daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter...
as Sophie Teale - Victor VarconiVictor VarconiVictor Varconi was a highly successful silent film star in Hungary. Born Mihály Várkonyi in Kisvárda, Austria-Hungary, he was the first Hungarian actor to make a film in the United States....
as Ladislaw - Luis Alberni as Alexander Voyda
- Ferdinand Munier as Lord Henry Delves
- Torben MeyerTorben MeyerTorben Emil Meyer was a Danish character actor who appeared in over 190 films in a 55-year career.-Early career:...
as Albert - Adrian Rosley as Professor
- Bodil Rosing as Fernande
- Candy CandidoCandy CandidoCandy Candido was an American radio performer, bass player, vocalist and animation voice actor, best remembered for his famous line, "I'm feeling mighty low."...
as Wabash Indianan with comical voices (uncredited) - Gene SheldonGene SheldonGene Sheldon was an American film and television actor and musician. He is best remembered as the mute servant Bernardo on Walt Disney's live-action TV series Zorro .-Biography and career:...
as Banjo-playing Wabash Indianan (uncredited) - Lucille BallLucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
as Fashion Model (uncredited)
Musical numbers
- The Pipe Organ Number Astaire performing on the hands of his band arranged as a keyboard
- Let's Begin Comedy song and dance number by Astaire, Candy CandidoCandy CandidoCandy Candido was an American radio performer, bass player, vocalist and animation voice actor, best remembered for his famous line, "I'm feeling mighty low."...
and Gene Sheldon (Bernardo on the future Zorro television series), with band - Yesterdays Sung by Dunne, with guitar and string bass accompaniment
- I'll be Hard to Handle Double dance by Astaire and Rogers, a tap number in which they "talk with their feet." (Repartee expressed in dance steps)
- I Won't Dance Song by Rogers, Astaire at piano; followed by a solo dance to the melody by Astaire
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Sung by Irene Dunne (reprise danced by Ginger and Fred)
- Russian Lullaby Sung by Dunne with balalaika orchestra
- Fashion Pageant Parade of models in an array of costumes to a medley of songs, with Astaire as master of ceremonies
- Lovely to Look At Dunne solo and Rogers & Astaire dance
- Finale Dance Astaire and Rogers
External links
- Review of Roberta (1935) at TV GuideTV GuideTV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
- Roberta Film Page, Reel Classics - info, photos, sound clips