GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935

Gold Diggers of 1935
Warner Bros. / Vitaphone / First National, 1935, B/W, 95 minutes, ***
Released March, 1935

It's summer season at New England's Wentworth Plaza Hotel. And that means it's time for the rich to come out to play... and for gold diggers of every persuasion to try to reel in a sucker or two.

Dick Powell heads the cast of this musical romp, playing a desk clerk who agrees to be a gentlemanly escort for the sheltered daughter (Gloria Stuart) of a wealthy widow. Repeat Screenwriting 101 class if you can't see where that leads. Besides, the real story is who's behind the camera: Busby Berkeley, going solo for the first time and rising to the occasion with a stunner of a sequence set to the Academy Award-winning "Lullaby of Broadway," structured around the life (and death) of a Broadway hottie, and crane-shot and precision-danced into legend. No matter how many times you watch, it dazzles, delights and haunts.


Producer: Robert Lord
Directed by: Busby Berkeley
Screen Play by: Manuel Seff and Peter Milne
Story by Robert Lord and Peter Milne
Music and Lyrics by: Harry Warren and Al Dubin
Orchestral Arrangements: Ray Heindorf
Vitaphone Orchestra Conducted by: Leo F. Forbstein
Dances Created and Staged by: Busby Berkeley
Art Director: Anton Grot
Gowns by: Orry-Kelly
Special Effects: Busby Berkeley
Photographed by: George Barnes
Edited by: George Amy

Awards: Won Best Song Academy Award ("Lullaby of Broadway"); Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction (Busby Berkeley)

Cast: Dick Powell [Dick Curtis], Adolphe Menjou [Nicoleff], Gloria Stuart [Ann Prentiss], Alice Brady [Mrs. Prentiss], Hugh Herbert [T. Mosely Thorpe], Glenda Farrell [Betty Hawes], Frank McHugh [Humboldt Prentiss], Joseph Cawthorn [Schultz], Grant Mitchell [Louis Lamson], Dorothy Dare [Arline Davis], Winifred Shaw [Winny], Additional Cast: Ramon and Rosita [Dancers], Matty King [Tap Dancer], Thomas E. Jackson [Haggarty], Frank Moran [Stagehand], Arthur Aylesworth [Bartender], Franklyn Farnum [Bartender], George Beranger [Head Waiter], Eddie Fetherston, William Newell, George Riley, Harry Seymour [Newspaper Reporters], Don Brodie [Photographer], Nora Cecil [Housekeeper], E. E. Clive [Westbrook, the Chauffeur], Charles Coleman [Manders, the Doorman], Phil Tead, Ray Cooke, John Quillan [Bellmen], Florence Fair [Hotel Saleslady], Virginia Grey [Singer], Shep Houghton [Dancer], Eddie Kane [Maitre D' Hotel], Emily Le Rue [Girl], Sam McDaniel [Janitor], Jack Richardson, Jack Wise [Floor Managers], Leo White [Clerk Selling Perfume]

Musical Program: [0:25] I'm Goin' Shoppin' With You (performed by Dick Powell and Gloria Stuart); [0:38] The Words Are in My Heart (sung by Dick Powell); [0:51] Dagger Dance (rehearsal performed by Adolphe Menjou and Chorus); [1:06] The Words Are in My Heart (production number sung by Dick Powell and Chorus; chorus girls at pianos gliding around on stage; danced by one Chorus Girl); [1:18] Lullaby of Broadway (production number - almost like a musical play - performed by Wini Shaw, Dick Powell and huge Chorus; segment danced by Ramon and Rosita with Chorus)