ROBERTA

Roberta


RKO, 1935, B/W, 105 minutes, ***

Released March, 1935



Fun's in fashion when Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (plus Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott) enter the ultrachic Parisian world of high fashion in Roberta.



The third Astaire / Rogers film is a silky adaptation of the 1933 Broadway hit (whose original cast included Bob Hope, Sydney Greenstreet and Fred MacMurray). It features a jaunty romantic plot, fabulous sets (the three-level salon set required the world's largest camera crane), memorable music (including Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes") and above all, incomparable dance magic to match the score. "The most pleasant moments in Roberta," Time reported, "arrive when Astaire and Rogers turn the story upside down and dance on it." Astaire may sing "I Won't Dance. But his feet betray him.


Look for an unknown Lucille Ball in the fashion show sequence! The film was remade by MGM as Lovely to Look At in 1952.



Produced by: Pandro S. Berman

Production Associate: Zion Myers

Directed by: William A. Seiter

From the play "Roberta"

Music by: Jerome Kern

Book and Lyrics by: Otto Harbach

And the novel "Gowns by Roberta" by Alice Duer Miller

Screen Play by: Jane Murfin, Sam Mintz and Allan Scott

Additional Dialogue by: Glenn Tryon

Additional Lyrics by: Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh

Musical Director: Max Steiner

Dances Arranged by: Fred Astaire

Assistant Dance Director: Hermes Pan

Art Director: Van Nest Polglase

Associate: Carroll Clark

Set Dressing by: Thomas K. Little

Gowns by: Bernard Newman

Recorded by: John E. Tribby

Music Recorded by: P. J. Faulkner, Jr.

Photographed by: Edward Cronjager

Edited by: William Hamilton



Awards: Nominated for Best Song Academy Award ("Lovely To Look At")



Cast: Irene Dunne [Stephanie], Fred Astaire [Huck Haines], Ginger Rogers [Countess Scharwenka, Lizzie Gatz], Randolph Scott [John Kent], Helen Westley [Roberta, Aunt Minnie], Victor Varconi [Ladislaw], Claire Dodd [Sophie], Luis Alberni [Voyda], Ferdinand Munier [Lord Delves], Torben Meyer [Albert], Adrian Rosley [Professor], Bodil Rosing [Fernando], Lucille Ball, Jane Hamilton, Margaret McChrystal, Kay Sutton, Maxine Jennings, Virginia Reid, Lorna Low, Lorraine DeSart, Wanda Perry, Diane Cook, Virginia Carroll, Betty Dumbries, Donna Mae Roberts [Mannequins], Mike Tellegen [Cossack], Sam Savitsky [Cossack], Zena Savina [Woman], Mary Forbes [Mrs. Teal], William B. Davidson [Purser], Grace Hayle [Reporter], Dale Van Sickel [Dance Extra], Judith Vosselli, Rita Gould [Bits], Candy Candido, Muzzy Marcellino, Gene Sheldon, Howard Lally, William Carey, Paul McLarind, Hal Borne, Charles Sharpe, Ivan Dow, Phil Cuthbert, Delmon Davis, William Dunn [Orchestra Members]



Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:04] (Back Home Again In) Indiana (performed by The Wabash Indianians); [0:19] Let's Begin (sung by Fred Astaire and Candy Candido, danced by Fred Astaire, Candy Candido, Gene Sheldon and Ginger Rogers); [0:27] Russian Lullaby (sung by Irene Dunne); [0:29] I'll Be Hard to Handle (sung by Ginger Rogers, danced by Rogers and Fred Astaire); [0:32] I'll Be Hard to Handle (instrumental version danced by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire); [0:41] Yesterdays (sung by Irene Dunne); [1:00] Lovely to Look At (played by Orchestra); [1:08] I Won't Dance (Fred Astaire on piano with Wabash Indianaians, sung and danced by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire); [1:16] Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (hummed and sung by Irene Dunne); [1:29] Lovely to Look At (played by Orchestra during fashion show and sung by Irene Dunne and Chorus); [1:38] Lovely to Look At (sung and danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers); [1:39] Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (instrumental reprise danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers); [1:43] I Won't Dance (instrumental reprise danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers)