‎The Gay Divorcee (1934) directed by Mark Sandrich • Reviews, film + st • Letterboxd

Contents:

• THE GAY DIVORCEE
• ' THE GAY DIVORCEE,' WH FRED ASTAIRE AND GGER ROGERS, AT THE MIC HALL -- 'REDHEAD.'
• THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934) REVIEW, WH GGER ROGERS AND FRED ASTAIRE
• THE GAY DIVORCE
• THE GAY DIVORCEE DVD AUTHENTIC REGN 1 STARRG GGER ROGERS & FRED ASTAIRE 1934
• TCM GREATT CLASSIC FILM COLLECTN: ASTAIRE & ROGERS (THE GAY DIVORCEE / TOP HAT / SWG TIME / SHALL WE DANCE)
• "THE GAY DIVORCEE" FRED ASTAIRE GINGER ROGERS TUESDAY 10:00 P.M. EASTERN TCM

THE GAY DIVORCEE

Based on the mil The Gay Divorce, book by Dwight Taylor, mil adaptatn by Kenh Webb and Samuel Hoffenste, mic and lyrics by Cole Porter (New York, 29 Nov 1932). A classic pairg of one of the Hollywood mil's most famo upl, The Gay Divorcee (1934) was the send film team-up of Fred Astaire and Gger Rogers and follows the tratg efforts of Amerin dancer Guy Holn (Astaire) to woo an unhappily married woman, Mimi Glossop (Rogers), who's the procs of divorcg her adbeat hband.

The batn of smashg mil numbers and loopy ic cint The Gay Divorcee is bt exemplified by the film's openg number ("Don't Let It Bother You") at a Paris nightclub floorshow, where a bevy of betiful dam on a rotatg stage make ty lady hand puppets dance chos le synchronizatn.

' THE GAY DIVORCEE,' WH FRED ASTAIRE AND GGER ROGERS, AT THE MIC HALL -- 'REDHEAD.'

Other dance numbers The Gay Divorcee prove more reprentative of the magic Astaire/Rogers touch.

Meant to palize on their succs wh Flyg Down to R (1933), The Gay Divorcee was the first time the team's ne llaboratns that they received top billg after havg only sendary rol R. Oddly enough, the amount of time the uple spent actually dancg The Gay Divorcee totals a meager 10 mut.

Director Mark Sandrich's film was actually based on a Broadway mil by Dwight Taylor and Cole Porter lled The Gay Divorce which Astaire, Erik Rhos and Eric Blore all appeared. Hollywood's censorship-prone Hays Admistratn sisted that the tle be changed to The Gay Divorcee wh the strange reasong that divorce uld not be a happy. Consired one of the bt Deprsn-era mils, The Gay Divorcee was nomated for a slew of Amy Awards and won the first Bt Song Osr® for that tchy tune, "The Contental.

THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934) REVIEW, WH GGER ROGERS AND FRED ASTAIRE

A publicy stunt for The Gay Divorcee which RKO anized "Contental" monstratns and parti never really helped the dance tch on, but one thg that extravagant number did start a fad. mil play The Gay Divorce by Dwight Taylor and Cole Porter. The Gay Divorcee - The Gay Divorcee.

The origal movie on which this mil was based was lled "The Gay Divorce", but bee of problems arisg om the sensor, was renamed "The Gay Divorcee" (one 'e' add) for the silver screen. The mil The Gay Divorce was based on the unproduced play An Adorable Adventure by J. The workg tle of the film was The Gay Divorce.

In his tobgraphy, Fred Astaire claims that director Mark Sandrich told him that the tle The Gay Divorcee was selected bee the stud "thought was a more attractive-soundg tle, centered around a girl. " Morn sourc claim that stud executiv changed the word "divorce" to "divorcee" bee, while they believed that a divorcee uld be gay, a divorce uld not.

THE GAY DIVORCE

When RKO's actg productn head, Pandro Berman, suggted that The Gay Divorce, then a h play on Broadway, be ed as a follow-up to Rad Cy Revels, Lou Brock, who had produced Flyg Down to R and was slated to produce the follow-up pictur, ridiculed the ia. ) After Berman chose to produce The Gay Divorce himself, he asked Cole Porter to wre new songs for the film but was turned down.

' The Gay Divorcee, ' Wh Fred Astaire and Gger Rogers, at the Mic Hall -- 'Redhead. For expert stctn nsult the agile team of Fred Astaire and Gger Rogers "The Gay Divorcee, " which put everybody a bright humor at the Rad Cy Mic Hall yterday. From "The Gay Divorce" only one song remas, Cole Porter's "Night and Day.

THE GAY DIVORCEE DVD AUTHENTIC REGN 1 STARRG GGER ROGERS & FRED ASTAIRE 1934

Astaire and "The Gay Divorcee" at their bt when he is adjtg his cravat to an elaborate dance route or sayg the lic thgs wh his flashg feet that a librettist would have difficulty puttg to words.

But, like the reee team of Rogers and Astaire, "The Gay Divorcee" is gay s mood and smart s subsidiary humor, there are Alice Brady as the talkative nt; Edward Everett Horton as the nfed lawyer wh his first se, and Erik Rhos (om the stage show) as the excable rponnt, who tak the rrect pri his craftsmanship and objects to outsi terference.

TCM GREATT CLASSIC FILM COLLECTN: ASTAIRE & ROGERS (THE GAY DIVORCEE / TOP HAT / SWG TIME / SHALL WE DANCE)

" Nicholas Daks participat as solo GAY DIVORCEE, an adaptatn of the mil edy which was based on an unproduced play by the late J.

Eric BloreA versn of this article appears prt on of the Natnal edn wh the headle: ' The Gay Divorcee, ' Wh Fred Astaire and Gger Rogers, at the Mic Hall -- 'Redhead. THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934) The Kg and Queen of 'Car' Stud: RKODirector: Mark SandrichMic by: Samuel Hoffenste, Herb Magidson, Cole Porter, Harry Revel, Kenh S.

"THE GAY DIVORCEE" FRED ASTAIRE GINGER ROGERS TUESDAY 10:00 P.M. EASTERN TCM

Incintally, whereas Fred's characters equently smoked the films, Gger (an ex-smoker after age 25 real life) only smok ROBERTA (1935) first of the seri to feature Gger and Fred as the ma attractn, THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934) is also one of their films wh a more-creative-than-average plot strgg the mil numbers together -- and 's pecially tertg today as a look back at the way marriage laws ed to work. In what was to bee a typil Fred-and-Gger se of mistaken inty, Guy is mistaken for the -rponnt and romantic edy ensu -- even if some of the edy parts seem a ltle too slowly paced at, THE GAY DIVORCEE has s fair share of weakns.

Dpe the slow pots however, THE GAY DIVORCEE do feature an above-par song list, cludg "A Needle a Haystack, " Fred's solo dance on the hearth of his hotel room fireplace, as well as Cole Porter's "Night and Day" () dramatilly and sctively danced by Gger and Fred. Also, THE GAY DIVORCEE was based on a mil Fred had done on Broadway lled The Gay Divorce, but the Hays Office (the film dtry's censorship body) required the name change bee didn't like the sentiment which the play's tle implied. The Gay Divorcee.