''Rafter Romance'' is an American 1933

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by

William A. Seiter William Alfred Seiter (June 10, 1890 – July 26, 1964) was an American film director. Life and career Seiter was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Senn ...

and released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. The film, which was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by John Wells, stars

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

and

George Sidney George Sidney (October 4, 1916May 5, 2002) was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics '' Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963) and '' Viva Las Vegas'' (1964). With an extensive back ...

, and features

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays ...

Laura Hope Crews Laura Hope Crews (December 12, 1879 – November 12, 1942) was an American actress. Although she is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s, she also was prolific on stage; among her f ...

and Guinn Williams.

Plot

Mary Carroll (

) is a young woman from upstate who came to New York City to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Both she and Jack Bacon (

), an aspiring artist who lives in the same

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

building, are behind on their rent and their landlord, Max Eckbaum (

), a good-natured soul who nevertheless has expenses to meet, comes up with a solution: Move Mary into Jack's loft and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary is taking a job selling refrigerators by telephone, which keeps her out all day. However, both manage to get a very bad impression of each other after realizing the other is of the opposite sex from articles of clothing lying about. A series of misunderstandings leads to a series of pranks aimed at each other: Jack places a bucket in the shower, and when Mary goes in it falls on her head. Then she places Jack's suit in the shower, so that it gets wet. In retaliation, he saws Mary's bed in half so that it would come apart when she sits on it. The situation gets complicated when the couple accidentally meet outside their apartment and, not knowing who the other is, begin to fall in love. Matters get worse when Mary's boss, lecherous H. Harrington Hubbell (

), tries to invite her out for dinner, while Jack's would-be "patron", a lonely, libidinous, rich older woman, Elise Peabody Willington Smythe (

), tries to maintain her monopoly over Jack. When Jack accompanies Mary to a company picnic, they slip away from the group together and miss the bus back to town, forcing them to take a taxi. When they arrive at Jack's home, Mary realizes that Jack is her roommate. Trying to allay what he assumes are her suspicions about the arrangement, and unaware Mary is the person with whom he has been sharing the attic loft, Jack strongly denounces his co-tenant to her until the landlord comes and explains all. Elise and Hubbell also arrive at the apartment, where Elise tries to bribe Mary, while a protective cabdriver, Fritzie ( Guinn Williams), punches Hubbell, mistaking him for Jack. Realizing his mistake, Fritzie then goes to his cab where Jack is pleading with Mary. Fritzie is about to punch Jack when Mary intervenes, and the cab drives off with Jack and Mary kissing in the backseat. Asked if they will get married, the landlord says, "I arranged it."

Cast

as Mary Carroll *

as Jack Bacon *

as Max Eckbaum *

as H. Harrington Hubbell *

as Elise Peabody Whittington Smythe * Guinn Williams as Fritzie * Sidney Miller as Julius Eckbaum

Production

Production on ''Rafter Romance'' began in mid-June 1933. RKO initially announced that

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

and Dorothy Jordan would star in the film, and then paired

Lew Ayres Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film ''All Quiet on the Western Fro ...

with Ginger Rogers, before casting Norman Foster as the male lead.TC
''Rafter Romance'': Notes
tcm.com; accessed July 23, 2015. Foster and Rogers had been teamed before on ''

Young Man of Manhattan ''Young Man of Manhattan'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Monta Bell and starring Claudette Colbert, Norman Foster (director), Norman Foster, Ginger Rogers, and Charlie Ruggles, Charles Ruggles. ...

'' in 1930, and also made ''Professional Sweetheart'' together earlier in 1933. Four years after the release of ''Rafter Romance'', producer

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker, actor, producer and air officer. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'', and he is credited as co-inventor of ...

re-made it as ''

Living on Love ''Living on Love'' is a 1937 American romantic comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures. Directed by Lew Landers, it stars James Dunn, Whitney Bourne, and Joan Woodbury. The film is a remake of the RKO film ''Rafter Romance'' (1933). It is on ...

'', with James Dunn and

Whitney Bourne Whitney Bourne (May 6, 1914 – December 24, 1988) was an American stage and film actress. She was a leading lady in several B films of the 1930s, with occasional appearances in more prestigious films such as the British musical '' Head over He ...

, also for RKO. The plots of other films, including the German film '' Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht'' (1932), the French film ''A Moi le jour, à toi nuit'' (1932) and the British ''

Early to Bed Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

'' (1933) have similarities to ''Rafter Romance'', but are actually based on a completely separate screenplay by

Robert Liebmann Robert Liebmann (5 June 1890 - July 1942) was a German screenwriter. Being of Jewish ancestry, he was one of the many that were murdered by the Nazis in 1942. During the occupation of France by the Nazis, Liebmann was arrested and sent to the Dran ...

and

János Székely János József Székely (born 13 May 1983) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a right winger. Career Born in Timișoara of Hungarian heritage, he started his football career with local club Politehnica Timișoara, whe ...

. Merian C. Cooper accused RKO of not paying him all the money contractually due for the films he produced in the 1930s. A settlement was reached in 1946, giving Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles: * ''Rafter Romance'' * ''

Double Harness ''Double Harness'' (1933) is an American pre-Code film starring Ann Harding and William Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Edward Poor Montgomery. A young woman maneuvers a lazy playboy into marrying her. This was one of seve ...

'' (1933) with

Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. Harding was a regular on Broadway and on tour in the 1920s. In the 1930s Harding, was one of ...

and

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin M ...

* ''

The Right to Romance ''The Right to Romance'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Ann Harding and Robert Young and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Plot A successful plastic surgeon meets a local playboy and impulsively marries him. Cast Preservation ...

'' (1933) with Ann Harding and Robert Young * ''

One Man's Journey ''One Man's Journey'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Eli Watt. The picture was based on the short story ''Failure'' written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor. It was remade by RKO as ''A Man to Remember'' ( ...

'' (1933) with

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blyth; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

* ''

'' (1937) * ''

A Man to Remember A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

'' (1938) According to an interview with a retired RKO executive, Cooper withdrew the films, only allowing them to be shown on television in 1955-1956 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2007 the films were shown at the ''

Film Forum The Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. It is a four-screen cinema open 365 days a year, with up to 250,000 annual admissions, nearly 500 seats, 60 employees, over ...

'' in New York, and

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

, which had acquired the rights to the six films after extensive legal negotiations, broadcast them, their first full public exhibition in over 70 years. TCM, in association with the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and the

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Motion Picture Archive, had searched many film archives throughout the world to find copies of the films in order to create new 35mm prints.Fristoe, Roger
"Rafter Romance" (TCM article)
/ref>Eder, Bruc
"Rafter Romance" (AMG review)
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{William A. Seiter, state=collapsed 1933 films 1933 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films American black-and-white films Films scored by Max Steiner Films directed by William A. Seiter Films set in New York City Films based on American novels 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language romantic comedy films