''Gold Diggers of 1937'' is a

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

movie musical directed by

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage, and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director, he made films in numerous genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, and c ...

with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Dick Powell and

Joan Blondell Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on a film career, estab ...

, who were married at the time, with Glenda Farrell and Victor Moore. The film features songs by the teams of

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

and E.Y. Harburg, and

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

and Al Dubin. It was based on the play ''Sweet Mystery of Life'' by

Richard Maibaum Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films. He wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, be ...

, Michael Wallach and George Haight, which ran briefly on Broadway in 1935. Warren Duff wrote the screenplay with the assistance of Tom Reed, who was billed as "Screenplay constructor". This is the fifth movie in Warner Bros.' series of ''Gold Digger'' films, following the now lost films '' The Gold Diggers'' (1923), a silent film, and the partially lost sound film '' Gold Diggers of Broadway'' (1929), as well as ''

Gold Diggers of 1933 ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' is an American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starr ...

'' – a remake of ''The Gold Diggers'' and the first to feature Busby Berkeley's extravagant production numbers – and ''

Gold Diggers of 1935 ''Gold Diggers of 1935'' is an American Warner Bros. musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, his directorial debut. It stars Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, and Alice Brady, and features Hugh Herbert, Gle ...

''. ''Gold Diggers of 1937'' was followed by '' Gold Diggers in Paris'' (1938).

Plot

Meek, aging, hypochondriac stage producer J.J. Hobart, who always thinks he is about to die, is going to mount a new show, but his partners Morty Wethered and Tom Hugo lost the money for the show in the stock market. On the advice of chorus girl Genevieve Larkin, they insure J.J. for a million dollars, so that when he dies, they will have the money they need to produce the show. Genevieve's friend, ex-chorus girl Norma Perry is sweet on insurance salesman Rosmer "Rossi" Peek, and he writes the policy. When Rossi's boss, Andy Callahan finds out how old J.J. is, he is afraid he will not pass the physical, but when J.J. does, Rossi decides he has to keep J.J. alive as long as possible, to reap the rewards of his sale. On the other hand, Morty and Hugo have everything to gain if J.J. dies, and they try to help things along. When that fails, they talk Genevieve into seducing J.J., but she ends up falling in love with him instead. Rossi finds out the reason for the insurance policy, and talks his boss, Callahan, into investing in J.J.'s show, to save the company the money it would have to pay if J.J. dropped dead after learning he was broke and could not put on the show. When the show is a success Genevieve and J.J. get married, and so do Norma and Rossi.

Cast

* Dick Powell as Rosmer " Rossi" Peek *

as Norma Perry * Glenda Farrell as Genevieve "Gen" Larkin * Victor Moore as J. J. Hobart *

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English pundit and retired professional footballer who played as a right-back. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. His father Roy was a goalkeeper with Manchester City and many of Dixon's f ...

as Boop Oglethorpe * Osgood Perkins as Morty Wethered * Charles D. Brown as Tom Hugo * Rosalind Marquis as Sally LaVerne * Irene Ware as Irene * William B. Davidson as Andy Callahan * Olin Howland as Dr. MacDuffy * Charles Halton as Dr. Bell * Paul Irving as Dr. Warshof * Harry C. Bradley as Dr. Henry *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as Chairman *

Susan Fleming Susan Alva Fleming (February 19, 1908 – December 22, 2002) was an American actress and the wife of comic actor Harpo Marx and sister in law to Groucho, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo. Fleming was known as the "Girl with the Million Dollar Legs" ...

as Lucille Bailey

Songs

The production numbers were created, designed, staged and directed by Busby Berkeley. Originally, all the songs for the film were to have been written by

and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, but Berkeley was dissatisfied and brought in

and Al Dubin, who had contributed songs to his previous Warner Bros. films. Their song "With Plenty of Money and You" (which was subtitled "The Gold Diggers' Lullaby") became a hit.FMiller, rank (ndg
"Gold Diggers of 1937 (1937)"

TCM.com 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 ...

* "Speaking of the Weather" - by Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) * "Let's Put Our Heads Together" - by Arlen and Harburg * "With Plenty of Money and You (The Gold Diggers' Lullaby)" - by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics) * "Life Insurance Song" - by Arlen and Harburg * "All's Fair in Love and War" - by Warren and Dubin – The staging for this number utilized 104 women in white military uniforms tapping in military formations and geometric patterns. * "Hush Mah Mouth" - by Arlen and Harburg (deleted from final print)

Production

Richard Mauraum wrote the original play ''Sweey Mystery of Life''. It was rewritten by George Haight. Film rights were sold to Warner Bros for $100,000 just before opening. The play was a flop. Although Busby Berkeley had directed ''Gold Diggers of 1935'', for this film the director's chair was occupied by Warner Bros. comedy veteran Lloyd Bacon, who had collaborated with Berkeley on '' 42nd Street''. ''Gold Diggers of 1937'' marked Victor Moore's return to the screen after a two-year absence following '' Gift of Gab'', during which he starred in '' Anything Goes'' on Broadway. The film was in production at Warner Bros.

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studio beginning in mid-July 1936, and premiered on 26 December 1936. It went into general release two days later.

Awards and honors

In 1937, Busby Berkeley was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Dance Direction for the "All's Fair in Love and War" production number.IMD
Awards
/ref> Hermes Pan won for the "Funhouse sequence" in '' A Damsel in Distress''.

Adaptation

A one-hour radio adaptation, titled ''Gold Diggers'', aired on ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

'' on December 21, 1936. During the introduction, host

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most co ...

explained that this adaptation combined the plot of ''

'' with the music of ''Gold Diggers of 1937''. This radio adaptation starred Dick Powell and

, who had appeared in both movies.

References

Notes Bibliography'' * Green, Stanley (1999) ''Hollywood Musicals Year by Year'' (2nd ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 64

External links

* * * {{Busby Berkeley 1936 films 1936 musical films American musical films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films about musical theatre Films directed by Busby Berkeley Films directed by Lloyd Bacon Films with screenplays by Richard Maibaum Films with songs by Yip Harburg Warner Bros. films 1930s American films English-language musical films