Stage Door

''Stage Door'' is a 1937 American tragicomedy film directed by Gregory La Cava, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds, and Lucille Ball. Adapted from the 1936 play of the same name, it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures. Eve Arden and Ann Miller, who became notable in later films, play minor characters.

The film was adapted by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller from the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, but the play's storyline and the characters' names were almost completely changed for the movie, so much so in fact that Kaufman joked the film should be called "''Screen Door''".

Plot

Terry Randall moves into the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house in New York. Her polished manners and superior attitude make her no friends among the rest of the aspiring actresses living there, particularly her new roommate, flippant, cynical dancer Jean Maitland. From Terry's expensive clothing and her photograph of her elderly grandfather, Jean assumes she has obtained the former from her sugar daddy, just as fellow resident Linda Shaw has from her relationship with influential theatrical producer Anthony Powell. In truth, Terry comes from a wealthy Midwest family. Over the strong objections of her father, Henry Sims, she is determined to try to fulfill her dreams. In the boarding house, Terry's only supporter is aging actress Anne Luther, who appoints herself Terry's mentor and acting coach.

When Powell sees Jean dancing, he decides to dump Linda. He arranges for Jean and her partner Annie to get hired for the floor show of a nightclub he partly owns. He then starts dating Jean, who starts falling for him.

Meanwhile, well-liked Kay Hamilton had great success and rave reviews in a play the year before but has had no work since and is running out of money. She clings desperately to the hope of landing the leading role in Powell's new play, ''Enchanted April''. She finally gets an appointment to see Powell, only to have him cancel. She faints in the reception area, the result of malnutrition and disappointment. Seeing this, Terry barges into Powell's private office and berates him for his callousness. As a result, the other boarding house residents start to warm up to the newcomer.

Terry's father secretly finances ''Enchanted April'' on the condition that Terry is given the starring role, hoping she will fail and return home. Powell invites Terry to his penthouse to break the news. When Jean shows up unannounced, Terry sees the opportunity to save her friend from the philandering Powell. She pretends that Powell is trying to seduce her. It works. However, it makes things uncomfortable around the boarding house. Terry's landing on the plum part breaks Kay's heart.

The inexperienced Terry is so woodenly bad during rehearsals that Powell tries to get out of his contract with Sims. On opening night, after she learns from Jean that Kay has committed suicide, Terry decides she cannot go on. Anne Luther tells her that she must, not just for herself and the tradition of the theatre, but also for Kay. She does and gives a heartfelt performance. She and the play are a hit, much to the chagrin of her father, who is in the audience. At her curtain call, Terry gives a speech in tribute to her dead friend, and Terry and Jean are reconciled. The play remains a success after months, but Terry continues to board at the Footlights Club. A newcomer shows up looking for a room.

Cast

Production

Development

RKO Radio Pictures purchased film rights to the stage play of the same name for $130,000. The film only sparsely resembles the play, except in a few character names, such as Kay Hamilton, Jean Maitland, Terry Randall, Linda Shaw, and Judith Canfield. In the play, Terry Randall is from a rural family whose father is a country doctor, and Jean Maitland is actually a shallow girl who becomes a movie star. Kay Hamilton does commit suicide, but for completely different reasons and not on an opening night.

Casting

Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers were cast in lead roles, each for a respective salary of $75,000. Rogers, who was a close friend of Lucille Ball, suggested Ball for the role of Judy Canfield to producer Pandro S. Berman. Ann Miller, who was cast in the supporting part of Annie, was only fourteen years old when she appeared in the film.

Burgess Meredith was considered for a role in the film, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was also considered for the part of Tony Powell, which ultimately went to Adolphe Menjou. Andrea Leeds, who was cast as Kay Hamilton, was borrowed by RKO from her contract with The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Filming

Principal photography for ''Stage Door'' began on June 7, 1937, and was completed on July 31, 1937. Director Gregory La Cava also allowed the actresses to ad lib and improvise dialogue during filming, which earned him praise from stars Leeds and Rogers. Hepburn's famous lines during the play within the film, "The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died," are from '' The Lake'' (1934), the play for which Dorothy Parker panned Hepburn's performance as "running the gamut of emotions from A to B."

Release

RKO Radio Pictures released ''Stage Door'' in the United States on October 8, 1937.. American Film Institute. Retrieved March 23, 2025.

Home media

After Kay commits suicide, there is a brief shot of her grave as part of the montage of the success of the play, which was once edited out on all television showings and is not present in some early home media releases. The shot was restored for DVD and subsequent TV broadcasts. As of 2025, ''Stage Door'' has been released on DVD in the US, UK, Italy, France and Spain on various labels including Warner Bros. and Sony.

Warner Bros. first released the film on DVD on March 1, 2005. The Warner Archive Collection reissued the film on DVD on May 6, 2016.

Reception

Box office

''Stage Door'' grossed $1,762,000 at the United States box office, for small profit of $81,000.

Critical response

The film received favorable reviews from critics, with '' Film Daily'' declaring it one of the ten best films of the year. Frank Nugent of ''The New York Times'' described it as a "brilliant picture" with "amazingly good" performances, and summarized the film as "a magnificently devastating reply on Hollywood's behalf to all the catty little remarks that George Kaufman and Edna Ferber had made about it in their play."

The reviewer in ''The Times'' wrote of January 3, 1938, after the film's London premiere at the Regal on December 31, 1937:

Hepburn's four movies preceding ''Stage Door'' had been commercial failures. However, as a result of the positive response to this performance, RKO immediately cast her opposite Cary Grant in the screwball comedy '' Bringing Up Baby'' (1938).

Accolades

Other adaptations

''Stage Door'' inspired the 1938 Golden Age Argentine film '' Women Who Work'' by Manuel Romero, which also takes place in an all-female boarding house.

A 60-minute radio version of ''Stage Door'' was performed on '' Lux Radio Theatre'' on February 20, 1939, broadcast over the CBS Radio network. Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou reprised their roles from the film, while Rosalind Russell replaced Katharine Hepburn as Terry Randall. Eve Arden, who played minor character Eve in the film, replaced Gail Patrick as Linda Shaw. The radio broadcast was included as a bonus feature on the 2005 Warner Bros. DVD release of the film.

''Stage Door'' was presented on CBS Radio again on December 5, 1941 on '' Philip Morris Playhouse''. The 30-minute adaptation by Charles Martin starred Geraldine Fitzgerald as Terry Randall.

On April 6, 1955, a 60-minute version of the play, adapted by Gore Vidal, aired on the CBS Television series '' The Best of Broadway''. It starred Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lanchester, Diana Lynn, and Victor Moore.

Further reading

* Dooley, Roger, ''From Scarface to Scarlett: American Films in the Thirties''

References

External links

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''Stage Door'' at AllMovie
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{{Gregory La Cava

1937 films
1937 drama films
American black-and-white films
American comedy-drama films
American drama films
American films based on plays
Films about actors
Films about musical theatre
Films about theatre
Films based on works by Edna Ferber
Films directed by Gregory La Cava
Films set in New York City
RKO Pictures films
Tragicomedy films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films