Stage Door
Short description
Stage Door is a 1937 comedy-drama set in a New York boardinghouse for women in show business. Aspiring actresses and dancers from very different backgrounds share the same address and the same ambition, competing for parts while forming friendships and rivalries along the way. A wealthy young woman determined to prove herself on stage moves in and is roomed with a sardonic, streetwise dancer who has already taken her share of hard knocks. Much of the story turns on the friction and gradual understanding between these two, and on the pressures the theater world places on everyone hoping for a break. The screenplay is by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller.
Gregory La Cava directed, with Pandro S. Berman producing for RKO Radio Pictures. The film follows My Man Godfrey in La Cava's filmography. Katharine Hepburn plays the headstrong newcomer and Ginger Rogers the weary dancer, with Adolphe Menjou as a Broadway agent, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier and Andrea Leeds in supporting roles; 61 performers are credited in all. Running 92 minutes, it took about 2 million dollars worldwide.
Reception has held up well. On IMDb it rates 7.7 from roughly 9,800 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 from a much smaller sample. A critics' rating of 8.9 from 23 reviews places professional assessments noticeably above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's script differed significantly from the script of the play, which had been successfully staged in theaters and was decided to be adapted for the screen. Director Gregory La Cava (1892-1952) came up with the following: for two weeks before filming, the actresses simply improvised in the settings of furnished rooms where they supposedly lived, while his assistant recorded all the conversations. Most of the dialogue and lines in the film are the result of these improvisations.
- The scene in which Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) delivers her final speech was filmed by Gregory La Cava on a closed set, and he reduced the entire monologue to ten lines. He then showed the filmed scene to the other main cast members and extras. During the screening, many of them completely lost control of themselves.
- At the time of filming, Ann Miller (1923-2004) was only 14 years old. She lied about her age and even presented a forged birth certificate. She succeeded in deceiving them because she was tall and beautiful for her age.
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