Stage Door 1937

     This film is based on a stage play.  Terry Randall’s family is very wealthy and she asks for a room in a theatrical boarding house.  She doesn't want anyone to know her background or the wealth of her family.  She wants to see if she can break into the Broadway theater scene without her family connections.  She wants this venture to be the terms she will set and based on her talent only.  Many of the women living in the boarding house can barely afford their rent and meals are included.  They are always on the lookout for the next Broadway production.  When they manage to get a role, often the show quickly closes and they are out looking for another role.

     I thought this was good and I liked the comedy banter between the women living in the boarding house.  Acting can be a tough life in this period and also today.  If you are lucky and become famous, there is a lot of money to be made.  But your career can shoot to the moon and then fall back quickly to Earth.  It’s also difficult to sustain a career plus there can be age discrimination.  There also is the option of spending all the money as soon as it’s earned and then falling into poverty!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

92 min, Comedy directed by Gregory La Cava with Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Paatrick, Constance collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds, Lucille Ball, Franklin Pangborn, William Corson, Pierre Watkin. 

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 95% critic 87% audience on Rotten Tomatoes,

Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 102 reviews, TCM Leonard Maltin 4* out of 5* average user review 4.5* out of 5*, Slant Magazine 4* out of 4*.

Special Note:  In the climactic stage speech by Hepburn, the Director Gregory La Cava reduced the number of lines and filmed on a closed set.  Later, La Cava brought in the actors and the extras as an audience.  He wanted see their reactions to the filmed speech.  Most of the dialog in the boarding house scenes is ad-lib by the actresses during rehearsals instead of the lines from the original play.  Anne Miller has a role and she was only 14 years old.  She lied about her age and used a fake birth certificate.  She was able to obtain this role she seemed older and at the age of 14 she was already tall and beautiful.  The dialog of the calla lilies in bloom is actually from the play The Lake opening on December 26, 1933.  Hepburn also said these lines on Broadway in this play.