Stage Door

1937 film by Gregory La Cava

For other uses, see Stage Door (disambiguation).

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Stage Door

Stage Door theatrical poster

Directed by| Gregory La Cava
Screenplay by| Morrie Ryskind
Anthony Veiller
Based on| Stage Door
1936 play
by Edna Ferber
George S. Kaufman
Produced by| Pandro S. Berman
Starring| Katharine Hepburn
Ginger Rogers
Adolphe Menjou
Gail Patrick
Constance Collier
Andrea Leeds
Samuel S. Hinds
Lucille Ball
Cinematography| Robert De Grasse
Edited by| William Hamilton
Music by| Roy Webb

Production
company

RKO Radio Pictures

Distributed by| RKO Radio Pictures (US)
Radio Pictures Ltd. (UK)

Release dates

* October 8, 1937 (1937-10-08) (US)
* December 31, 1937 (1937-12-31) (UK[1])

Running time

| 92 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $952,000[2]
Box office| $1,762,000[2]

Stage Door is a 1937 American tragicomedy film directed by Gregory La Cava. 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. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds and Lucille Ball. 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

[edit]

Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers in Stage Door

Terry Randall moves into the Footlights Club,[3] 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

[edit]

| Katharine Hepburn
as Terry Randall  |  | Ginger Rogers
as Jean Maitland

|
|
|

| Adolphe Menjou
as Anthony Powell  |  | Gail Patrick
as Linda Shaw
| Constance Collier
as Anne Luther  |  | Andrea Leeds
as Kay Hamilton
| Samuel S. Hinds
as Henry Sims  |  | Lucille Ball
as Judy Canfield

* Eve Arden as Eve
* Ann Miller as Annie
* Franklin Pangborn as Harcourt, Powell's butler
* William Corson as Bill
* Pierre Watkin as Richard Carmichael
* Grady Sutton as "Butch"
* Frank Reicher as Stage Director
* Jack Carson as Mr. Milbanks, a lumberman from Seattle who takes Jean to dinner
* Phyllis Kennedy as Hattie
* Margaret Early as Mary Lou
* Florence Reed (uncredited)

## Production

[edit]

The writers listened to the young actresses talking and joking off set during rehearsals and incorporated their style of talking into the film. Director Gregory La Cava also allowed the actresses to ad lib during filming.[citation needed] 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."[4]

The movie has almost nothing to do with 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.

## Reception

[edit]

The film received very good reviews and was a moderate success at the box office. The reviewer in The Times wrote of January 3, 1938, after the film's London premiere at the Regal on December 31, 1937:

> Stories of life on the stage have always appealed to Hollywood: here success is sensational and meteoric, and failure equally sudden and dramatic. We know the formula by heart, and expect of our entertainment that it shall be rowdy, aggressive, and spectacular, culminating in the rise of the central character to fame in the bright lights of Broadway. Stage Door is rowdy and aggressive, and it does end in success for one of its characters and failure for another, but for all that it is a film of unusual insight and characterization. (...) The dialogue is brilliant, with typical American point and brevity, but nearly always spiteful and cruel, for these girls are the product of a hard environment. Three stand out from among the rest: Miss Katharine Hepburn (...) Miss Ginger Rogers (...) Miss Andrea Leeds.

> — "New films in London: Back-stage tragedy", The Times, January 3, 1938, p. 10.

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).

Stage Door made a small profit of $81,000.[2]

### Academy Awards

[edit]

Main article: 10th Academy Awards

Nominations[5]

* Outstanding Production: RKO Radio
* Best Director: Gregory La Cava
* Best Supporting Actress: Andrea Leeds
* Best Writing (Screenplay): Morris Ryskind, Anthony Veiller

## Home media

[edit]

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 TV showings and is not in the original US VHS and Betamax 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.[6]

## Other adaptations

[edit]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

## Further reading

[edit]

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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The Times digital archive: First advertisement for the film on December 31, 1937 (showing at the Regal), followed by review on January 3, 1938.
2. ^ a b c Jewel, Richard (1994). "RKO Film Grosses, 1931-1951: the C. J. Telvin ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 56. doi:10.1080/01439689400260031.
3. ^ Inspired by the real-life Rehearsal Club, according to Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies
4. ^ O'Toole, Garson (September 27, 2013). "She Runs the Gamut of Emotions from A to B". Quote Investigator. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
5. ^ "Stage Door" Oscars: Awards Database Archived November 20, 2013, at archive.today. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
6. ^ Reid, Brent (January 16, 2025). "Alfred Hitchcock Collectors Guide: Notorious (1946)". Brenton Film. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
7. ^ Di Núbila, Domingo (1998). La época de oro. Historia del cine argentino I (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Jilguero. p. 197\. ISBN 978-987-957-865-0.
8. ^ "Johnny Presents". Harrisburg Telegraph. December 5, 1941. p. 19. Retrieved July 26, 2015 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ Shanley, J. P. (April 8, 1955). "Television: 'Stage Door'; Gore Vidal Adapts '36 Comedy for C. B. S.". The New York Times.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stage Door.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Stage Door.

* Stage Door at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Stage Door at IMDb
* Stage Door at AllMovie
* Stage Door at the TCM Movie Database
* Stage Door at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Edna Ferber

Plays|

* Our Mrs. McChesney (1915)
* $1200 a Year: A Comedy in Three Acts (1920)
* Minick: A Play (1924)
* The Royal Family (1927)
* Dinner at Eight (1932)
* Stage Door (1936)
* The Land Is Bright (1941)

Novels|

* Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed (1911)
* Personality Plus (1914)
* Fanny Herself (1917)
* The Girls (1921)
* Gigolo (1922)
* So Big (1924)
* Show Boat (1926)
* Cimarron (1929)
* American Beauty (1931)
* Come and Get It (1935)
* Saratoga Trunk (1941)
* Great Son (1945)
* Giant (1952)
* Ice Palace (1958)

Other works|

* "Old Man Minick" (1922 short story)
* A Peculiar Treasure (1939 autobiography)

Adaptations|

| "Old Man Minick"|

* Minick (1924 play)
* Welcome Home (1925 film)
* The Expert (1932 film)
* No Place to Go (1939 film)

|

Gigolo|

* Gigolo (1926 film)

So Big|

* So Big (1924 film)
* So Big (1932 film)
* So Big (1953 film)

Show Boat|

* Show Boat (1927 musical)
* Show Boat (1929 film)
* Show Boat (1936 film)
* Show Boat (1951 film)

The Royal Family|

* The Royal Family of Broadway (1930 musical)

Cimarron|

* Cimarron (1931 film)
* Cimarron (1960 film)

Dinner at Eight|

* Dinner at Eight (1933 film)

Stage Door|

* Stage Door (1937)

Come and Get It|

* Come and Get It (1936 film)

Saratoga Trunk|

* Saratoga Trunk (1945 film)
* Saratoga (1959 musical)

Giant|

* Giant (1956 film)
* Giant (2009 musical)

Family|

* Janet Fox (niece)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Gregory La Cava

Silent|

* His Nibs (1921)
* The New School Teacher (1924)
* Restless Wives (1924)
* Womanhandled (1925)
* Let's Get Married (1926)
* Say It Again (1926)
* So's Your Old Man (1926)
* Paradise for Two (1927)
* Running Wild (1927)
* Tell It to Sweeney (1927)
* The Gay Defender (1927)
* Feel My Pulse (1928)
* Half a Bride (1928)

Sound|

* Big News (1929)
* Saturday's Children (1929)
* His First Command (1929)
* Laugh and Get Rich (1931)
* Smart Woman (1931)
* Symphony of Six Million (1932)
* The Age of Consent (1932)
* The Half Naked Truth (1932)
* Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
* Bed of Roses (1933)
* Gallant Lady (1934)
* What Every Woman Knows (1934)
* The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
* Private Worlds (1935)
* She Married Her Boss (1935)
* My Man Godfrey (1936)
* Stage Door (1937)
* Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
* Primrose Path (1940)
* Unfinished Business (1941)
* Lady in a Jam (1942)
* Living in a Big Way (1947)
* One Touch of Venus (1948)

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