Sunny (1930 film)

1930 film

Sunny

Lobby card

Directed by| William A. Seiter
Written by| Henry McCarty and Humphrey Pearson
Based on| Sunny
by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto A. Harbach
Starring| Marilyn Miller
Lawrence Gray
Inez Courtney
Cinematography| Ernest Haller
Arthur Reeves
Edited by| LeRoy Stone
Music by| Jerome Kern
Oscar Hammerstein II
Otto A. Harbach

Production
company

First National Pictures

Distributed by| First National Pictures

Release date

* November 9, 1930 (1930-11-09)

Running time

| 78 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $745,000[1]
Box office| $690,000[1]

Sunny is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Lawrence Gray, O. P. Heggie, and Inez Courtney. It was produced and released by First National Pictures. The film was based on the Broadway stage hit, Sunny, produced by Charles Dillingham, which played from September 22, 1925, to December 11, 1926. Marilyn Miller, who had played the leading part in the Broadway production, was hired by Warner Brothers to reprise the role that made her the highest-paid star on Broadway.[2][3][4]

## Plot

[edit]

Marylin Miller plays the part of an American circus performer, doing her act in a British circus, who is engaged to a man she does not love. A former boyfriend, played by Lawrence Gray, stops by to see her before taking a boat back to the United States. Miller realizing that she loves Gray, decides to run away. She embarks on the same boat that Lawrence takes. Her father, who realizes what his daughter has done, reaches the boat just as it is about to leave and manages to board it. While on board, Gray becomes engaged to be married to a wealthy socialite (Barbara Bedford). Miller learns that she will not be allowed to disembark in the United States without a passport. To land, Miller marries an American friend, intending to divorce him as soon as she is safely inside the United States. After arriving in the States, Miller tells Gray about her love for him. Bedford overhears them and tells Gray that she will announce their engagement at a party that very night. Disappointed, Miller decides to return to England, but Gray proposes to her just as she is about to leave.

## Cast

[edit]

* Marilyn Miller as Sunny Peters
* Lawrence Gray as Tom Warren
* Joe Donahue as James Denning
* O. P. Heggie as Mr. Peters
* Inez Courtney as Weenie
* Barbara Bedford as Margaret Manners
* Judith Vosselli as Sue Warren
* Clyde Cook as Sam
* Mackenzie Ward as Harold Harcourt Wendell-Wendell

uncredited

* Harry Allen as Side Show Barker
* B. F. Blinn as Party Guest
* William B. Davidson as First Ship's Officer
* Jay Eaton as Man 'Weenie' Flirts with at Ball
* Bill Elliott as One of Tom's Friends
* June Gittelson as Mrs. Hammerslagger
* Ben Hendricks, Jr. as Second Ship's Officer
* Franklin Pangborn as Party Guest
* Ellinor Vanderveer as Party Guest

## Music

[edit]

* "The Hunt Dance" (Danced by Marilyn Miller)
* "I Was Alone" (Performed by Marilyn Miller)
* "When We Get Our Divorce" (Danced by Marilyn Miller and Joe Donahue)
* "Who?" (Performed by Marilyn Miller and Lawrence Gray)
* "Oh! Didn't He Ramble" (Performed by Lawrence Gray and Men)
* "Sunny" (Cut from film before release, but played briefly by the circus band)
* "D'Ya Love Me?" (Cut from film before release)
* "Two Little Love Birds" (Cut from film before release)

## Production

[edit]

Marilyn Miller was paid $50,000 for her work on this film, after being paid $100,000 for Sally (1929), her previous film.[5]

The film was completed as a full musical. Due to the backlash against musicals, however, Warner Bros. was forced to make many cuts to the film and much of the original music is missing or severely truncated. The film had originally been announced as a Technicolor production in trade journals. This was dropped once the studio realized that the public was growing weary of musicals.[citation needed] The film was released as a full musical outside of the United States, where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is not known whether a print of this longer version still exists.[citation needed]

## Box office

[edit]

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $537,000 domestically and $153,000 foreign.[1]

## Preservation

[edit]

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Sunny survives only in the American cut version which was released in late 1930 by Warner Bros. This version of the film needs restoration. The current circulating print has a poor sound that was inappropriately transferred from the original Vitaphone discs in the 1950s. The original Vitaphone discs are still extant which could be used to properly restore the original sound to the film.

The black and white version is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 11 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
2. ^ [1][dead link]
3. ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1893-1993: Sunny
4. ^ The Broadway League. "Sunny â€" Broadway Musical â€" Original". IBDB. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
5. ^ Hanson, Bruce K. (July 14, 2011). Peter Pan on Stage and Screen, 1904-2010, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 122–123\. ISBN 9780786486199.
6. ^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, (<-book title) p.177 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

## External links

[edit]

* Sunny at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by William A. Seiter

* The Kentucky Colonel (1920)
* Eden and Return (1921)
* Hearts and Masks (1921)
* The Foolish Age (1921)
* Passing Through (1921)
* Boy Crazy (1922)
* Gay and Devilish (1922)
* Up and at 'Em (1922)
* When Love Comes (1922)
* The Understudy (1922)
* The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
* Little Church Around the Corner (1923)
* Daddies (1924)
* His Forgotten Wife (1924)
* The White Sin (1924)
* Listen Lester (1924)
* The Family Secret (1924)
* Helen's Babies (1924)
* The Fast Worker (1924)
* The Mad Whirl (1925)
* Dangerous Innocence (1925)
* The Teaser (1925)
* Where Was I? (1925)
* What Happened to Jones (1926)
* Skinner's Dress Suit (1926)
* Rolling Home (1926)
* Take It from Me (1926)
* The Cheerful Fraud (1927)
* The Small Bachelor (1927)
* Thanks for the Buggy Ride (1928)
* Good Morning, Judge (1928)
* Waterfront (1928)
* Outcast (1928)
* Synthetic Sin (1929)
* Why Be Good? (1929)
* Smiling Irish Eyes (1929)
* Footlights and Fools (1929)
* The Love Racket (1929)
* Strictly Modern (1930)
* Back Pay (1930)
* The Truth About Youth (1930)
* Sunny (1930)
* Going Wild (1930)
* Kiss Me Again (1931)
* Big Business Girl (1931)
* Too Many Cooks (1931)
* Caught Plastered (1931)
* Way Back Home (1931)
* Girl Crazy (1932)
* Young Bride (1932)
* Is My Face Red? (1932)
* Hot Saturday (1932)
* If I Had a Million (segment "The Three Marines", 1932)
* Hello, Everybody! (1933)
* Diplomaniacs (1933)
* Rafter Romance (1933)
* Chance at Heaven (1933)
* Sons of the Desert (1933)
* Love Birds (1934)
* We're Rich Again (1934)
* The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
* Roberta (1935)
* The Daring Young Man (1935)
* If You Could Only Cook (1935)
* The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936)
* The Moon's Our Home (1936)
* Dimples (1936)
* Stowaway (1936)
* Life Begins in College (1937)
* This Is My Affair (1937)
* Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
* Room Service (1938)
* Thanks for Everything (1938)
* Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
* Allegheny Uprising (1939)
* It's a Date (1940)
* Hired Wife (1940)
* Nice Girl? (1941)
* Appointment for Love (1941)
* Broadway (1942)
* You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
* Destroyer (1943)
* A Lady Takes a Chance (1943)
* Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
* Belle of the Yukon (1944)
* The Affairs of Susan (1945)
* That Night with You (1945)
* Little Giant (1946)
* I'll Be Yours (1947)
* Up in Central Park (1948)
* One Touch of Venus (1948)
* Borderline (1950)
* Dear Brat (1951)
* The Lady Wants Mink (1953)
* Champ for a Day (1953)
* Make Haste to Live (1954)

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