Gold Diggers of 1933 is a Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It stars Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Ginger Rogers and features Warren William, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Aline MacMahon.
The story is based on the play The Gold Diggers by Avery Hopwood which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920.[1]. The play was made into a silent film in 1923 by David Belasco, the producer of the Broadway play, as The Gold Diggers, starring Hope Hampton and Wyndham Standing, and again as a talkie in 1929, directed by Roy Del Ruth. That film, Gold Diggers of Broadway, which starred Nancy Welford and Conway Tearle, was the biggest box office hit of that year, and Gold Diggers of 1933 was one of the top grossing films of 1933.[2] This version of Hopwood's play was written by James Seymour and Erwin S. Gelsey, with additional dialogue by David Boehm and Ben Markson.
In 2003, Gold Diggers of 1933 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The "gold diggers" are four aspiring actresses: Polly the ingenue (Ruby Keeler), Carol the torch singer (Joan Blondell), Trixie the comedienne (Aline MacMahon) and Fay the glamourpuss (Ginger Rogers).
The film was made in 1933 at the nadir of the Great Depression and contains numerous direct references to it. In fact, it begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditors who close down the show because of unpaid bills.
Gold Diggers of 1935 (Part Two) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gGVryQDvv4&feature=related Here's the big dance scene in the 'gold diggers' show, and it's one of Hollywood's all-time grandest scenes for sure. The entire spectacle and dance is a parable on the roaring 20's and the great depression of sorts, and probably one of the very best that Classic Hollywood ever had to offer in terms of dance and choreography mixed with SPECTACLE.
Ginger Rogers - We're in the Money http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtOLpyqankQ&feature=related This is Ginger Rogers' big welcome into Hollywood, though she wasn't so sure. She decides to sing the end of this in pig-latin - something she later thought would have gotten her fired - but they kept it in, and the rest is history, both for Ginger and this film. Both the song and film have become synonymous with the Great Depression Era and the role that art played in relieving that real-life tension through song and dance. Ginger is accompanied by scantily-clad showgirls dancing with giant coins.
