The Gay Divorcee
(a.k.a. "The Gay Divorce" -- UK)

US (1934): Musical/Comedy/Dance

Mimi Glossop (Ginger Rogers) wants a divorce, so her Aunt Hortense (Alice Brady) hires a professional to play the correspondent in apparent infidelity. American dancer Guy Holden (Fred Astaire) meets Mimi while visiting Brightbourne (Brighton) and she thinks he is the correspondent. The plot is really just an excuse for song and dance. A top wealth of talent was assembled for the movie: Erik Rhodes is absolutely side-splitting as the Italian guy Tonetti, wielding the fabulous line, "Your wife is safe with Tonetti, he prefers spaghetti!". Edward Everett Horton is another stand out performer as the lawyer. His fumbling voice provides a character of clumsiness, and two seem to go hand in hand. Only one song was retained for the filmic version of Broadway's The Gay Divorce. The censors even crashed down on the stage musical's original title. Astaire performs a great rendition of the immortal Cole Porter song "Night and Day." "The Continental," the Best Song of 1934 and winner of the first Oscar® in that category, is thrown in as a 22-minute production number.

Other great numbers include "Looking for a Needle in a Haystack", "Don't Let it Bother You" and "Let's K-nock- K-nees." The latter is performed by a young Betty Grable. This film is notable for the only time Edward Everett Horton sings and dances on screen. We can see from the results there's an obvious reason. Mark Sandrich directs this RKO classic. (IMDb)

 Use this link to view the original theatrical trailer for The Gay Divorcee on TCM.com.

5 nominations, 1 Award