Stage Door

Stage Door originated on the stage, written by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, and first performed in 1936. The play was popular enough at the time to gain the attention of RKO Pictures, who purchased the rights to adapt it with the intention of it being a starring vehicle for Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Burgess Meredith. Meredith would eventually be replaced with Adolphe Menjou, who, upon retrospect, feels more right for the role in question, though Burgess could have brought a level of lechery Adolphe doesn’t quite reach. Ginger Rogers had a friend in mind to join the cast in a relatively smaller role: the still mostly unknown actress and comedienne Lucille Ball, who, at this point in her career, was only just starting to get roles that actually had character names. Up until then, she was mostly being credited as Secretary, Nurse, Lady in Waiting, College Girl, Fashion Model, and other such generic labels. 

One wonders why RKO bothered buying the rights to Stage Door since they ultimately jettisoned large portions of the story, and many of the characters were renamed. Even things that happened in both the play and the film were altered significantly so that the movie barely resembles the source material. Perhaps RKO was banking on brand recognition to get people into seats, but it seems that such a strategy would ultimately lead to disappointed fans. 

But that’s not to say that the adaptation that they did release is a disappointment. It is actually a poignant look at the struggles, both financially and emotionally, that stage performers, women especially, live with day-by-day in an effort to get noticed and stay noticed if they do. Live theater is viewed as prestigious and the actors and performers as celebrities; that’s the glamour of the limelight. But behind those lights is a darker side, one that can only really be understood by those who have faced it. For every famous actor, stage or screen, there are thousands of others who have just as much passion for acting but are starving, living with roommates and working side jobs just to get by. Very few really hit it big; most live paycheck to paycheck just hoping for the next big break. 

Into this life comes Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn), a woman from a wealthy family who wants to carve her own path as a performer. Her father, “Wheat King” Henry Sims (Samuel S. Hinds), threatens to cut her off if she doesn’t relent and come back home, but she insists she wants to be on the stage. Instead, she moves into the Footlights Club theatrical boarding house, room-mating with Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers). Because Terry brings with her expensive clothing, Jean and the other girls living there assume that she must have a sugar daddy. 

All the girls keep trying to get into see Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou), the famous producer, but he routinely refuses to see hardly anyone. Kay Hamilton (Andrea Leeds), another of the girls at the Footlights Club, shows up at his office with an appointment, hoping that she will be cast in the lead role of his new play, Enchanted April; but he cancels the appointment at the last moment, causing the exhausted and malnourished woman to collapse in his waiting room. Terry, upon hearing this, barges into his office and berates him for his callous nature. This causes Terry to rise in the esteem of the other women at the Footlights Club. That soon changes though when Terry’s father secretly finances Enchanted April through a proxy on the condition that she be cast in the lead. This is done with the hopes that she will fail and be forced to come back home. Kay puts on a brave face but is secretly destroyed. 

Where the story goes from there is surprisingly poignant, then devastating. It depicts the darker side of show business in a way that audiences in 1937 may have found shocking. Even now, ninety years later, it is hard to watch at times. Andrea Leeds strikes just the right note of desperation and despair as she tries to get in to see Powell, knowing that he directed her to some stardom a year ago, but she hasn’t had work since. That is a hard reality of the stage; you can be famous one day and forgotten the next. 

Katharine Hepburn saw a great deal of this in her own career. She was a star, but there were many years when she was considered box-office poison and had to fight to get roles, hoping for something that would bring her back into profitability and good faith with the studios. It is fascinating looking at the ups and downs of her career and how she managed to keep it alive for most of her very long life. It’s fun to see the very real parallels between this and her real life, especially when Terry is in rehearsals for Enchanted April and driving Powell so mad that he wants to get out of the contract he made with her father. 

This is a film that is as relevant now as it always was. There will always be people attracted to the stage, way more than there are spots available. Many of them are not talented enough to make an impact, leading to weary producers who don’t have the time or the patience to hear them all out. From the women’s perspective, Powell is calloused and uncaring, but from his perspective, he is simply a realist. Both sides are legitimate from a certain point of view, and that is just as relevant now as it ever was. 

Stage Door is, at its heart, a tragedy, even though it also celebrates the women who put everything on the line for a chance at the spotlight. It’s a beautiful and poignant look behind the curtain at those women who know their chosen profession is rife with hardships and sacrifices. For most of them, the sacrifice is worth it, though it will likely never pay out for them. There are a lot of actors out there bussing tables, working in hotels, driving cabs, all while auditioning or trying to get auditions. It’s a hard life, but, like I said before, for some, it is worth it just to have that hope that one day they will land that part that will get them recognized and lead to another…and another. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Outstanding Production: Pandro S. Berman

Best Director: Gregory La Cava

Best Supporting Actress: Andrea Leeds

Best Screenplay Adaptation: Morris Ryskind and Anthony Veiller

____________________________________________________

Release Date: October 8, 1937

Running Time: 92 minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds, and Lucille Ball

Directed by: Gregory La Cava