Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were initially teamed in Flying Down to Rio in 1933, but this feature was their first effort together as stars—and it’s tremendous fun. Based on Dwight Taylor and Cole Porter’s play of the same name, The Gay Divorcee (1934, dir. Mark Sandrich) centers on Mimi (Rogers), a woman seeking a divorce from her husband. She travels to an English seaside resort, pursued by the love-stricken Guy (Astaire), whom she mistakes for the hired correspondent in her divorce case. Among the many musical numbers are Porter’s gorgeous “Night and Day,” the only song from the original Broadway musical included in the film, and Con Conrad and Herb Magidson’s “The Continental,” which won the first ever Academy Award for Best Song.
Like most of the Fred and Ginger films the plot of The Gay Divorcee is as evanescent as champagne froth; as usual the mistaken identities and motives, cross-purposes, and romantic banter whimsically concoct the merest pretext for the real feast—the dancing, Van Nest Polglase’s late art deco scenic design, and the delectable performances of the supporting cast. The work of the character actors here is so expert and so rich it’s as essential to the film’s charm as that of the leads. Indeed, when characters have names such as Hortense Ditherwell— Mimi’s aunt, played by Alice Brady—and Egbert “Pinky” Fitzgerald (the distinctively hilarious Edward Everett Horton, who appeared in two other Fred and Ginger movies), we might think we’ve wandered into a Restoration comedy—and we wouldn’t be far wrong. There’s even an Italian singing lothario named Rodolfo Tonetti (Erik Rhodes, who has an archetypal perfection). The laughs in The Gay Divorcee derive at times from arch silliness, at others from innuendo so sly as to seem almost subliminal.
In his long career Horton almost always played in droll counterpoint to the male lead, most often as a supercilious personal secretary or valet or, as here, an effete gentleman. (His particular talent and the persona of his roles of the ’30s and ’40s prefigure some of the superb Tony Randall’s performances with Doris Day and Rock Hudson/James Garner in the late ’50s and ’60s.) Horton has scenes in The Gay Divorcee which actors still study as mini-classes in the difficult art of comedy: his timing and subtlety are breathtaking and he was a master of the necessity in comedy for absolutely serious sincerity. His scene with a head waiter played by the brilliant Eric Blore—who also appears in three other Fred and Ginger vehicles— is a joy forever for film buffs and one from which many can quote at length.
The Gay Divorcee was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1935. Other highlights include another swell Magidson-Conrad tune for Astaire, “Needle in a Haystack”, and a poolside Horton—togged-out in Edwardian bathing costume—with a featured 17-year-old Betty Grable in a camp dance number, “Let’s K-Knock K-Knees”.
What’s not to like?
By Hadley Hury
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