Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Lewis Allen
Gail Russell
Diana Lynn
Charles Ruggles
Dorothy Gish
Beulah Bondi
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1923, on the eve of her high school graduation dance, Cornelia Otis Skinner, daughter of famous actor Otis Skinner, visits her best friend, Emily Kimbrough, who cannot attend the dance because she has the measles. Cornelia bemoans the fact that her "heartthrob," Avery Moore, who barely is aware that she exists, is leaving for a European vacation. Eager to help her friend, Emily suggests that she and Cornelia travel to Europe together at the same time as Avery, and Cornelia convinces her parents to allow her to go without a chaperone. The girls embark on their voyage after booking passage on the same ship on which Avery is traveling, and are unaware that Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have booked passage on another cruise, which will deliver them to Great Britain in time to meet up with the girls. Emily encounters Avery on deck and learns of his recently broken engagement. When he invites her to the ship's dance that night, she claims to already have a date, and he agrees to go with Cornelia. That night at the dance, Cornelia is thrilled to finally be with Avery, and Emily boldly approaches Tom Newhall, a handsome young doctor who is sitting alone, and talks him into being her date. Avery, who had been feeling bitter about women, falls in love with Cornelia and gives her his club pin. Tom falls in love with Emily, and they promise to meet in Europe after the ship docks. As the ship draws close to England, Cornelia is stricken with the measles, and Tom reluctantly agrees not to report the case so that she will be allowed into the country. Cornelia passes the health inspection by painting over her measles spots with shoe polish, and when her parents meet her at the dock, they take her to a hotel. Cornelia loses contact with Avery, who was unaware of her illness and felt rejected when she refused to see him. After she recovers from her illness, the family sightsees in London. When Emily glimpses Avery at the Hampton Court Palace, she becomes lost in the garden maze while trying to follow him, but Cornelia and Avery eventually find each other and reunite. Avery soon comes down with the measles because he had kissed Cornelia, but is unable to notify Cornelia and misses a family dinner. Later Cornelia and Emily go to Paris alone, and get stuck on a balcony of Notre Dame cathedral because Emily runs for a last minute photograph at closing time. The girls drop various articles of clothing off the balcony, hoping to attract attention, but stop when they are down to their slips, having fully clothed the gargoyles below them. Avery and Tom, worried that their dates are missing, meet up at the hotel and spend the night in the lobby waiting for the girls. The next morning, Cornelia and Emily return to the hotel in their slips, and encounter Mr. Skinner's friend, actor Monsieur Darnet, and his friend, Pierre Cambouille, in front of the hotel. To help the girls maintain some respectability, Darnet and Cambouille escort them inside, but Avery gets the wrong idea and hits Cambouille. A brawl erupts just as Mr. and Mrs. Skinner arrive from England, and Mr. Skinner insists that it is time for his daughter to return home. After bidding fond farewells to Avery and Tom, Cornelia and Emily board the ship home.
Director
Lewis Allen
Cast
Gail Russell
Diana Lynn
Charles Ruggles
Dorothy Gish
Beulah Bondi
James Brown
Bill Edwards
Jean Heather
Alma Kruger
Helen Freeman
Joy Harington
Valentine Perkins
Georges Renavent
Roland Varno
Holmes Herbert
Reginald Sheffield
Edmond Breon
Nina Koshetz
Will Stanton
Matthew Boulton
Olaf Hytten
Roland Dupree
Sheila Sheldon
Winifred Harris
Boyd Irwin
Marjean Neville
Nell Craig
Anita Bolster
Gerald Fielding
Wilson Benge
Lionel Braham
Ronnie Rondell
Maurice Marsac
Ottola Nesmith
Evan Thomas
Will Thunis
Alphonse Martell
Marek Windheim
Eugene Borden
Fred Fox
Donald Stuart
Grandon Rhodes
Marie Mcdonald
Queenie Leonard
Frank Elliott
Noel Neill
Maxine Fife
Carmelle Bergstrom
Charlton Yarnall Jacobs
Emily Kimbrough
Betty Farrington
Georgie Cooper
Crew
B. G. Desylva
Hans Dreier
Farciot Edouart
Sheridan Gibney
Sheridan Gibney
Kermit Goell
Ted Grouya
Edith Head
Earl Hedrick
Werner Heymann
Max Hutchinson
Gordon Jennings
Emily Kimbrough
Joel Moss
Ray Moyer
Theodor Sparkuhl
Robert L. Swanson
Paul Weatherwax
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough, on whose memoirs the film is based, worked on the script but were not credited.
Notes
The book Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is based on the real-life teenage adventures of Emily Kimbrough and Cornelia Otis Skinner and on their autobiographical book of the same name. Kimbrough acted as technical advisor on the film and also played a bit part. Hollywood Reporter news items noted that Katharine Hepburn was initially considered for the role of "Cornelia," and that Jane Withers and Mimi Chandler were tested for roles in this film. Paramount News reported that the college dance scenes were shot at the Los Angeles YMCA gymnasium. Gail Russell, Diana Lynn, James Brown and Bill Edwards reprised their roles in the sequel to this film, Our Hearts Were Growing Up. According to a January 25, 1945 Hollywood Reporter news item, Skinner and Kimbrough took legal action against Paramount to prevent a sequel; however, a judge ruled in favor of the studio. Our Hearts Were Young and Gay was silent screen star Dorothy Gish's first speaking film role.
