Let Us Be Gay
Brief Synopsis
A visit to Paris brings divorced spouses back together.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Robert Z. Leonard
Director
Norma Shearer
Kitty Brown
Rod La Rocque
Bob Brown
Marie Dressler
Mrs. Bouccicault
Gilbert Emery
Townley
Hedda Hopper
Madge Livingston
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Romance
Release Date
Aug
9,
1930
Premiere Information
New York premiere: 11 Jul 1930
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Let Us Be Gay, a Comedy by Rachel Crothers (New York, 19 Feb 1929), as produced by John Golden.
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 18m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
7,121ft
(8 reels)
Synopsis
Kitty and Bob Brown part when he begins to take her for granted and engages in a flirtation with a vivacious blonde. Three years later, Mrs. Bouccicault, a wealthy and scheming socialite, finds that her granddaughter, Madge, is infatuated with Bob, though she is engaged to Bruce. The society matron calls on Kitty, whom she has met in Paris, to enlist her help in breaking up the infatuation. After mistaking many other men for her prey, Kitty discovers him to be none other than her divorced husband. Difficulties ensue, however, as Kitty becomes the focus of attention for all the male guests, and Mrs. Bouccicault spends most of her time chasing them away, finally sending for Kitty's children as a last resort. Consequently, Madge gives up her romance with Bob; and after some persuasion, he regains the affections of his former wife.
Director
Robert Z. Leonard
Director
Cast
Norma Shearer
Kitty Brown
Rod La Rocque
Bob Brown
Marie Dressler
Mrs. Bouccicault
Gilbert Emery
Townley
Hedda Hopper
Madge Livingston
Raymond Hackett
Bruce
Sally Eilers
Diane
Tyrrell Davis
Wallace
Wilfred Noy
Whitman
William O'brien
Struthers
Sybil Grove
Perkins
Crew
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Drama
Romance
Release Date
Aug
9,
1930
Premiere Information
New York premiere: 11 Jul 1930
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Let Us Be Gay, a Comedy by Rachel Crothers (New York, 19 Feb 1929), as produced by John Golden.
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 18m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Film Length
7,121ft
(8 reels)
Articles
Let Us Be Gay
Norma Shearer, "Queen of the Lot" at MGM in the 1930s, took full advantage of the liberated period before the film industry fell under the restrictions of the Production Code. Shearer began the decade with a bang, creating a sexy new image for her Oscar-winning role in The Divorcee that startled even her husband, MGM production head Irving Thalberg. Let Us Be Gay is the story of another divorcee who finds romantic adventure, this time in Paris, while barely enveloped by gauzy gowns knowingly designed by Adrian, ShearerÕs favored costumer.
ShearerÕs characters of this period were remarkably forthright in their erotic impulses, although in Let Us Be Gay the accent is on comedy as she wins back her husband by merely pretending to have been "wicked." Biographer Gavin Lambert wrote that the Shearer of this period had "a silky alienation that Scott Fitzgerald admired, kindred to DaisyÕs in The Great Gatsby, her face Ôsad and lovely with bright things in it.Õ "
Let Us Be Gay had a shooting schedule of a mere 26 days, hurried along because Shearer was pregnant. Because her condition had become apparent during the last week of filming, Adrian draped his star with even more care than usual and Shearer was photographed behind foreground objects such as furniture and potted plants that obscured her figure. Irving Grant Thalberg, Jr. was born two weeks before the well-received New York opening of Let Us Be Gay, with Shearer fans celebrating her "double triumph."
Producer/Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Costume Design: Adrian
Screenplay: Frances Marion, Lucille Newmark (from play by Rachel Crothers)
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Editing: Basil Wrangell
Principal Cast: Norma Shearer (Kitty Brown), Rod La Roque (Bob Brown), Marie Dressler (Mrs. Bouccicault), Gilbert Emery (Townley), Hedda Hopper (Madge Livingston)
BW-79m.
by Roger Fristoe
Let Us Be Gay
Norma Shearer, "Queen of the Lot" at MGM in the 1930s, took full advantage of the liberated period before the film industry fell under the restrictions of the Production Code. Shearer began the decade with a bang, creating a sexy new image for her Oscar-winning role in The Divorcee that startled even her husband, MGM production head Irving Thalberg. Let Us Be Gay is the story of another divorcee who finds romantic adventure, this time in Paris, while barely enveloped by gauzy gowns knowingly designed by Adrian, ShearerÕs favored costumer.
ShearerÕs characters of this period were remarkably forthright in their erotic impulses, although in Let Us Be Gay the accent is on comedy as she wins back her husband by merely pretending to have been "wicked." Biographer Gavin Lambert wrote that the Shearer of this period had "a silky alienation that Scott Fitzgerald admired, kindred to DaisyÕs in The Great Gatsby, her face Ôsad and lovely with bright things in it.Õ "
Let Us Be Gay had a shooting schedule of a mere 26 days, hurried along because Shearer was pregnant. Because her condition had become apparent during the last week of filming, Adrian draped his star with even more care than usual and Shearer was photographed behind foreground objects such as furniture and potted plants that obscured her figure. Irving Grant Thalberg, Jr. was born two weeks before the well-received New York opening of Let Us Be Gay, with Shearer fans celebrating her "double triumph."
Producer/Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Costume Design: Adrian
Screenplay: Frances Marion, Lucille Newmark (from play by Rachel Crothers)
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Editing: Basil Wrangell
Principal Cast: Norma Shearer (Kitty Brown), Rod La Roque (Bob Brown), Marie Dressler (Mrs. Bouccicault), Gilbert Emery (Townley), Hedda Hopper (Madge Livingston)
BW-79m.
by Roger Fristoe
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Let Us Be Gay was also produced in a French-language version-see record for Soyons gais.
