Girl Crazy (1932) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

City slickers try to turn a broken-down ranch into a resort.

Cast & Crew

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William A. Seiter

Bert Wheeler

Robert Woolsey

Dorothy Lee

Eddie Quillan

Danny Churchill

Mitzi Green

Film Details

Genre

Musical

Adaptation

Comedy

Release Date

Mar 25, 1932

Premiere Information

New York opening: 24 Mar 1932

Production Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the musical Girl Crazy , book by John McGowan and Guy Bolton, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (New York, 14 Oct 1930).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 15m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

8 reels

Synopsis

As a cure for his "girl craziness," Danny Churchill has been sent by his father to a ranch in Custerville, Arizona, a settlement whose sheriffs are continually being shot by outlaws. Immediately upon his arrival there, Danny decides that Custerville is too slow and arranges to convert the ranch into a dude operation with jazz bands, show girls and a gambling concession. To help in the conversion, he sends for his friend, Slick Foster, who with his complaining wife Kate, travels from Chicago with taxi driver Jimmy Deegan, who has agreed to take the couple to escape his annoying little sister Tessie. Danny, meanwhile, falls in love with Molly Gray, Custerville's postmistress. When they are just outside of town, Slick, Kate and Jimmy have an unpleasant encounter with a motorcycle policeman and wire Danny that they will be delayed by ten days. The trio's eventual arrival coincides with the shooting of yet another sheriff, and the murder is blamed on Jimmy by Lank Sanders, the real killer. As he is about to be hanged, Jimmy is saved by local beauty Patsy and decides to stay in town to pursue her. At the same time, a busload of beauties pulls into town to bring business to Danny's dude ranch, the Molly-O. Also on the bus are Tessie and George Mason, a New York womanizer who immediately shows an interest in Molly. Angered by the presence of the "girls," Molly allows George to romance her and snubs Danny. Slick's gambling concession, meanwhile, proves so lucrative that Lank and his cohort Pete threaten Danny and his business. Having exhausted the town's supply of sheriffs, Lank decides to run for the post himself and then force Danny to pay him large amounts of protection money. Unable to accept Lank's politics, Danny convinces Jimmy to run against him. During the election, Tessie empties Lank's ballots from the ballot box and Jimmy wins. While a terrified Jimmy goes into hiding and dresses himself as an Indian to avoid Lank, George convinces Molly, who continues to be upset by Danny's attentions to his former girl friends, to accompany him to Mexico. With Molly in tow, George checks into a border hotel but is followed by Danny, Slick and Jimmy. Just as Slick and Jimmy are about to go off with two Mexican women they have met in the hotel, Kate and Patsy show up and dampen their romantic endeavors. Then while Tessie, who has snuck into the hotel, tries to reconcile Danny and Molly, Jimmy and Slick discover that Lank also has arrived. To escape from the murderous outlaw, Slick hypnotizes Lank, but when one of the Mexican women inadvertently awakens him, Lank begins to chase the duo around the hotel. Lank finally is thwarted by Jimmy and Slick, after which Danny proposes to Molly, and Patsy and Jimmy plan their future together.

Director

William A. Seiter

Cast

Bert Wheeler

Robert Woolsey

Dorothy Lee

Eddie Quillan

Danny Churchill

Mitzi Green

Brooks Benedict

Kitty Kelly

Arline Judge

Stanley Fields

Lita Chevret

Chris Pin Martin

Monty Collins

Nat Pendleton

Crew

Willard Barth

Assistant Camera

Charles Burke

Assistant Camera

Robert Coburn

Still Photographer

Edward Cronjager

George Diskant

Assistant Camera

George Gershwin

George Gershwin

Ira Gershwin

Edward Henderson

Camera Operator

Fred Hendrickson

Still Photographer

J. Roy Hunt

William Lebaron

Walter De Leon

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Hugh Mcdowell Jr.

Russell Metty

Camera Operator

Edwin Pyle

Camera Operator

Max Rée

Arthur Roberts

David O. Selznick

Executive Producer

Max Steiner

Norman Taurog

Addl scenes Director

Eddie Welch

Harold Wellman

Assistant Camera

Tim Whelan

Harry Wild

Camera Operator

Film Details

Genre

Musical

Adaptation

Comedy

Release Date

Mar 25, 1932

Premiere Information

New York opening: 24 Mar 1932

Production Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the musical Girl Crazy , book by John McGowan and Guy Bolton, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by George Gershwin (New York, 14 Oct 1930).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 15m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

8 reels

Articles

Girl Crazy (1932)

March 24, 2005

The plot of the Bert Wheeler/Robert Woolsey version of Girl Crazy (1932) hinges on a fraudulent election in which Wheeler's character, a cabdriver named Jimmy, becomes sheriff of Custerville, Arizona. In this wild-and-woolly town, new sheriffs are routinely bumped off by a gang of rowdies. The election is rigged by Woolsey as Slick, a dude-ranch owner who owes Jimmy a huge cab fare for having brought him out West from Chicago and who figures that a dead man won't be able to collect! Also embroiled in the zany proceedings are Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge as young lovers, Kitty Kelly as a cabaret singer and Mitzi Green as Jimmy's kid sister, who happens to be an expert impressionist.

To the delight of Wheeler and Woolsey fans and the dismay of Gershwin purists, this RKO film version of the 1930 George and Ira Gershwin stage musical put the emphasis on comedy and gave short shrift to the much-admired score. Only three of the original Gershwin songs remain: "Bidin' My Time," used as background music for an opening sequence in which the camera pans past the tombstones of the unlucky former sheriffs; "I Got Rhythm," performed by Kelly in the style that had made Ethel Merman a sensation in the number on Broadway; and "But Not for Me," sung by Quillan and Judge and then parodied by Green, who also offers impressions of Bing Crosby, George Arliss and Edna May Oliver. A fourth number, "You've Got What Gets Me," was borrowed from the Gershwin's 1927 stage production Funny Face and is sung winningly by Wheeler and his frequent screen partner, Dorothy Lee.

Wheeler and Woolsey were first teamed as comic partners by Florenz Ziegfeld in the Broadway musical Rio Rita. After repeating their roles in the 1929 film version of that stage hit, they remained a popular team in a series of comedy features and shorts that continued until Woolsey's death in 1938. Their other films together include Hold 'Em Jail (1932), So This is Africa (1933) and The Nitwits (1935). Their version of Girl Crazy was unseen for many years because of MGM's 1943 Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney remake, in which the musical numbers again take the spotlight. Busby Berkeley, who served without screen credit as choreographer of the 1932 version, would take over as director of the Garland-Rooney film.

Producers: William LeBaron, David O. Selznick (Executive Producer)
Director: William A. Seiter
Screenplay: Walter DeLeon, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Eddie Welch, Tim Whelan, from play by Guy Bolton and Jack McGowan
Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt
Editing: Arthur Roberts
Original Music: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Choreographer: Busby Berkeley (uncredited)
Cast: Bert Wheeler (Jimmy Deagan), Robert Woolsey (Slick Foster), Eddie Quillan (Danny Churchill), Dorothy Lee (Patsy), Mitzi Green (Tessie), Kitty Kelly (Kate Foster).
BW-75m. Closed Captioning.

by Roger Fristoe

Girl Crazy (1932)

Girl Crazy (1932)

The plot of the Bert Wheeler/Robert Woolsey version of Girl Crazy (1932) hinges on a fraudulent election in which Wheeler's character, a cabdriver named Jimmy, becomes sheriff of Custerville, Arizona. In this wild-and-woolly town, new sheriffs are routinely bumped off by a gang of rowdies. The election is rigged by Woolsey as Slick, a dude-ranch owner who owes Jimmy a huge cab fare for having brought him out West from Chicago and who figures that a dead man won't be able to collect! Also embroiled in the zany proceedings are Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge as young lovers, Kitty Kelly as a cabaret singer and Mitzi Green as Jimmy's kid sister, who happens to be an expert impressionist. To the delight of Wheeler and Woolsey fans and the dismay of Gershwin purists, this RKO film version of the 1930 George and Ira Gershwin stage musical put the emphasis on comedy and gave short shrift to the much-admired score. Only three of the original Gershwin songs remain: "Bidin' My Time," used as background music for an opening sequence in which the camera pans past the tombstones of the unlucky former sheriffs; "I Got Rhythm," performed by Kelly in the style that had made Ethel Merman a sensation in the number on Broadway; and "But Not for Me," sung by Quillan and Judge and then parodied by Green, who also offers impressions of Bing Crosby, George Arliss and Edna May Oliver. A fourth number, "You've Got What Gets Me," was borrowed from the Gershwin's 1927 stage production Funny Face and is sung winningly by Wheeler and his frequent screen partner, Dorothy Lee. Wheeler and Woolsey were first teamed as comic partners by Florenz Ziegfeld in the Broadway musical Rio Rita. After repeating their roles in the 1929 film version of that stage hit, they remained a popular team in a series of comedy features and shorts that continued until Woolsey's death in 1938. Their other films together include Hold 'Em Jail (1932), So This is Africa (1933) and The Nitwits (1935). Their version of Girl Crazy was unseen for many years because of MGM's 1943 Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney remake, in which the musical numbers again take the spotlight. Busby Berkeley, who served without screen credit as choreographer of the 1932 version, would take over as director of the Garland-Rooney film. Producers: William LeBaron, David O. Selznick (Executive Producer) Director: William A. Seiter Screenplay: Walter DeLeon, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Eddie Welch, Tim Whelan, from play by Guy Bolton and Jack McGowan Cinematography: J. Roy Hunt Editing: Arthur Roberts Original Music: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin Choreographer: Busby Berkeley (uncredited) Cast: Bert Wheeler (Jimmy Deagan), Robert Woolsey (Slick Foster), Eddie Quillan (Danny Churchill), Dorothy Lee (Patsy), Mitzi Green (Tessie), Kitty Kelly (Kate Foster). BW-75m. Closed Captioning. by Roger Fristoe

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Opening credits for this film list the actors with the following descriptive phrases: Bert Wheeler as "The taxi driver," Mitzi Green as "His sister," Dorothy Lee as "The gal of the Golden West," Robert Woolsey as "The gambler," Kitty Kelly as "His wife," Eddie Quillan as "The hero," Arline Judge as "The heroine," Brooks Benedict as "The New York villain" and Stanley Fields as "The Arizona heavy." RKO bought the rights to the musical comedy in March 1931 for $33,000. Some songs from the original stage musical, which starred Ginger Rogers and introduced Ethel Merman, were not used in the film, including "Sam and Delilah," "Could You Use Me?" and "Treat Me Rough." George and Ira Gershwin were paid an additional $2,000 for writing "You've Got What Gets Me," a song written especially for Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee. According to a biography of the Gershwins, the middle section of the song "Your Eyes, Your Smile," which was originally written for the Gershwins' 1927 musical Funny Face but was not used, provided the basis for "You've Got What Gets Me." Girl Crazy was the last film produced by William LeBaron for RKO. According to a letter from Max Steiner, RKO's general musical director, to George Gershwin, David Selznick, who took over from LeBaron as studio production head, ordered re-takes of some scenes. The re-takes, which covered the last reel of the story, were directed by Norman Taurog. Steiner states in his letter that, because of the re-takes, new incidental music was required, which Steiner apparently wrote with Gershwin's permission. Three writers are credited in Film Daily news items as contributors to this picture. One Film Daily news item mentions Joseph Fields and Alfred Jackson as "additional dialogers" with Eddie Welch, and Jane Murfin was announced in another Film Daily news item as an adaptor. The exact nature of these uncredited writers' contributions to the final film has not been determined. In the film, Mitzi Green performs imitations of Bing Crosby, Roscoe Ates, George Arliss and Edna May Oliver while singing "But Not for Me." According to a Film Daily news item, Hugh Herbert was cast in the film but then was re-assigned to RKO's The Lost Squadron. Another Film Daily news item includes Ken Murray in the cast. His participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Copyright records include Ivan Lebedeff in the cast, but that actor and the mentioned role were not included in the final film. In 1943, Norman Taurog directed Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in an M-G-M version of the musical. Alvin Ganzer then directed Connie Francis and Herman's Hermits in a 1965 M-G-M version of the story called When the Boys Meets the Girls (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70; F6.5521).

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