Chance is the fool's name for fate!

Those of you who have been frequenting our celebration of Depression-era comedy will have noticed that Ginger Rogers has been appearing quite a bit (on five separate occasions, thus far). We have seen her with David Niven and with Ray Milland. With Cary Grant, with Katharine Hepburn, and on one occasion with Walter Connolly.


Astonishingly, there is one very important aspect of Ginger Rogers' film career that we have not yet explored in this current season. 

Yes indeed; I think it's about time we showed a Fred & Ginger film!


In order to do this, we're going to go back to 1934; eighteen years before she appeared with Cary Grant in Monkey Business.

Fate is a Foolish Thing to Take Chances With.


The Gay Divorcee is officially the second time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared onscreen together, but it's the first film in which they are given top billing. Flying Down to Rio (released a year earlier) had starred Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio, with Fred and Ginger in supporting roles, but their scene-stealing performance of the "Carioca" (note the poster above) had been enough to earn them a film of their own.


Movie audiences couldn't get enough of the duo, and they ultimately made nine films together for RKO in the 1930s, before reuniting in 1949 for a tenth and final outing.

Give Me a Name For Chance and I am a Fool...

The Gay Divorcee was loosely based on a Cole Porter stage musical entitled The Gay Divorce (spot the subtle difference) which was Fred Astaire's final Broadway musical before his move to Hollywood. It tells the story of a famous American dancer named Guy Holden (Astaire) who falls in love with an American girl (Rogers) while travelling in England. She is unhappily married, and has sought the help of Holden's bumbling lawyer-friend Egbert to obtain a divorce.


At that time, the only way to receive a divorce was for one of the parties to prove adultery, and so there was an entire industry in place to stage fictitious assignations with hired "co-respondents". The would-be divorcee would spend the night in a hotel room with his or her "lover" (who was specifically engaged for the occasion, and who was probably gay - to make sure there was no genuine funny business) and they would then arrange to be caught in the act by detectives who would conveniently burst in on them in order to testify in court.

This is of course a musical comedy, so nothing goes smoothly, and there are many misunderstandings and mistaken identities before everything is sorted out. 

And remember Betty Grable from How to Marry a Millionaire?


Watch out for her brief but memorable appearance (at the age of 17; long before she was famous) dancing with Edward Everett Horton at a Brighton resort (filmed somewhere in California, naturally).


Chances are that Fate is Foolish!

This may have been the first proper outing for Fred and Ginger, but it laid the groundwork for their future films, and includes many of their familiar supporting actors, as well as enough innuendo to leave the censors with their work cut out for them.


We will screen The Gay Divorcee at 7.30 on Thursday, the 30th of May, at the Victoria Park Baptist Church.

Fate is the foolish thing. Take a chance!

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