Gold Diggers in Paris: Difference between revisions

| story = '''Story idea:'''<br />Jerry Horwin<br />[[James Seymour (screenwriter)]]<br />'''Story:'''<br />[[Jerry Wald]]<br />Richard Macaulay<br />Maurice Leo

| writer = [[Earl Baldwin]]<br />[[Warren Duff]]<br />'''Uncredited:'''<br />Felix Ferry<br />[[Sig Herzig]]<br />Peter Milne

| music = '''Uncredited:'''<br>[[Ray Heindorf]]<br>[[Heinz Roemheld]]<br>'''Songs:'''<br>[[Harry Warren]] ''(music)''<br />[[Al Dubin]] ''(lyrics)''<br />[[Johnny Mercer]] ''(lyrics)''<br />[[Freddie Fisher (musician)|Freddie Fisher]]

'''''Gold Diggers in Paris''''' is a 1938 [[Warner Bros.]] [[musical film|movie musical]] directed by [[Ray Enright]] with musical numbers created and directed by [[Busby Berkeley]], starring [[Rudy Vallee]], [[Lane Sisters|Rosemary Lane]], [[Hugh Herbert]], and [[Allen Jenkins]].

Maurice Giraud ([[Hugh Herbert]]) is sent to New York to arrange for the Academy Ballet of America to come to Paris to compete for cash prizes at an international dance festival, but a cabbie takes him by mistake to the Club Ballé, a nightclub about to go under. The desperate owners of the club, Terry Moore ([[Rudy Vallee]]) and Duke Dennis ([[Allen Jenkins]]), know that there's been an error has occurred, but see the invitation as a way out of their financial problems. To get some ballet into their nightclub act, they hire ballet teacher Luis Leoni ([[Fritz Feld]]) and his star (and only) pupil Kay Morrow ([[Lane Sisters|Rosemary Lane]]) to teach their girls ballet on the boat crossing the Atlantic. Terry finds Kay very attractive, but things are complicated when his ex-wife, Mona ([[Gloria Dickson]]), invites herself along, rooming with Kay.

Meanwhile, the head of the ''real'' ballet company, Padrinsky ([[Curt Bois]]), finds out what's has happened and cables Giraud aboard ship, then heads to Paris with his patron, a ballet-loving gangster named Mike Coogan ([[Edward Brophy]]), who intends to rub out Terry and Duke. Giraud is upset about being hoaxed, but is mollified when a "talking dog" (a ventriloquist hired by Terry and Duke) convinces him that ''Padrinsky'' is the liar.

After they arrive in Paris, a representative of the exposition, Pierre Le Brec ([[Melville Cooper]]), wants to watch the group's rehearsals, and Duke tells his new friend Coogan, the gangster, that Le Brec is causing him trouble. Coogan goes to "take care" of the problem, but by mistake knocks out Leoni instead of Le Brec. Padrinsky shows up and arranges for the imposters to be deported on the day of the contest, but Mona manages to change the order so that Coogan and Padrinsky are shipped out, instead, which allows the company to perform and win the grand prize.<ref>Arthur Hausner [http://imdb.com/title/tt0030191/plotsummary IMDB Plot Summary]</ref><ref>TCM [httphttps://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=/3353&category=Full%20Synopsis/gold-diggers-in-paris#synopsis Full Synopsis]</ref>

* [[Mabel Todd (actress)|Mabel Todd]] as ''Leticia''

* [[Carole Landis]], [[Peggy Moran]], and [[Diana Lewis]] appear as ''Gold Diggers''.

''Gold Diggers in Paris'' was the fifth and last in Warner Bros.' series of "Gold Digger" films, following ''[[Gold Diggers of Broadway]]'' (1929), which is now lost; ''[[Gold Diggers of 1933]]'', which was a remake of the earlier film, and the first to feature Busby Berkeley's extravagant production numbers; ''[[Gold Diggers of 1935]]''; and ''[[Gold Diggers of 1937]]''.<ref>Warners also released a silent film, ''[[The Gold Diggers (1923 film)|The Gold Diggers]]'', in 1923, based on the same play that was used as source material for ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' and ''Gold Diggers of 1933''.</ref> [[Majestic Pictures]] attempted to cash in on the "Gold Diggers" concept by naming a feature ''Gold Diggers of Paris'', howeverbut Warner Bros. prevented this through legal action, and the filming and release of ''Gold Diggers in Paris'' may have been a part of the effort to protect what Warners considered to be their trademark.

As usual for a Warner Bros. musical of this period, the extravagant musical numbers were created, designed, staged, choreographed, and directed by [[Busby Berkeley]].

The majority of the songs in ''Gold Diggers in Paris'' were written by the team of [[Harry Warren]] (music) and [[Al Dubin]] (lyrics), who contributed many of the songs in the ''Gold Diggers'' series and other Warner Bros. musicals. "I Wanna Go Back to Bali", "Latin Quarter" (a song which was later used frequently in Warner Bros. cartoons featuring [[Pepé Le Pew]]), "Let's Drink to a Dream", "Put That Down in Writing", "Stranger in Paree", and "Waltz of the Flowers" were their creations in this film. In addition, Harry Warren wrote two other songs, "My Adventure" and "Daydreaming All Night Long", but with lyrics by [[Johnny Mercer]].<ref name="Music">TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=3353&category=Music Music]</ref><ref>Allmovie [httphttps://www.allmovie.com/cgmovie/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:93441~T0gold-diggers-in-paris-vm449788 Overview]</ref>

The '''Schnickelfritz Band''', ("[[Wiktionary:snicklefritz|schnickelfritzSchnickelfritz]]" supposedly being German slang for "silly fellow"), a comedy musical group somewhat reminiscent of [[Spike Jones]] (who came later), performs novelty songs in the film. Led by Freddie Fisher, who played woodwinds, sang, and also composed the songsongs "Colonel Corn" and "Old Hank" for the band, the band consisted of Stanley Fritts (trombone, drums, jug, washboard), Nels Laakso (cornet, trumpet), Paul Cooper (piano, arrangements), Kenneth Trisko (drums), and Charles Koenig (string bass /, tuba). Original trumpeter Nels Laakso left to join The Korn Kobblers and was replaced by trumpet player [[George Rock]], who later became a key member of [[Spike Jones]]'s City Slickers. The group, which was billed as "America's Most Unsophisticated Band!", recorded for [[Decca Records]], and werewas brought to Hollywood by Rudy Vallee after his agent saw themthe group in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]].

According to one source, ''Gold Diggers in Paris'' was almost complete at the time the band arrived in Hollywood, so the band's segments were inserted into the film with short intros and reaction shots used to connect them to the rest of the action. The band broke up shortly after doing the film, with Fritts taking some of the members east to become the "Korn Kobblers", and Fisher staying in Hollywood to open a nightclub, where he appeared billed as "The Original Colonel of Corn". Although the Schnickelfritz Band neveronly appeared in anothertwo filmmore films years later, Fisher appeared in several others as a band leader.<ref name="Music" /><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071120121400/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758155,00.html "Schnickelfritz"] ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' (September 6, 1937)</ref><ref>[http://www.hezzie.com/lr/fsf/freddiefisherlisteningroom.html Hoosier Hot Spots Museum]</ref><ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.freddiefisher.com/ |title="Freddie Fisher: The Colonel of Corn and the Schnickelfritz Band"] |access-date=2008-03-16 |archive-date=2013-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530192752/http://freddiefisher.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>IMDB [http://imdb.com/company/co0081549/ The Schnickelfritz Band]</ref><ref>IMDB [http://imdb.com/name/nm0279499/ Freddie Fisher]</ref>

[[Category:1930s1938 musical films]]

[[Category:1930s English-language films]]