Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Divorce and an Oscar

Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman December 27, 1940; Jauary 8, 1941 New York City, New York

Ginger’s next movie will garner her recognition she so richly deserves.   She receives the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Kitty Foyle.  Kitty is of Irish descent and lives on the wrong side of the tracks.  Kitty dreams of becoming a main liner and being able to attend the annual Assembly for the upper crust of Philadelphia.  She depicts a young, strong, and confident woman looking for her place in the world while balancing the vicissitudes of love, romance, and marriage.  Women today try to tackle these same challenges today.

Kitty finds herself in the universal predicament of having to choose between a fiery romance and marriage, which represents eternal love, security, and family.  Either one may not last so a young woman’s career needs to fit in there somewhere.  Men then as today cannot see a reason for marriage when you can indulge and not be burdened with the responsibility marriage and commitment would entail.  Which one really completes you as a woman, marriage, a fiery romance, or career?  Or is there a combination that would work?

What is love anyway?  This is the question facing Kitty Foyle as the movie opens.  She has accepted a marriage proposal from a young doctor, Mark Eisen.  They are going to meet at his hospital, St. Timothy’s, at midnight and leave for Gretna Green to be married.  Kitty returns to her apartment to pack when she finds Wyn there waiting for her.  Wynnewood Strafford VI, the infatuated and brazen lover of her youth.  Their love was a passionate all consuming love.  It had been five years since they had last seen each other.  She had put all that behind her, so she thought.  Wyn cannot offer her marriage as divorce is out of the question, but they would be together.  After all, it is just a piece of paper.  Will Kitty choose the piece of paper and marriage to Mark?  On the other hand, will she choose Wyn the unquenchable love of her youth?

The movie opens with office girls discussing the difference between men bachelors and women bachelors is that men bachelors are that way by choice.  Things have not changed much.  Men are in control of their destinies as lover, husband, and in a career.  Women then and now have hard choices to make.  Women want to be lover-wife, mother-caretaker, and toss in a fulfilling career but be careful not to become more successful than the male in your life.  When women finally figure out how to juggle that one, it will be truly miraculous.  There is a glimmer of hope for a few lucky women as there is a rare breed of men secure enough to love their wives unconditionally without feeling inadequate because of their wife’s independence and success.  It is sad that Ginger was not able to find such a man.

As Kitty starts to pack for a life with Wyn, her conscience wants her to reflect on what has transpired and really look at what life would be like with Wyn and Mark.  Wyn is charming and attentive everything the knight in shining armor should be.  Their love affair consumed every atom in their bodies.  Kitty is enamored with Wyn because she always dreamed of being part of society life of the mainliners of Philadelphia and attending the annual Assembly but she also wanted Wyn to stand on his own two feet.   Kitty’s knight has come to take her away so they can be together again.  Now Mark was a dedicated intern and now he is a doctor and reliable.  He truly loves Kitty for he wants her for his wife.  He wants to spend his life with her and have a family with her.

We go back to the time when Kitty meets her so-called knight in shining armor.  Wyn is interviewing Kitty’s father about coaching the old school’s rugby team for his magazine when she meets him.  Immediately taken with the young girl Wyn asks Tom Foyle if his daughter can type.  Kitty becomes Wyn’s secretary and takes the running of the office and the future of the magazine a lot more seriously than Wyn or any of the other socializing employees.

There is a delightful scene where Dennis Morgan impersonates Ronald Coleman.  I presume this scene is included because Ginger just finished making Lucky Partners with this debonair actor.
        Kitty and Wyn's love is consummated in a secluded cabin in the Pocono Mountains as Kitty and Wyn discuss the purpose of men teaching women about life and love. Tom warns his daughter of the dangers of falling for a mainliner.  Kitty is sure Wyn is going to ask her to marry him.  After she leaves for work, Tom laments that his precious daughter is going to have her heart broken.
         Upon her arrival at work, Kitty is informed that the magazine is failing and Wyn's family will not extend him any more money.  Wyn’s only response is to go back to the family bank.  Kitty tries encouraging him to not give up on himself and find something else to do but he does not see it that way.  Kitty mentions a friend in New York City she could find employment.  Wyn feels responsible for Kitty and does not offer marriage but in order to keep her near him a salary while she looks for another job in Philadelphia.  This is insulting to Kitty, you see the strength in her character, and self-worth comes out.  The fire in Kitty’s eyes and the self-reliance of a truly emancipated woman comes forth when she firmly states, “Just a minute, Wyn. You needn't worry about me.  I'm free, white and 21... almost.  And I'll go on loving you from here on out... or until I stop loving you.  But nobody owes a thing to Kitty Foyle, except Kitty Foyle.”  The scene is dynamic and very forceful.  Kitty is her own woman much like Ginger.

Kitty finds herself working in New York City for Delphine Detaille upscale women’s store.  The relationship between Delphine and Kitty is not explained in the movie.  In the book while Kitty was growing up she would spend the school year in Manitou, Illinois, with her aunt and uncle and the summers with her father in Philadelphia.  On one of these train trips between Manitou and Philadelphia Kitty befriends Delphine.  You can better understand her concern and caring for Kitty over her other employees.  Kitty meets Mark Eisen, an intern, and their relationship is a comfortable one for Kitty.  She enjoys his company and has a great affection for him but she still harbors a secret hope that Wyn will come and take her away.  Mark is falling hard for Kitty.

Wyn shows up on the night of the Assembly and celebrates with Kitty in New York.  Kitty finds herself in the world of pretend where Wyn and she are just two people in love.  Wyn woos Kitty with a night of dancing and romance.  Once again, we see Ginger being romanced while dancing with Dennis Morgan not Fred Astarie.  Dennis even sneaks in a slight caress with his lips across Ginger’s cheek while remarking, “The lips are quicker than the eyes.”  The dress Ginger wears is gorgeous.

In the wee morning hours, Wyn proposes to her.  Kitty refuses at first because she realizes the differences in their stations in life and in New York, they are just two people in love but in Philadelphia, he is Darby Mill and she is Griscom Street.  Wyn cannot lose Kitty so he promises her a life in New York City and they are married.

Wyn and Kitty go back to Philadelphia to inform his family of their marital status and Kitty is thrown for a loop.  Wyn had promised his family that Kitty would come back to Philadelphia and be tutored and schooled in proper etiquette and what a Strafford is expected to do to fulfill their obligations in society.  Kitty wants Wyn to stand up to his mother and other family members and tell them they are going to live in New York but he does not.  Kitty finds out that Wyn will lose his inheritance if he does not live at Darby Mill and work at the family bank.  Money does not matter to Kitty she fell in love with Wyn not his bankroll.  Wyn is weak and cannot break from the family.   In the book, Kitty and Wyn never marry but the family approve of the union if Kitty is willing to be schooled as in the movie.

Now here comes Kitty’s big dilemma.  Does she stay and become a mainliner and be with the love of her life or stay true to who she is deep inside herself.   Kitty again stands straight, throws her shoulders back, and holds her head high as she adamantly says, “Let's get a few things straight here! I didn't ask to marry a Strafford, a Strafford asked to marry me.  I married a man, not an institution, a trust fund, or a bank.  Oh, I've got a fine picture of your family conference here.  All the Straffords trying to figure out how to take the curse off of Kitty Foyle, buy the girl a phony education, polish off the rough edges, and make a mainline doll out of her! Aww, you oughta know better than that!  It takes six generations to make a bunch of people like you.  And by Judas Priest, I haven't got that much time.”  Kitty understands that she is asking Wyn to give up everything he knows, his family and the security his money affords him and walks out and back to New York.  Wyn again has failed to step up to the plate, show some backbone, go after Kitty, and live his life with her instead he divorces her.  Kitty goes back to New York in the book also.  Her Scot-Irish hot blood was insulted to the core by Wyn’s family intentions of making a “Main Line doll” out of her.

Kitty runs into Mark again and he would like to renew their relationship.  He knows of her marriage and divorce to her Philadelphia man.  Kitty is still stinging from the experience and tells Mark that it would not be fair to him, as she would be thinking of Wyn.  Mark asks what is wrong and Kitty says that Wyn was too rich.  She states despondently that he could not live her kind of life and that she could not live his kind of life.  Mark wishes he was a heart doctor and able to fix hers.  

Kitty goes to the doctor’s and finds out she is pregnant.  She receives a phone call from Wyn asking her to meet him.  She is elated and overjoyed with the expectation of Wyn coming to be with her and leaving his family.  While she is waiting in Giono’s Kitty reads a news blurb announcing the marriage of Wyn to a socialite.  She rushes out in a flurry of humiliation and disillusionment in the man she loves and thought loved her.

Kitty returns to work and Delphine asks how things went.  She tells her of Mr. Philadelphia’s impending marriage.  She asks Kitty if her Mr. Philadelphia knows about the baby.  Kitty would not want Wyn or any man who would come to her because he felt obligated.  Delphine inquires of Kitty if she really understands what it will mean to have a baby without a father.  Kitty is at her best when her back is pushed up against a wall and standing firm in her own independence and self-preservation.  Kitty announces that she is going to have this baby and she is going to name him Tom Foyle after her father and he will be proud of his name and mother.  He will be hard as a pine knot and the toughest kid on the block.  He is her little candidate for the year 2000.  The determination and authenticity in Kitty’s voice engulfs you.  Now it is Kitty and me against the world.  I have become one with her.  It is our fight.  In the book against Delphine’s better judgment, she helps Kitty find a doctor and Kitty has an abortion.

Kitty is groggy and a little incoherent as she comes out of the anesthetic after giving birth to her son.  Delphine is there holding her hand with a worried expression on her face.  Kitty tightly restrained by the bedding has only her face visible.  Kitty wants to hold her son.  This is when Ginger’s Oscar solidifies as Kitty speaks of her son drowning and trying to save him when she realizes that her son has died after just one small cry of life.  He did not even have a chance to live.  It is psychologically heart wrenching.  It goes deep into your soul and rips your heart out.  My mind reels back to the beginning when Kitty is in the tenement with Mark.  He delivered a baby boy and almost lost him.  Mark looks around the grimy and dismal surroundings and remarks that it might have been better if the baby had not lived.   Kitty retorts tenderly as she holds the young boy close to her, “It is always better to live.”  You understand why those words resonates with meaning from deep inside Kitty’s heart.  You feel her pain and emptiness.  I so wanted her baby to live.  Ginger might be thinking of her two sisters she never knew who had died prematurely.  Her seriousness reverberates as genuine. 

Kitty is packed and I just knew Kitty would choose Wyn after all; he was the passion that fueled her youth.  Kitty leaves and gets into the taxi.  Before leaving, she asks the doorman to give the anxious young man he will be getting a call from a message.  She wants the doorman to tell him that she will always love him in a special way.  That was the nail in the coffin.  Bye, bye Mark and she will foolishly go to Wyn.  Wyn never stood on his own two feet before who is to say that he would not leave her again and go back to his family when this new enterprise fails.  I was beside myself with joyous rapture when Kitty chose Mark.  Hallelujah, Kitty finally saw the light to true happiness and love with a man who could give a woman the things she really wanted, love, understanding, and commitment.  Mark would always be there for her.

Ginger became the white-collar girl of America and the woman of every man’s dream.  Click magazine interviewed some office girls and asked whom they would pick their rich boss or the doctor.  Three out of four girls picked their boss.  In one magazine’s review of Kitty Foyle the author ended the review by stating, “For Ginger Rogers this is another personal triumph.  As much as we enjoy her dancing, so long as she continues to give excellent dramatic interpretations such as this one and “The Primrose Path” anyone who would raise his voice to complain is a carping ingrate.  The Rogers’ dancing slippers will gather more dust.”  In another review the author states, “Ginger Rogers was a natural for the smart, outspoken little mick who thought life would be pie for her and got fooled.  This was the hardest assignment Ginger ever had, and she handled it so well that it’s hard to remember she danced her way to fame.”

Every time I view Kitty Foyle, I become even more convinced that the Academy got it right this time when they bestowed the Best Actress Oscar to Ginger Rogers.  I have viewed The Letter with Bette Davis, Rebecca with Joan Fontaine, The Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn, Our Town with Martha Scott and still feel Ginger rightfully earned and deserved the Oscar.  My second choice would have been Joan Fontaine as the remarkable Mrs. De Winter.  I own Bette and Joan’s films and enjoy watching them all the time.  There is something special and compelling about the strong willed Kitty that makes you stand up and root for her like no other.  Her struggle is my struggle.  I connect with her.   Kitty and Ginger share many of the same ideals.  They always remained true to themselves and stood up for themselves.  It is regretful that Ginger was not as lucky in love as Kitty.

      Ginger is the “Sweetheart” of the RKO Studios and the world.  She is their biggest star under contract.  Ginger is loved by the populous and by her coworkers.  The major reason Ginger’s coworkers love her is they know she will never ask them to do something she would not do herself and she remembers important days and details in their lives.

      The board of directors of RKO was significantly impressed by Ginger’s performance in Kitty Foyle that they chose the Starlight Roof in the Waldrof-Astoria Hotel to honor her.  They invited the celebrated author of Kitty Foyle, Christopher Morley, the literati, critics, and the press.

Three of Ginger’s oldest and dearest friends, Florence Lake, Radie Harris, and Harry Evans attend this affair.  Harry EvansThey starts to reminisce about when he first met Ginger.  Harry met Ginger when she was on Broadway in Girl Crazy.  Harry asked her out to get a bite to eat after a show one night and as Ginger munched on her sandwich, she spoke of her future.  ‘“There is one thing you’ve got to guard against in show business.  It’s so easy to think you’re better than you are.  Here I am, being featured in a Broadway musical.  Does that mean I can sing and dance?  It does not.  It means I have a certain picture reputation, some looks, and good legs.” She looked off into space for a moment.  “That’s not enough,” she said slowly, “-even with my luck.”’  Ginger was never one to take herself too seriously went on to say, “Once you face your mistakes and admit your weaknesses, you’ve won half the battle.”  Ginger was always striving to improve herself no matter what the task before her was.  Even though she was an acclaimed Broadway star and starred in some films, she realized that her success was built on physical appearance and a few tricks.  Ginger was no fool because she continued to work hard at perfecting her craft with concentrated effort, which resulted in giving birth to pure genius in her portrayal of Kitty.  This concentrated effort also pores over into her private life when dealing with her athletic prowess as well as a sculptor and artist.  It is amazing that ten years ago Ginger was just starting her career on the stage and in the movies.  You have come a long way Ginger!

The 1940 Academy Award ceremony was held in the Biltmore Bowl in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on February 27, 1941.  Lynn Fontanne comes to the podium to the applause of the gathered stars befitting her status as a leading lady of the stage.  Lynn Fontanne opens the envelope handed to her by the Academy’s president Walter Wagner.  She hesitates a moment before saying, “For the outstanding performance by an actress in 1940… Ginger Rogers-“which I am sure ended with, “in Kitty Foyle.” This was unheard by the gathered audience because the entire room appeared to have erupted in clapping, cheering, and yelling in jubilation for the young woman who had risen to stardom through hard concentrated work.  She was always in there giving it everything she had to give.  It just was not those associated with the RKO Studios but the other studio tables were just as excited for Ginger as was her home studio.  Ginger walks to the outstretched arms of Lynn Fontanne and they embrace as Lynn kissed Ginger on the cheek.  Ginger weeps openly as she tries to speak into the microphone.  While trying to control her shaking voice, Ginger bites her lip and with tears in her eyes says, “This is the greatest moment of my life…I want

to thank everybody in Hollywood who has given me my chances.  Especially a person who has stood by so patiently and faithfully-my mother.”   You can tell the sincerity of Ginger’s words touched those in the audience as some hard nose executives, stars, and cinematographers’ eyes were a bit misty.  Harry Evans describes the reason why everyone gathered was genuinely happy for Ginger.  “They were listening to a girl who had been named the No. 1 screen actress in America-a kid who had done it the hard way.  Dear little Ginger-always in there pitching, having to battle every inch of the way up the ladder.  Climbing up a couple of rungs.  Slipping down one.  Dancing lightly upward for a short period.  Struggling hand over hand for the next spell.  And now, on this night, at this very moment, her feet had touched the top.  The success every screen actress dreams of-the sort of success Hollywood loves and takes to its bosom.”  Ginger is at the top of the world.  Ginger returns to her table with her statuette where David Hempstead and her mother are waiting and she bursts into tears.  Lela is beaming with the pride any mother would have in the accomplishments of their daughter.

Alfred Lunt, husband of Lynn Fontanne, presents Jimmy Stewart with the Best Actor Oscar for Philadelphia Story.  RKO reissues Vivacious Lady starring the two jubilant Oscar winners Ginger and Jimmy.  Ginger and Jimmy make a winning twosome and are humble in their acceptant speeches.  Jimmy should have won the Best Actor Oscar for Made for Each Other.  Henry Fonda deserved the Best Actor Oscar for The Grapes of Wrath.  Bob Hope is honored with a special Oscar for his unselfish services to the motion picture industry.

Ginger portrays Kitty for LUX Radio on May 5, 1941, with costars Dennis Morgan and James Craig and for the Academy Award Theatre April 6, 1946.

Ginger continues to make a considerable impression on the screen at home and internationally.  She is in high demand by the studios and her ever-increasing fans.  This was manifested when Garson Kanin visited the Secret Annex and saw that Anne Frank had pasted to her wall a picture of Ginger Rogers from his own movie Tom, Dick and Harry.  There were other actors displayed on the wall but Ginger’s picture was the largest.  Ginger’s popularity is on the rise.

Virginia Katherine McMath has come a long way from the young amateur dancing the Charelston in a city and state competition.  Ginger is the sweetheart of the night and deserving of the accolades pouring forth in her honor.  Then the dawn came and reality strikes for Ginger returns to work the next day on the set of Tom, Dick and Harry.

Ginger enters through the stage door and is met with electricians, stagehands, and crew dressed in top hats and tails.  They make an arch for her to pass through.  When asked by columnist Jack Dallas why the formal wear an electrician retorted, “Don’t you read the papers?  Miss Rogers went out and snagged the Academy Award last night.  We’re only paying her the respect that is due her.”  What a sincere tribute from the people who Ginger work with day in and day out.  Those who have the opportunity to work with her hold Ginger in high regard.

Tom, Dick and Harry June 13, 1941

      Janie (Ginger) is a young woman who works for the phone company as an operator.  She wants to marry a wealthy man after seeing a movie with her current boyfriend, Tom (George Murphy).  Tom is an ambitious young man.  He is a car salesman who is always being promoted.  He has been dating Janie for three years and feels he can now ask for her hand as he has received a promotion to assistant sales manager.   Janie kisses Tom passionately when he asks her to marry him.  She says no until Tom tells her that he loves her.  She accepts and sits up straight and positions herself for a kiss.  Tom stands up to say goodbye.  Janie who is disappointed in not getting a kiss stands up and Tom gives her a good-natured pal slug on the shoulder.  Janie dreamily walks into her home and announces to her family that she is engaged to Tom and she might even marry him.  Janie goes to bed and dreams of how life would be like married to Tom.  He is continually being promoted and comes home to tell Janie that he is President.  She knows he is now President of the company and but he informs her that he is President of the United States.  What a prediction!  Now, George Murphy was never President but he was the Senator from California from January 1965 to January 1971.  He was influential in guiding his good friend Ronald Reagan into giving politics a try for himself.

      The next day at work, Janie puts through a call from Richard Hamilton Jr., the local rich boy, (Alan Marshall) to a Miss Brenda Whitney Jr.  Janie now knows Mr. Moneybags is in town and drives a Hispano Suiza.  Janie finds herself leaving work and waiting on a corner for the light to change when she wishes upon a star.  “Star light star bright, The first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight.”  Janie closes her eyes and wishes to meet a certain fellow by the name of Richard Hamilton Jr. when a young man (Burgess Meredith) drives up in the Hispano Suiza and stops for the streetlight.  Janie looks up at the star and it appears to wink at her.  Janie says hi to the handsome driver as she thinks he is Richard Hamilton Jr.  He says hello back and the light changes.  Janie sees her chance and opens the door of the car and makes herself comfortable in the front seat, as they drive away.  Janie explains that they know each other, as she was the operator who put his call through that day.  The young man is smitten with Janie and asks her for a date when he drops her off at home.  Janie readily accepts this invitation even though she is engaged to afore mentioned Tom because her dream man is a rich man.

      Janie thinks her date is with Richard Hamilton Jr.  She is abruptly shocked when she finds out her date is with a garage mechanic by the name of Harry, who was delivering Mr. Hamilton his car.  Harry convinces Janie to continue with the date even though he only has a dollar eighty to spend on her.  Janie is determined to meet and marry a rich man.  Harry proceeds to tell her mathematically the odds are against her meeting a rich man let alone marry one.  They go dancing in a booth at a music store as they listen to records and take a stab at bowling.

I wish they would have kept in the scenes of them at the arcade and listening to a mechanical fortune teller who tells Janie that she will hear bells when she kisses the man that is for her.  Ginger’s hobbies and outside interest always pop up in her movies to my delight.  Ginger’s love for ice cream has Ginger and George Murphy eating a sundae.  Phil Silvers is selling ice cream at Inspiration Point.  You would not know she is quite the bowler by the scene in the movie.  Ginger or I mean her double goes hurling down the alley, as she does not let go of the ball.  Ginger does a better job of bowling in It had to be you.

      Harry explains that he does not believe in success because he once worked in a gas station and was very ambitious.  His boss was at the top and blew his brains out.  He had everything but then again he did not.  Harry feels you should want to get ahead but not at the expense of enjoying life and living with someone, you love.  Again, Janie finds herself sitting on the stoop with her date that is head over heels in love with her.  Janie tells Harry about Tom but Harry is not dissuaded from proposing to her.  Janie feels his earnest feelings for her and you can see her being gently persuaded by Harry.  When they kiss, the participants hear bells.  Therefore, they kiss repeatedly to make sure it is true love.  Now, when Harry leaves he kisses Janie very passionately again.  These are the actions of a man really in love with the woman in question.  This gimmick will be tweaked in various ways revealing to young lovers that this is their soul mate.  The bell ringing as you kiss symbolizes deep and undying love.  How can Janie refuse Harry’s proposal now?  She accepts and dreams of life with Harry that evening.

Harry is an easygoing person whose ideal life would be fishing all day and making glorious love all night to the woman, you love.  In Janie’s dream, Harry comes home to announce he has lost his job and they can go fishing all of the time now.  The next scene finds Janie and Harry in bed embracing in the ecstasy of being with one another when the phone rings.  It is the Pile O’Dough radio program calling to inform Harry that he has won ten thousand dollars.  He answers the phone, blows them off, and goes back to making love to Janie.  Ginger’s sackcloth and flour sack clothes are quite stylish and appealing.

Ginger had forty-five costume changes, which add up to numerous fittings.  The search went out for a young woman with Ginger’s measurements as a stand in for those time consuming fittings on the studio’s dime.  Out of fifty-five applicants, the lucky Geraldine Grey measurements were identical to Ginger’s enviable figure.

        Harry goes off to investigate his competition and Tom just cannot let a potential sale interfere with his romantic life.  Tom talks Harry into showing the car in question to Harry’s girl on a test drive.  Tom calls Janie to break their date and Harry calls to make one.

      Tom drives up to Janie’s house and slams on the brakes with a look of disbelief and then anger on his face.  Harry gets out of the car and goes to the house to get Janie.  When she comes out of the house and is confronted by her two fiancés, she is mildly perplexed.  The conversation on the way to Inspiration Point is amusing.  Tom leaves Harry and a disgruntled and bewildered Janie out at their destination.  Janie just knew she would end her night walking home going out with the likes of Harry.  As they start out on their quest, Richard Hamilton Jr. drives by and Harry calls out to him.  Dick stops his car and Harry asks for a lift before he realizes his mistake when he introduces Janie to Dick her ideal dream man.

Janie goes to bed and dreams of life as Mrs. Richard Hamilton Jr.  She dedicates a street in her honor, she is the toast of the town, and she hosts a bravura dinner party.  Everyone reflects literally in her glory and brilliance, as they all need to wear dark glasses in her presence.  I love her shimmering white dress.  She disavows her humble origins as her children call her mater.

      At work the next day, Janie is connecting Mr. Hamilton with his girlfriend on a long distance call.  Janie listens and is a bit devious with her connecting and disconnecting Dick and Brenda to her advantage.  Janie is able to elicit an invitation from Mr. Hamilton.  They fly off to Chicago in Mr. Hamilton’s private plane.  They attend a play The Taming of the Shrew that stars Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt.  This brings to mind Ginger’s recent Oscar win as Lynn Fontanne presented her with the statuette.

      Janie becomes quite inebriated as the evening goes on and becomes more endearing to Dick Hamilton.  They dine and dance the night away at a Chicago nightclub.  Janie asks Dick what time it is and he replies that it is three o’clock.  This is a good thing as he is really a birthday party for her girlfriend Jennie Shapiro and needs to be home by twelve.  Dick laughs at this poor girl’s naiveté.  You would think that a man of the world as Dick is that this girlish innocence would not entrap him in a serious proposal of marriage but again this is a farcical comedy.

Upon returning home, Janie and Dick find Tom and Harry waiting on the stoop.  Janie finds herself in a predicament to say the least as she introduces all her fiancés to each other.  They demand that she decide between them now.  Janie invites them to Sunday breakfast, goes inside, and dreams of life married to all three of her young men.

Now, this is one hilarious scene when she is in bed and all three husbands march into the bedroom and take their robes off ready for bed.  Janie finds her unique predicament perplexing.  She protests in disbelief, “Just a minute. This is ridiculous.”  Ginger’s facial expression says it all.  They beseech Janie to make up her mind.

Janie decides on Dick after all he is the man she has dreamed her whole life of marrying.  Everyone goes out to bid them a fond farewell.  Janie and Dick are in his car saying their goodbyes before leaving for Gretna Green.  Janie says goodbye to Tom and kisses him.  Then she says goodbye to Harry and kisses him, but she and Harry hear bells again.  She turns to Dick and motions him to kiss her.  Harry leans in and tries to hear if there are bells when they kiss.  Janie does not hear anything and motions to Harry for another kiss.  Again, the bells of true love are ringing and she jumps out of the car and onto the back of Harry’s scooter.  Off they go to be married.

Of the three actors Burgress Meredith shows the most sincere love for Ginger and the bells signify that sincerity.  George Murphy wants power and to move up in the business with a loving wife by his side which is demonstrated by the pal slug on the arm and not the passionate kisses Ginger gets from Burgess even though they do kiss when they drive up to Inspiration Point where lovers park and Phil Silvers sells ice cream.  The difference is that Janie kisses Tom with passion and he does not return the passion.  When Tom proposes Janie is not convinced of his love for her.  Instead of kissing Janie goodbye, he gives her the good old pal slug.  This puts Tom out of the running for me from the get go.  Now, Dick is rich and would take care of any girl’s immediate needs but does he really love her or is this just a lark for him.  I do not get a true sense of his love for her either.   Although, money does have its virtues for those of us who do not have enough for our presumed needs and wants.  When Ginger and Burgess kiss you feel a connection between them that is only enhanced when they play opposite each other in Magnificent Doll which is another personal favorite of mine.

This is a well-crafted humorous comedy.  If you take Janie’s situation, more seriously than just for its pure entertainment value you do not understand nor appreciate farce.   Garson Kanin did not want anyone knowing who would win Janie’s hand in marriage including the actors before the last scene was filmed.  Ginger’s three suitors pursued her on the set with little gifts trying to sway her to choose them in the movie.  The stage hands were betting on whom they thought would win Ginger’s hand.  It all made for a fun time during the filming among cast and crew.  George and Alan were miffed that Garson Kanin gave Ginger to Burgess.

Ginger and George, who is a dancer, spent time in her dressing room listening to the radio and records between scenes while she dances a spirited rumba with Garson Kanin.  Ginger always up for a practical joke has false whiskers put on that pretty face of hers for Garson Kanin’s benefit, as he does not like to shave.  She even accommodates with a photo of her with the whiskers.  Ginger with whiskers is on the cover of Family Circle in 1941.  After the completion of the film, Private Garson Kanin reports for active duty.

Ginger portrays Janie on the radio with George Murphy, Alan Marshall, and Burgess Meredith for Hollywood Radio Theatre for the Armed Forces on September 8, 1941.

An Anonymous prop man sings the praises of Ginger’s sincere caring for those people she works with on her set.   “Once in a while something grand happens to someone in the movie industry that brings a warm glow of pleasure to many who stand on the sideline, like the prop man.  That’s the way I felt a few months ago when I heard Ginger Rogers had won the Academy Award for her performance in Kitty Foyle.  Ginger has been a favorite of mine since that day long ago when she came to my defense when a foreman was starting to bawl me out.  A scene was being filmed near-by and I was paying more attention to that than I was to my job of placing the cups and saucers to be used in the following shot.  Glaring at me threateningly, the foreman was just starting to get up steam, when all of a sudden Ginger walked right up and tweaked his ear!  I don’t know why.  She just did.  Slowly a smile replaced the glare on the foreman’s face, and in no time at all he was helping me arrange the dishes.”  Ginger again proves that she is human and cares about the feelings of others.

Look magazine’s photographer accompanies Ginger Rogers on a vacation to California’s popular vacation spot at Del Monte.  Earl Theisen reports that a vacation with Ginger Rogers is an exhausting adventure.  She is a crack shot at skeet, does hours of swimming in a pool considerably larger than her own, and taking in some enjoyable horseback riding.  She picnics with friends and takes in the rays while sunbathing.  Ginger spends an afternoon sailing on the Carmel Bay in an 18-footer.

  Another afternoon finds Mark Thomas, Ginger’s escort, helped her beach a tiny skiff.  She stood up, struck a pose for the Earl Theisen, and fell over backward.  A defective flash bulb resulted in a missed picture but he was able to get one of her coming out of the ocean after a dip.  Ginger manages some golf on the Cypress Point course.  She could score in the low 80s if her film work did not keep her from practicing more often.

      Ginger begins to date George Montgomery seriously at this time.  Ginger and George costar in Roxie Hart.  Ginger shows up now and then with Lew also.  They are photographed attending the 28^th annual Basket Benefit for needy local children at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

     

Roxie Hart February 20, 1942 New York City, New York

      Roxie Hart is another masterpiece in which Ginger shows her versatility as an actress.  I love this film and find it a pleasurable escape from reality.  Roxie Hart is based on a fictional character in the play Chicago written by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins.  She also wrote the screenplays for Professional Sweetheart, which starred Ginger and Libeled Lady, which was a William Powell and Myrna Loy vehicle.  Maurine Watkins’ play Chicago was inspired by the real life murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaetner.  She covered the trials as a reporter.  Beulah Annan was the basis for her Roxie character.  Both women were eventually acquitted of their murders.  The play made it to Broadway in 1926 and ran for 172 performances.  The play then went on tour.  While in Los Angeles the unknown actor, Clark Gable plays the part of Roxie’s husband Amos Hart.  Belva Gaetner attended the Chicago opening.  In 1927, a silent film called Chicago had Phyllis Haver playing Roxie.  Bob Fosse’s musical Chicago opened on Broadway June 3, 1975 and the film version was released in 2002.

      Anna Beulah claimed that Harry Kalstedt tried to rape her and they both reached for the gun and she got to it first.  To gain the jury’s sympathy, she claimed to be pregnant.  Ginger as Roxie uses the same defense.

      Ginger’s portrayal of a tawdry floozy extraordinaire was worthy of an Oscar nomination.  Ginger dons a mop of curly frizzy hair and chomps gum with the best of them.  The dialogue is quick and witty.  Ginger excels as a quick talking dame.  Ginger was always quick witted and down to earth with her portrayals of intrepid women.  I wonder if Ginger took a trip down memory lane as she portrayed Roxie.  It takes place when Ginger was performing on the vaudeville circuit.

Roxie is found in a compromising situation by her husband, Amos (George Chandler), and he defends her so-called honor by shooting the supposed intruder.  Now, Roxie is a girl out to make a name for herself on the stage as a dancer.  Clay Benham (Nigel Bruce) a business associate of Casely’s, a theatrical agent, and a local reporter Jake Callahan persuade Roxie into confessing to the murder of her lover Fred Casely because Cook County does not find dames guilty of murder let alone let them swing.  The trial will afford Roxie the publicity she needs to further her career.  Sob-sister Mary Sunshine (Spring Byington) pleads Roxie’s case in the papers while her sensationalized lawyer Billy Flynn (Adolph Menjou) pleas her case in the courtroom.  Roxie testifies in her defense with all the flair of a coquettish woman showing her legs at every opportunity in her all male jury.  A young reporter Homer Howard (George Montgomery) is besotted with Roxy’s beauty and allure.

Roxy starts to dance the black bottom and shuffles across the floor with appealing poise.  I wonder if Michael Jackson got his idea of the moonwalk from Ginger’s shuffle.  Michael and Janet use to dance together pretending to be Fred and Ginger.  Roxy entices Homer to dance with her.  Then everyone assembled join in this fun loving ruckus.  Homer’s affection for Roxy is blatant where as Roxy’s attraction is purely sensual.  I love the scene where Homer and Roxy are on the metal staircase and she pushes herself up to him but before going in for an aggressive kiss she asks him his age.   Roxy then turns and taps up the metal staircase to her cell.  Ginger personally requested the metal staircase because of the sound it made when she danced on the staircase.  The tap sequence was choreographed by Hermes Pan and danced by the exquisite and brilliant Ginger.

      I have seen a clip of Ginger dancing the Charleston, which was cut from the final print.  I do not understand why the scene was deleted.  After all Ginger’s introduction to vaudeville was via a Charleston contest.  I would have put it at the end of the film after Roxie is acquitted of Casely’s murder.   Roxie enters and wins the Charleston contest and becomes a sensation.  The ending used in the film is inconsistent with Roxie’s character.  Roxie would never settle down to domesticity with Homer and several children.  She was a good time girl who wanted the bright lights at any costs.  Roxie would have romanced Homer and even married him but she would not have been saddled with children and waiting on Homer.  Homer would be waiting on her outside of a theatre or dance hall.

      Frederick L. Collins attests to Ginger’s tender heart toward helpless animals in an article published for Liberty.  Ginger was driving along Cahuenga Boulevard when she saw a Sealyham dog lying lifelessly in the street.  Ginger stops her car, retrieves this unfortunate creature, and takes him home.  The owners, Frederick and his wife, search everywhere for him and finally contact the Citizen and put a notice in their Lost and Found column.

      Lela calls the Collins the next morning after caring and nursing Dooley themselves.  Ginger and Lela return Dooley to his distraught owners.  Their joy was so evident Ginger and Lela were satisfied that they had found Dooley’s owners.

      These events took place in the early 30s when Ginger was struggling to make her mark in Hollywood as an actress.  The Collins became friends and admirers of Ginger.  Ginger has a careless self-sufficiency about her.  Frederick states, “Here’s a girl who started with very average visible assets-good (but not exceptional) features, good (and exceptional) figure, good health.  She is the first to deny any unique personal talent.  She believes that talent, strength, and power are in a vast reservoir available to any human being willing to tap it.  She also believes in working to help bring about the miracle.  This faith has carried a little local Charleston winner to the highest award her vocation can give.  It has made a great dancer out of a comedienne, and an amazing satirist out of a serious actress.”

      When Ginger won the Charleston contest a local Fort Worth reporter wrote enthusiastically, “Look out, Broadway, her comes Ginger!”  When he visited Hollywood eight years later Ginger showed him the time of his life.  Again, Ginger proves she is human and a star second.

      Fredrick goes on to say, “Ginger not only gave Astaire the dancing partner he needed but by her grace and allure she gave him the romantic appeal which he had never achieved before…(and) has never achieved since.” 

           February 26, 1942, finds Ginger being escorted by the handsome James Stewart to the Oscars at the Biltmore Bowl in the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.  Ginger presents the Best Actress Oscar to Joan Fontaine for her performance in another Hitchcock film Suspicion.  Cary Grant should have won for Penny Serenade but Jimmy gives the Best Actor Oscar to Gary Cooper for his endearing portrayal of Sergeant York.  Ginger and Jimmy make a handsome couple and appear to be delightfully happy together.  Jimmy reports for duty and gives Ginger his Air Force pilot’s wings.  I wish they had married.  He would never feel threatened by Ginger’s success and he would appreciate her for herself but then again when he did marry, Jimmy married someone outside of show business.
            March of 1942 Ginger and Lew’s divorce becomes final.  Lew's star is rising with his performances in his Dr. Kildare films.  Ginger and Lew’s parting was a rerun of A Star is Born but Ginger did not divorce him until his career was gaining momentum again and Lew would never commit suicide.

Tales of Manhattan August 5, 1942

When I first saw this movie, I found in the second offering Henry Fonda with the young woman whom I had seen in I’ll Be Seeing You.  Diane (Ginger) is engaged to Harry Wilson (Cesar Romero).  The previous evening was spent having a drunken raucous bachelor party in Harry’s apartment.  Diane calls her intended the next morning to remind him of their marriage that afternoon.  She awakens him and lets him know that she will be there shortly for their lunch date.

Diane arrives with her best friend Ellen (Gail Patrick) who has just found out her husband is cheating on her with a henna redhead.  Ellen found the evidence in her husband’s secret pocket in his tailcoat.  Harry’s tailcoat is thrown over a chair in plain sight.  Ellen cajoles Diane into looking in his tailcoat.  Diane finds a perfumed letter from Squirrel to her Lion who roars seductively.

Harry overhears Diane reading Squirrel’s letter to him.  In a panic he calls, his best friend, George (Henry Fonda) to bring his tailcoat over and pretend he took the wrong one home.  George’s tailcoat is at the cleaners but Edgar (Roland Young) the butler has Mr. Orman’s (Charles Boyer) tailcoat.  Harry tries to persuade Diane that he does not know what she is talking about and Ellen leaves confident that Harry’s goose has been thoroughly cooked.

Just as Harry is about to confess George comes to the rescue and claims the tailcoat and letter as his own because he took the wrong tailcoat home.  Diane who has thought of George as boring and solving chess moves brightens up and sends Harry away to shower, shave like George, and get dressed.  The virile man in the letter who appears to be George intrigues Diane as she starts to stalk him and backs him into a chair.  George turns the tables and pursues Diane across the room and she picks up a chair like a lion tamer to fend off George’s pursuit of her.

This next segment makes me smile as Ginger explores the possibility of Henry’s persona as the king of the jungle.  This scene clinches it for me.  Henry is lying on the sofa and Ginger is kneeling by him reciting what was in the letter from Squirrel.  The dialogue soon evolves into them saying what they would write each other first from their head and then from their heart in close-ups where you witness them falling in love with every word and expression.  Henry seduces Ginger with words and she reciprocates in kind.  They kiss and the awareness that they are in love hits them.  It is tender and sentimental.  Henry eventually walks off with Ginger to Caesar Romero’s astonishment.  You need to be careful what favors you ask of your friends.   In this case, Harry lost his fiancée to his friend George.

This picture affords Ginger the opportunity to work with her good friend, Henry Fonda.  Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, and Ginger made a lively foursome and enjoyed many happy hours in each other’s company in earlier days.  Ginger and Henry Fonda complement each other favorably as a couple.  It is a shame that they did not do a full feature film together.

I am awestruck with the emotionally draining episode with Edward G. Robinson.  I had considered him mainly a gangster and I have been pleasantly surprised to find him in numerous movies where his dramatic skills are well used.  This segment always chokes me up as I shed a few uncontrollable tears.   It touches my heart and burrows deep into my soul.

The Major and the Minor September 16, 1942

The Major and the Minor works because Ginger and Ray Milland are top-notch actors along with a cleverly written script.  Ginger’s aptitude for varying her voice and demeanor with tremendous dexterity made this type of comedy work for her.  I like to think of it as a drama with a lighter farcical side.  You can see what an incredible range Ginger has in this movie as she changes from a child of twelve to a grown woman and everything in-between with ease within the same scene.  It is a tribute to her immeasurable ability to portray a young woman trying to make her way in life and a young girl of twelve.  She physically changes not only in appearance but also in deportment and voice.  While performing on the Vaudeville stage, Ginger often changed her voice and mannerisms to that of a young girl for a baby talk routine.  This movie gives her the chance to pull out all of the stops as she convinces those around her that she is a child of twelve.  Ginger’s appearance changes so much, you would not think it could be the same person at the same point in time.  She deserved another Oscar win with her characterization of Susan Kathleen Applegate, SuSu Applegate, and Mrs. Applegate.

Ginger spends the majority of the film as a child.  The transformation into a child of twelve is amazing.  Only a deft comedian and actress would dare such an undertaking.  She looks like a young teenager and fools those who want to believe she is only twelve.  Later on in the movie when Ginger transforms back into a grownup woman to go and meet Ray Milland after the dance, the change is short of miraculous.  The chemistry and attraction between Milland and Rogers simmers but is kept in check because of their supposed age difference.

Ginger puts her screen career in the hands of first-time director Billy Wilder.  Mr. Wilder is an adept screenwriter who has tired of directors ruining his scripts.  After meeting with Mr. Wilder, she approved him as her director.  She predicts he will become one of Hollywood’s most noted directors in the future.

Susan Applegate has left Stevenson, Iowa for New York City to find her fortune.  Susan has recently acquired a position for the Revigorous System hair and scalp treatment.  She goes to Mr. Osborne’s room in a local hotel whose spirits are uplifted when he answers the door because the previous girl was a little earnest looking.  Mr. Osborne quickly invites Miss Applegate to get out of her wet coat and into a dry martini.  His quip is a blatant proposition causing Mr. Osborne to expect more than a scalp massage.  Mr. Osborne anger is piqued because he ends up with an egg shampoo in his mouth.  Ginger is at her best when Susan lets go with a litany of complaints.

On Susan’s way out the elevator boy mentions, he would like a scalp massage for Christmas.  Susan inquires if he wants the same treatment.  He answers in the affirmative to which Susan says, “Why wait till Christmas.”  Susan obliges by cracking her last remaining egg right on his forehead.  I love it.  Ginger and the elevator boy play it perfectly.

Upon arriving at the train station the next day for her trip home, she finds out she does not have enough money for an adult fare.  She gets the idea of dressing up as a child in order to travel at half fair.  Ginger admits that while traveling on the trains with her mother sometimes they did not have enough money for her full fare and she impersonated a younger child with doll in hand.

Susan enters the Ladies Room a woman and comes out as SuSu a child.  The conductors are suspicious of this young child, as she appears to be a little bit more mature than a twelve year old.  They notice Susan smoking outside the observation car and go to investigate.   I love how Ginger puts the half smoked cigarette into her mouth and smiles as she answers the conductors questions with hand signals until she cannot contain the cigarette any longer and coughs it out of her mouth and runs back through the train.  She is agile enough to grab her suitcase from an overhead rack on the run.  She ends up in Major Phillip Kirby’s cabin and the hilarity and deception begins.

      The good major, Uncle Phillip, gives refuge to the young child and offers his bottom berth to her.  Susu goes into the bathroom to change into her nightie and Phillip tells her to holler if she has trouble with her buttons.  She replies that she has not had any button trouble for quite awhile.  During the night, there is a thunderstorm, which awakes Susu, and she in turn awakes the major.  He climbs in bed with the youngster and puts his arm around her to comfort her and reassure her that the thunder is just the dwarfs bowling.   Susu lays her head tentatively on his shoulder as she pulls up the blanket to her neck and goes along with the pretence.  She pretends to be lulled to sleep counting the dwarfs jumping over a picket fence.  When Phillip leaves the sleeping Susu and returns to his berth, Susu lets out a deep sigh of relief with a facial expression that explains her feelings totally.

      In the morning, the train is stalled because the tracks are under water.  Phillip goes off to get the youngster some breakfast and Susu decides to let out her braids and tell Phillip who she really is upon his return.

Phillip’s fiancée, Pamela (Rita Johnson) persuades her father, the commanding office at Wallace Military Institute where Phillip teaches, to take her to the stalled train.  They have come to retrieve Phillip and take him back to the school.  Pamela embarks the train looking for Phillip.  She knocks on the door calling to Phillip and Susan ducks under the blankets.  Pamela enters and pulls the covers back to find a grown woman in her fiancé’s compartment.  A pleading Susan asks Pamela to quiet her screams as the conductor is not supposed to know she is there to which Pamela replies, “Nor should I.”  Pamela storms out and knocks Phillip down after accosting him.  Susan quickly braids her hair and goes back to her little girl persona for Uncle Phillip’s benefit.  Phillip needs to take Susu to the military school to show everyone that she is just a child and that he is innocent of philandering.  Susu agrees to go with Phillip to clear his name and save his engagement to Pamela.

      After introducing Susu to everyone, it is declared a good solution to an awkward situation and the engagement is on again.  Everyone wants Susu to be twelve so they are convinced she is a child of twelve.  Susu is going to spend her weekend with Pamela and her sister Lucy (Diana Lynn) who is an intellectual science type.  Susu's appearance and demeanor do not fool Lucy.   After all, Lucy has had the advantage of hearing the proceedings through a vent and perusing the contents of Susan's suitcase.  It is a suitcase of a woman not a child.  Susan is relieved that she does not have to pretend to be Baby Snooks in front of at least one person.   Lucy enlists Susan’s help in thwarting Pamela’s plan to sabotage any chance of Phillip’s transfer to active duty.  She wants him at home and by her side and not off playing army man.  Phillip wants to be ready to defend his country if the need should arise and not stay at the academy.

      Susu is introduced to the boys at the academy and is an immediate hit.  She is escorted to lunch by Cadet Anthony Wigton Jr. and finds herself booked solid with the cadets taking turns squiring her around the academy.  The cadets are junior wolves.

Cadet Wigton ends his hour with Miss Applegate sitting next to a civil war cannon.  Cadet Wolf Wigton starts to explain how Sedan fell because of the “futility of stationary defense.”  Cadet Wolf continues as a wary SuSu eyes him with caution, “Do you want to know how Sedan was taken?”  He points to SuSu’s lips. “This is Sedan.  The weak point between the big Maginot Line and the little Maginot Line.”  He extends his right arm around SuSu’s shoulders.  “Now, the flank of the German Army swung around through the Netherlands and Belgium.”  He swings his other arm around the front of SuSu, has her within his grasp, and goes in for the kiss with the line, “Then a panzer division smacked right through here!”  The junior wolf kisses SuSu with all the amorous desires of a young teenager.  SuSu breaks away and in a flabbergasted adult voice says, “Why, you little devil!”  SuSu runs off in order to escape the advances of the wolfish cadet and bumps into Uncle Phillip who has watched this little scene unfold from afar.  Susan immediately returns to her SuSu persona.  Cadet Osborne comes up to the Major and the Minor and takes SuSu off to her next adventure.

      Cadet Wolf Osborne is from the upper crust in New York City and has the distinction of being kicked out of the best schools in the country.  He takes SuSu canoeing.  When he stands and moves to SuSu’s side of the canoe, it tips over and SuSu swims quite quickly to shore.

After drying off and changing clothes, SuSu finds herself in Uncle Phillip’s office.  Uncle Phillip tries to explain the relationship of boys and girls with moths and their attraction to light bulbs, she promises to try to be a well-behaved light bulb.  It is a fun scene as she strings him along with her supposed naiveté and innocence while Uncle Phillip squirms and is uncomfortable explaining.  Uncle Phillip gets his first glimpse of SuSu with his good eye shut and only looks at her with his bum eye.  He sees the making of a knockout to his embarrassment as SuSu is only twelve after all.  SuSu begins to view Uncle Phillip in a different light, also.

Lucy has intercepted a letter from her sister Pamela to a friend, Cornelia.  Cornelia is the wife of George MacQuarter.  He can either squash or grant Phillip’s request for reassignment to active duty.  Susan decides to help Lucy in sabotaging Pamela.  Susan is going to place a phone call to Cornelia darling ala Pamela.  Now, this is where Ginger's Oscar performance is solidified.  I will try to describe the scene but you need to see it to appreciate Ginger’s skill as she changes from one character to another and back again with the ease of a seasoned professional.

SuSu puts on Lucy’s best flock and her newly brewed perfume.  She flirts with Cadet Korner who is at the switchboard while tricking him into showing her how to make a long distance call but to no avail because he is replaced by the miffed Cadet Wigton.

SuSu puts on the charm again but Cadet Wigton resists her because of the incidence at the cannon.  SuSu starts to tap a bit and challenges him.  He rises to the occasion and dances his rebut. SuSu insists on some music as she continues to dance for the young cadet.  Cadet Wigton succumbs and leaves to retrieve his portable radio.

Susan wastes no time in putting through the call to Cornelia.   Susan morphs into Pamela while talking to Cornelia and imploring her to use her influence with her husband in getting Phillip his assignment to active duty while mayhem is breaking out on the switchboard as Susan aimlessly manipulate the plugs.  With the call completed Susan starts pulling out the plugs as she confronts the entourage of angry callers and turns back to the demure and remorseful light bulb as they converge on the switchboard.  The poor unsuspecting cadet returns dancing and singing with his radio blaring so he can dance with the coquettish SuSu.  When he sees the reception committee, he turns and leaves for the guardhouse as he announces;”A woman’s a two-face”.  The song on the radio is “Blues in the Night” by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, which has the line, “A man’s a two face”.

SuSu finds herself being escorted to a dance by a group of singing cadets.  I loved the Veronica Lake look of the girls from the neighboring girls’ school.  SuSu tactfully saves a place on her dance card by covering the third waltz with her thumb for Uncle Phillip.  Cadet Osborne introduces SuSu to his parents.  SuSu tries to dissuade Mr. Osborne as he is puzzled by her appearance.  He is sure he has met her before.  Uncle Phillip gets his call to active duty and Pamela is disgruntled with him and his insistence on leaving for active duty.  Uncle Phillip and SuSu dance their waltz and discuss the misfortunes of falling in love with people too young or too old for you.  SuSu wants to tell Uncle Phillip the truth about whom she really is and makes a clandestine meeting with him where the dance was held for later that evening.

Upon returning to the Hill home, SuSu changes into the gorgeous young woman she is and rushes off to meet Uncle Phillip.  I love her dress!  Instead, Pamela is there and confronts her with the reality of the situation because Mr. Osborne has enlightened her as to Susu's real identity as a piece of fluff from a scalp treatment enterprise.  Pamela threatens to have Phillip drummed out of the service if she does not discreetly disappear.  Susan tells Pamela that she is very lucky she is not a child of twelve because she was a straightforward child, as she use to spit as a child.  That is one of the best lines in the movie. Furthermore, I can actually imagine Ginger spitting at her. 

It is astonishing to me how well Ginger transformed her character from a woman in her early twenties to a young girl and goes back and forth with it so easily.  To top it off at the end she impersonates her own real life mother.  She is fantastic.  Spring Byington was unavailable to play Ginger’s mother at the time of the filming so her mother, Lela, made her one and only film appearance. When I first saw this movie, I was unaware of this and was stunned by the likeness of the two actresses.  A portrait of Ginger and her mother made up like Mrs. Applegate look more like sisters than mother and daughter.  Lela was only nineteen when Ginger was born.  Ginger and Lela arrive on the set to find the cast and crew has a bouquet of flowers for the star’s mother.  Ginger and her mother share lunch and practice their lines together.  Lela has been involved in show business in some form or another during her adult life found acting on screen a new experience.  Lela has a new appreciation for her daughter’s workday and no longer bemoans Ginger’s desire to go home to bed after a hard day’s work instead of stepping out in the nightlife.

Ginger and Ray reprise their roles for LUX Radio Theatre on May 31, 1943.

Lela wrote a book called Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak.  Whitman Publishing Company in Racine, Wisconsin, published in 1942.  I bought the book and read it.  It reminded me of my favorite childhood books written by Carolyn Keene starring Nancy Drew teenage sleuth in The Secret of the Old Clock.  Lela could have had a writing career if she would have wanted it.  I enjoyed it immensely.

Ginger’s grandfather, Walter Owen, visits the set to watch his daughter and granddaughter perform together.  He is very proud of them and their accomplishments.  Ginger’s adroit comedic skills and her extraordinary acting abilities are not wasted in her delightful characterization of Susan Kathleen Applegate, SuSu Applegate, and Mrs. Applegate.  The Best Actress Oscar should have been hers.

When Ginger was approached to play the part of Susan Applegate, she readily accepted.  She was asked if Billy Wilder, who had co-written the script, could direct the film.  This would be Mr. Wilder’s first attempt at directing and needed a break.  Ginger set up a meeting with Mr. Wilder and remembered a time when she needed someone to have confidence in her and was given a chance to prove herself.  Ginger agrees to allow Billy Wilder to direct the film, tried to put him at ease, but she left him in complete control and authority over the filming.  Ginger was noted for helping others when it was within her power.  It bothers me that Mr. Wilder never acknowledged the importance of this film in his career and Ginger’s willingness to give him his start as a director.  When the Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute honored Billy in 1985, Ginger stood to speak a few words in his behalf, and Billy was one of the first people to stand and applaud her.

In the October 1942 Screen Guide chronicles on a rare occasion out Ginger sees Fred and his wife at the Mocambo and sits down for an enjoyable chat.  Ginger and Fred take to the dance floor and are tripping lightly together again to everyone’s delight.  Ginger partners with Randolph Scott for a whirl around the dance floor and stops to talk with her other friends in attendance.

Harry Evans spends a day with Ginger and her guests George and Lu Vanderbilt.  Ensign George Vanderbilt was on leave and their good friend Ginger invited him, his wife Lu and Harry Evans for a day of swimming and tennis.  Ginger forever the competitor does not know the meaning of a friendly game where you do not care about winning.  When you step on the court with Ginger, you know you are in for a lively game.  I was a good athlete while growing up but was not able to pursue sports in school.  I admire this athleticism in Ginger.

While swimming, a plane appeared in the distance.  ‘“Ginger yelled, “Here he comes! Here comes my flier.  Watch him!”  The plane suddenly dived down toward the valley that lies below the swimming pool, then straightened out, went into a climb, roared directly toward us at about 500 feet-and just as it passed over the pool, the pilot dipped first one wing and then the other in salute.  Ginger waved frantically. “What did I tell you!  See-he’s my flier.  He does this almost every day.  Did you see him dip his wings?”  Ensign Vanderbilt cut his eye toward Miss Rogers’ lovely figure in its scanty bathing suit and nodded gravely toward Lu and me.  “It’s enough to make any guy a little dippy.”  He opined.”’  Ginger lives her life and manages her career in her own indomitable way.

After tennis and a swim, Harry was able to realize one of his childhood dreams by being able to step behind Ginger’s soda fountain and build himself a chocolate ice-cream soda.  Ginger is unpresuming and does not talk about her many accomplishments on and off the screen unless you bring them up.  She has learned to live with fame and wealth gracefully.  Some Hollywood types think Ginger has developed attitude when it comes to her celebrity but she has earned her right to her independence, which allows her to indulge in the luxury of privacy.  Jealousy might be the reason for some snide remarks.  I can commiserate with Ginger’s desire for privacy.  I am in no way hounded about my private life but I do not babble on and on about what is going on in my life.  My private and public lives are separate.  Although my enthusiasm for the Boston Red Sox, San Francisco 49ers and Giants, and my favorite color of pink is no secret.  Only my family is privy to my obsession with Ginger Rogers.