Dames
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2008-07-07T14:49:01Z
Ed Fitzgerald
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{{Infobox Film
| name = Dames
| image = Dames DVD cover.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = dvd cover
| director = [[Ray Enright]]<br/>[[Busby Berkeley]]<br>''(musical numbers)''
| producer = [[Hal B. Wallis]]
| writer = [[Robert Lord]]<br/>[[Delmer Daves]]
| narrator =
| starring = [[Ruby Keeler]]<br/>[[Dick Powell]]<br/>[[Joan Blondell]]<br/>[[Guy Kibbee]]<br/>[[Zasu Pitts]]<br/>[[Hugh Herbert]]
| music =
| cinematography = [[George Barnes (cinematographer)|George Barnes]]<br/>[[Sidney Hickox]]<br/>[[Sol Polito]]
| editing = Harold McLernon
| distributor = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released = [[16 August]] [[1934 in film|1934]]<br>''(premiere)''<br>[[1 September]] ''(general)''
| runtime = 91 mins.
| country = [[Cinema of the United States|United States]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| budget =
| gross =
| imdb_id = 0025028
}}
'''''Dames''''' is a [[1934 in film|1934]] [[Warner Bros.]] [[musical film|musical]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Ray Enright]] with dance numbers created by [[Busby Berkeley]]. The film stars [[Ruby Keeler]], [[Dick Powell]], [[Joan Blondell]], [[Guy Kibbee]], [[Zasu Pitts]], and [[Hugh Herbert]]. Production numbers and songs include "When You Were a Smile on Your Mother's Lips (and a Twinkle in Your Daddy's Eye)", "The Girl at the Ironing Board", "[[I Only Have Eyes for You]]", "Dames" and "Try to See It My Way".
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==Plot==
Eccentric multimillionaire Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), whose main purpose in life is raising American morals through a nationwide campaign, wants to be assured that his fortune will be inherited by upstanding relatives, so he visits his cousin, Matilda Hemingway (Zasu Pitts) in New York City, in Horace's view the center of immorality in America. What Ounce finds most offensive are musical comedy shows and the people who put them on, and it just so happens that Matilda's daughter, Barbara (Ruby Keeler), is a dancer and singer in love with a struggling singer and songwriter, her 13th cousin, Jimmy Higgens (Dick Powell). On Ezra's instructions, Jimmy the "black sheep" has been ostracized by the family, on pain of not receiving their inheritance.
Matilda's husband, Horace (Guy Kibbee) meets a showgirl named Mabel (Joam Blondell), who's been stranded in [[Schenectady, New York|Schenectady]] when her show folds, and connives her way into sleeping in Horace's train compartment as a way to get back home. Terrified of scandal, he leaves her some money and his business card, along with a note telling her to not mention their meeting to anyone; but when Mabel discovers that Horace is Barbara's father, she blackmails him into backing Jimmy's show.
==Cast==
{|
|-
! !!
|-
| [[Image:Dick Powell in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Dick Powell]] as ''Jimmy Higgens''
|-
| [[Image:Ruby Keeler in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Ruby Keeler]] as ''Barbara Hemingway''
|-
| [[Image:Joan Blondell in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Joan Blondell]] as ''Mabel Anderson''
|-
| [[Image:Zasu Pitts in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Zasu Pitts]] as ''Matilda Ounce Hemingway''
|-
| [[Image:Guy Kibbee in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Guy Kibbee]] as ''Horace Peter Hemingway''
|-
| [[Image:Hugh Herbert in Dames trailer.jpg|70px]] || [[Hugh Herbert]] as ''Ezra Ounce''
|}
;Supporting Cast
[[Image:Dames Only Have Eyes For You.jpg|thumb|right|262px|<center>[[Ruby Keeler]] and [[Dick Powell]] in<br>"I Only Have Eyes For You" from ''Dames''</center>]][[Image:Dames production.jpg|thumb|right|262px|<center>A typical [[Busby Berkeley]] geometrical arrangement of dancers from ''Dames''</center>]]
{|
|-
|Arthur Vinton
|as ''Bulger, Ounce's bodyguard''
|-
|[[Phil Regan]]
|as ''Johnny Harris, songwriter''
|-
|[[Arthur Aylesworth]]
|as ''Train Conductor''
|-
|[[Johnny Arthur]]
|as ''Billings, Ounce's secretary''
|-
|Leila Bennett
|as ''Laura, the maid''
|-
|[[Berton Churchill]]
|as ''Harold Ellsworthy Todd''
|}
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'''Cast notes:'''
* Songwriter [[Sammy Fain]], who contributed to the music used in the film, has a small role as "Buutercup Balmer", a songwriter. This character's name, along with "Johnny Harris", came from two men who owned movie theatres in Pennsylvania - this was done at the behest of producer [[Hal Wallis]].<ref name=tcmnotes />
* Veteran bit-part actor [[Milton Kibbee]], brother of Guy Kibbee, has a bit-part as a reporter.
* [[Jean Rogers]], who later played "Dale Arden", [[Flash Gordon]]'s girlfriend, in 30's serials, is in the chorus.
==Musical numbers==
The musical sequences in ''Dames'' were designed, staged and directed by [[Busby Berkeley]] - the Warner Bros. publicity office invented the phrase "cinematerpsichorean" to describe Berkeley's creations.<ref name=tcmnotes>TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=603&category=Notes Notes]</ref> By this time, after the success of [[42nd Street]], [[Footlight Parade]] and [[Gold Diggers of 1933]], Berkeley had his own unit at Warners, under his total control as supervised by producer [[Hal Wallis]].<ref name=tcmarticle />
*"Dames" - by [[Harry Warren]] (music) and [[Al Dubin]] (lyrics)
*"[[I Only Have Eyes for You]]" - by [[Harry Warren]] (music) and [[Al Dubin]] (lyrics). At one point in this number, sung by Dick Powell to Ruby Keeler, all the girls in the chorus wear Ruby Keeler masks as they move around the stage, but in just about every shot, the '''''real''''' Keeler passes by the camera briefly. In 1989, this song won an [[ASCAP|ASCAP Award]] as the "Most Performed Feature Film Standard".<ref>IMDB [http://imdb.com/title/tt0025028/awards Awards for "Dames"]</ref>
*"The Girl at the Ironing Board" - by [[Harry Warren]] (music) and [[Al Dubin]] (lyrics). Joan Blondell was seven months pregnant at the time this number was filmed, and care had to be taken by her husband, cinematographer [[George Barnes]], not to show her condition. Also, at one point in the number, a property man can be seen in the background, hanging up clotheslines.<ref name=tcmarticle />
*"When You Were a Smile on Your Mother's Lips and a Twinkle in Your Daddy's Eye" by [[Sammy Fain]] (music) and [[Irving Kahal]] lyrics
*"Try to See It My Way" - by [[Allie Wrubel]] (music) and [[Mort Dixon]] (lyrics)<ref>TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=603&category=Music Music]</ref>
One of the effects of the [[Production Code]] on this film is a musical number that never made it to the screen. Berkeley had planned one featuring Joan Blondell about a fight between a cat and a mouse that ended with Blondell inviting everyone to "come up and see my pussy sometime." Producer Hal Wallis removed this number from the script before it even got to the censors of the [[Hays Office]].<ref name=tcmarticle />
==Production==
The director originally slated to do the film was [[Archie Mayo]], and then a second director before Ray Enright got the job a week before filming began.<ref name=tcmarticle>Brian Cady [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=603&category=Articles TCM article]</ref> Some early casting considerations had [[Ruth Donnelly]] playing "Mathilda" instead of Zasu Pitts, and [[Hobart Cavanaugh]] as "Ellsworthy Todd".<ref name=tcmnotes /> At one point, it was suggested that [[Eleanor Powell]] do a specialty number, but she declined to do so.<ref>TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=603&category=Trivia Trivia]</ref>
''Dames'' began production at the Warner Bros. studios in [[Burbank, California]] on [[28 March]] [[1934 in film|1934]]. Ray Enright completed the dramatic scenes in mid-April of that year, while Busby Berkeley continued working on the musical numbers until [[3 July]]. The film had its premiere on [[16 August]], 1934 and went into general release on [[1 September]].<ref>TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=603&category=Overview Overview]</ref><ref>IMDB [http://imdb.com/title/tt0025028/releaseinfo Release dates]</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Dames (film)|Dames}}
*{{imdb title|0025028}}
*{{amg movie|id=1:12004|title=Dames}}
*{{tcmdb title|603}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|id=dames|title=Dames}}
*{{mpdb movie|0025038}}
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{{Busby Berkeley}}
{{Americanfilms1930s}}
[[Category:1934 films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:Black and white films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Musical comedy films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ray Enright]]
[[it:Abbasso le donne]]