Editing Stage Door

{{Short description|1937 film by Gregory La Cava}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Stage Door
| image          = Stage Door (1937).jpg
| caption        = Stage Door theatrical poster
| director       = [[Gregory La Cava]]
| producer       = [[Pandro S. Berman]]
| screenplay     = {{unbulleted list|[[Morrie Ryskind]]|[[Anthony Veiller]]}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''Stage Door''<br>1936 play|[[Edna Ferber]]<br>[[George S. Kaufman]]}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Katharine Hepburn]]
* [[Ginger Rogers]]
* [[Adolphe Menjou]]
* [[Gail Patrick]]
* [[Constance Collier]]
* [[Andrea Leeds]]
* [[Samuel S. Hinds]]
* [[Lucille Ball]]
}}
| music          = [[Roy Webb]]
| cinematography = [[Robert De Grasse]]
| editing        = [[William Hamilton (film editor)|William Hamilton]]
| studio         = [[RKO Pictures|RKO Radio Pictures]]
| distributor    = RKO Radio Pictures  
| released       = {{film date|1937|10|08}}
| runtime        = 92 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $952,000<ref name="rko">{{cite journal| last=Jewel| first=Richard| title=RKO Film Grosses, 1931-1951: the C. J. Telvin ledger| journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television| url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01439689400260031| volume=14| number=1| year=1994| page=56| doi=10.1080/01439689400260031}}</ref>
| gross          = $1.8 million<ref name=rko/>
}}

'''''Stage Door''''' is a 1937 American [[Tragicomedy|tragicomedy film]] directed by [[Gregory La Cava]], and starring [[Katharine Hepburn]], [[Ginger Rogers]], [[Adolphe Menjou]], [[Gail Patrick]], [[Constance Collier]], [[Andrea Leeds]], [[Samuel S. Hinds]], and [[Lucille Ball]]. Adapted from the 1936 [[Stage Door (play)|play of the same name]], it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in [[New York City]]. It was produced and distributed by [[RKO Pictures]]. [[Eve Arden]] and [[Ann Miller]], who became notable in later films, play minor characters.

The film was adapted by [[Morrie Ryskind]] and [[Anthony Veiller]] from the play by [[Edna Ferber]] and [[George S. Kaufman]], but the play's storyline and the characters' names were almost completely changed for the movie, so much so in fact that Kaufman joked the film should be called "''Screen Door''".<ref name=TCMarticles>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/429/stage-door#articles-reviews|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|date=2004|last=Nixon|first=Rob|url-status=live|title=Stage Door (1937) – Articles|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205182851/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/429/Stage-Door/articles.html|archive-date=February 5, 2016}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Stage-Door-1937.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Katharine Hepburn]] and [[Ginger Rogers]] in ''Stage Door'']]
Terry Randall moves into the Footlights Club,<ref>Inspired by the real-life [[Rehearsal Club (New York)|Rehearsal Club]], according to [[Robert Osborne]], host of [[Turner Classic Movies]]</ref> a theatrical boarding house in New York. Her polished manners and superior attitude make her no friends among the rest of the aspiring actresses living there, particularly her new roommate, flippant, cynical dancer Jean Maitland. From Terry's expensive clothing and her photograph of her elderly grandfather, Jean assumes she has obtained the former from her [[wikt:sugar daddy|sugar daddy]], just as fellow resident Linda Shaw has from her relationship with influential theatrical producer Anthony Powell. In truth, Terry comes from a wealthy Midwest family. Over the strong objections of her father, Henry Sims, she is determined to try to fulfill her dreams. In the boarding house, Terry's only supporter is aging actress Anne Luther, who appoints herself Terry's mentor and acting coach.

When Powell sees Jean dancing, he decides to dump Linda. He arranges for Jean and her partner Annie to get hired for the floor show of a nightclub he partly owns. He then starts dating Jean, who starts falling for him.

Meanwhile, well-liked Kay Hamilton had great success and rave reviews in a play the year before but has had no work since and is running out of money. She clings desperately to the hope of landing the leading role in Powell's new play, ''Enchanted April''. She finally gets an appointment to see Powell, only to have him cancel. She faints in the reception area, the result of malnutrition and disappointment. Seeing this, Terry barges into Powell's private office and berates him for his callousness.  As a result, the other boarding house residents start to warm up to the newcomer.

Terry's father secretly finances ''Enchanted April'' on the condition that Terry is given the starring role, hoping she will fail and return home. Powell invites Terry to his penthouse to break the news. When Jean shows up unannounced, Terry sees the opportunity to save her friend from the philandering Powell. She pretends that Powell is trying to seduce her. It works. However, it makes things uncomfortable around the boarding house. Terry's landing on the plum part breaks Kay's heart.

The inexperienced Terry is so woodenly bad during rehearsals that Powell tries to get out of his contract with Sims. On opening night, after she learns from Jean that Kay has committed suicide, Terry decides she cannot go on. Anne Luther tells her that she must, not just for herself and the tradition of the theatre, but also for Kay. She does and gives a heartfelt performance. She and the play are a hit, much to the chagrin of her father, who is in the audience. At her [[curtain call]], Terry gives a speech in tribute to her dead friend, and Terry and Jean are reconciled. The play remains a success after months, but Terry continues to board at the Footlights Club. A newcomer shows up looking for a room.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Katharine Hepburn]] as Terry Randall
* [[Ginger Rogers]] as Jean Maitland
* [[Adolphe Menjou]] as Anthony Powell
* [[Gail Patrick]] as Linda Shaw
* [[Constance Collier]] as Anne Luther
* [[Andrea Leeds]] as Kay Hamilton
* [[Samuel S. Hinds]] as Henry Sims
* [[Lucille Ball]] as Judy Canfield
* [[Eve Arden]] as Eve
* [[Ann Miller]] as Annie
* [[Franklin Pangborn]] as Harcourt, Powell's butler
* [[William Corson]] as Bill
* [[Pierre Watkin]] as Richard Carmichael
* [[Grady Sutton]] as "Butch"
* [[Frank Reicher]] as Stage Director
* [[Jack Carson]] as Mr. Milbanks, a lumberman from Seattle who takes Jean to dinner
* [[Phyllis Kennedy]] as Hattie
* [[Margaret Early]] as Mary Lou
* [[Florence Reed]] (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
===Development===
[[RKO Radio Pictures]] purchased film rights to the [[Stage Door (play)|stage play of the same name]] for $130,000.<ref name=TCMnotes/> The film only sparsely resembles the play, except in a few character names, such as Kay Hamilton, Jean Maitland, Terry Randall, Linda Shaw, and Judith Canfield. In the play, Terry Randall is from a rural family whose father is a country doctor, and Jean Maitland is actually a shallow girl who becomes a movie star. Kay Hamilton does commit suicide, but for completely different reasons and not on an opening night.

===Casting===
Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers were cast in lead roles, each for a respective salary of $75,000.<ref name=TCMnotes/> Rogers, who was a close friend of Lucille Ball, suggested Ball for the role of Judy Canfield to producer [[Pandro S. Berman]].<ref name=TCMnotes/> Ann Miller, who was cast in the supporting part of Annie, was only fourteen years old when she appeared in the film.<ref name=TCMarticles/>

[[Burgess Meredith]] was considered for a role in the film, and [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] was also considered for the part of Tony Powell, which ultimately went to Adolphe Menjou.<ref name=TCMnotes>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/429/stage-door#notes|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|title= Stage Door (1937) – Notes|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831150119/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/429/Stage-Door/notes.html|archive-date=August 31, 2012}}</ref> Andrea Leeds, who was cast as Kay Hamilton, was borrowed by RKO from her contract with [[The Samuel Goldwyn Company]].<ref name=TCMnotes/>

===Filming===
[[File:Old Vic Theatre, Waterloo Exterior Stage Door 2.jpg|thumb|150x150px]]
Principal photography for ''Stage Door'' began on June 7, 1937, and was completed on July 31, 1937.<ref name=AFI/> Director [[Gregory La Cava]] also allowed the actresses to ad lib and improvise dialogue during filming, which earned him praise from stars Leeds and Rogers.<ref name=TCMarticles/> Hepburn's famous lines during the play within the film, "The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died," are from ''[[The Lake (play)|The Lake]]'' (1934), the play for which [[Dorothy Parker]] panned Hepburn's performance as "running the gamut of emotions from A to B."<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/26/gamut-emotion/| title=She Runs the Gamut of Emotions from A to B| last=O'Toole| first=Garson| date=September 27, 2013| website=[[Quote Investigator]]| access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref>

==Release==
RKO Radio Pictures released ''Stage Door'' in the United States on October 8, 1937.<ref name=AFI>{{AFI film|6574}}. [[American Film Institute]]. Retrieved March 23, 2025.</ref>

===Home media===
After Kay commits suicide, there is a brief shot of her grave as part of the montage of the success of the play, which was once edited out on all television showings and is not present in some early home media releases.<ref name=TCMarticles/> The shot was restored for DVD and subsequent TV broadcasts. As of 2025, ''Stage Door'' has been released on DVD in the US, UK, Italy, France and Spain on various labels including [[Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment|Warner Bros.]] and [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|Sony]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Reid|first=Brent|date=16 January 2025|title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors Guide: Notorious (1946)|website=Brenton Film|url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-notorious-1946|access-date=January 19, 2025}}</ref>

Warner Bros. first released the film on [[DVD]] on March 1, 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1549door.html|work=[[DVD Talk]]|title=DVD Savant Review: Stage Door|last=Erickson|first=Glenn|date=March 20, 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227145155/https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1549door.html|archive-date=December 27, 2024}}</ref> The [[Warner Archive Collection]] reissued the film on DVD on May 6, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Door-Katharine-Hepburn/dp/B01ESNI87G|work=[[Amazon (company)|Amazon]]|title=Stage Door DVD|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250323023219/https://www.amazon.com/Stage-Door-Katharine-Hepburn/dp/B01ESNI87G|archive-date=March 23, 2025}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
''Stage Door'' grossed  $1,762,000 at the United States [[box office]], for small profit of $81,000.<ref name="rko"/>

===Critical response===
The film received favorable reviews from critics, with ''[[Film Daily]]'' declaring it one of the ten best films of the year.<ref name=AFI/> Frank S. Nugent of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described it as a "brilliant picture" with "amazingly good" performances,<ref name=TCMarticles/> and summarized the film as "a magnificently devastating reply on Hollywood's behalf to all the catty little remarks that George Kaufman and Edna Ferber had made about it in their play."<ref>{{cite news|last=Nugent|first=Frank S.|date=October 8, 1937|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/08/archives/the-screen-stage-door-hollywood-edition-opens-at-the-music-hallthis.html|title=THE' SCREEN; ' Stage Door,' Hollywood Edition, Opens at the Music Hall-'This Way, Please' at the Criterion|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127122053/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/08/archives/the-screen-stage-door-hollywood-edition-opens-at-the-music-hallthis.html|archive-date=November 27, 2024}}</ref>

The reviewer in ''[[The Times]]'' wrote of January 3, 1938, after the film's London premiere at the [[Odeon Marble Arch|Regal]] on December 31, 1937:
{{blockquote|text=Stories of life on the stage have always appealed to Hollywood: here success is sensational and meteoric, and failure equally sudden and dramatic. We know the formula by heart, and expect of our entertainment that it shall be rowdy, aggressive, and spectacular, culminating in the rise of the central character to fame in the bright lights of Broadway. ''Stage Door'' is rowdy and aggressive, and it does end in success for one of its characters and failure for another, but for all that it is a film of unusual insight and characterization. (...) The dialogue is brilliant, with typical American point and brevity, but nearly always spiteful and cruel, for these girls are the product of a hard environment. Three stand out from among the rest: Miss Katharine Hepburn (...) Miss Ginger Rogers (...) Miss Andrea Leeds.| source="New films in London: Back-stage tragedy", ''[[The Times]]'', January 3, 1938, p. 10.}}

Hepburn's four movies preceding ''Stage Door'' had been commercial failures. However, as a result of the positive response to this performance, RKO immediately cast her opposite [[Cary Grant]] in the screwball comedy ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' (1938).

===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col" style="width:20em;"| Award/association
! scope="col" style="width:8em;"| Year
! scope="col" style="width:15em;"| Category
! scope="col"| Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | [[Academy Awards]]
| rowspan="4"| [[10th Academy Awards|1938]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Production]]
| RKO Radio Pictures
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/results|work=[[Academy Awards]]|title=Stage Door: Oscars Awards Database|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131120195241/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1384922394087|archive-date=November 20, 2013|publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Gregory La Cava]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Andrea Leeds]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)|Best Screenplay Adaptation]]
| [[Morris Ryskind]], [[Anthony Veiller]]
| {{nom}}
|-
|}

==Other adaptations==
''Stage Door'' inspired the 1938 [[Golden Age of Argentine cinema|Golden Age]] Argentine film ''[[Women Who Work (1938 film)|Women Who Work]]'' by [[Manuel Romero (director)|Manuel Romero]], which also takes place in an all-female boarding house.<ref>{{cite book|language=es|location=Buenos Aires|last=Di Núbila|first=Domingo|title=La época de oro. Historia del cine argentino I|year=1998|publisher=Ediciones del Jilguero|isbn=978-987-957-865-0|page=197}}</ref>

A 60-minute radio version of ''Stage Door'' was performed on ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]'' on February 20, 1939, broadcast over the [[CBS Radio]] network. Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou reprised their roles from the film, while [[Rosalind Russell]] replaced Katharine Hepburn as Terry Randall. Eve Arden, who played minor character Eve in the film, replaced Gail Patrick as Linda Shaw. The radio broadcast was included as a bonus feature on the 2005 Warner Bros. DVD release of the film.

''Stage Door'' was presented on CBS Radio again on December 5, 1941 on ''[[Philip Morris Playhouse]]''. The 30-minute adaptation by Charles Martin starred [[Geraldine Fitzgerald]] as Terry Randall.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=December 5, 1941 |title=Johnny Presents |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2890512/harrisburg_telegraph/ |newspaper=Harrisburg Telegraph |page=19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

On April 6, 1955, a 60-minute version of the play, adapted by [[Gore Vidal]], aired on the [[CBS Television]] series ''[[The Best of Broadway]]''. It starred [[Rhonda Fleming]], [[Elsa Lanchester]], [[Diana Lynn]], and [[Victor Moore]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Shanley |first=J. P. |date=April 8, 1955 |title=Television: 'Stage Door'; Gore Vidal Adapts '36 Comedy for C. B. S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/04/08/archives/television-stage-door-gore-vidal-adapts-36-comedy-for-c-b-s.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213224405/https://www.nytimes.com/1955/04/08/archives/television-stage-door-gore-vidal-adapts-36-comedy-for-c-b-s.html|archive-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref>

==Further reading==
* Dooley, Roger, ''From Scarface to Scarlett: American Films in the Thirties''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Stage Door (film)|Stage Door}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{AFI film|6574|Stage Door}}
* {{IMDb title|0029604}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/stage-door-am19451 ''Stage Door'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|429}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|stage_door}}

{{Edna Ferber}}
{{Gregory La Cava}}

[[Category:1937 films]]
[[Category:1937 drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:Films about actors]]
[[Category:Films about musical theatre]]
[[Category:Films about theatre]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Edna Ferber]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gregory La Cava]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:RKO Pictures films]]
[[Category:Tragicomedy films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]