''Fifth Avenue Girl'', sometimes stylized as ''5th Ave Girl'', is a 1939
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
comedy film directed by
Gregory La Cava
Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including ''My Man Godfrey'' and ''Stage Door'', which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best ...
and starring
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
,
Walter Connolly
Walter Connolly (April 8, 1887 – May 28, 1940) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 50 films between 1914 and 1939. His best known film is ''It Happened One Night'' (1934).
Early years
Connolly attended St. Xavier Coll ...
,
Verree Teasdale
Verree Teasdale (March 15, 1903 – February 17, 1987) was an American actress born in Spokane, Washington.
Early years
A second cousin of Edith Wharton, Teasdale attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and trained as a stage actr ...
, and
James Ellison James Ellison may refer to:
* James O. Ellison (1929–2014), U.S. federal judge
* James T. Ellison (1862–1920s), New York gangster
*James Ellison (actor) (1910–1993), American film actor
*James Ellison (footballer, born 1901) (1901–1958), En ...
. The screenplay was written by
Allan Scott with uncredited contributions by La Cava and
Morris Ryskind.
The film is about a rich industrialist with business problems who feels neglected by his family and hires a young woman to stir things up.
Plot
Wealthy industrialist Alfred Borden has problems both at work and at home. His employees at Amalgamated Pump are making demands that may drive the business that he has built from nothing into bankruptcy. His son Tim, who prefers playing
polo, has neglected and lost a major customer. On his birthday, when Alfred returns to his
Fifth Avenue mansion, he finds nobody there but the servants. His unfaithful wife Martha, his daughter Katherine and Tim have all forgotten, are busy or do not care.
Feeling lonely, Alfred takes the advice of his butler and visits
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, where he meets Mary Grey, a young unemployed woman. He invites her to dine with him at a fancy nightclub. They get drunk, dance and are spotted by a friend of Alfred's wife. The next morning, he wakes with a
hangover
A hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects usually following the consumption of alcohol, such as wine, beer, and liquor. Hangovers can last for several hours or for more than 24 hours. Typical sympto ...
and a black eye, discovering that he had invited Mary to spend the night in a guest room.
Seeing the reaction this elicits from his formerly indifferent family, he hires Mary to pretend to be his mistress. He neglects his company, forcing his son to take up the slack, and Tim develops fresh new ideas to save the firm. Alfred and Mary go out every night, pretending to cavort for hours, although they are actually driven around by the ardently communist chauffeur Mike, whom Katherine loves.
Embarrassed by the newspaper gossip columns and shunned by her friends, Martha consults a psychiatrist who finds nothing wrong with her suddenly cheerful and carefree husband. She starts staying home, plotting ways to drive Mary away. Tim, who shows contempt for Mary, unsuccessfully tries to buy her off and eventually falls in love with her. Mary tries to help Katherine with Mike, who does not pay any attention to her. Finally, Martha tries to convince Mary that she has surrendered and that they should all be friends.
In
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, Tim kisses Mary, who is upset the next day and wants to leave but is confronted by Tim. Martha and Alfred dine together in the kitchen, which reminds them of when they were young and poor. They page through old photographs, reminiscing about their life together.
Katherine announces that she has married Mike, who has decided to quit and open a repair shop. Martha is aghast, but Alfred reminds her that they had started their own marriage in a similar fashion, and she grudgingly accepts her new son-in-law. When Mary and Tim enter, Alfred feigns rage, but Mary can no longer continue with the charade and tearfully confesses the truth about her arrangement with Alfred. When she leaves, Tim chases her and carries her back into the mansion. When a policeman tries to interfere, Mary tells him to mind his own business.
Cast
*
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...
as Mary Grey
*
Walter Connolly
Walter Connolly (April 8, 1887 – May 28, 1940) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 50 films between 1914 and 1939. His best known film is ''It Happened One Night'' (1934).
Early years
Connolly attended St. Xavier Coll ...
as Alfred Borden
*
Verree Teasdale
Verree Teasdale (March 15, 1903 – February 17, 1987) was an American actress born in Spokane, Washington.
Early years
A second cousin of Edith Wharton, Teasdale attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and trained as a stage actr ...
as Martha Borden
*
James Ellison James Ellison may refer to:
* James O. Ellison (1929–2014), U.S. federal judge
* James T. Ellison (1862–1920s), New York gangster
*James Ellison (actor) (1910–1993), American film actor
*James Ellison (footballer, born 1901) (1901–1958), En ...
as Mike
*
Tim Holt
Charles John "Tim" Holt III (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He was a popular Western star during the 1940s and early 1950s, appearing in forty-six B westerns released by RKO Pictures.
In a career spanning mo ...
as Tim Borden
*
Kathryn Adams as Katherine Borden
*
Franklin Pangborn
Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films '' Interna ...
as Higgins, the butler
*
Ferike Boros
Ferike Boros (3 August 1873 – 16 January 1951) was a Hungarian-born American stage and movie actress.
Biography
Ferike Weinstock was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary, in 1873, Boros was on stage starting in 1893. She moved to London in 19 ...
as Olga, a maid
*
Louis Calhern
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. Well known to film noir fans for his role as the pivotal villain in 1950's '' The Asphalt Jungle'', he was ...
as Dr. Hugo Kessler
*
Theodore von Eltz
Theodore von Eltz (November 5, 1893 – October 6, 1964) was an American film actor, appearing in more than 200 films between 1915 and 1957. He was the father of actress Lori March.
Von Eltz was a Yale University professor's son. After 12 ...
as Terwilliger
*
Alexander D'Arcy as Maitre D'
Cast notes:
*
Jack Carson
John Elmer Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with James Cagney and ...
has a small part as a sailor singing to his girl in Central Park.
Production
Production on ''Fifth Avenue Girl'' took place from May 20 to June 28, 1939. Retakes took place on August 9, 1939.
Principal photography was completed 12 days earlier than scheduled. Working titles for the film were ''My Fifth Avenue Girl'' and ''The Other Half''.
Louis Calhern
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. Well known to film noir fans for his role as the pivotal villain in 1950's '' The Asphalt Jungle'', he was ...
, who plays Dr. Kessler, was originally slated to play the role of Tommy Hopkins that was taken by
Cornelius Keefe
Cornelius Keefe (July 13, 1900 – December 11, 1972) was an American film actor.Pitts p.297
Selected filmography
* '' A Society Scandal'' (1924)
* ''Those Who Judge'' (1924)
* '' Lend Me Your Husband'' (1924)
*'' The Law and the Lady'' (1924)
* ...
.
The film as presented to preview audiences included a different, unhappy ending with Mary leaving the house and walking down Fifth Avenue. According to Ginger Rogers' autobiography ''Ginger: My Story'', Rogers vacationed in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
after the filming of ''Fifth Avenue Girl''. A new ending was shot when she returned.
Reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' critic
Frank Nugent
Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...
described the film as "cheerful and cheerfully unimportant. It may not be a strikingly good comedy, but then it isn't militantly bad either."
The film was a box-office hit and earned a profit of $314,000.
Radio adaptations
''Fifth Avenue Girl'' was presented on ''Lux Radio Theater'' in 1940, starring Ginger Rogers and Edward Arnold.
Another version was presented on ''Hollywood Players'' on January 1, 1947, with
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career ...
playing Mary Gray.
[ ]
References
External links
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{{Gregory La Cava
1939 films
1939 romantic comedy films
American black-and-white films
American romantic comedy films
Films directed by Gregory La Cava
Films set in New York City
RKO Pictures films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films