''Oh, Kay!'' is a 1928 silent film produced by
John McCormick and distributed by
First National Pictures. McCormick's wife
Colleen Moore starred and
Mervyn LeRoy directed the film. It is based on the 1926
musical ''
Oh, Kay!'', which had music by
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
, lyrics by
Ira Gershwin, and a book by
Guy Bolton
Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred ...
and
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
.
A copy of the film ''Oh, Kay!'' is housed at the
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Eye Filmmuseum is a film archive, museum, and cinema in Amsterdam that preserves and presents both Dutch and foreign films screened in the Netherlands.
Location and history
Eye Filmmuseum is located in the Overhoeks neighborhood of Amsterdam in ...
. It is First National's last film released before integration of Warner Bros.
Story
On the eve of her wedding Lady Kay Rutfield runs off aboard her sloop. A storm carries her out to sea and she is rescued by a passing rumrunner bound for the Long Island Sound. Once they arrive in the States, Kay makes her escape and hides in the deserted mansion of Jimmy Winter. Jimmy is due to marry the following day. He comes home to the mansion unexpectedly, and finds Kay, who persuades him to let her pose for a night as his wife. She has mistaken a detective named Jansen for a bootlegger. Shorty, a bootlegger, has hidden some hooch in the basement and, to protect it, passes himself off as the new butler. The following day Jimmy finds himself engaged to Kay and Shorty long gone with his illegal swill.
Background
Based on the 1926
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
musical of the same name (several of Colleen's most successful films were based on musical comedies), the story is about the rum running Duke of Durham, forced into his occupation by circumstances beyond his control, and his sister, Lady Kay. They and their assistants—Shorty and Larry—have stashed their load of bootlegged hooch in the basement of the home of Jimmy Winters, a local playboy. Originally part of the rum running operation, the part of Lady Kay was altered to better suit Colleen's screen persona.
Colleen had been set to begin work on ''When Irish Eyes are Smiling'' in 1927 when she and her husband John McCormick, split from their studio, possibly over a dispute over McCormick's drinking. The planned director, comedy constructor and friend of Colleen's--
Mervyn LeRoy—walked in on a telephone call between John and the Studio as he was quitting, the first sign that the production was in trouble. Colleen followed her husband's departure from First National, and as a result ''When Irish Eyes are Smiling'' was shelved (it would be dusted off and made by Colleen as ''
Smiling Irish Eyes
''Smiling Irish Eyes'' (1929) is a Vitaphone American pre-Code musical film with Technicolor sequences. The film is now considered a lost film. However, the Vitaphone discs still exist.
Plot
Rory O'More leaves his sweetheart Kathleen O'Connor ba ...
'', one of her last films, a talkie). Plans for Mervyn LeRoy to direct Colleen were scuttled with her departure. Before her departure from the studio Colleen called Richard Rowland and asked that LeRoy be allowed to direct another film. Richard assured her he would. It was not until ''Oh Kay!'' came along that Colleen had the opportunity to be directed by her friend LeRoy. In her book ''Silent Star'', Colleen wrote that while in the vicinity of Catalina Island for shooting scenes of ''Oh Kay!'', she had gone to a movie on the island and seen a handsome actor she recommended to her husband to play the lead in ''Lilac Time''. The actor was Gary Cooper. The play would later be revived.
[ Oh, Kay!]
Cast
*
Colleen Moore as Lady Kay
*
Lawrence Gray
Lawrence Gray (July 28, 1898 – February 2, 1970) was an American actor of the 1920s and 1930s.
Biography
Born in San Francisco in 1898, Gray served during World War I in the U. S. Navy and gained a commission. After the war he began i ...
as Jimmy Winter
*
Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling (born George Ford Stich Jr.; November 3, 1883 – October 13, 1939) was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4', he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.
Biography
...
as Shorty McGee
*
Claude Gillingwater
Claude Benton Gillingwater (August 2, 1870 – November 1, 1939) was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1939, including the Academy Award-nominated ''A Tale of Two ...
as Judge Appleton
*
Julanne Johnston
Julanne Johnston (May 1, 1900 – December 26, 1988) was an American silent film actress.
Biography
Johnston was born and educated in Indianapolis, Indiana, then her family moved to Hollywood. There she took dancing lessons at the Denishawn S ...
as Constance Appleton
*
Claude King
Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain".
Biography
King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish south ...
as The Earl of Rutfield
*
Edgar Norton
Edgar Norton (born Harry Edgar Mills; August 11, 1868 – February 6, 1953) was an English-born American character actor.
Early years
Norton was born in Islington in London, England, on August 11, 1868, as Harry Edgar Mills, one of eight childr ...
as Lord Braggot
*Percy Williams as The butler
*Fred O'Beck as Captain Hornsby
References
Footnotes
*Jeff Codori (2012), ''Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star''
McFarland Publishing(Print , EBook ).
External links
*
''Oh, Kay!''at Virtual History
{{P. G. Wodehouse
1928 films
1928 comedy films
Silent American comedy films
American silent feature films
Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Films based on musicals
Films based on works by P. G. Wodehouse
First National Pictures films
American black-and-white films
1920s English-language films
1920s American films