''Rafter Romance'' is an American 1933

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

William A. Seiter William Alfred Seiter (June 10, 1890 – July 26, 1964) was an American film director. Life and career Seiter was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Senne ...

and released by

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-Orphe ...

. The film, which was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by John Wells, stars

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 ...

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

and

George Sidney George Sidney (October 4, 1916May 5, 2002) was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics ''Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963) and ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964). With an extensive backgro ...

, and features

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...

Laura Hope Crews Laura Hope Crews (December 12, 1879 – November 12, 1942) was an American actress who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s. Her best-known film role was Aunt Pittypat in ''Gone ...

and

Guinn Williams Guinn Terrell Williams (April 22, 1871 – January 9, 1948) was an American banker and politician. A Democrat, he served in the Texas State Senate, and is most notable for his service in the U.S. representative from Texas. His son was the actor ...

Plot

Mary Carroll (

) is a young woman from upstate who came to New York City to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Both she and Jack Bacon (

), an aspiring artist who lives in the same

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

building, are behind on their rent and their landlord, Max Eckbaum (

), a good-natured soul who nevertheless has expenses to meet, comes up with a solution: Move Mary into Jack's loft and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary is taking a job selling refrigerators by telephone, which keeps her out all day. However, both manage to get a very bad impression of each other after realizing the other is of the opposite sex from articles of clothing lying about. A series of misunderstandings leads to a series of pranks aimed at each other: Jack places a bucket in the shower, and when Mary goes in it falls on her head. Then she places Jack's suit in the shower, so that it gets wet. In retaliation, he saws Mary's bed in half so that it would come apart when she sits on it. The situation gets complicated when the couple accidentally meet outside their apartment and, not knowing who the other is, begin to fall in love. Matters get worse when Mary's boss, lecherous H. Harrington Hubbell (

), tries to invite her out for dinner, while Jack's would-be "patron", a lonely, libidinous, rich older woman, Elise Peabody Willington Smythe (

), tries to maintain her monopoly over Jack. When Jack accompanies Mary to a company picnic, they slip away from the group together and miss the bus back to town, forcing them to take a taxi. When they arrive at Jack's home, Mary realizes that Jack is her roommate. Trying to allay what he assumes are her suspicions about the arrangement, and unaware Mary is the person with whom he has been sharing the attic loft, Jack strongly denounces his co-tenant to her until the landlord comes and explains all. Elise and Hubbell also arrive at the apartment, where Elise tries to bribe Mary, while a protective cabdriver, Fritzie (

), punches Hubbell, mistaking him for Jack. Realizing his mistake, Fritzie then goes to his cab where Jack is pleading with Mary. Fritzie is about to punch Jack when Mary intervenes, and the cab drives off with Jack and Mary kissing in the backseat. Asked if they will get married, the landlord says, "I arranged it."

Cast

as Mary Carroll *

as Jack Bacon *

as Max Eckbaum *

as H. Harrington Hubbell *

as Elise Peabody Whittington Smythe *

as Fritzie * Sidney Miller as Julius Eckbaum

Production

Production on ''Rafter Romance'' began in mid-June 1933. RKO initially announced that

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he beca ...

and Dorothy Jordan would star in the film, and then paired

Lew Ayres Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film '' All Quiet on the Western Fr ...

with Ginger Rogers, before casting Norman Foster as the male lead.TC
''Rafter Romance'': Notes
tcm.com; accessed July 23, 2015. Foster and Rogers had been teamed before on ''

Young Man of Manhattan ''Young Man of Manhattan'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Monta Bell and starring Claudette Colbert, Norman Foster, Ginger Rogers, and Charles Ruggles. Made by Paramount Pictures, it was set and filmed in New York C ...

'' in 1930, and also made ''Professional Sweetheart'' together later in 1933. Four years after the release of ''Rafter Romance'', producer

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker and Academy Award winner, as well as a former aviator who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and Polish Air Force. In film, he is credited a ...

re-made it as ''

Living on Love ''Living on Love'' (1937) is an American romantic comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures. Directed by Lew Landers, it stars James Dunn, Whitney Bourne, and Joan Woodbury. The film is a remake of the RKO film ''Rafter Romance'' (1933). It is ...

'', with James Dunn and

Whitney Bourne Whitney Bourne (May 6, 1914 – December 24, 1988) was an American stage and film actress. She was a leading lady in several B films of the 1930s, with occasional appearances in more prestigious films such as the British musical '' Head over Heel ...

, also for RKO. The plots of other films, including the German film '' Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht'' (1932), the French film ''A Moi le jour, à toi nuit'' (1932) and the British ''

Early to Bed Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Early ...

'' (1933) have similarities to ''Rafter Romance'', but are actually based on a completely separate screenplay by

Robert Liebmann Robert Liebmann (5 June 1890 - July 1945) was a German screenwriter. Selected filmography * '' The Uncanny House'' (1916) * '' Prostitution'' (1919) * '' The Duty to Live'' (1919) * '' Die Arche'' (1919) * '' The Count of Cagliostro'' (1920) * ' ...

and

János Székely János József Székely (born 13 May 1983) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a right winger. Career Born in Timișoara of Hungarian heritage, he started his football career with local club Politehnica Timișoara, where he played ...

. Merian C. Cooper accused RKO of not paying him all the money contractually due for the films he produced in the 1930s. A settlement was reached in 1946, giving Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles: * ''Rafter Romance'' * ''

Double Harness ''Double Harness'' (1933) is an American pre-Code film starring Ann Harding and William Powell. It was based on the play of the same name by Edward Poor Montgomery. A young woman maneuvers a lazy playboy into marrying her. This was one of sever ...

'' (1933) with

Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was ...

and

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

* ''

The Right to Romance ''The Right to Romance'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Ann Harding and Robert Young and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Premise Ann Harding plays a successful plastic surgeon who meets a local playboy, played by Robert Young ...

'' (1933) with Ann Harding and Robert Young * '' One Man's Journey'' (1933) with

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...

* ''

'' (1937) * ''

A Man to Remember ''A Man to Remember'' is a 1938 American drama film directed by Garson Kanin, his first film credit as a director. The picture was based on the short story ''Failure'', written by Katharine Haviland-Taylor, and the screenplay was penned by Dalt ...

'' (1938) According to an interview with a retired RKO executive, Cooper withdrew the films, only allowing them to be shown on television in 1955-1956 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2007 the films were shown at the ''

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Ka ...

'' in New York, and

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

, which had acquired the rights to the six films after extensive legal negotiations, broadcast them, their first full public exhibition in over 70 years. TCM, in association with the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

and the

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Motion Picture Archive, had searched many film archives throughout the world to find copies of the films in order to create new 35mm prints.Fristoe, Roger
"Rafter Romance" (TCM article)
/ref>Eder, Bruc
"Rafter Romance" (AMG review)
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * {{William A. Seiter, state=collapsed 1933 films 1933 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films American black-and-white films Films scored by Max Steiner Films directed by William A. Seiter Films set in New York City Films based on American novels 1930s English-language films 1930s American films