With the beautifully temperate February weather (69 degrees, to be exact) Anthony and I spent the day exploring antiques stores, Barnegat through Smithville, NJ. We’re hitting the road again and getting back to our roots – Driving for deco!
Bay Avenue Antiques, Barnegat, NJ. Antiques is just visible. It is the white house on the right edge of the picture.
Heading south toward Barnegat, NJ, our first stop was Bay Avenue Antiques. A mix of old and new items of good variety greeted us. Prices were fair and the owner was willing to bargain with her patrons. We did contemplate purchasing a vintage Fiesta comport but decided against it. If you’re in the area, it is well worth the stop.
Across the street within viewing and walking distance was another shop. I don’t remember the name although we both believe it called Antiques. Full of curiosities, it seemed to specialize in “smalls”. The nicest thing Anthony saw was a 1948 RCA Victor TV, possibly designed by John Vossos. While the store didn’t have what we generally collect, for those of you on the hunt, it might be a place to check out.
1949 RCA TV, possibly designed by John Vossos
We lunched at Doyle’s Pour House right next door to Bay Ave Antiques. Part pool hall, part restaurant, we devoured the delicious signature Pour House hamburger and enjoyed it with the beer of our choice. We will definitely go back when in the area.
Unshredded Nostalgia, a surprising gem!
Our next stop was completely unexpected and the gem of the day. UnshreddedNostalgia was not on our plan but was a real find. Just south of Bay Avenue Antiques, itis jam packed full of military, household, photographic memorabilia both still and movie related and ephemera. Greeted by piles of film canisters, the proprietor and Anthony found they had a mutual acquaintance in the film world. Although packed with narrow aisles, the store is well organized. Collectors of postcards will love the back room; magazines in another room, household in yet another. Venture upstairs and a world of film, movie and music occupies the entire space. Vintage posters, sheet music, books about stage and screen as well as star related novelties abound.
Anthony was tempted to buy several 1930 Fortune magazines but at $40 each, they were a bit out of reach, He did find set of vintage movie stars pictures – part a collection he already has – at very reasonable prices. Originals from 1934, they were sold at newsstands as an inexpensive way for people to own an 8×10 of their favorite stars. Though not easy to find, they are not an expensive collectible and are always exciting to see. As usual, I bargained the price down.
Norma Shearer
Wallace Beery
Irene Dunne
Ginger Rogers
Claudette Colbert
Heading further south, we stopped at the Tuckerton Emporium. Mostly candles, jewelry and modern fireplaces, you won’t get bogged down at Cedar Bog Antiques. This small corner did have antiques of the household variety.
Days Of Olde Antiques, Smithville, NJ (Photo from their website)
Our final stop of the day was Days of Olde Antiques in Smithville, NJ. A large variety of goods of varying quality and prices await within. Though there were many items of interest we didn’t make any buys. A pair of very stylish deco horse statues called to me but I resisted. I received some bad news while shopping that a vintage panther statue I inherited from my father broke while being packed. Undaunted and working through my tears, I found a replacement – charged to the estate of course!
Only Kidding, At over 6 feet tall and a price tag of $650.00, it isn’t going with me.
It was good to get back on the road again and better to locate a gem of a store previously unknown to us. If the weather holds, we’ll be doing some more Driving for deco!
On August 27, 1936, swarms of people lined up outside the Radio City Music Hall. They stood patiently to see the latest film of the greatest dance team the movies had created, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Swing Time, would be their sixth pairing in less than three years.
Opening day advertisement for Swing Time. The New York Herald-Tribune 8/27/36
Swing Time is musical film perfection. The terrific score by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields has left us with two lasting standards A Fine Romance and The Way You Look Tonight, the 1936 Academy Award winner for best song. The supporting cast included past Astaire-Rogers’ series regulars Eric Blore, as a fussy dance studio owner and Helen Broderick as Ginger Roger’s wise cracking friend. Musical stage veteran Victor Moore, new to the series, played Fred Astaire’s bumbling magician side kick buddy. Also in the cast, George Metaxa as the band leader who rivals for Ginger Rogers affection. Betty Furness, as Fred Astaire’s fiancée and Landers Stevens the father of the jilted fiancée and off-screen the father of the film’s director, George Stevens.
Victor Moore, on right, as the bumbling magician, “Pop”.
Helen Broderick as Mabel, the wisecracking best friend.
Eric Blore as the dance studio owner.
Then there is the dancing. Pick Yourself Up, is the hot duet. This was a feature of their films starting with The Gay Divorcee. Where as the previous hot duets had several changes of tempo, Pick Yourself Up, has only one. A very driving, exciting tempo. The dance culminates in the pair lifting each other back and forth over the dance floor’s low railing.
Swing Time – Pick Yourself Up. Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers.
Pick Yourself Up 02
Pick Yourself Up 03
Pick Yourself Up 04
Pick Yourself Up 05
Pick Yourself Up 06
Pick Yourself Up 07
Pick Yourself Up 08
Pick Your Self Up and exit the room.
Waltz in Swing Time is the dance that is up next and like Pick Yourself Up, it too is in one tempo. Arlene Croce wrote in The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book (1972) about Waltz in Swing Time: “. . . the Waltz has no special story to tell. It is pure white: pure vision and sound. Nevertheless, it is one of those grand, impassioned moonlit dances, and it just flies – it’s the brio of romance. Two minutes and 45 seconds of unspeakable delight.” As Fred Astaire says just before this number – “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!” And so has the audience.
Waltz in Swing Time 01
Waltz 02
Waltz 03
Waltz 04
Waltz 05
Waltz 06
Waltz 07
Waltz 08
Waltz 09
Waltz 10
Waltz 11
Waltz 12
Fred Astaire’s big solo dance number is Bojangles of Harlem, a tribute to the famous dancer, Bill Robinson(1878-1949). Hermes Pan, Astaire’s dance assistant since Flying Down to Rio in 1933 created this Academy Award nominated number. In a career spanning 77 years it is his only appearance in black face. Not to condone the use of black face, at least this number attempts to rise above the stereotypical caricatures of the time. The number tries to be a respectful homage of one artist to another. But it makes it difficult for present day audiences to appreciate. Astaire gives an interpretation of not Bill Robinson but rather of John W.Bubbles (real name John William Sublett). Astaire considered Sublett the greatest tap dancer of the time. Sublett even gave tap lesson to Astaire in the 1920’s. For Bojangles of Harlem Astaire dresses and dances in the style of Sublett’s character of Sportin’ Life from Porgy and Bess. Bojangles of Harlem is a number in three sections. First the chorus girls dance out from behind sliding doors. Another set of doors open to reveal a pair of gigantic legs, the chorus girls part the legs and we see Astaire sitting on top of a miniature “Harlem”. Astaire and the girls dance. The first section ends with the girls dancing off into the wings.
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 01
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 02
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 03
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 04
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 05
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 06
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 07
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 08
1st Section of Bojangles of Harlem. 09
The second section starts with the last set of doors opening up to a movie screen. Onto the screen three giant silhouettes of Astaire fade into view. Astaire, in front of the screen dances in and out of synch with the silhouettes. With Bojangles of Harlem, Astaire-Pan employed trick photography for the first time in a dance routine. The shadow idea came to Pan one day on the sound stage while waiting for Astaire to arrive. Three lights at the top of stage cast three shadows on the wall. When Astaire entered the stage Pan showed him the shadows and said it would be fun to add that to the number. Astaire wondered how they could accomplish the effect. Vernon L. Walker, RKO special effects specialist explained “All you do is get Astaire in front of a screen and photograph his shadows first. Then we take those shadows and make a split screen, and then we photograph Astaire doing the same routine in front of them.” According to the American Film Institute Catalog entry for Swing Time: “Astaire first danced in front of a blank white screen onto which a strong Sun Arc lamp projected a single shadow. Then he performed the “foreground” dance under normal lighting and in front of another blank screen. This dance was combined optically with the shadow dance, which had been tripled optically in the lab. Simultaneity was achieved by having Astaire watch a projected version of the shadow dance while he performed the foreground dance.” Knowing the Bojangles of Harlem special effects process would require extra time, the number was shot after regular shooting wrapped. It took three long days to film.
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 01
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 02
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 03
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 04
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 05
2nd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 06
After the silhouettes leave the screen, Astaire begins the final section of Bojangles of Harlem. For this section Astaire taps and claps his hands in two different rhythms that are off rhythm with the music. Before the audience has a chance to grasp the complexity of all of it, Astaire wraps it up and exits the stage. It is an amazing routine.
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 01
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 02
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 03
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 04
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 05
3rd Section of Bojangles of Harlem 06
The ultimate number in the film also became the ultimate number of the entire Astaire-Rogers series. Never Gonna Dance is the most complex dance routine of all their films. The song itself cannot exist outside the context of the film, but it sets the mood for the dance. To quote again from Croce: “In the film it is the end of the affair, in life it is the end of Astaire and Rogers’ Golden Age. On two stage levels linked by glistening staircases there now takes place the supreme dramatic event of the series, a duet moving through a succession of darkening emotions and abrupt rhythmic changes in which we see unfold in dance the story of the film.” Because of the complexity of the dance, Never Gonna Dance became the last sequence shot for Swing Time, in the regular shooting schedule. In previous dances Astaire and Rogers had danced over furniture or up and down a few steps. With this dance they danced up two long flights of stairs on opposite sides of the set. Filming went on all day and then into the early hours of the next morning. Half way through the filming, Rogers’ feet began to bleed. All wanted to call it quits, but Rogers insisted that they finish that night so they could rest the next day. The 47th take was the charm.
Never Gonna Dance 01 – The song.
Never Gonna Dance 02 – Astaire serenades Rogers.
Never Gonna Dance 03 – Rogers wistfully listens to Astaire.
Never Gonna Dance 04 – Pick Yourself Up
Never Gonna Dance 05 – Pick Yourself Up
Never Gonna Dance 06 – The Way You Look Tonight
Never Gonna Dance 07 – The Way You Look Tonight
Never Gonna Dance 08 – Waltz in Swing Time
Never Gonna Dance 09 – Waltz in Swing Time
Never Gonna Dance 10 – Waltz in Swing Time
Never Gonna Dance 11 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 12 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 13 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 14 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 15 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 16 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 17 – Finale.
Never Gonna Dance 18 – Finale.
At the helm of Swing Time was George Stevens. At the time Stevens was the top director on the RKO lot. The year before he successfully directed Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams. Up to this time Mark Sandrich directed most of the Astaire-Rogers films. Pandro S.Berman, RKO production head, originally intended that Sandrich and Stevens would alternately direct these films. Berman’s plan did not come to fruition and Swing Time became the only one directed by Stevens. Stevens’ began his career as a cinematography and later a director at the Hal Roach Studio. He learned his craft well and this training served him in a career that would last over forty years and include such classics as Gunga Din (1939), Woman of the Year (1942), A Place in the Sun (1951) and Giant (1956).
Hermes Pan, Fred Astaire and George Stevens on the set of Swing Time. Photo from altfg.com
George Stevens and Ginger Rogers shooting exteriors on Paramount’s New York Street. Paramount was next door to RKO. Photo from altfg.com
The stylized city on the floor in front of the orchestra stand in the remodeled Silver Sandal.
Van Nest Polglasehead of the art department at RKO and his assistant Carroll Clarkdesigned the sets of all the Astaire-Rogers film up to 1938’s Carefree. And all the films through 1937 had one huge set piece. Affectionately known as the “big white set”, this always served as the background for the big dance number. “Big white set” examples are seaside hotel of The Gay Divorcee, the fashion salon in Roberta and the Venice set of Top Hat. The big set pieces in Swing Time are loose adaptations of some actual night clubs. The Silver Sandal in the film derives its name from the Manhattan prohibition era club, The Silver Slipper. A remodeling of the club, midway through the film gives it an even more sleek, moderne appearance.
The Silver Sandal set as it appears in the earlier part of Swing Time.
On screen credit for the second Silver Sandal set and the Bojangles of Harlem costumes went to John Harkrider. That credit is only somewhat true. Harkrider only “designed” the part of the set seen in the Bojangles of Harlem number. A number photographed on a different stage from the Silver Sandal set. Credit for the Silver Sandal sets goes to Polglase and Carroll.
Detail of the bandstand at the remodeled Silver Slipper with Moderne metal and glass music stands.
The opening night of the remodeled Silver Sandal.
The Silver Sandal remodeled into a very Moderne night club.
Club Raymond is an amalgam of two actual night clubs The Clover Club and The Rainbow Room. The Clover Club on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood did offer its patrons illegal gambling, like Club Raymond. But the obvious inspiration was The Rainbow Room, the very swank restaurant on the 65th floor of the RCA Building. Even the view from Club Raymond was the view from the Rainbow Room.
Elevator to Club Raymond, on the 36th floor.
The Foyer of Club Raymond.
The Orchestra stand of Club Raymond.
Roulette Table at Club Raymond.
Victor Moore and Fred Astaire in the Club Raymond set.
Night time view from Club Raymond, looking north toward Central Park.
Aside from the art direction the sets featured some of the best designs in moderne style furnishings. Fred Astaire’s character’s dressing room among all the other Art Deco items has a terrific chrome tube chair. The chair made by the Lloyd Loom Manufacturing Company was a creation of the industrial designer KEM Weber.
A dressing room in the Silver Sandal. Betty Furness sitting in a KEM Weber designed chair.
The desk lamp, prominently featured in this scene is a product of the Markel Corporation of Buffalo, New York. This lamp today sells between $500.00 – $1,000.00.
Sitting on the desk is a rare Markel Corporation lamp.
Other wonderful sets and furnishings include, George Metaxa’s suite. A very sleek bachelor apartment.
The rival band leader’s very moderne living room.
George Metaxa playing the rival for Ginger Rogers, in his bedroom. Great pair of lamps on the vanity.
And the dance studio, the obvious place for the romance to start in an Astaire-Rogers film.
The lobby of the dance studio. Fred Astaire framed by two beautiful floor lamps.
Helen Broderick and Victor Moore at the reception desk of the dance studio. Great wall sconce and the obligatory 1930’s potted snake plant.
Swing Time marked the artistic high of the RKO musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But the financial high had already been hit with Top Hat the year before. Swing Time would be the last film to use the formula that had started with The Gay Divorcee (1934) and repeated in Top Hat. Roberta (1935) and Follow the Fleet (1936) shared a different plot formula. Starting with 1937’s Shall We Dance the writers looked for inspiration outside of the insular world of the previous Astaire-Rogers films. While all the RKO Astaire-Rogers films are good at worst and near sublime at best, Swing Time marks the end of the Golden Age for the series.
Swing Time – The final clinch.
Swing Time End Credit
Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)
If you liked this post, you might enjoy these earlier posts:
Movies have the ability to transport us anywhere past, present or future. And with today’s CGI technology the past can be recreated with astonishing accuracy. So it boggles my mind that they can’t get things right. Let me state up front that I will go to see Genius, the film about story editor Max Perkins and his working relation with author Thomas Wolfe, when it gets released next month. The cast is great, Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce and Laura Linney (my favorite actress in movies today). I love films that take place in the 1930’s, but nothing takes me out of the moment faster when the details are wrong. And the trailer for Genius had enough inaccuracies to get me upset enough to write this post.
I don’t know where the scene above is suppose to take place, from the trailer I assume it is somewhere in the United States. And the steam engine makes it old timey, but why couldn’t the filmmakers use an American locomotive instead of a British one. I will update this post if by some chance this scene takes place during a trip to England.
Judging by the placement of the CGI’d Empire State Building in the shot above this is supposed to be lower 5th Avenue. What is wrong with this image, oh let me count the ways . . . first, contemporary London street lights in front of buildings that are nowhere near Manhattan. And speaking of street lights, only two are on the street. Don’t walk down this 5th avenue after dark, unless you bring a flashlight. Compare the above to a photo of the actual 5th Avenue, in 1948.
Ok, even if you are shooting the film in the UK, do some research to at least know that 5th Avenue was a two-way street in the 1930’s. It didn’t convert to one way until January 14, 1966. Just take the two minutes to Google “5th Avenue, 1930’s” it will provide answers.
Here is the shot that annoyed me the most –
Max Perkins and Thomas Wolfe gazing at the 1930’s Manhattan skyline?
There is not much in this shot and yet what is there is all wrong!!!!! For comparison here is a photo of the actual 1930’s mid-town Manhattan skyline –
Notice that none of the buildings are illuminated with flood lights.
Since Driving For Deco’s last blog post was celebrating the 85th anniversary of the Empire State Building let’ s take a look there first and work our way to the right.
Above is the fiction, below the real –
In the 1930’s only the spire of the Empire State Building was illuminated at night. The floodlighting of the building from the 72nd floor went into effect with the opening of the New York World’s Fair in April of 1964. NBC always had a television antenna atop the building right from its opening in 1931, but they were a lot shorter, no more than 20 – 30 feet.
Empire State antenna 1933-1938
Antenna 1938-1947.
The 200 foot tall antenna seen in Genius was not added to the top of the building until 1950-1951.
Because of the location of this, between the Empire State Building and the Metropolitan Life Tower, I have to assume that the above gray blob is supposed to be the New York Life Insurance Building. In reality it is a very elegant building designed by Cass Gilbert that opened in 1929. None of that style and elegance is evident in its CGI incarnation.
The actual New York Life Insurance Building.
Moving on, the Metropolitan Life Tower, located at 24th Street and Madison Avenue is seen in all its illuminated glory.
And the truth –
Notice, that the light at the very top of the building and the clock are the only exterior lighting on the Met Life Building. It wasn’t until 1970’s that the roof of the building was lit up.
And the best for last – The Chrysler Building. Now here is one of the jewels, if not the jewel of the Manhattan skyline and one of the most famous buildings in the world. Genius does not get it right, but it is not the only film to depict it wrong, off the top of my head it wasn’t correct in Benjamin Button or Revolutionary Road either.
I guess it seems inconceivable that a building as magnificent as this would be left in the dark. The setup for lighting plan for all the triangular windows was actually in place from the opening of the Chrysler Building in 1930 but was not implemented until 1981. Until then it was just a dark silhouette, as seen in the photos below, taken over a 30 year period.
New York night time skyline 1930’s or 1940’s
1950’s Skyline from the East River.
1960’s Skyline.
All this wrong in a two and half minute trailer. I can’t wait to see the film and see what else might be there that is anachronistic. There just might be a follow up post.
Anthony (the period picky half of the Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)
“It’s the nearest thing to Heaven we have in New York.” Irene Dunne says to Charles Boyer in the 1939 film Love Affair. And for many years that was true. The Empire State Building’s place in history is secure, even though it is now the 26th tallest building in the world. It did hold the record for world’s tallest, longer than any building, from 1930 – 1972. May 1st marks the 85th anniversary of its opening.
For a comprehensive history of the building, here are a couple of good links:
Empire State Building at night, circa 1934. NYPL Digital Gallery
Built on the site of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1893 & 1897-1929) at 5th Avenue and 34th Street. The Waldorf closed in May of 1929 and demolition began on October 3, 1929. By March, 1930 the hotel was completely gone and construction of the Empire State Building began.
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Fifth Avenue from West 34th Street to West 33rd Street, New York, New York, late 1910s or early 1920s. (Photo by William J. Roege/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)
Demolition of the Waldorf-Astoria in October & November, 1929. NYPL Digital Gallery
Designed by William F. Lamb of the firm of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, the original plan was for a 1000 foot, 80 story building. Soon those plans were changed to 85 stories at 1050 feet. Conceived during the skyscraper race of the 1920’s the architects, the financial backers and former Governor of New York, Al Smith (President of the Empire State Building Company) were aware of the competition between the Chrysler and the Manhattan Company Buildings to construct the tallest tower in the world. When the Chrysler Building added its spire and topped out at 1,046 feet, the four feet difference between the Chrysler and Empire State didn’t seem so great. John J. Raskob, the main financial backer of the Empire State, held up a pencil and said the building “needed at hat”. The architects dreamed up the idea of constructing a mooring mast for zeppelins. This added 200 feet to the building and unlike the Chrysler Building’s spire was “useable” space. Docking a zeppelin at a mast 100 feet high is challenging, at 1,250 feet it is impossible. The management of the Empire State Building knew this before the building was completed and the necessary winches and counter weights for mooring were never installed. But it did give the building the extra height and a lot of publicity.
A postcard of the Empire State’s mooring mast and how it would work.
Once construction started, the Empire State Building shot up into the skyline incredibly fast.
March 31, 1930 – Excavation complete the first beams are in place for the Empire State Building. NYPL Digital Gallery
April 24, 1930 – The building starts its rapid rise. NYPL Digital Gallery
In the spring of 1930 the Empire State Building started rising above its neighbors.
At about 17 stories high. 5th Ave. & 34th Street. NYPL Digital Gallery
The Empire State Building at 23 stories high. NYPL Digital Gallery.
23 stories high. NYPL Digital Gallery.
From summer to the end of 1930 it rose to become the tallest building in the world.
Less than six months after construction began the Empire State Building is 3/4 complete. NYPL Digital Gallery.
By autumn of 1930 the building is complete almost up to the 86th floor. US Navy dirigible Los Angeles flies above, followed by two blimps.
On November 21, 1930 the Empire State Building topped out with the completion of the steel frame work of the mooring mast.
Ready for occupancy!
Al Smith opens the Empire State Building, May 1, 1931. This photo shows the original door design of the 5th Avenue entrance.
The newly completed spire of the Empire State Building, the illuminated mooring mast. NYPL Digital Gallery.
The main entrance on 5th Avenue. NYPL Digital Gallery.
The lobby from the 5th Avenue entrance, showing the original ceiling design. NYPL Digital Gallery.
The Building entered into the public consciousness so fast that within a year of its completion it was appearing in movies. This article will highlight some of the 1930’s films in which the Empire State Building appeared.
Let’s start with the most famous film to feature the Empire State Building.
King Kong (RKO Radio Pictures) directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack and starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot opened in March, 1933. An enormous hit, the film helped to save the bankrupt RKO. Of course the Empire State Building does not appear until the last 10 minutes of the film, but it makes for a terrific climax. No footage was taken in New York, so all the shots of the building are sets created at the RKO Pathe studio in Culver City, California. The first appearance of the building is this long shot of Kong climbing its western facade. It is a clever composite, part miniature, part painted on glass, combined with rear projection.
The part miniature, part glass painting of the Empire State Building.
Kong ready to fight the planes from a miniature of the mooring mast, with a painted Manhattan behind him.
Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot in front of the 5th Avenue entrance.
The above shot is a set of the 5th Street entrance to the Empire State Building. It shows the original door design of aluminum framed by black granite. Probably when the lobby was modernized in 1963 the metal work of the doors were covered over by black granite to match the frame around them. Which is too bad as the original was more interesting than the 1960’s “improvement”.
Fay Wray being rescued by Bruce Cabot while Robert Armstrong watches from the 103 floor terrace.
Great Art Deco font used for the titles of Counsellor at Law.
Counsellor At Law (Universal, 1933) starring John Barrymore and directed by William Wyler was adapted for the screen by Elmer Rice from his 1931 play of the same name. Barrymore gives a great performance as the Jewish lawyer who works his way up from the slums and becomes so successful he can have offices in the Empire State Building.
Opening shot of the film. This is the start of a tilt up the side of the building.
After the opening establishing shot, no actual footage of the building was used. None of the sets for the film represent the actual look of the interior of the Empire State. But the set design is very nice and very moderne.
Aside from the high ceiling this set of Simon’s partner, Tedesco could fit into the Empire State Building.
The hallway leading to the law offices of Simon and Tedesco.
The main waiting room for Simon and Tedesco.
The private office of George Simon (John Barrymore) is spectacular, with great furniture, a modernistic chandelier, and which would fit nowhere in the actual Empire State Building. Even the buildings seen through his window are not located anywhere near 5th Avenue and 34th Street. But this is Hollywood and one should forgive liberties taken with reality if the effect is as good as this.
Bebe Daniels enters the private office of George Simon. Note the Manhattan Company Building, (the tall building at the right) seen through his window. In real life that building is more than 5 miles to the south at 40 Wall Street.
After Tomorrow (1932) – Main Title Card
Opening establishing shot of the Empire State Building.
In case the opening shot was not obvious, the second shot confirmed that this indeed is the Empire State Building.
After Tomorrow (Fox Film Corp., 1932), starring Charles Farrell and Marian Nixon, directed by Frank Borzage was in production from December, 1931 – January, 1932 and opened in March of 1932. This might have been the first feature film to use the Empire State Building as a set piece. Of course, like most Hollywood films of this period, no footage was taken inside the building, but in this case the interiors of the Empire State Building were re-created at the Fox Movietone studio in Beverly Hills, California. Marian Nixon’s character is an employee of the tea room that used to be on the 86th floor, just inside of the observation terrace. The tea room was planned to be the customs office for passengers arriving on transatlantic airships, but was converted into a restaurant for visitors when the zeppelin idea was deemed as not practical. For the first two and half years no liquor was served in the tea room due to prohibition, that changed after repeal.
Entrance to the 86th Floor tea room.
Tea room soda fountain.
Lounge area just off of the tea room.
Marian Nixon’s character takes a break with her fiancé played by Charles Farrell, they enjoy a sandwich in the 102nd floor observatory.
Elevator from the 86th to 102nd floor.
Charles Farrell and Marian Nixon looking down on “Manhattan”.
Enjoying a sandwich on the 102nd floor.
Heading down. I don’t know if the sun ray pattern paint job is accurate to the real Empire State Building or a Hollywood invention.
Skyscraper Souls (1932) – Main Title Card
Skyscraper Souls (Cosmopolitan-M.G.M.) does not take place in the Empire State Building. The film uses it as a benchmark comparison for the fictitious Dwight Building. The only time the Empire State is seen is in a few of really fake looking establishing shots.
The Dwight and Empire State Buildings by day.
The Dwight and Empire State Buildings by night.
Love Affair (1939) Main Title Card
Leo McCarey’s first version of this story, Love Affair (RKO Radio Pictures, 1939) as you have read above stars Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne. The couple meet on board ship and fall in love even though they are both engaged to others. They decided to break off their engagements and if they still feel the same way about each other, meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building.
Irene Dunne, on her apartment terrace with the reflection of an incredibly fake Empire State Building in her door.
Later on in the film Charles Boyer looks up an a better representation of the building.
As was the case with King Kong, the actors in Love Affair were over three thousand miles away from New York. The shot below is a set at RKO with actors running in front of rear projection footage of the intersection of 34th Street and 5th Avenue. In the rear projection footage is the sign for the Longchamps restaurant that opened on the ground floor and basement of the Empire State Building in 1938.
Extras at the RKO studio in front of a rear projection screen.
The only interior set of the building was the 102nd floor observatory, where Charles Boyer is waiting for Irene Dunne.
Charles Boyer in the 102nd floor set.
Waiting with a photographic background of Manhattan and Queens behind him.
Still waiting, now in a thunderstorm.
Main Title Card
By far the most obscure film in the post has to be Manhattan Tower (Remington Pictures, 1932) directed by Frank R. Strayer, it stars Mary Brian, Irene Rich and James Hall. I have not see all of the movie, but it is not bad, considering that it only had a budget of $50,000 ($869,100 in 2016). The most interesting fact of the film is that Remington Pictures was created by New York real estate tycoon A. E. Lefcourt. Lefcourt had started as a newsboy and boot black and eventually work his way up in the business world, that by the end of the 1920’s he owned a number buildings in midtown Manhattan and a couple in other cities. After losing most of his fortune with the stock market crash and the ensuing depression, he formed Remington Pictures Corporation. Remington was an independent company that was planning to make 12 feature films in its first year of business, to be released on the states rights circuit. The stress of his financial troubles caught up with Lefcourt. After the completion of Manhattan Tower, but before being released, A. E. Lefcourt died suddenly of a heart attack on November 13, 1932. Remington Pictures also died with Lefcourt and Manhattan Tower was the only film made by the company.
The first establishing shot in the film, with a 5th Avenue street light in the foreground.
The second establishing shot.
The third establishing shot.
Looking up toward the 102nd floor from the 86th floor observation deck.
A blimp flying over the mooring mast, but not docking there.
Manhattan Tower is a low-budget Grand Hotel (M.G.M., 1932), that takes place in a fictitious skyscraper that looks just like the Empire State Building. The movie uses a lot of stock footage shots and the lobby set is not so loosely based on the Empire State’s lobby, even down to a replica of the metal bas-relief of the building on the end wall.
The lobby set, with the replica bas relief in the background.
The main lobby set. Not a bad reproduction, but the elevators are not just inside the main entrance in the real Empire State Building.
Later on in the film establishing stock footage shots of the real 86th floor observation terrace cut to a Hollywood set the outdoor observation.
The real 86th floor terrace. In 1947 a “suicide” fence was added to the top of the concrete wall.
Hollywood’s version of the 86th floor. From left to right: Jed Prouty, James Hall and Mary Brian.
Below is the closing shots of Manhattan Tower. It is footage taken of the Empire State Building from twilight to night and I think it is a fitting end to this post.
Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)
If you enjoyed this post here are some previous posts about Art Deco buildings –
