In Your Hat, pt. 8

Here’s Chapter 8 of In Your Hat, the 1933 tell-all memoir by Hat Check Girl to the Stars, Renee Carroll, in which she shares tales of by the many celebrities she encountered while working at Sardi’s, among them George Burns and Gracie Allen, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Norma Talmadge, George Raft, Wallace Reid, Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks, and many more.

     A STOOGE, in Broadway parlance, is the assist in the act. If you do an accordion routine and a heckler is paid by you to annoy your act from the box, then you’re probably Phil Baker and your stooge eventually becomes as famous as you are. Witness Sid Silvers of Take a Chance fame.
     Broadway is full of stooges, both in real life and on the stage. It may sound strange to you but the jester in the king’s court from the time of The Erl King (I don’t know why they insist on spelling Oil as Erl) has been brought down the years until now he is labeled “stooge.” His job is to take he hard knocks, furnish the opportunity for the gag to be sprung, and appear the perfect fool.
     When Phil Baker, who pumps a mean accordion, opened in a show in New York and had a stooge in the box doing the regular routine, Al Boasberg, the gagman who writes funny lines for a dozen or more comedians, wired Baker:

LIKED YOUR ACT STOP THE OLD GENT WITH THE ACCORDION WAS GOOD TOO.

     Gracie Allen, of the famous team of Burns and Allen, is the stooge of the act, even though it is she who pulls all the funny lines. Recently she gave George Burns cause to laugh when she came to him with an idea.
     ”Georgie, dear,” Gracie said. “I have an idea.”
     ”Well, let’s forget it,” George answered characteristically, knowing it would bring on the usual headache.
     ”I’ve thought of a line for our act,” she continued.
     ”All right,” gave in George. “What is it?”
     ”I can’t tell you until I’ve gotten a prop.”
     ”What sort of a prop?”
     ”A muff.”
     ”What’s a muff?” George wanted to know.
     ”It’s one of those things women used to carry around so that they could hold hands with themselves.”
     ”All right, Gracie, get yourself a muff and let’s have the gag.”
     She went to the best furrier on the Avenue and ordered a muff made. It has to be matched sables, four skins, exquisitely sewn. The muff cost $250 and she charged it to Geroge Burns, her husband. She brought it to him one day.
     ”Here’s the muff, George.”
     He examined it carefully. He approved.
     ”I got it at a bargain, George.”
     George immediately became suspicious.
     ”How much, Gracie? How much?” he pleaded.
     ”Well—er—two hundred and—er—fifty dollars.”
     George felt around for support.
     ”Two hundred and fifty smackers for that thing? Gracie, you’ll ruin me!”
     ”But it’s a bargain, George, and the furrier let me have it at that price because there are two holes in it!”
     And she held up the muff to show him the holes in which one is supposed to insert one’s hands. Burns was nonplused.
     ”But what about the gag?” he wanted to know. “Is the gag worth $250?”
     ”Why, George,” giggled the she-stooge, “I just did it. You see, I come on with this muff and you ask me how much I paid for it and I say: ‘I got it at a bargain because it had two holes in it.”
     With which Mr. Burns fainted dead away. And that’s how jokes are born in case you’re interested.
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Puttin' on the Ritz

Fred Astaire, the very personification of suavity and grace, would have been 111 years old today.

Everyone knows Astaire was a great dancer, of course, but he was also a vastly underrated singer and an amazing dresser, one of the true icons of men’s fashion in the 20th century.

If I could manage to attain one-tenth of the style, grace, and savoir-faire Astaire possessed, I’d be a happy man.

Here’s hoping Mr. Astaire is somewhere dancing up a storm today, with Ginger Rogers at the head of a long line of lovely gals waiting to cut a rug with him.

“The Way You Look Tonight” — Fred Astaire
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” — Fred Astaire
“A Fine Romance” — Fred Astaire

A Ginger-infused potpourri

It’s always a kick to see what familiar stars were up to before they became household names, and tonight’s lineup of early Ginger Rogers pictures on Turner Classic Movies provides just such an opportunity for fans of the twinkled-toed hoofer.

Rogers, a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1932, is best remembered, of course, for her storied association with Fred Astaire, with whom she made ten pictures, but she’d already appeared in nine movies before she was paired with Astaire for the first time in 1933′s Flying Down to Rio. Six of those movies are included among tonight’s offerings on TCM.

42nd Street is a title familiar to many, as much for its second life as a Broadway stage musical as anything, but if you’ve not seen the original picture, you should; it’s grittier (and sexier) than you might expect — a true Pre-Code musical.

Here’s the full line-up, beginning at 8pm and extending well into Thursday morning:

8:00pm — 42nd Street (1933)
The definitive backstage musical, complete with the dazzling newcomer who goes on for the injured star.
Cast: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers. Dir: Lloyd Bacon.

9:45pm — Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Three chorus girls fight to keep their show going and find rich husbands.
Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.

11:30pm — Professional Sweetheart (1933)
A radio star’s pure image leads to a fake engagement to a hayseed.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, ZaSu Pitts, Frank McHugh. Dir: William A. Seiter.

1:00am — Rafter Romance (1933)
A salesgirl falls for a night worker without realizing they share the same apartment.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, George Sidney, Robert Benchley. Dir: William A. Seiter.

2:15am — Carnival Boat (1932)
A logger defies his father to court a showgirl.
Cast: Bill Boyd, Ginger Rogers, Fred Kohler, Hobart Bosworth. Dir: Albert Rogell.

3:30am — Suicide Fleet (1931)
Three Navy shipmates fight over the same girl.
Cast: Bill Boyd, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason, Ginger Rogers. Dir: Albert Rogell.

5:00am — Chance At Heaven (1934)
A society girl steals a simple gas station attendant from his working-class girlfriend.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, Marion Nixon, Andy Devine. Dir: William A. Seiter.

6:15am — The Tenderfoot (1932)
An innocent cowboy sets out to back a Broadway play.
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Lew Cody, Vivian Oakland. Dir: Ray Enright.

7:30am — You Said A Mouthful (1932)
To sell his unsinkable bathing suit, an inventor passes himself off as a championship swimmer.
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Preston S. Foster, Allen “Farina” Hoskins. Dir: Lloyd Bacon

9:00am — The Tip-Off (1932)
A dim-witted boxer helps a naive friend romance a gangster’s girl.
Cast: Eddie Quillan, Robert Armstrong, Ginger Rogers, Joan Peers. Dir: Albert Rogell.

10:15am — Finishing School (1934)
A boarding-school girl has to cope with family problems and puppy love.
Cast: Frances Dee, Billie Burke, Ginger Rogers, Bruce Cabot. Dir: George Nicholls Jr.