A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe screenplay was considerably altered from the hit stage play. Director Gregory La Cava was particularly gifted working with actresses. For two weeks prior to filming, he had his cast improvise in the boarding house set as if they were actually rooming together and had a script girl take down all their interchanges. Most of the dialog heard in the boarding house is extemporaneous ad-libs by the actresses.
- GoofsThe band at Club Grotto, where Jean and Annie perform a dance number, includes a female vocalist who can be seen singing in the background, but no vocals are heard on the soundtrack.
- Quotes
Terry Randall: [delivering her opening speech in the play within the movie] The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.
- Alternate versionsSPOILER: A shot of a man mowing the grass around Kay's grave is missing from some versions.
- ConnectionsEdited into Starring Katharine Hepburn (1981)
- SoundtracksPut Your Heart Into Your Feet and Dance
(uncredited)
Written by Hal Borne and Mort Greene
Danced by Ginger Rogers and Ann Miller
Featured review
Utterly perfect example of movie entertainment, 30s style
Director Gregory LaCava apparently liked to hit the bottle and so had a spotty career, but Stage Door is his masterpiece. Not in some personal, auteurist way, but in having achieved an almost ideal example of Depression-era movie entertainment. Its venue is the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house near Broadway, where lamb stew and broken dreams are the nightly staples. Among the gals with stiletto tongues but hearts of gold are Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller, Gail Patrick and formidable Constance Collier ("Could you see an older woman in the part?"). But the movie centers on the rivalry between roommates Katherine Hepburn, as a spoiled rich kid who tries acting as a lark, and Ginger Rogers, as a plucky thespian waiting for her break. Believe it or no, those diametrical opposites (aristocratic, ethereal Kate and tough, pragmatic Ginger) work like a dream together. The script negotiates a delicate path between pathos and bathos, and somehow keeps its balance, even when one of the troupers loses her grip on reality and...Well, enough said. Best of all: this is the movie in which Hepburn gets to elocute: "The calla lilies are in bloom again...." Sheerest heaven.
helpful•412
- bmacv
- Feb 21, 2001
- How long is Stage Door?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $952,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $8,835
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content