Roberta

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Roberta
Image:Roberta 1935 movie poster.jpg Roberta 1935 movie poster
Directed by	William A. Seiter
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Starring	Irene Dunne Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers Randolph Scott
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	March 8, 1935 (U.S. release)
Running time	106 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Roberta was a 1933 Broadway musical, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Otto Harbach, which starred Tamara, Bob Hope, George Murphy, Lyda Roberti, Fred MacMurray, Fay Templeton, Ray Middleton (billed as Raymond E. Middleton), and Sydney Greenstreet. Hope, Murphy, MacMurray and Greenstreet were not yet the Hollywood stars they would soon be, and Middleton was not the Broadway leading man he would become after Annie Get Your Gun.

Image:Fredginger.jpg

The play was made into a film in 1935 by RKO starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and what some probably feel is a miscast, non-singing Randolph Scott in Middleton's role. The play notably features the famed songs Yesterdays, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, You're Devastating, and The Touch of Your Hand. The 1935 film version omitted The Touch of Your Hand (sung by a minor character), and You're Devastating (originally Middleton's big song in the show), but added the Kern songs I Won't Dance and Lovely to Look At, which became so popular that they are now always included in revivals and recordings of Roberta.

In 1952, MGM remade Roberta under the title Lovely to Look At. This remake also included the additional songs written for the 1935 film. It starred Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Red Skelton, Ann Miller, and Zsa Zsa Gabor and was made in Technicolor.

Roberta is the only Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers film to ever be remade. In the 1952 version, their roles were theoretically taken by Marge Champion and Gower Champion; however the plot and characters of the 1952 film bore no resemblance at all to those in the original show or the 1935 movie.

[edit] External links

Roberta at the Internet Movie Database

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Flying Down to Rio (1933) • The Gay Divorcee (1934) • Roberta (1935) • Top Hat (1935) • Follow the Fleet (1936) • Swing Time (1936) • Shall We Dance (1937) • Carefree (1938) • The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) • The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)