Main Cast: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett
Release Year: 1930
Country: US
Run Time: 68 minutes
Plot
Royal Family of Broadway was an abridged but otherwise literal translation of the George S. Kaufman/Edna Ferber Broadway hit The Royal Family. The title referred not to kings and queens but to a prominent theatrical family named Cavendish--based none too loosely on the famed Barrymore clan. Ina Claire plays the "Ethel Barrymore" counterpart, a beloved stage star who wishes to renounce the theatre to marry a millionaire and move to South America. Fredric March steals the show as the "black sheep" of the family, obviously patterned after the rambunctious John Barrymore (March has John Barrymore's legendary gestures and petulant temper tantrums down pat). When it looks as if the Cavendish legacy will break up with the daughter's marriage and the son's peccadillos, the Cavendish matriarch (Henrietta Crosman) delivers an impassioned "show must go on" speech from her deathbed, reuniting the fragmented family. Reportedly, The Royal Family angered Ethel Barrymore to the point of a threatened lawsuit. She need not have worried; despite the histrionic excesses of the Cavendishes in The Royal Family of Broadway, these ersatz Barrymores are depicted with amusement and affection. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although The Royal Family of Broadway snips away a bit too much of the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber play from which it was derived, there is very little else about the enterprise about which to complain. Even with the cutting, more than enough of the original remains, and the additions that scenarists Herman Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell have added are perfectly in tune with the play. There are more than enough laughs, provoked both by genuine wit and by skillful set-up, and the plot, though familiar now, keeps things moving quite peppily. Certainly director George Cukor deserves a good share of credit for that smart pacing, as well as for blending the comedic and dramatic elements of the piece together so seamlessly. It's the cast, however, and particularly Fredric March, that makes Family something truly special. Henrietta Crosman is delightfully matriarchal and Ina Claire is a stitch, but it's March who steals the show. Chewing the scenery shamelessly and doing a wickedly spot-on John Barrymore take-off, March dominates the film, even though his part is the smallest of the leads. Though March was one of the screen's finest dramatic actors, his comedic roles were rarely as rewarding as this -- perhaps because they didn't allow him to come out with both guns blazing as this one does. Family is a hilarious backstage fable that doesn't disappoint. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Arnold Korff - Oscar Wolfe; Frank Conroy - Gilmore Marshall; Royal G. Stout - Joe; Elsie Edmond - Della; Murray Alper - McDermott; Herschel Mayall - Doctor
The film tells the story of a girl from a family of great Broadway actors who contemplates leaving show business and getting married. The characters are loosely based on the first American theatrical family, the Barrymores.
The play premiered in London in 1934 with the title Theatre Royal (so that audiences wouldn't think that it was about the Royal Family of Great Britain). Laurence Olivier played Tony Cavendish, and broke his ankle during a performance when he vaulted over a banister rail.[1]
The play was presented on TV in 1977 under its original title, The Royal Family, with Rosemary Harris and Eva Le Gallienne. Ms. Le Gallienne won an Emmy for her performance. This version also played on Broadway in 1975, and is now on DVD.
