Vivacious Lady (1938) is a U.S. black-and-white romantic comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart, produced and directed by George Stevens, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The screenplay was written by P.J. Wolfson and Ernest Pagano and adapted from a short story by I. A. R. Wylie. The music score was by Roy Webb and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse.
The film features supporting performances by Frances Mercer, Beulah Bondi, Franklin Pangborn, and Charles Coburn, as well as an uncredited appearance by Hattie McDaniel.
Plot
Vivacious Lady is a story of love at first sight between a young botany professor named Peter Morgan Jr. (Stewart) and a nightclub singer named Francey (Rogers). The film also has comedic elements, including repeatedly frustrated attempts by the newlywed couple to find a moment alone with each other.
The story begins when Peter is sent to Manhattan to retrieve his playboy cousin Keith (Ellison) and immediately falls in love with Francey. After a whirlwind one-day courtship, Peter and Francey get married, and they and Keith return to the Morgan family's home, where Peter teaches at the university run by his father Peter Morgan Sr. (Coburn). Mr. Morgan is known for being a proud, overbearing man, so Peter is afraid to tell him about the marriage. When they arrive, Mr. Morgan and Peter's high-society fiancée Helen (Mercer) initially take Francey for another of Keith's girlfriends. While Peter decides how to approach his father with the news, Francey stays at a women-only hotel, and Peter and Keith introduce her as a new botany student.
Peter mentions Francey to his father twice, but on both occasions, Mr. Morgan interrupts and ignores his son, and when Peter becomes insistent, his apparently ailing mother (Bondi) has a flare-up of her heart condition, making any further conversation impossible. For his third attempt, Peter decides to announce the marriage to his parents at the university's student-faculty prom. Keith brings Francey to the prom as his own guest, and Francey, still posing as a student, develops a friendly rapore with Mrs. Morgan, but gets into a nasty brawl with Helen in which Francey accidentally punches Peter's father.
Peter says nothing at the prom, but blurts the news to his father just as Mr. Morgan is about to give an important speech, resulting in another argument and another flare-up of Mrs. Morgan's heart condition. This prevents Mrs. Morgan from learning who Francey is, but she accidentally finds out from Francey herself during a conversation in Francey's apartment. Mrs. Morgan accepts the news happily, and admits to Francey that she pretends to have heart trouble any time her husband gets into an argument, but Mr. Morgan demands that Francey leave Peter, threatening to fire him if she doesn't. Francey agrees to leave, but the incident releases thirty years of marital frustration in Mrs. Morgan, who also decides to leave her husband.
Francey tells Peter she will leave him unless he can change his father's mind before her train departs. Peter's solution is to threaten the family with disgrace by getting drunk and otherwise misbehaving until his father relents, even if it costs him his job. Peter passes out before he can reach the train, which departs with both Francey and Mrs. Morgan aboard, but Mr. Morgan, having finally yielded to the combined pressure of his son and wife, stops the train by driving ahead of it with Peter and parking the car on the track. Both marriages are saved, and Peter and Francey finally have their honeymoon on the train.
Awards and nominations
Vivacious Lady was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Cinematography and Best Sound, Recording. George Stevens won a Special Recommendation Award at the 1938 Venice Film Festival.
Production
After four days of shooting in April 1937, James Stewart became ill, but then left to star in Of Human Hearts. RKO considered replacing Stewart, but shelved the production until December 1937. Actors Donald Crisp and Fay Bainter, who were cast in the original production, were replaced by Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi.
Cast
Ginger Rogers ... Francey
James Stewart ... Prof. Peter Morgan Jr.
James Ellison ... Keith Morgan
Beulah Bondi ... Mrs. Martha Morgan
Charles Coburn ... Peter Morgan, Sr.
Frances Mercer ... Helen
Phyllis Kennedy ... Jenny
Franklin Pangborn ... Apartment Manager
Grady Sutton... Culpepper, Teaching Assistant
Jack Carson ... Charlie, Waiter Captain
Alec Craig ... Joseph, Chauffeur
Willie Best ... Train Porter
Adaptations to Other Media
Vivacious Lady was adapted as a radio play on the April 7, 1940 episode of The Screen Guild Theater with Ginger Rogers and Fred Macmurray, the January 6, 1941 episode of Lux Radio Theater with Alice Faye and Don Ameche, the December 3, 1945 Screen Guild Theater with James Stewart and Janet Blair and on the August 14, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater with Lana Turner.
External links
