Pre-Code Hollywood

[Bounci]

For my Christmas treat to you before I take a break, this is from another of those Busby Berkley musicals that were so popular in the early 1930's. This one is called Footlight Parade (1933), which starred James Cagney and (yep, you guessed it) Joan Blondell, as well as Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, and it is her who features in my first of two videos for you today. In one of the spectacular musical numbers, Ruby is called away from a sleeping Dick Powell by some water nymphs to a waterfall and is seen diving into the water seemingly naked (she certainly appears to be under the water). She appears in different costumes a number of times during this number, and pops up a number of times among the other showgirls (Wood Nymphs), whose costumes leave little to the imagination and whose swimsuits of others are somewhat transparent at times. There's also a moment where a girl swims through other girls legs and the camera has an intriguing shot looking straight up! It's a beautiful number, and one that I felt suited posting for Xmas. As usual, I have included a slo mo of Ruby Keeler's underwater swim at the end, as I didn't want to spoil what is a stunning choreographed scene even for Berkley's high standards. Enjoy.

[burger1701]

Thanks for these clips. I'd never have guessed there was so much to be had from these old movies.

[Bounci]

My other video for you for Xmas is from the same film, and is the musical climax to the film, Shanghai Lil. It sees James Cagney in one of his rare tap dancing roles with Ruby Keeler, but this short video (compared to the other video) concerns itself with some of the girls in a club Cagney has gone to look for his "Shanghai Lil", which is clearly a brothel and opium den! And some of the girls are only wearing pasties on their nipples, so skimpy are the costumes, while in the opium den some only have strategic hair placed on their breasts to spare the girls blushes. I haven't slo moed this video, as I didn't think it needed it. But for the musical number, check it out on You tube, or for the whole film try ok ru, as it's a superb film on a par with Gold Diggers of 1933 and 42nd Street (all of which starred Ruby Keeler, coincidentally). And I may have a little extra of her for you to follow...

[Bounci]

Originally Posted by burger1701

Thanks for these clips. I'd never have guessed there was so much to be had from these old movies.

Thanks, burger1701. And very true. I remember watching Footlight Parade as a kid, as I was one of the few kids who'd seen James Cagney as a song and dance man BEFORE I'd seen him in gangster films. Mind you, back then I didn't appreciate how skimpy these costumes were, or what they could get away with back then!

Now I promised you a little bit extra of Ruby Keeler, who before she got into films was another actress like Barbara Stanwyck who was a Ziegfeld girl. There are a few pics that purport to be nudes of Ruby, but most are clearly not her. However, there is one that does look like her, and that is a photo of her from behind looking out a window. I have included it with a couple of other photos of her from that era, as well as a screenshot of her in 42nd Street where she clearly suffers a cameltoe wardrobe malfunction!

Ruby herself was married to Al Jolson (amazingly!) from 1928 to 1939, and when she made her breakthrough in 42nd Street in 1933 it was her feature length debut! Indeed she had a superb year in 1933, also appearing in Gold Diggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade, as well as Dames in 1934. Sadly Keeler's career burned bright but briefly, and by the end of the decade her career petered out. She is sometimes unfairly maligned due to her tap dancing skills and acting. She may not of been graceful like Astaire, but she could still dance, and her sweet persona was a nice contrast to her more knowing co-stars Ginger Rogers and Joan Blondell. She made a spectacular comeback on Broadway in 1971 in No, No, Nanette, and lived to the age of 84, passing away in 1993.

[Bounci]

To roll out the New Year for the Pre-Code thread, here are a couple of scenes from the film Bird of Paradise from 1932. It features Joel McCrea and Dolores Del Rio (her from my spanking video from Flying Down to Rio here: https://forum.oneclickchicks.com/sho...1&postcount=12) as a sailor who falls for a Hawaiian native, who unfortunately has been promised to be a sacrifice for a volcano (think Joe Versus the Volcano, but the other way round). And playing a Hawaiian, Dolores has only a garland of flowers round her neck to protect her modesty in half of the film, though unfairly she clearly has sticky tape attached to her so she doesn't make a boob (so to speak). However, it doesn't prevent her from having to do a naked swim in one scene that caused a rumpus in the US. In the scene Joel spots her in the water and jumps in after her, chasing her out onto the beach, where she desperately retrieves her wrap to cover herself before he wrestles her to the ground and kisses her forcefully. Which she likes.

The film unsurprisingly was a big hit for her, and went towards her getting the lead in Flying Down to Rio (1933). I've included the naked swim, along with a scene of her with her garland of flowers - mainly because if I'd of included all of those garland scenes the video probably of been 15 minutes long! There's a great line at the end of the video when it rains and McCrea tells Dolores they need to build a house for shelter. "An 'ouse?" she queries. "Yeah, a place to live in - to sleep," said McCrea. Suddenly Dolores' face brightens and she eagerly kisses him as she gabbles away. Joel cottons on and says "Oh yeah, and that too!" before the screen fades to black. No wonder it was popular in it's day.

[Bounci]

My 2nd post of Gold Diggers of 1933 for today (the other is on my Pat of Appreciation thread) involves a scene with a unintentional nip slip. The ladies involved are Joan Blondell (of course) and Aline McMahon, who is seen early on in a bath washing herself while Joan sits in front of a mirror combing her hair in just a flimsy negligee that seems very see through at times. However, the nip slip comes from Aline when the scene starts and it brightens from dark to light. I've slowed down that scene at the end of the video, but you can see her nipple and top of her breast when the scene starts. Then two men (Guy Kibbee and Warren William) just walk into the apartment, guardians of Dick Powell's wealthy heir there to pay off his showgirl girlfriend, and mistake Joan Blondell for Ruby Keeler. Joan is ready to throw them out, but Aline is smarter and comes out in her dressing gown determined to screw the pair for their money. Whether she means that literally or not, who knows, but there seems to be meaning in her words when she asks Kibbee his name. "Faneuil." he says. "When I know you better I'll call you Fanny," she replies.

[Bounci]

This is another Pre-Code film starring Joan Crawford, in one of her earliest 'Talkie pictures' called Our Blushing Brides from 1930 - though the only blushing presumably would of been from Miss Crawford herself, after seeing this scene! In this clip, Joan is helped out of her frock by Louise Beavers, but what the wardrobe department doesn't seem to of noticed is just how see-through her underwear actually is! As she goes to look at herself in the mirror, you can clearly see Joan's backside, and even when she turns round it leaves little to the imagination at times from the front! And the scene itself sees Robert Montgomery come into her room while she is in her underwear, leading to a embarrassed Joan to turn around and tell him "Perhaps you can't see so well over there? Why don't you come inside and get a good look?" And wouldn't you know, he says "Thank you. I was just waiting to be invited" and waltzes straight in! He even sits down to watch her, which isn't what Joan was expecting, and she's none too happy about it. I don't know though what gave me the greater shock in this scene - seeing Joan in barely there underwear, or the moment where Louise Beavers tells her she'll go and get her a Coca Cola! Joan was strictly a Pepsi girl!

[Bounci]

This clip is from The Barbarian from 1933, a film that would likely never get shown today for many reasons. It was an attempt to recreate the "Sheik" films of the 1920's, with it's theme of "frigid white woman is kidnapped by randy Arab and made to submit in every way to 'free' her from Western inhibitions" that was popular back then. Think along the lines of Dennis Potter for more 'modern' reference. However, what I didn't expect to see was Myrna Loy - from The Thin Man films, and here playing the lead role - naked in a Arabian bath, with only rose petals to spare her blushes. Needless to say, it leaves very little to the imagination, and she is attended to and then dried and dressed by a number of Arab women.

The scene itself is a precursor to a plot by Jamil (Roman Novarro), the said randy servant who has misdirected her to a Arab Palace out in the desert under false pretentions for a randy prince that also lusts after Loy, and leaving her unable to escape. You don't see what happens - either in this video or the film - but Jamil's conscience is pricked when he hears her screams when she is whipped by the Prince into submission, bursting in to 'save' her before he can have his way with her, but because the only way to escape is with Jamil, Loy has to submit to his orders to do so, and later makes her 'submit' to him before taking her to his tribe to arrange a wedding ceremony. She does escape before the "I do" part, but in one of the most peculiar twists to this film, when she gets ready to marry her own English fiancé she hears Jamil - now wanted by police - singing outside her window, and decides that he is the man she really loves! Add to that the fact that Loy's mother helps in this elopement because she is apparently half Egyptian and she is later there for the honeymoon and you have one of the most peculiar films of the Pre Code era! As I said, they'd never make this stuff today!

One final note, and that is on Loy herself. She started out originally as a model and dancer to make ends meet, and like with Barbara Stanwyck and Ruby Keeler she seems to of done nude modelling too. I've added one of those pics I was able to find at the bottom of the screenshots for you to admire. Anyway, enjoy the video.

[arnoldziffel]

Ms Loy was a very goooodd actress and had great screen presence. She was great in the Thin Mam and mannyy other films. I think she also had a very sexy voice. To see her in this shows that she.had another side to he but in reality they all did and appearing naked or near naked was more to put food on the table or, for sinister purposes, to allow a studio to exert power over a woman when she became a star later.

[Bounci]

This clip comes from the film Kiss and Make Up from 1934, about a beauty clinic run by Cary Grant. Naturally with the surgeon being Cary Grant, women flock to go there, and Grant finds himself snared by one such client (Genevieve Tobin), much to the ire of her husband (Edward Everett Horton). Sadly Grant's character is too self absorbed to notice his loyal secretary (Helen Mack) is in love with him, and ends up taking her with him and Tobin on their honeymoon to work.

What is such a delightful surprise in this film is a scene where Helen Mack gets to escape from office work to go swimming in a bathing costume, encountering Tobin's ex (Horton) on a raft in the sea. Even more of a surprise is just how see through that bathing costume is of Mack's, revealing more of the lovely lady than I doubt she imagined. They certainly didn't tell her to change costumes when it came to the final edit, that's for sure! As for Mack, she started out as a child star in the silent era before having her biggest success in the 1930's, being best remembered for the lead in Son of Kong (1933), as well as roles in The Milky Way (1936) and His Girl Friday (1940). She retired from films in 1945, and died in 1985, aged 72, but with her looks she should of had a much longer career. By the way, I've slowed down those swimming costume moments for you, just so you can judge better Helen's undoubted 'star talents.'