Classics: Stage Door (1937)

Directed by Gregory La Cava

RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

“We started off on the wrong foot. Let’s stay that way.” Who hasn’t wanted to whip out a line that sharp?

But most of us don’t have that kind of quick wit. It’s mostly confined to the hilarious comedies of the 1930s, particularly “Stage Door,” the timeless story of a boardinghouse full of young actresses trying to make it on Broadway. If modern heroines were witty enough, it’s easy to imagine the story transplanted to modern L.A. But no one could replace the whip-smart original cast, which features Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rodgers and a young Lucille Ball.

The wit comes fast and loaded, as do all movies based on plays by legendary Broadway writers George Kaufman and Edna Farber. It traces the influence of theatrical wannabe Terry Randall (Hepburn) on the struggling actresses. But the main fun is watching the women bicker and bond with their claws out, hiding nothing; the men are basically plot devices.

On first glance, “Stage Door” seems sort of creaky—an old timey piece. But, as my roommate who arrived mid-movie said, “I don’t usually like black and white movies, but this is really well-written.”

The original play was created as a vehicle for Hepburn and caters to her aristocratic, intelligent, and lovely strengths. Terry’s struggle to live up to the opportunities she was given over her friends—simply because of her wealth—adds a necessary element of pathos to the formidable comedy. The real sense that everyone in the boarding house is desperately struggling makes the comedy sharper and leaves the story far meatier than an equivalent Busby Berkley behind-the-scenes show.

The comparable story of the era is “The Women,” which also took romantic comedy rhythm and wit to focus on a homosocial environment. But there is nothing in it quite as stirring as when Terry finally discovers her true talent with the delivery of the famous speech: “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.”

Terry comes out to standing applause and gives credit to her recently deceased friend who inspired the performance, saying, “I hope that wherever she is, she knows, she understands and she forgives.”

The movie says everything that everyone wishes they could say to everyone in your life. See it and whip out this line next time a ridiculous double date begins: “A pleasant little foursome. I predict a hatchet murder before the night’s over.”

—Reviewer Scoop A. Wasserstein can be reached at wasserst@fas.harvard.edu.