The Goldwyn Follies is a 1938 Technicolor film written by Ben Hecht, Sid Kuller, Sam Perrin and Arthur Phillips, with music by George Gershwin, Vernon Duke and Ray Golden, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Sid Kuller. The film was the first Technicolor feature produced by Samuel Goldwyn.
The film, which features Adolphe Menjou, Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy), Andrea Leeds, Kenny Baker, Ella Logan, Helen Jepson, Bobby Clark and the Ritz Brothers, depicts a movie producer who chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evaluate his films from the point of view of the ordinary person. The style of the film is very similar to that of other musicals of its era, including the Gold Diggers series. George Gershwin had not completed the score before his death July in 1937; Vernon Duke finished the songs with Ira Gershwin and wrote the ballet music.
The Goldwyn Follies was released in February 1938. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score as orchestrated by Edward B. Powell under the musical direction of Alfred Newman, as well as for Best Interior Decoration.
Contents
Cast
Adolphe Menjou as Oliver Merlin (as Adolph Menjou)
The Ritz Brothers as Themselves
Vera Zorina as Olga Samara
Kenny Baker as Danny Beecher
Andrea Leeds as Hazel Dawes
Edgar Bergen as Himself
Charlie McCarthy as Himself
Helen Jepson as Leona Jerome
Phil Baker as Michael Day
Bobby Clark as A. Basil Crane Jr.
Ella Logan as Glory Wood
Jerome Cowan as Director Lawrence
Charles Kullmann as Alfredo in La Traviata
The American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera as Ballet Dancers
Nydia Westman as Ada
Alan Ladd as First Auditioning Singer (uncredited)
Francis Xavier Shields Assistant Director (uncredited)
Soundtrack
Songs include (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin unless otherwise indicated):
"Love Is Here to Stay"
"I Was Doing All Right"
"Spring Again" (music by Vernon Duke)
"Love Walked In"
"I Love to Rhyme"
"Here Pussy, Pussy (Where's the Gosh-Darn Cat?)" (music by Ray Golden, lyrics by Sid Kuller)
Reception
The film was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2006 list AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals.
However, the film was also included in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved.