Gay Divorcée (1934) - The first film written specifically for Rogers and Astaire

Guy Holden - Fred Astaire

Mimi Glossop - Ginger Rogers

Aunt Hortense - Alice Brady

Egbert "Pinky" Fitzgerald - Edward Everett Horton

Rodolfo Tonetti - Erik Rhodes

The Waiter - Eric Blore

Gay Divorcée opens in Paris. Attorney Egbert Fitzgerald and dancer Guy Holden are spending their last evening before returning to London where Egbert will be manning in his father's law office. Upon docking in London, their paths cross with Mimi and her Aunt Hortense where Guy makes a bad impression on her. Instantly smitten, he is determined to find her and sets about London in pursuit. "That shouldn't be difficult, after all there are only 3 million women in London!" comments Egbert when Guy announces his intentions.

Meanwhile, Mimi has come to London so that her aunt can help her obtain a divorce from her neglectful husband. In a twist of predictable, yet fun, Hollywood fate, Aunt Hortense takes Mimi to one of her former suitors, Egbert! "He went elephant hunting in India! Why would he go elephant hunting when he could marry me?"

Egbert arranges a rendevous with a corespondent in order to be discovered by a detective who in turn will inform her husband all designed in hopes that he will agree to a divorce. Eager to succeed with his case, Egbert quickly packs for the trip and suggests that lovelorn Guy come along. Reluctantly Guy agrees even though he pines all along the way.

Mimi jumps to all the wrong conclusions about Guy when she finds him at the resort . She mistakens him for the hired corespondent. Her opinion of him sinks even lower at the thought of his "career."

Mimi finally is resigned to the idea and invites him into her room to await the detective hired by Egbert to "discover" them. As Guy arrives he meets Aunt Hortense. Aunt Hortense to Guy: "She's making a clean sweep of the old. Yes, and you're the broom."

Once in, Guy attempts small talk however Mimi is only concerned with getting the entire thing over with. Mimi: "I don't care what you did as a boy!" Guy: "Well, I did nothing as a girl so there goes my childhood."

When Guy finally breaks down her barriers and discovers the misunderstanding. After he explains who he is and Mimi realizes who he isn't, she confesses to her purpose there. During this exchange, the actual hired corespondent arrives in her room. The mixup? Rather than clearing things up, all is further confused. Especially when the husband finally shows up. Mimi: "Am I Mrs. Brown?" Waiter: "Why no, you're Mrs. Green!" Guy: "Why strike me pink!"

Of course all of this is set around dancing and singing. After all, it was written to showcase their dancing.

Look closely at the specialty dancer (I still do not understand the "specialty" designation) in "Let's Knock Knees." It's Betty Grable singing and aggressively dancing her way around the resort with Edward Everett Horton who was once a song and dance man himself.

As an aside, being a bit of a foodie, I'm reminded of a head of radicchio in one of Miss Rogers' dances scenes. No, wait until you've seen it to make your decisions about my mental state.

One of the most interesting things about Fred Astaire's story is that he was not the star in the dance act he started out in. He got his start dancing with his sister Adele in a brother/sister act that was developed by their mother. Adele was the star. Fred went out on his own when Adele chose marriage over her dance career.

When he tested for RKO Pictures, the decision was "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." Astaire himself said the report actually stated "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances." Regardless, someone was shortsighted and the rest is history.

Also, in the team of Astaire and Rogers we often think of Fred Astaire as the leading star when in fact, Ginger Rogers had done 24 movies before she was teamed with Astaire in his very first film meaning that Rogers was the bigger star.

Astaire was a perfectionist. He insisted on the floors being polished before he danced and in his contract was the stipulation that he be showcased alone at least once in every movie.

Gay Divorcée is another fun mindless film that is a joy to watch and sing along too. Especially "The Continental." If you've seen "Home Alone" you may notice scenes that were lifted from this movie.