The Royal Family of Broadway

The Royal Family of Broadway
Directed by	George Cukor Cyril Gardner
Written by	Play: Edna Ferber George S. Kaufman Screen: Herman Mankiewicz Gertrude Purcell
Cinematography	George Folsey
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	December 22, 1930 (U.S.)
Running time	82 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Royal Family of Broadway (1930) is a pre-Code comedy film, directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner, and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell from the play The Royal Family by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman.

It stars Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Arnold Korff and Frank Conroy.

The film tells the story of a girl from a family of great Broadway actors who contemplates leaving show business and getting married. The characters are loosely based on the first American theatrical family, the Barrymores. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Fredric March).

Trivia

• The original Kaufman-Ferber play The Royal Family, which opened on Broadway in 1927, angered Ethel Barrymore to the point of Barrymore threatening to sue Kaufman and Ferber.
• Fredric March had first played the role of Tony Cavendish in the Los Angeles stage production.
• The play premiered in London in 1934 with the title Theatre Royal so that audiences wouldn't think that it was about the actual Royal Family. Laurence Olivier played Tony Cavendish, and broke his ankle during a performance when he vaulted over a banister rail.^[1]
• On September 15, 1954, a 60-minute adaptation of the play aired on the CBS Television series The Best of Broadway.
• The play was presented on TV in 1977 under its original title, The Royal Family, with Rosemary Harris and Eva Le Gallienne, with Le Gallienne winning an Emmy for her performance. This version also played on Broadway in 1975, and is now on DVD.

Cast

• Ina Claire as Julie Cavendish
• Fredric March as Tony Cavendish
• Mary Brian as Gwen Cavendish
• Henrietta Crosman as Fanny Cavendish
• Charles Starrett as Perry
• Arnold Korff as Oscar Wolfe
• Frank Conroy as Gilmore Marshall
• Royal C. Stout as Joe
• Elsie Esmond as Della
• Murray Alper as McDermott
• Herschel Mayall as Doctor

References

1. "Olivier" by Robert Tanitch, Abbeville Press

External links

• The Royal Family of Broadway at the Internet Movie Database
• The Royal Family of Broadway at AllMovie