Greetings from VKMfanHuey!!!

Welcome to the Gingerology blog for the 1930 Paramount film, Young Man Of Manhattan!!!

This film was Ginger Rogers' first appearance in a 'full length feature', portraying the character of Puff Randolph, a textbook flapper gal who has designs on free-wheeling sports columnist Toby McLean (Norman Foster)... which is a problem, since Toby is hitched to his sweet writer wifey Ann (Claudette Colbert).

Please note the 'menu' above, which has various information regarding the film; to the right (just below the Gingerology link) there are additional links regarding the film.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any general info, pics, or just to say hi!

...And be sure to check out our 'main site', Gingerology - just click on the Ginger pic to the right. There you'll find a list of ALL of Ginger Rogers' films; click on any one, and you will be directed to a 'dedicated' blog about that film (not unlike this blog).

Keep It Gingery, y'all!

VKMfanHuey

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Monday, June 27, 2016

GingerBinge Number Five!!!

...THE... Young Man of Manhattan...
...all you truly need to know from this one is... "Cigarette Me, Big Boy!"...  Of course, I've already cranked out a HueyReview for this one, to be found HERE... as my first attempt at a blog review, not as much 'riffing' on the theme, thus... a pretty straightforward review resulted.

Ginger does have a cute, if not adversarial, role as Puff Randolph, the quintessential flapper from days of yore... at the ripe old age of nineteen... who gets mixed up with newlyweds Toby Randolph (Norman Foster) and Ann Vaughn (Claudette Colbert), by way of Shorty Ross (Charles Ruggles)...
Ruggles is a pretty good 'companion' of sorts for Puff... when he introduces her to Toby, he states: "I found this bit of penitentiary bait in the lobby..." not JAIL bait, mind you... but PENITENTIARY bait... Puff was the REAL DEAL, y'all...

Toby: "I'm not only married... I'm in love!" ...Puff: "With your WIFE?"

...The film overall is a fair watch, for a 1930 joint... I dig Claudette, and, as most of the early films were, it wraps up in just over an hour... plus, there's some cool footage of various sporting events scattered throughout...
...and I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon that explaining things like "Why do they keep blowing whistles on the field?" to Miss Randolph...although the gooberhead here tells her to shaddup... REALLY? Grrrrrr......

Well, the highlight of this film for Ginger is the 'piano scene', where she cranks thru a few neat tunes, and proceeds to go all Puff Mama on Toby...
The 'open marriage' concept of Toby and Ann soon disintegrates into a typical old married couple...with Toby playing the gooberhead, natch... 

The Puff destroying the 'nekkid dude phone' is cute... if not a bit weird...




...well, that's the last we see of Puff... of course, Toby and Ann reconcile, and the closing credits roll shortly thereafter...

This film is not commercially available to the best of my knowledge, but... it's in the 'public domain'... the copy I have is fairly decent for a 85 year-old film... dang...

Hope y'all get to see this one, as it is Ginger's first feature film, and she already displays those glimpses of pure Gingeryness we live for...


Until tomorrow... KIG, y'all!!!

Hu
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5 comments:

  1. Well, She's Got IT and IT does her A LOT of Good!! LOL!! What a great entry role in 1930 for a future Oscar winner! No surprise that the college boys fell hard for Our Ginger via the "Cigarette me, Big Boy!" line. One of the neat things about Ginger's film career is that she's one of the few from that era who worked her way up the ladder, but was always listed in the credits, only twice lower than fourth. Amazing!! She really didn't have a whole lot to do in this film, as her dialogue only took about a page and a half to write out. Think she was at her prettiest in this film during the scene sequence where she bashed that memorable telephone in frustration. Also enjoyed her work with Charlie Ruggles. They were really good together. (Wish that proposed TV show years later would have worked out.) (On the side, as I type this TCM is showing "The Parent Trap," [1961], which included Charlie Ruggles and Una Merkle in the cast. Gingery connections!) YMOM was a good start to Ginger's feature film career. Good to watch every few months. ;-) Thanks, Huey!

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  2. ...Ruggles was pretty cool...he reminds me of an old boss (or was it professor?) I once had... Ginger's role here is MUCH more substantial than in Honor Among Lovers, where she has, what, three lines? Plus, my copy of that one is way worse than this one... where are those restoration folks??? But it seemed like Paramount had her 'in neutral' by the time Follow the Leader and Honor came out... RKO-Pathe did well by her in The Tip-Off, and really amped her career along with the Warner pics...
    when she answers the phone with that 'HEY-LOW!!!'... that's tragically cute!!!

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    1. Indeed, that was cute! And yes, her speaking part in Honor Among Lovers was by far her briefest, taking about 1/3 of a page to write out. BTW, in listing the Gingery Connections in "Parent Trap," my mind was stuck in the Early Ginger gear.... I forgot to mention Brian Keith, her love interest in "Tight Spot." Anyhow, looking forward to the next mystery movie. ;-)

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    2. ...wow... lots of GingerConnection in the Parent Trap... guess I haven't seen that one... is that the Disney film? Or one prior to that?
      ...well, we are off on vacation for a few days, and instead of trying to sneak in a film, which will be hard, I'm just 'deferring' to our return on Saturday... and heck, probably will be Sunday when I pick back up... but yeah, it's been pretty cool thus far... and I'm glad the GingerFilm blogs are getting a bit of play... hope to have more stuff on these...
      Well, off to bed, as I'm the designated Driver tomorrow!
      KIG, BA!!!
      <3
      Hu
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    3. Y'all be safe and have fun!! Yes, "The Parent Trap" is a Disney film. Came out when I was about 8... Remember it as my favorite movie for a while, back in that day when I didn't know much about movies. Still a really fun film! You must catch it! Looking forward to the next Ginger film you draw out of the cooler.... (Say, what would Ginger think of that??? LOL!) See ya!! KIG!! ;-) BA

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