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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Archive Post #1 - from Gingerology, priginally posted August 22, 2009

Just Watched: Young Man of Manhattan

...Well, have been a bit busy the last few days, but have gotten in a few more movies - figured I would run through my take on 'Young Man of Manhattan' - Ginger's FIRST role in a 'major' movie, at the ripe old age of eighteen (not far from most of y'all, LOL!). Overall, Ginger's character (Puff Randolph) is basically a 'third wheel' to newlyweds Toby McLean (Norman Foster) and Ann Vaughn (Claudette Colbert), who are both newspaper writers.


Ginger, circa 1930...
Puff basically 'shoehorns' her way into Toby's life and coerces him to go 'partying' with her on several occasions, even though she is aware he is married (hmmm...not a 'typical' Ginger role...) Strangely enough, Ann and Puff have a few conversations, and Ann seems to not only be OK with Toby accompanying Puff around town, but even seems to encourage it... well, in the beginning, anyway...
Meanwhile, Ann has been advancing quite nicely in her profession (which is quite the contrary to Toby, who is just ekeing out a living), but as a result, she has to spend more time at work, thus more time with her boss, who obviously has designs on her.
Well, that's probably as far as I will go - keep the loose ends for whoever hasn't seen this one yet...
While Ginger is in a 'peripheral' role in this one, she did get in what would be now called a 'catch phrase': "Cigarette me, big boy!" Ironically, she notes in her book that she did not smoke - other than 'trying' it once as a child - and thus had to 'learn' on the set, and of course she became "sick as a dog."
She also had a cute song scene, "I Got It, But It Don't Do Me No Good", where she sits at the piano singing, but really not sure if she is playing or not... that would be a nice 'confirmation' if anyone knows...
Ginger is just so CUTE in this one - as a 'flighty flapper', quite the 'spoiled' type, but somehow still likeable...
Overall, this movie is pretty cute, and has some memorable moments for Ginger's 'debut'... thus, this is one every VKM fan should have, if only for that reason!

3 comments:

1. 
   sneakysnoo11August 23, 2009 at 4:55 AM

   as far as I've found out, she does play the piano in that number. She was prtty good on the piano, as were most musical types back then. Theres a similar scene in another of the lost movies which is on yt (perhaps the Sap?) in which she is definitely playing, and yet another which is the earliest I've seen!
   
   I'm at a loss for the next poll, I'm considering best just Ginger flick, 1938-42. Runing essentially from Vivacious Lady through the Major and the Minor.
    
2. 
   MaggieAugust 23, 2009 at 11:19 AM

   where did you find it?
    
3. 
   jwalkerAugust 23, 2009 at 3:56 PM

   ...I would not doubt it at all...she of course wrote a few tunes, like 'Used to be You' - so she definitely had some decent musical background, be it 'professional', or just 'picked up' over time...
   Yes, I was asking Lauren about 'The Sap'...haven't seen any evidence of that one, but she said she knew of someone who had a copy...
   And, while I am thinking about it, on 'G', I cannot find '5th Avenue Girl' - it is noted in the 'Ginger list', but not in the torrent section...
   As for the poll idea, that would be a tough list to narrow down to one! I mean, looking at those movies with respect to 'Gingerness', which one would you be able to just 'toss out'? 5th Ave Girl is the only one in that time frame I haven't seen, but I know it is a good one, since Ginger has top billing, and La Cava is the Director / Producer.
   Maybe we could just rank them #1 to #whatever... even THAT would involve much wailing and gnashing of teeth!!!

First Post...

Hi, y'all!!!

...just an 'initial post' in order to field any comments you may have regarding this blog... look for future posts over time, which will also be noted on the Gingerology home site.

Until then... thanks for dropping by, and...

Keep It Gingery!!! (KIG)!!!

VKMfanHuey
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