Gold Diggers of Broadway

One of the greatest areas of intrigue surrounding early Hollywood is lost motion pictures.  Films disappeared for a variety of reasons, but most were either deliberately destroyed because they were deemed financially worthless (thus the tragic fate of many silent films), or they fell victim to the highly volatile cellulose nitrate film stock that was used up until 1950, which could ignite through spontaneous combustion or decompose into foul-smelling sludge or crumbly powder.

One of the most interesting lost films is Gold Diggers of Broadway, produced in 1929 by Warner Brothers.  This film is the second of four 1929 Warner Brothers "talking pictures" (On With The Show, Gold Diggers of Broadway, Sally, and The Show Of Shows) filmed entirely in two-tone Technicolor.  Unfortunately, the expense of the Technicolor process ruled out the continuation of Technicolor features after the start of the Great Depression.

Gold Diggers of Broadway was based on a 1923 Broadway stage production of the same name.  The film featured a new musical score, witty dialogue, appealing performances, and lavish color sets.  It became a runaway hit, with worldwide ticket sales totaling ten times the original cost of production.   The film held the record for gross box office receipts until Gone With The Wind was released in 1939.

The film propelled guitar-playing crooner Nick Lucas to superstardom, and his version of "Tiptoe Through The Tulips," introduced in the film, became the number one record of 1929.  Singer/dancer Nancy Welford and comedienne Winnie Lightner also became huge stars after being featured in this film.

The wild success of the Al Dubin-Joseph Burke songs from the film meant that recordings of those songs flourished.  In the Columbia studios, Ben Selvin's Knickerbockers waxed "Painting The Clouds With Sunshine" on Oct. 26, 1929.  And over at Victor, the popular cabaret star Johnny Marvin recorded his own version of "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" on September 5.

Download the_knickerbockers_painting_the_clouds_with_sunshine.mp3

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Here is the original performance of "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" by Nick Lucas, from the next-to-last reel of the film:

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Gold Diggers of Broadway premiered at the Capitol Theater in Oklahoma City in November 1929.  The Daily Oklahoman reported: "Now The Talkies Come In Colors - The first all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing, and all natural color photoplay to make its appearance in Oklahoma is 'The Gold Diggers of Broadway,' which will open a week's engagement at the Capitol next Saturday." 

Advertisements for the film raved, "100% NATURAL COLOR Talking, Singing, and Dancing -- plus Avery Hopwood's famous play -- plus gorgeous costumes to thrill the ladies ... plus tuneful Hit songs ... plus a hundred Hollywood beauties ... plus comedy that will keep you roaring ... plus a keen cast that is nothing less that "it" -- PLUS!"   Capitol Theater patrons also enjoyed the Laurel and Hardy "talkomedy" A Perfect Day.  And check out those ticket prices -- 25¢ for the balcony and 75¢ for the floor!

So what happened to Gold Diggers of Broadway?

It was an excellent musical comedy film, but unfortunately excellence in early talkie films was by far the exception rather than the rule.  Hollywood struggled to find actors capable of delivering convincing spoken word performances as well as scriptwriters capable of providing quality dialogue.  Many great talents imported from the Broadway stage were flops on the big screen.  And after the Hollywood was severely crippled by the Great Depression, the studios simply quit making musicals.  Their early talkie efforts went into the vaults, and out of public circulation for nearly twenty five years.

Warner Brothers was ready to test the musical waters again in 1933 with 42nd Street.  The studio had enlisted a roster of new film talent including Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and Ginger Rodgers, and had hired Busby Berkeley to choreograph the film's elaborate stage numbers.  42nd Street became a runaway hit, and Warner Brothers' string of successful follow-ups (Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, Gold Diggers of 1935, and Gold Diggers of 1937) virtually ensured that there would be little interest in reviving the original Gold Diggers of Broadway.

Many of Hollywood's early talkies were given new life with the development of television, as programmers were continually looking for material to broadcast.  Eager to earn a bit of extra money, the big Hollywood studios transferred many of their early talkies to sound-on-film 16mm b&w reduction prints suitable for television broadcasting.  Unfortunately, many of the original 35mm nitrate prints and Vitaphone discs for these early films were discarded after they were transferred to 16mm b&w film.  Around the same time, Technicolor Laboratories chose to discard thousands of cans of negatives and printing matrices.  Thus, most early Technicolor films exist today only in black and white.

Although Warner Brothers renewed the copyrights for Gold Diggers of Broadway, the film was never transferred to 16mm b&w.  The reason for this may never be known, but the most reasonable assumption is that Warner Brothers did not have a complete set of Vitaphone soundtrack records.

In the 1970's, collectors had lassembled a complete set of Vitaphone discs for Gold Diggers of Broadway, but no film elements could be found.  A decade later, the last reel of the film was found in England, and another decade later the next-to-last reel was discovered in Australia.  Both of these reels were original Technicolor nitrate prints, and have been transferred to digital media and restored.  A few years ago, a collector purchased an old toy film projector and two cans of film on Ebay.  To his astonishment, the film cans contained miraculously preserved Technicolor fragments of Gold Diggers of Broadway and On With The Show. 

Because of the intense interest in this film by collectors and film buffs, Warner Brothers has released portions of Gold Diggers of Broadway on their newly-restored DVD version of The Jazz Singer.  Portions of the film have also been shown on Turner Classic Movies.  We can hope that some day a complete print of the film will turn up.  Until then, we have the final 20 minutes of the film to enjoy.  Here is the finale of the film, a spectacular song-and-dance routine performed in front of an extravagant expressionist depiction of Paris.  The final 60 seconds of film is missing.

Comments

[Brad Kay]

Although several people besides yourself have noted that the complete soundtrack of Gold Diggers of Broadway exists on Vitaphone discs, no one has done anything about it until now. After canvassing several collections, I have completed a two-CD set of the entire, unexpurgated soundtrack, replete with Trailer, Overture and Exit Music. I transferred ninety per cent of it myself directly from disc with excellent results. The remainder is from decent enough dubs. I will be happy to share this with you, and you can plug it to your crowd. Interested? best, Brad Kay

[poliope]

I want visit Broadway so much. I have watched this film http://rapid4me.com/?q=Broadway , I think it is realy great place

[Gerald Mcvey]

I would like to get a copy of Brad Kay's "Gold Diggers" recordings. How do I go about that. GFM