The Gay Divorcee

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance and sing their way through 1934's The Gay Divorcee, a film about a woman trying to finagle her way to a divorce. Directed by Mark Sandrich, this was the first film in which Astaire and Rogers received star billing, though certainly not the last.

Mimi Glossup, played by Ginger Rogers, wants a divorce from her husband, played by William Austin. When he refuses to grant her one, she, along with her Aunt Hortense, played by Alice Brady, cook up a plot to make him think Mimi is cheating on him. They hire a man to spend the night in Mimi's hotel room and then have someone take pictures of him leaving the next morning. Off to a seaside resort to carry out her scheme, Mimi doesn't realize that Guy Holden, played by Fred Astaire, is following her, having fallen in love with her at first sight several weeks earlier. When they arrive at the seaside resort, Guy approaches Mimi and unknowingly uses the password her hired 'lover' was to say, prompting her to invite him to her room, and setting off a completely unforeseen set of events. Throughout the film, scenes are set through the use of song and dance.http://www.sover.net/~ozus/gaydivorcee.htm

• Fred Astaire as Guy Holden

• Ginger Rogers as Mimi Glossop

• Alice Brady as Aunt Hortense

• Edward Everett Horton as Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald

• Erik Rhodes as Rodolfo Tonetti

• William Austin as Cyril Glossop

• Betty Grable as Dance Specialty

"All through the picture there's charm, romance, gaiety and eclat. There's a dash of Continental spice in the situation of the professional male co-respondent who is to expedite Ginger Rogers' divorce."—Variety Staff, Varietyhttp://www.variety.com/review/VE1117791209.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

"Aimed at cheering up a Depression audience--which it does do with animated song and dance numbers."—Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviewshttp://www.sover.net/~ozus/gaydivorcee.htm