RKO Radio
Gregory La Cava's serio-comedy “Stage Door,” nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, describes a group of would-be actresses living in a theatrical boarding house, all-anxious to get their “big break.”
Oscar Nominations: 4
Picture, produced by Pandro S. Berman
Director: Gregory La Cava
Screenplay: Morris Ryskind and Anthony Veiller
Supporting Actress: Andrea Leeds
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context
In 1937, nine other movies competed with “Stage Door” for Best Picture, including Warner's biopic “The Life of Emile Zola, which was nominated for ten and won the top award, and “Leo McCarey's marital comedy “The Awful Truth” with six nominations. The other nominees were William Wyler's social drama set in a New York City slum, “Dead End,” Frank Capra's utopian comedy “Lost Horizon,” Henry King's adventure “In Old Chicago,” the first version of “A Star Is Born,” an adaptation of Pearl Buck's “The Good Earth,” “In Old Chicago,” and the Deana Durbin vehicle, “One Hundred Men and a Girl.”
Next to “The Life of Emile Zola,” the most-nominated films were Fox's adventure “In Old Chicago” and “A Star Is Born.” Only one of the ten nominated pictures was a comedy, Leo McCarey's sublime screwball, “The Awful Truth,” co-starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne at their very best. The Oscars were spread among eight films; the only two pictures that didn't win any award were “Dead End” and “Stage Door.”