Dames, a Depression-era Busby Berkeley musical, is as grand and extravagant as expected of the idiosyncratic choreographer and director.
The slender plot is just a frame (an excuse) to contain the lavishly executed musical numbers.
Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), a millionaire who spearheads a national anti-fun movement, is contrasted with his distant cousin Jimmy Higgens (Dick Powell), a producer of musical comedies. Gut Kibbee is reliably Ounce’s partner, Hemingway and the father of a charming daughter (Ruby Keeler), but he is also the “sugar daddy” of Mabel Anderson (Joan Blondell), Powell’s friend and co-worker.
The numbers are staged to the music of Warren and Dubin, with such highlights as “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “The Girl on the Ironing Board,” the title number.
At one point, it was suggested that Eleanor Powell do a specialty number, but she declined to do so.
Censorship
Fear of thee Production Code had impact by making sure that one of the musical numbers tnever made it to the screen. Berkeley had planned a song featuring Joan Blondell about a fight between a cat and a mouse that ended with Blondell inviting everyone to “come up and see my pussy sometime.” Producer Hal Wallis removed this number from the script before it even got to the censors of the Hays Office.
Vet Archie Mayo was originally slated to do the film before Ray Enright got the job a week before shooting began. Dames began production at the Warner studios in Burbank on March 28, 1934. Ray Enright completed the dramatic scenes in mid-April, and Busby Berkeley continued working on the musical numbers until July 3. The film had its premiere on August 16, 1934, and went into general release on September 1 of that year.
Credits:
Running time: 95 minutes.
Directed by Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley
DVD: March 21, 2006
