Īlthough early casting reports had Stanley Smith playing the juvenile lead, that role eventually went to Dick Powell, and the film became the third pairing of Powell and Ruby Keeler after 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933, the first two Warner Bros. Ĭagney's character, Chester Kent, was modeled after Chester Hale, a well-known impresario at the time, and the offices where he worked were based on the Sunset Boulevard offices of the prologue production company Fanchon and Marco in Los Angeles.
FOOTLIGHT PARADE FULL MOVIE SERIES
That role catapulted Cagney into stardom and a series of gangster films, which throughout his career, Cagney found to be as much a straitjacket as a benefit. Cagney had only fallen into his gangster persona when he and Edward Woods switched roles three days into the shooting of 1931's The Public Enemy.
for the lead in Footlight Parade, which became his first on-screen appearance as a dancer. The "By a Waterfall" production number featured 300 choreographed swimmersĬagney, a former song-and-dance man, actively campaigned the executives at Warner Bros.
FOOTLIGHT PARADE FULL MOVIE MOVIE
Claire Dodd as Vivian Rich, Nan's former friend, an accomplished gold digger who has a past that includes alleged jail time.Gould's brother and the censor of Kent's programs Guy Kibbee as Silas "Si" Gould, producer.Ruth Donnelly as Harriet Bowers Gould, the producer's spoiled and nepotistic wife.Frank McHugh as Francis, the dance director.Dick Powell as Scott "Scotty" Blair, juvenile lead who is Mrs.