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Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Graves, and Lowell Sherman. The screenplay by Jo Swerling is based on the 1924 play Ladies of the Evening by Milton Herbert Gropper, which ran for 159 performances on Broadway.
The film is about an artist from a wealthy family who hires a "party girl" as his model. As they get to know each other, the girl begins to regret her past, and the two fall in love, but they must face his family's strong opposition to their union. Ladies of Leisure received generally positive reviews, and Stanwyck's performance was praised by critics. The success of the film made Stanwyck a star.
Aspiring artist, Jerry Strong, the son of a wealthy railroad tycoon, sneaks out of a party he allowed his friend Bill Standish to hold at his New York City penthouse apartment and studio. While out driving in the country, Jerry meets self-described "party girl" Kay Arnold, who is escaping from another party aboard a yacht, and gives her a ride back to the city. He sees something in her and offers her a job as his model for a painting titled "Hope". In their first session, Jerry wipes off her makeup to try to bring out her true nature. Perpetual partier and drunkard Standish thinks Kay looks fine just the way she is and invites her on a cruise to Havana. She declines his offer.
As they get to know each other better, Kay falls in love with Jerry and comes to rue her tawdry past. This is reflected in her face, and she finally achieves a pose Jerry finds inspiring. He paints so late into the night that he offers to let her sleep on his couch.
The next morning, Jerry's father John shows up and demands he dismiss Kay and marry his longtime fiancée Claire Collins. John found out all about Kay's checkered background and she does not deny the facts. When Jerry refuses, John cuts off all relations with his stubborn son. Kay decides to quit anyway for Jerry's benefit. This forces him to declare he loves her. She suggests running off to Arizona.
Jerry's mother comes to see Kay. Though Kay convinces her that she genuinely loves Jerry, Mrs. Strong still begs her to give him up for his own good. Kay tearfully agrees and makes plans to go to Havana with Bill Standish. Her roommate and good friend, Dot Lamar, races to tell Jerry, but by the time she reaches him, the ship has sailed. Despondent, Kay tries to commit suicide by leaping into the water. When she awakens in the hospital, Jerry is waiting at her bedside.
Ladies of Leisure, which began with the working title of "Ladies of the Evening", was Frank Capra's fifth sound film, and the first project over which Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn gave him complete creative control. Cohn assigned the director to adapt Ladies of the Evening, a melodrama David Belasco had produced on Broadway in late 1924, and after Capra completed a first draft screenplay he invited Jo Swerling – a playwright from New York who had been brought to Hollywood by Cohn – to work on the script.
Swerling initially declined because he thought it was a "putrid piece of gorgonzola", "inane, vacuous, pompous, unreal, unbelievable – and incredibly dull", but decided to work on it nonetheless. "I went to my hotel, locked myself in my room and for five days pounded out a rewrite story of the plot I'd heard, interrupting the writing only long enough for black coffee, sandwiches and brief snatches of sleep", the screenwriter later recalled. "I was simply writing a newspaper yarn with a longer deadline than usual."
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Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Graves, and Lowell Sherman. The screenplay by Jo Swerling is based on the 1924 play Ladies of the Evening by Milton Herbert Gropper, which ran for 159 performances on Broadway.
The film is about an artist from a wealthy family who hires a "party girl" as his model. As they get to know each other, the girl begins to regret her past, and the two fall in love, but they must face his family's strong opposition to their union. Ladies of Leisure received generally positive reviews, and Stanwyck's performance was praised by critics. The success of the film made Stanwyck a star.
Aspiring artist, Jerry Strong, the son of a wealthy railroad tycoon, sneaks out of a party he allowed his friend Bill Standish to hold at his New York City penthouse apartment and studio. While out driving in the country, Jerry meets self-described "party girl" Kay Arnold, who is escaping from another party aboard a yacht, and gives her a ride back to the city. He sees something in her and offers her a job as his model for a painting titled "Hope". In their first session, Jerry wipes off her makeup to try to bring out her true nature. Perpetual partier and drunkard Standish thinks Kay looks fine just the way she is and invites her on a cruise to Havana. She declines his offer.
As they get to know each other better, Kay falls in love with Jerry and comes to rue her tawdry past. This is reflected in her face, and she finally achieves a pose Jerry finds inspiring. He paints so late into the night that he offers to let her sleep on his couch.
The next morning, Jerry's father John shows up and demands he dismiss Kay and marry his longtime fiancée Claire Collins. John found out all about Kay's checkered background and she does not deny the facts. When Jerry refuses, John cuts off all relations with his stubborn son. Kay decides to quit anyway for Jerry's benefit. This forces him to declare he loves her. She suggests running off to Arizona.
Jerry's mother comes to see Kay. Though Kay convinces her that she genuinely loves Jerry, Mrs. Strong still begs her to give him up for his own good. Kay tearfully agrees and makes plans to go to Havana with Bill Standish. Her roommate and good friend, Dot Lamar, races to tell Jerry, but by the time she reaches him, the ship has sailed. Despondent, Kay tries to commit suicide by leaping into the water. When she awakens in the hospital, Jerry is waiting at her bedside.
Ladies of Leisure, which began with the working title of "Ladies of the Evening", was Frank Capra's fifth sound film, and the first project over which Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn gave him complete creative control. Cohn assigned the director to adapt Ladies of the Evening, a melodrama David Belasco had produced on Broadway in late 1924, and after Capra completed a first draft screenplay he invited Jo Swerling – a playwright from New York who had been brought to Hollywood by Cohn – to work on the script.
Swerling initially declined because he thought it was a "putrid piece of gorgonzola", "inane, vacuous, pompous, unreal, unbelievable – and incredibly dull", but decided to work on it nonetheless. "I went to my hotel, locked myself in my room and for five days pounded out a rewrite story of the plot I'd heard, interrupting the writing only long enough for black coffee, sandwiches and brief snatches of sleep", the screenwriter later recalled. "I was simply writing a newspaper yarn with a longer deadline than usual."