The Women of 1937's Stage Door
A sharp-witted comedy-drama with a mostly female cast, Gregory La Cava's Stage Door tells the story of a group of aspiring actresses who live in the New York boardinghouse the Footlights Club as they struggle to make ends meet. Perhaps the most famous aspect of this film is the cast, which includes Adolphe Menjou, Jack Carson, Franklin Pangborn, and such fantastic actresses as Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, and more. Brimming with electric one-liners, touching tragedy, and superb performances, Stage Door is a lovingly complex illustration of female friendship and ambition. Instead of doing a straight-forward review, I decided to try something a little different. Since this film is so well known for the illustrious women who star in it, the following is my personal ranking of the ladies of the Footlights Club. I tried to focus more on the characters than the actresses, but it is pretty remarkable how closely some of the women resemble who they are po