Rafter Romance

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Rafter Romance
Directed by William A. Seiter
Produced by Merian C. Cooper
Kenneth Macgowan
Alexander McGaig
Written by H.W. Hanemann
Sam Mintz
Glenn Tryon
Starring Ginger Rogers
Norman Foster
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography David Abel
Editing by James B. Morley
Distributed by RKO
Release date(s) September 1, 1933
Running time 72 min
Country USA
Language English
IMDb profile

Rafter Romance is a 1933 film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Ginger Rogers.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Mary Carroll is a young woman from upstate who came to New York to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Jack Bacon is an aspiring artist who lives in the same Greenwich Village building as her, in the attic loft, who is also months behind on his rent, and works as a night watchman to make ends meet. Their landlord, Max Eckbaum, a good-natured soul, nevertheless has expenses to meet, and could have rented Mary's apartment to a paying tenant several times over. He comes up with a solution, to move Mary into Jack's loft, and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary soon takes a job selling refrigerators by telephone, which keeps her out all day.

However, each still manages to get the most dreadful impression of what the other is like, when each realizes that the other is of the opposite sex from articles of clothing lying about. A series of misunderstandings, and the inevitable crowding that goes on in these situations, leads to a series of increasingly annoying pranks aimed at the other. Jack places a bucket in the shower, and when Mary takes one it falls on her head. Then she places Jack's suit in the shower, so that it gets wet. In retaliation, he saws her bed in half so that it would come apart when she sits on it.

But their situation really gets complicated when Mary and Jack manage to cross paths and meet out of the apartment, each not knowing who the other is, vis-a-vis the loft, and start to fall in love. While Jack goes shopping at a delicatessen, Mary is sitting outside rehearsing her telephone script. To meet her, Jack pretends to be the person she is addressing, and poses as a client. They agree to meet in a park, but while Mary waits in a downpour, Jack is late because the suit prank forces him to go out to the cleaners without his trousers on. When Jack calls Mary at work, she says that she never wants to see him again. Later they meet at a construction site, and Jack apologizes and takes Mary out to dinner, which Jack pays for with money Mary had put aside for laundry.

And matters get even more complicated by the presence of three additional characters. H. Harrington Hubbell, Mary's boss, is a lecherous if bumbling executive who tries to invite her out for dinner. Elise Peabody Willington Smythe, Jack's would-be "patron," is a lonely, libidinous, rich older woman. While visiting Jack, she realizes that he is living with a woman, and is upset that he is living in sin. He goes out, and Mary comes back and finds her there, and throws her out. Also, Fritzie, a cab-driver, meets Mary when she has accepted Hubbell's invitation, and takes on the role (initially with her encouragement) of her protector. Hubbell arranges a company picnic, to which Jack accompanies Mary. They slip away from the group together and miss the bus back to town, forcing them to take a taxi. When they arrive at Jack's home, Mary realizes that Jack is her flatmate. Jack denounces his flatmate, unaware that it is Mary. Eckbaum is alerted to that they are together and comes into the apartment, and Jack learns that Mary is his flatmate. Elise and Hubbell also arrive in the flat. Mary runs out, and Fritzie comes into the flat and punches Hubbell, mistaking him for Jack. Realizing his mistake, Fritzie then goes to his cab where Jack is pleading with Mary. Fritzie is about to punch Jack when Mary intervenes, and the cab drives off with Jack and Mary kissing in the backseat. Asked if they will get married, Eckbaum says, "I arranged it."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

  • The plot of this movie contains echoes (or, more accurately, foreshadowings) of The Shop Around the Corner.
  • The producer Merian C. Cooper withdrew this movie from circulation for over 50 years, as a result of a legal settlement with RKO in 1946, after he accused RKO of not giving him all the money due him from his producer's contract in the 1930s. The settlement gave Cooper complete ownership of six RKO titles, including this one.

[edit] External links

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