Directed by: George Cukor and Cyril Gardner
Starring: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Frank Conroy, Charles Starrett

STORY

Before there were celebrity families, entertainment dynasties and generations of performers whose private lives fascinated the public almost as much as their work, there were the Cavendishes — Broadway royalty.

And in The Royal Family of Broadway, the show isn't merely what happens onstage.

The show is the family.

At the center of this gloriously theatrical household is Julie Cavendish, played by the sophisticated Ina Claire, a celebrated Broadway actress who has spent her life answering the call of the stage. But success has come with a price. Julie begins wondering whether there might still be another life waiting for her — one with love, stability and perhaps even an escape from the relentless demands of the theatre.

Unfortunately, escaping the Cavendish family is considerably easier said than done.

Julie's mother, Fanny Cavendish, is the grand matriarch of the clan, an actress for whom the theatre isn't an occupation — it is practically a biological necessity. Fanny represents the old theatrical tradition: the show goes on because the show MUST go on.

Then there is Julie's daughter, Gwen, the newest generation of Cavendish talent. Gwen faces the same question that has haunted the women before her: can she have the stage and an ordinary life, or will loving the theatre ultimately demand everything?

And then...

TONY COMES HOME.

Fredric March explodes into the picture as Tony Cavendish, Julie's flamboyant, unpredictable, larger-than-life brother, a movie star returning from Hollywood with scandal trailing behind him.

Tony doesn't simply enter a room.

Tony ARRIVES.

He's theatrical when he isn't performing, dramatic when no audience is present and apparently incapable of living any portion of his life at less than full volume.

Suddenly the Cavendish household becomes exactly what it has probably always been: part home, part dressing room, part battlefield and part stage.

Old romances reappear. New romances threaten theatrical careers. Family members debate whether to remain in the profession or escape it. Producers, actors, lovers and relatives swirl through the Cavendish home as personal life and professional life become almost impossible to separate.

And beneath all the comedy is something surprisingly tender.

Because The Royal Family of Broadway understands something that anyone who has ever truly loved the theatre understands:

You don't always choose the stage.

Sometimes...

the stage chooses you.

AIN BACKSTAGE SECRETS & AINTOIDS
MEET THE CAVENDISHES — OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE BARRYMORES!

Audiences in 1930 didn't need much help figuring out the joke.

The Cavendish family was a thinly disguised satire of America's legendary Barrymore theatrical dynasty. The original Broadway play, The Royal Family, by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, openly poked fun at the famous acting family and ran for an impressive 43 weeks on Broadway.

The parallels were unmistakable: Fanny Cavendish evoked Georgiana Drew Barrymore, Julie reflected Ethel Barrymore, and the gloriously extravagant Tony Cavendish was modeled unmistakably on John Barrymore.

The result is essentially a fictionalized backstage peek at America's first family of acting — created while the real family was still making theatrical history.

FREDRIC MARCH DOES JOHN BARRYMORE — AND GETS AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR IT!

Fredric March's Tony Cavendish isn't merely inspired by John Barrymore.

March throws himself joyfully into an outright Barrymore-style performance — extravagant gestures, theatrical poses, irresistible vanity and all.

March had already played Tony when a road company of The Royal Family reached Los Angeles, and the film marked the first time his name appeared above the title.

Then came the ultimate validation.

March received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for The Royal Family of Broadway, competing against Richard Dix, Jackie Cooper, Adolphe Menjou and — wonderfully enough — Lionel Barrymore himself, who ultimately won for A Free Soul.

So Fredric March was Oscar-nominated for playing a character inspired by John Barrymore...

while John Barrymore's brother won the Oscar.

You couldn't write a better AINTOID if you tried.

AND JOHN BARRYMORE SAW HIM DO IT!

There is an even better twist to the story.

John Barrymore reportedly saw Fredric March playing Tony Cavendish in the stage production in Los Angeles — meaning Barrymore essentially sat in an audience watching another actor affectionately lampoon him.

Rather than being furious, Barrymore went backstage afterward and congratulated March on the performance.

Now THAT is having a sense of humor about yourself.

GEORGE CUKOR WAS JUST GETTING STARTED

Seeing George Cukor attached to The Royal Family of Broadway becomes especially fascinating with the benefit of hindsight.

This was very early Cukor — years before Dinner at Eight, Little Women, The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, A Star Is Born and My Fair Lady would establish him as one of Hollywood's great directors of actors.

Cukor shared directing credit here with Cyril Gardner, and the film became an important early step in Cukor's transition into directing films himself.

And what better material for the future master of sophisticated performers than a movie about...

sophisticated performers?

WAIT — HERMAN J. MANKIEWICZ TOO?

Yes!

The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell from George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's stage play.

Mankiewicz would, of course, later share the Academy Award for the screenplay of Citizen Kane.

That gives this seemingly lighthearted theatrical comedy a remarkable creative pedigree:

Kaufman. Ferber. Mankiewicz. Cukor. March.

There is some serious Hollywood and Broadway history packed into these 82 minutes.

THREE GENERATIONS OF WOMEN — ONE FAMILY BUSINESS

One of the film's pleasures is watching the Cavendish women represent three different generations confronting essentially the same question.

Fanny cannot imagine life without acting.

Julie wonders whether she has sacrificed enough to it.

Gwen is deciding whether she wants to begin sacrificing anything at all.

That gives the comedy a surprisingly enduring emotional center.

Careers change.

Generations change.

But the eternal struggle between the life we love and the people we love doesn't change very much at all.

BROADWAY CAME TO THE MOVIES — IN NEW YORK

This wasn't simply Hollywood pretending to be Broadway from 3,000 miles away.

The Royal Family of Broadway was filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York, giving this early sound-era adaptation an especially appropriate connection to the theatrical world it celebrates.

For a story whose heartbeat belongs unmistakably to Broadway, there is something wonderfully fitting about that.

THE AIN REASON

The Royal Family of Broadway belongs on Absolutely Indie Network because this is more than a vintage comedy — it is a valentine to performers, theatrical families and that inexplicable thing that keeps artists coming back to the stage.

AIN celebrates movies, but AIN also celebrates the people who MAKE them — actors, writers, directors and independent artists who understand that creating isn't always something you simply decide to do.

Sometimes it becomes part of who you are.

And The Royal Family of Broadway captures that beautifully.

It also preserves an extraordinary collision of Broadway and Hollywood history: Kaufman and Ferber's celebrated play, Herman J. Mankiewicz adapting it for the screen, a young George Cukor behind the camera and Fredric March delivering an Academy Award-nominated performance while gleefully channeling one of America's most legendary actors.

But underneath the famous names, the satire and the theatrical fireworks is something every artist recognizes.

You can threaten to quit.

You can fall in love.

You can dream about an ordinary life.

You can swear that THIS TIME you're walking away.

And then somebody says...

Places.

The curtain rises.

And suddenly you remember exactly where you belong.

That's why The Royal Family of Broadway belongs in the AIN Treasure Chest of Entertainment.