Classic Golden Age Films

Top Hat is a 1935 musical comedy directed by Mark Sandrich. The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Edward Everett Horton. Top Hat is a very loose adaptation of the 1911 play A Scandal in Budapest by Alexander Faragó and Aladar Laszlo.

Director: Mark Sandrich

Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures

Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures

Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick

US Box Office: $4,455,000 ($177,600,000 adjusted for inflation)

Film Format: Black & White

Genre: Musical, Comedy

Release Date: August 29, 1935 (premiere), September 6, 1935

Plot Summary: American tap dancer Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) meets wealthy Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) in London while preparing for a show produced by Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton). Jerry almost instantly falls in love with Dale. Due to a misunderstanding, Dale believes that Jerry is actually Horace, who she knows is married to her friend Madge (Helen Broderick). Not wanting to be immoral or betray Madge, Dale promptly rejects Jerry’s affection. Undeterred, Jerry follows Dale to Venice in order to win her heart.

Production: In 1934, RKO Radio Pictures producer Pandro S. Berman began working on a new dance musical film for the studio. The film would eventually be given the title Top Hat after one of the songs featured in the film that was written by composer Irving Berlin. RKO Radio Pictures had previously produced three successful dance-musicals pairing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Top Hat was always intended to star the duo. Mark Sandrich, a musical and comedy director who had a contract with RKO, was chosen to direct Top Hat. He had recently directed The Gay Divorcee (1934), the second film to pair Astaire and Rogers (and the first film in which they were the top-billed leads).

Screenwriter Dwight Taylor wrote the first draft for Top Hat‘s script. Taylor’s script was a very loose adaptation of the play A Scandal in Budapest (1911) by Alexander Faragó and Aladar Laszlo. Fred Astaire hated Taylor’s draft of the script, he thought that it was too similar to The Gay Divorcee and that his character was unlikeable. Playwriter Allan Jones, who had co-written the screenplay for the Astaire-Rogers musical Roberta (1935), was brought in to rewrite the script for Top Hat. Jones would co-write the screenplays for six of the Astaire-Rogers musicals. Ben Holmes, Ralph Spence, and Károly Nóti additionally made uncredited contributors to the final screenplay.

Fred Astaire was cast as Jerry Travers and Ginger Rogers was cast as Dale Tremont, the film’s leading man and lady. Given the success of the duo’s previous films, Top Hat was always intended to be a starring vehicle for Astaire and Rogers. The two were previously paired together in Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), and Roberta (1935). They were later paired in Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). Aside from Top Hat, Mark Sandrich also directed The Gay Divorcee, Follow the Fleet, Shall We Dance, and Carefree.

The songs featured in Top Hat were written by composer Irving Berlin. Top Hat was the first film Berlin had scored since 1930 and as part of his new contract with RKO Berlin got to retain the copyright for the songs he wrote and received ten percent of the film’s profits. Berlin wrote thirteen songs for the film, though only five were used: “No Strings (I’m Fancy Free)”, “Isn’t This a Lovely Day (to be Caught in the Rain)”, “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails”, “Cheek to Cheek”, and “The Piccolino.” “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” served as the namesake for the film’s eventual title Top Hat. One of the unused songs, “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan”, was reused for Follow the Fleet.

Sandrich began filming Top Hat in April of 1935 and shooting wrapped up in early June. The film was primarily shot on set at RKO Studios in Hollywood, California. The Venice set, referred to as “The Big White Set”, was the most expensive construction on Top Hat. The canal was built across two adjourning sound stages and the set featured three ornate levels. To better contrast the light set, the water was dyed black. The musical numbers on Top Hat were choreographed by Astaire and Hermes Pan. Pan and Astaire tried to use taps as much as possible in the songs.

For one of Top Hat‘s musical numbers, “Cheek to Cheek,” Ginger Rogers insisted on wearing a beautiful ostrich feather dress that she had apparently designed herself, and she was given permission to do so by RKO’s costuming department. Fred Astaire absolutely hated the feather dress during rehearsals. He was horrified that the dress (which hadn’t been designed for complicated dancing) constantly shed feathers whenever Rogers moved. In his autobiography Astaire described the dress as “It was like a chicken attacked by a coyote, I never saw so many feathers in my life.” At one point during rehearsals Astaire lost his temper and yelled at Ginger, which caused her to cry, and in turn caused her mother Lela to yell at Astaire! RKO’s tailors eventually modified the dress to make it more stable, though a few ostrich feathers can still be seen flying off the dress in the finished film.

To show that there were no hard feelings between the two Fred Astaire later gave Rogers a golden feather prop for her charm bracelet. He also sang her a song with lyrics parodying Berlin’s melody for “Cheek to Cheek.” The lyrics went: “Feathers—I hate feathers/ And I hate them so that I can hardly speak/ And I never find the happiness I seek/ With those chicken feathers dancing/ Cheek to Cheek.”

Fun Facts and Trivia: Several of the supporting cast members in Top Hat appeared in other Astaire-Rogers dance films. Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes (Alberto Beddini), and Eric Blore (Bates) all previously had roles in The Gay Divorcee (1934). Horton and Blore later reappeared with Astaire and Rogers in Shall We Dance (1937). Interestingly, Erik Rhodes was responsible for both The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat being banned in Italy. The Italian government was offended by his portrayal of seemingly Italian characters in both films.

Actress Lucille Ball has an uncredited bit part as a flower shop clerk. She also had roles in two other Astaire-Rogers musicals: Roberta (1935) and Follow the Fleet (1936). Ball became a leading lady in the late 1930s and starred in a number of films including in the musical Too Many Girls (1940) and the comedy Lover Come Back (1946). She later became a major television star following the release of her hugely popular sitcom series I Love Lucy (1951-1957).

Reception: Top Hat premiered at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on August 28, 1935. The film grossed $134,800 at the Radio City Music Hall in its first week there, a record for the theater. Top Hat went into general release in early September. Top Hat was a big hit at the box office, both in the United States and overseas, and it earned a very healthy profit for RKO. The catchy songs, the likeable pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and the film’s general appeal as escapist entertainment all helped to make it popular with audiences. Top Hat was the second highest grossing film of the year, after MGM’s Mutiny on the Bounty, and it was RKO’s most profitable film of the 1930s. Top Hat was also the fourth highest grossing film in the United Kingdom for the 1935-1936 season.

Top Hat received mostly positive reviews from critics when it was first released. Andre Sennwald of The New York Times had strong praise for the film’s musical numbers and the dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Sennwald didn’t think that the plot was very original, but he noted that the musical and comedic aspects of the film overcame the plot weakness. The film critics at Variety noted that the plot was too similar to The Gay Divorcee, but still gave Top Hat a positive review. Variety praised Fred Astaire’s performance, Irving Berlin’s songs, and the film’s comedic moments. Ann Ross of Maclean’s magazine lauded the dancing of Astaire and Rogers. Photoplay magazine listed Top Hat as being one of the best films of the month, and ranked the performances of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Eric Blore as being among the best of the month. Film Daily listed Top Hat as being one of the top ten best films of 1935.

Top Hat has received critical acclaim in retrospect and generally regarded as being one of the best Astaire-Rogers musicals. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Top Hat a prefect 4/4 star review and included the film on his list of “Great Movies.” Ebert praised the film’s performances and musical numbers, and also loved the film’s escapism. Steven D. Greydanus of Decent Films described Top Hat as being “the quintessential Fred-and-Ginger vehicle.” TV Guide magazine, Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress, Carol Cling of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Steve Crum of the Kansas City Kansan all gave Top Hat perfect 5/5 star reviews. In 2004 the American Film Institute ranked the song “Cheek to Cheek” as the fifteenth greatest film song of all time on their “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs” list. In 2006 the AFI ranked Top Hat as the fifteenth greatest American musical of all time on their “AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals” list.

Oscars: Top Hat was nominated for four Oscars at the 8th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Picture (Pandro S. Berman for RKO Radio Pictures), Best Song (for “Cheek to Cheek” with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin), Best Art Direction (Carroll Clark and Van Nest Polglase), and Best Dance Direction (Hermes Pan). The category “Best Dance Direction” was introduced at this ceremony and only lasted for three years. Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd and Irving Thalberg for MGM) received Best Picture, “Lullaby of Broadway” from Gold Diggers of 1935 (with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin) won the Best Song award, Richard Day (for The Dark Angel) received Best Art Direction, and Dave Gould (for Broadway Melody of 1936 and Folies Bergère de Paris) won the Best Dance Direction award.

Why You Should See It: Top Hat is an entertaining and likeable musical comedy film. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers both give good performances and are charming together. The dancing is fantastic, as to be expected in an Astaire-Rogers movie. I especially liked the “Isn’t This a Lovely Day (to be Caught in the Rain)” musical number set at the London park. The supporting cast members have plenty of funny moments, especially Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore.