![]() ![]() Six more nations, including Great Britain and France, joined the one-year moratorium on building armaments.The DuPont company announced the invention of a new synthetic rubber called DuPrene, known today as neoprene.Thirty people were injured during rioting between fascists and anti-fascists at the French towns of Nice, Chambéry and Dijon when Italians came to the towns to pay their respects to Italian war dead.The following events occurred in November 1931: Formerly presented on commercial television's WPHL, Channel 17, in Philadelphia prior to 1974, and available on video cassette in the mid 1980s from Matinée Classics, it can be seen occasionally on late night Turner Classic Movies.November 21, 1931: Universal Pictures releases Frankenstein and creates the signature image of Frankenstein's Monster FASHIONS OF 1934 is enjoyable fluff from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and would be recommended to those who enjoy watching pre-code production movies. And then there is that Frank McHugh laugh, especially while either looking at some "naughty girlie photographs" or encountering them in the flesh. In the supporting cast are Philip Reed as Jimmy Blake, a struggling songwriter in love with Lynn Gordon Westcott and Dorothy Burgess as a couple of swindlers working for Nash in the early portion of the story Henry O'Neill, Etienne Girardot and George Humbert as famous fashion designers who have their designs stolen by Nash Hobart Cavanaugh as a man with a box of dancing worms and Jane Darwell in a small role as a patron during the fashion show sequence. ![]() And of course, in true Berkeley tradition, the girls in ostrich feather gowns form themselves into one large blooming rose. However, the heavy blonde wigs the semi-nude girls wear make them appear older than their actual youthful ages. It highlights several chorus girls as human harps and others in pre-production code bikinis, exposing more skin of the female body than any other Berkeley number has up to that time. The fashion show is preceded by a Busby Berkeley number, "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" (music and lyrics by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain), as sung by Verree Teasdale. His performance itself never disappoints. FASHIONS OF 1934 very much belongs to Powell, quite amusing and self-confident man. Nash meets further complications when there is a possibility that Lynn might walk out on him, and of he being exposed by Baroque, who wants to ruin him. With the help of his former girlfriend, Mabel Maguire (Verree Teasdale), posing as the Grand Duchess Alix, a Russian noblewoman, presently engaged to designer Oscar Baroque (Reginald Owen), Nash arranges to get revue and fashion show together featuring the Grand Duchess Alix. Trying to come up with new and original ideas, Nash meets and befriends Joe Ward (Hugh Herbert), a California feather merchant hoping to interest designers into using more ostrich feathers on their creations. After getting caught, Lynn, Nash and Snap (Frank McHugh), Nash's girl-chasing partner, shipboard their way to Paris to get the latest designs. ![]() He uses theatrical methods to steal dress designs from famous designers and presenting them to potential buyers at cut-rate prices. Looking over her drawn sketches, Nash, finding Lynn to be very talented, decides to pursue another kind of racket, that as a fashion swindler. ![]() While his furniture is being moved out, Nash encounters Lynn Mason (Bette Davis), a fashion designer seeking employment. The story opens with Sherwood Nash (Powell), a smooth operator who can talk his way in and out of anything, being evicted from his Golden Harvest Investment Corporation for back payment of rent. On and all, FASHIONS OF 1934 (TV and video title: FASHIONS), solely relies on comedy and its presentation of the latest fashions, which were probably never seen again after this movie finished its theatrical run. In spite of it being labeled a musical, Davis does not sing a note nor dance, but the movie itself does consist of one lavish production number, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, which needs to be seen to be believed, but otherwise, worth the price of admission. One can only imagine Davis detesting such an assignment having her look more like a department store mannequin than herself, but it was one of many such "nothing" film roles before the studio would know what to do with her. It is also surprising for a first time viewer to find Bette in platinum blonde shoulder length hair supported with heavy eye lashes and lipstick. Although an unlikely pair, there isn't much chemistry between them. FASHIONS OF 1934 (Warner Brothers, 1934), directed by William Dieterle, is a light comedy that pairs debonair William Powell for the one and only time opposite the very young but unrecognizable Bette Davis. ![]()
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