During the first few years of talkies, Hollywood studios had a habit of remaking a number of their silent movies into audible motion pictures. One reason is they held the film rights to the plays they were based on, so it cost less to convert these silent gems into new, retitled sound feature films.
A good example is November 1930's "Fast and Loose." Paramount Pictures had produced its 1925 silent film 'The Best People" (now lost), based on a David Gray and Avery Hopwood 1924 play of the same name. It's a story of a rich family with two older children, Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth), that are spoiled, snobbish siblings who their dad, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan), secretly despises them. The two have a pair of friends who are their complete opposite. Bertie has fallen for chorus girl Alice O'Neil (Carole Lombard), while Marion loves auto mechanic Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett), both whom the Lenox parents feel are beneath their children's high society status.
Relatively new playwright, Preston Sturges, with just two written plays under his belt (the second one, a Broadway megahit called 'Strictly Dishonorable'), was hired by Paramount to write the dialogue for its films. "Fast and Loose" was his second movie for the studio. Sturges was destined to have a bright future in Hollywood, becoming an Oscar winner as well as producing several classics.
"Fast and Loose" was the cinematic debut of Miriam Hopkins. The Savannah, Georgia-born and raised actress appeared first on the stage as a 20-year-old chorus girl in 1922, and soon leapfrogged onto the Broadway stage in musicals and dramatic plays. When talkies arrived, Hopkins signed a contract with Paramount in 1930. She later appeared in a string of popular movies, including the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch hit "Trouble in Paradise," but turned down the lead in 1934's "It Happened One Night." The actress was Margaret Mitchell's choice to play Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind," only to lose out to Vivien Leigh.
"Fast and Loose" was the second movie Carole Lombard appeared for Paramount. A veteran of movies since the early 1920s as a teenager, Lombard was one of Mack Sennett's 'Bathing Beauties,' appearing in 18 short films in the late 1920s. Picking up comedic skills in those shorts, she was most comfortable playing light-hearted movies. Her first talkie was in 1929 'High Voltage. "Fast and Loose" was already her 40th film appearance, but she plays against type here, displaying a serious, mature demeanor. The title writer misspelled her name in the opening credits, adding an "e" to Carol. Lombard loved her new misspelled name so much she adopted it for the remainder of her life. Lombard later married actor Clark Gable.
"Fast and Loose" was also the film debut of actor Charles Starrett, an Athol, Massachusetts-born actor who attended Worcester Academy before graduating from Dartmouth College. He played in several repertory theatre groups before signing with Paramount. He settled into Western parts in the mid-1930s and was cast as The Durango Kid in 1940, the film character he was eternally known for.
A good example is November 1930's "Fast and Loose." Paramount Pictures had produced its 1925 silent film 'The Best People" (now lost), based on a David Gray and Avery Hopwood 1924 play of the same name. It's a story of a rich family with two older children, Marion Lenox (Miriam Hopkins) and Bertie Lenox (Henry Wadsworth), that are spoiled, snobbish siblings who their dad, Bronson Lenox (Frank Morgan), secretly despises them. The two have a pair of friends who are their complete opposite. Bertie has fallen for chorus girl Alice O'Neil (Carole Lombard), while Marion loves auto mechanic Henry Morgan (Charles Starrett), both whom the Lenox parents feel are beneath their children's high society status.
Relatively new playwright, Preston Sturges, with just two written plays under his belt (the second one, a Broadway megahit called 'Strictly Dishonorable'), was hired by Paramount to write the dialogue for its films. "Fast and Loose" was his second movie for the studio. Sturges was destined to have a bright future in Hollywood, becoming an Oscar winner as well as producing several classics.
"Fast and Loose" was the cinematic debut of Miriam Hopkins. The Savannah, Georgia-born and raised actress appeared first on the stage as a 20-year-old chorus girl in 1922, and soon leapfrogged onto the Broadway stage in musicals and dramatic plays. When talkies arrived, Hopkins signed a contract with Paramount in 1930. She later appeared in a string of popular movies, including the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch hit "Trouble in Paradise," but turned down the lead in 1934's "It Happened One Night." The actress was Margaret Mitchell's choice to play Scarlett O'Hara in 1939's "Gone With The Wind," only to lose out to Vivien Leigh.
"Fast and Loose" was the second movie Carole Lombard appeared for Paramount. A veteran of movies since the early 1920s as a teenager, Lombard was one of Mack Sennett's 'Bathing Beauties,' appearing in 18 short films in the late 1920s. Picking up comedic skills in those shorts, she was most comfortable playing light-hearted movies. Her first talkie was in 1929 'High Voltage. "Fast and Loose" was already her 40th film appearance, but she plays against type here, displaying a serious, mature demeanor. The title writer misspelled her name in the opening credits, adding an "e" to Carol. Lombard loved her new misspelled name so much she adopted it for the remainder of her life. Lombard later married actor Clark Gable.
"Fast and Loose" was also the film debut of actor Charles Starrett, an Athol, Massachusetts-born actor who attended Worcester Academy before graduating from Dartmouth College. He played in several repertory theatre groups before signing with Paramount. He settled into Western parts in the mid-1930s and was cast as The Durango Kid in 1940, the film character he was eternally known for.