The Great Ziegfeld - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Great Ziegfeld or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Great Ziegfeld

[ruby]

Billie Burke, the wife Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., paid a visit to the film's set one day. While there, she was photographed with Myrna Loy, who was portraying Ms. Burke in the film.

[mathew]

Nat Pendleton was a former champion weightlifter and easily duplicated some of Eugen Sandow's feats in this film. At the time, Nat was the only man to have ever played a strongman from this time period.

[veronica]

Ray Bolger never worked for Ziegfeld, although he is presented in the film as a Ziegfeld star. Fanny Brice was a Ziegfeld star and plays herself in the film. Other Ziegfeld stars, Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers are portrayed by actors in the film.

[albert]

The only film directed by Robert Z. Leonard to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

[terry]

During filming, Venita Varden's costume caught fire while she was in the dressing room. She was saved when Maxine Cantway and Sheila Browning helped extinguish the flames.

[sylvia]

One of 11 American Music/als to win Best Picture: 1)The Broadway Melody (1929), 2)The Great Ziegfeld (1936), 3)Going My Way (1944), 4)An American in Paris (1951), 5)Gigi (1958), 6)West Side Story (1961), 7)My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), 9)Oliver! (1968), 10)Amadeus (1984), 11)Chicago (2002).

[leo]

At around 1:22:28 (during the "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" number), you can see a stage hand with a cue card in the reflection of the second showgirls mirror guitar.

[claude]

For her famous telephone conversation scene, which is generally credited as being what clinched the Oscar for her, Luise Rainer drew a lot of her material from a play by Jean Cocteau entitled "The Human Voice".

[tom]

In 1935, Judy Garland and her sisters, known as "The Gumm Sisters," tested and were signed to Universal Studios for the upcoming biopic of Florenz Ziegfeld titled "The Great Ziegfeld." When the property was sold to MGM in the spring, the sisters were dropped from the project. The film would go on to become one of MGM's biggest hits, earning several Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress for the marvelous Louise Rainer. Nine months later, Judy would successfully audition for MGM.

[sophie]

According to Samuel Marx, an M-G-M executive at the time, this film cost $2.2 million and went on to gross $2.9 million, making it profitable but less so than it might have been with a more constrained budget. The most expensive sequence involved a several stories high rotating white staircase featuring more than 180 performers, required weeks of rehearsals and several takes to stage, and cost over $220,000. The lavish nature of this production was one of the hallmarks of M-G-M, and was a factor in the studio's being considered Hollywood's most successful dream factory.

[dustin]

Myrna Loy, who received second billing for this film, does not actually appear on screen until 2 hours and 15 minutes into the movie.

[jesus]

Real-life actresses Lillian Lorraine and Marilyn Miller are portrayed under fake names in the film.

[nina]

Due to censorship restrictions forced upon studios by the Hays Code, the Ziegfeld Follies could not be accurately depicted in this film by director Robert Z. Leonard due to their nudity and subject matter. However, the earlier Pre-Code film Glorifying the American Girl (1929) contains an accurate depiction of Ziegfeld's productions and was partly filmed in 2-strip Technicolor. Unfortunately, most available versions of the latter Jazz Age film are from surviving prints with all offensive material censored.

[jamie]

This film has several connections to The Wizard of Oz (1939). Both films were produced by MGM. It co-stars Frank Morgan, who plays the Wizard in the second film. Billie Burke, the former wife of Ziegfeld portrayed in this film by Myrna Loy, played Glenda the Good Witch in Wizard. Judy Garland, who plays Dorothy in Wizard, auditioned for this film.

[frances]

The film was announced as a Universal production in January, 1934 with Lowell Sherman directing.

[lynn]

The fourth of 14 films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy.