Star Entrances: "Stage Door" (1937)

Katharine Hepburn. Ginger Rogers. Lucille Ball. Eve Arden. Ann Miller. Phyllis Kennedy. Constance Collier. Jack Carson. Is this the roster of an awards ceremony in the 1950s?  No -- it's the call sheet for our movie today, featuring one of the most stacked line-ups of soon-to-be stars ever gathered on a single soundstage. From RKO in 1937, it's "Stage Door."

At first glance, it's Hepburn v Rogers as the main event; two titans of the studio, one on the way up and one fighting to stay. Who will come out champ in the last round? But what really makes "Stage Door" special is the phenomenal cast of up-and-comers lending their support to the stars, each one on the cusp of major stardom of their own. Add to the mix the improvisatory work of director Gregory LaCava, eavesdropping on his actresses’ real conversations and personalities, and crafting a screenplay that crackles with dialogue and repartee that still seems fresh and irreverent after almost 90 years.  

But it's not a TKO. We talk honestly about the weaker story threads, why Andrea Leeds’s character feels underwritten despite an Oscar nomination, the tonal whiplash of the last third of the film, and why certain romantic casting choices (hello, Adolphe Menjou) strain belief. Still, the movie’s core theme lands: show business is relentless, rejection is constant, and the next hopeful is always ready to walk through the stage door.

So, who ends up the victor? The acclaimed upper-class Hepburn? The scrappy upstart Rogers? Or is it the actress who came from behind them and ended up owning the whole studio? You'll have to listen to find out! 

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