History Film / Roberta

''Roberta'' is a 1935 RKO musical film starring Creator/IreneDunne, Randolph Scott, Creator/FredAstaire, and Creator/GingerRogers. The film features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach, based on their 1933 stage play, which was in turn based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FilmRoberta.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:Lovely to look at...]]
->''When your heart's on fire,\\
You must realize, smoke gets in your eyes...''
->-The frequently CoveredUp song, '''Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'''

!!This Film Includes the Following Tropes:

''Roberta'' is a 1935 RKO musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Creator/FredAstaire, and Creator/GingerRogers. The film features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach, based on their 1933 stage play, which was in turn based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FilmRoberta.jpg
[[caption-width:210:Lovely to look at...]]

-->''When your heart's on fire,\\

-->--The frequently CoveredUp song, '''Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'''

-->--'''Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'''

'''''Film/{{Roberta}}''''' is a 1935 RKO musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Creator/FredAstaire, and Creator/GingerRogers. The film features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach, based on their 1933 stage play, which was in turn based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller.

* {{Fauxreigner}}: Scharwenka. She explains to Huck that the stage name and persona help her to get more bookings: "You have to have a title to croon over here."

* {{Fauxreigner}}: Scharwenka. She explains to Huck that the stage name and persona help her to get more bookings.

* [[InformedAttribute Informed Ugliness]]: A certain black dress is supposed to be hideous and tacky, but to modern eyes, it doesn't look very different from the other dresses in the movie.
* LoveTriangle: Stephanie/John/Sophie. John/Stephanie/Ladislaw [[spoiler:is something John thinks is a triangle, but in fact, Ladislaw is protective of Stephanie because he's her cousin.]]

John gets help from the only person he knows in Paris--his Aunt Minnie, who owns the gown shop "Roberta". John meets her chief assistant, Stephanie (Dunne), and quickly falls in love with her.

** Averted in the case of Huck/Lizzie/John; Lizzie/Scharwenka seems quite taken with John when she meets him, but she drops that instantly once she sees her old pal Huck.

* ShoutOut: During "I Won't Dance," Ginger Rogers sings to Fred Astaire: "But when you dance you're charming and you're gentle/ Especially when you do the Continental," referring to the dance in their previous film, ''The Gay Divorcee''.

* PimpedOutCape
* PimpedOutDress

* [[InformedAttribute Informed Ugliness]]: A certain black dress is supposed to be hideous and tacky, but it doesn't look very different from the other dresses in the movie.
* LoveTriangle: Stephanie/John/Sophie. [[spoiler:John thinks that himself/Stephanie/Ladislaw is also a triangle, but in fact, Ladislaw is protective of Stephanie because he's her cousin.]]

* BetaCouple: Huck and Lizzie get (back) together with just a little BelligerentSexualTension, unlike John and Stephanie.

John gets help from his Aunt Minnie (the only person he knows in Paris) for help, who owns the gown shop "Roberta". John meets her chief assistant, Stephanie (Dunne), and quickly falls in love with her.

Huck also meets somebody he knows. The "Countress Scharwenka" turns out to be his old sweetheart, Lizzie Gatz (Rogers), and she gets his band a gig at the nightclub where she works.

Two things trouble John. One is Ladislaw, a handsome Russian who seems to be infatuated with Stephanie and the other is Sophie, a conceited ex-girlfriend he left behind over an argument of his lack of sophistication.

* RichBitch: Claire

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Gal!]]: A very young ''platinum-blonde'' Creator/LucilleBall appears as a model in the Fashion Show.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Gal!]]: A very young ''platinum-blonde'' LucilleBall appears as a model in the Fashion Show.

'''''Film/{{Roberta}}''''' is a 1935 RKO musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, FredAstaire, and Ginger Rogers. The film features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach, based on their 1933 stage play, which was in turn based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Gal!]]: A very young ''platinum-blonde'' Lucille Ball appears as a model in the Fashion Show.

[[caption-width:210::Lovely to look at...]]

''Synopsis (Spoilers Included):''
-->Down-on-their-luck bandleader Huckleberry Haines (Fred Astaire) and his "Wabash Indianians" head for Paris to take a desperately needed gig. With them goes Haines's friend, the equally hard-up John Kent (Randolph Scott), rejected by his snooty girlfriend Claire (Sophie Teale) to obtain help from his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley), who has become wealthy as the fashion designer "Roberta." The business, catering to wealthy patrons such as the Countess Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers) -- who is really an American singer and an old girlfriend of Haines's -- is actually run by Aunt Minnie's assistant, Stephanie (Irene Dunne) -- an exiled White Russian countess. Aunt Minnie dies, and leaves half of the business to John; he asks Stephanie to continue running the business though he considers some of her luxurious designs too "vulgar" and daring. John and Stephanie are falling in love, but when Claire shows up and when he sees Stephanie with an exiled Russian nobleman, he assumes the worst . Love, of course, eventually triumphs for John, Stephanie, Huckleberry, and the "Countess."

The rights to the play had been horrendously expensive to purchase, but ''Roberta'' was a rousing success for RKO, and helped to put them back in the black after the studio had not shown a profit for five years. The film's musical numbers included "(Back Home Again In) Indiana," "Let's Begin," "Russian Lullaby," "I'll Be Hard to Handle," and "Yesterdays," -- but the big hits were "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Lovely to Look At," and "I Won't Dance" -- the two last of which had '''not'' appeared in the stage version, but were added specially for the movie. They were so successful that they are nearly always included in stage revivals, and actually supplied the title to the 1952 MGM remake, ''Lovely to Look At.''

'''''Film/{{Roberta}}''''' is a 1935 RKO musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers. The film features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach, based on their 1933 stage play, which was in turn based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller.

* PimpedOutDress: Naturally.

* RichBitch: Claire