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Vivacious Lady

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Vivacious Lady is a 1938 American black-and-white romantic comedy film directed by George Stevens and starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart . It was released by RKO Radio Pictures . The screenplay was written by P.J. Wolfson and Ernest Pagano and adapted from a short story by I. A. R. Wylie . The music score was by Roy Webb and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse .

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29-503: The film is a story of love at first sight between a young botany professor and a nightclub singer . The film's comedic elements include repeatedly frustrated attempts by the newlywed couple to find a moment alone with each other. Among the supporting players are James Ellison , Frances Mercer, Beulah Bondi , Franklin Pangborn , and Charles Coburn , as well as an uncredited appearance by Hattie McDaniel . Botany professor Peter Morgan Jr.

58-451: A flare-up of her heart condition, making any further conversation impossible. For his third attempt, Peter decides to announce the marriage to his parents at the university's student-faculty prom. Keith brings Francey to the prom as his own guest, and Francey, still posing as a student, develops a friendly rapport with Mrs. Morgan, but gets into a nasty brawl with Helen in which Francey accidentally punches Peter's father. Peter says nothing at

87-449: A kind of madness or, as the Greeks put it, theia mania ("madness from the gods"). This love passion was described through an elaborate metaphoric and mythological psychological effect involving "love's arrows" or "love darts," the source of which was often given as the mythological Eros or Cupid , sometimes by other mythological deities, such as Pheme . At times, the source of the arrows

116-540: A profit of $ 75,000. In the early 1960s, Steve McQueen announced that he wanted to appear in a remake, but this did not happen. Vivacious Lady was nominated for two Oscars , for Best Cinematography and Best Sound, Recording ( John O. Aalberg ). George Stevens won a Special Recommendation Award at the 1938 Venice Film Festival . Vivacious Lady was adapted as a radio play on the April 7, 1940 episode of The Screen Guild Theater with Ginger Rogers and Fred MacMurray ,

145-612: A variety format, with mixed success. The program increasingly came to rely on adaptations of major motion pictures—presenting a considerable challenge to writers who had to compress the narrative into 22 minutes. Fees these actors would typically charge were donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund , in order to support the creation and maintenance of the Motion Picture Country Home for retired actors. A 1940 magazine article noted that The Screen Guild Theater

174-444: Is a personal experience and a common theme in creative works: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. It has been described by poets and critics since the emergence of ancient Greece . In the classical world, the phenomenon of "love at first sight" was understood within the context of a more general conception of passionate love,

203-489: Is a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during the Golden Age of Radio . Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several different titles including The Gulf Screen Guild Show , The Gulf Screen Guild Theater , The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater and The Camel Screen Guild Players . Fees that would ordinarily have been paid to

232-507: Is afraid to tell him about the marriage. When they arrive, Mr. Morgan and Peter's high-society fiancée, Helen, initially take Francey for another of Keith's girlfriends. While Peter decides how to approach his father with the news, Francey stays at a women-only hotel, and Peter and Keith introduce her as a new botany student. Peter mentions Francey to his father twice, but on both occasions, Mr. Morgan interrupts and ignores his son, and when Peter becomes insistent, his apparently ailing mother has

261-509: Is sent to Manhattan to retrieve his playboy cousin Keith and immediately falls in love with nightclub singer Francey. After a whirlwind one-day courtship, Peter and Francey get married, and they and Keith return to the Morgan family's home in the small town of Old Sharon, where Peter teaches at the university run by his father, Peter Morgan Sr. Mr. Morgan is known for being a proud, overbearing man, so Peter

290-447: Is that the attractiveness of a person can be very quickly determined, with the average time in one study being 0.13 seconds. The second is that the first few minutes, but not the first moment, of a relationship have been shown to be predictive of the relationship's future success, more so than what two people have in common or whether they like each other (" like attracts like "). Infatuation , not to be confused with love at first sight,

319-567: Is the state of being carried away by an unreasoned passion or assumed love. Hillman and Phillips describe it as a desire to express the libidinal attraction of addictive love, inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone. Opera plots must be condensed to fit their rendition in music and are thus highly suited to plot lines in which the principals fall in love at first sight. Often, this moment inspires composers to unusually fine music. Abundant examples include: The Screen Guild Theater The Screen Guild Theater

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348-553: The Provençal troubadour poets of southern France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and became part of the European courtly love tradition. In particular, a glimpse of the woman's eyes was said to be the source of the love dart: This doctrine of the immediate visual perception of one's lady as a prerequisite to the birth of love originated among the "beaux esprits" de Provence. [...] According to this description, love originates upon

377-713: The January 6, 1941 episode of Lux Radio Theatre with Alice Faye and Don Ameche , the October 2, 1945 episode of CBS's Theater of Romance with Robert Walker and Lurene Tuttle , the December 3, 1945 Screen Guild Theater with James Stewart and Janet Blair and on the August 14, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater with Lana Turner . It was also presented on Philip Morris Playhouse February 13, 1942, with Madeleine Carroll starring. Love at first sight Love at first sight

406-550: The Motion Picture Relief Fund. "A table of highlights would run many pages", wrote radio historian John Dunning , who lists the following notable Screen Guild broadcasts: Shirley Temple's parents declined an offer of $ 35,000 for her to perform a radio version of The Blue Bird on a commercial broadcast; instead, she presented it on the Screen Guild program without payment. An attempt was made on her life during

435-402: The eyes of the lady when encountered by those of her future lover. The love thus generated is conveyed on bright beams of light from her eyes to his, through which it passes to take up its abode in his heart. In some medieval texts, the gaze of a beautiful woman is compared to the sight of a basilisk . Giovanni Boccaccio provides a memorable example in his Il Filostrato , where he mixes

464-464: The incident releases thirty years of marital frustration in Mrs. Morgan, who also decides to leave her husband. Francey tells Peter she is leaving him. He vows that he can change his father's mind before her train departs. Peter's solution is to threaten the family with disgrace by getting drunk and otherwise misbehaving until his father relents, even if it costs him his job. Peter passes out before he can reach

493-409: The lover through the action of these processes, and is illustrated in numerous Greek and Roman works. In Ovid 's 8 AD epic, Metamorphoses , Narcissus becomes immediately spellbound and charmed by his own (unbeknownst to him) image, and Echo also falls in love with Narcissus at first sight. In Achilles Tatius 's Leucippe and Clitophon , the lover Clitophon thus describes his own experience of

522-643: The next year in As You Like It : 'Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might: "Who ever lov'd that lov'd not at first sight?"'. These images of the lover's eyes, the arrows, and the ravages of "love at first sight" continued to be circulated and elaborated upon in the Renaissance and Baroque literature, and play an important role in Western fiction and especially the novel , according to Jean Rousset . Research has shown two bases for love at first sight. The first

551-518: The phenomenon: "As soon as I had seen her, I was lost. For Beauty's wound is sharper than any weapon's, and it runs through the eyes down to the soul. It is through the eye that love's wound passes, and I now became a prey to a host of emotions..." Another classical interpretation of the phenomenon of "hunger at first sight" is found in Plato 's Symposium (c. 385-370 BC), in Aristophanes ' description of

580-652: The prom, but blurts the news to his father just as Mr. Morgan is about to give an important speech, resulting in another argument and another flare-up of Mrs. Morgan's heart condition. This prevents Mrs. Morgan from learning who Francey is, but she accidentally finds out from Francey herself during a conversation in Francey's apartment. Mrs. Morgan accepts the news happily, and admits to Francey that she pretends to have heart trouble any time her husband gets into an argument, but Mr. Morgan demands that Francey leave Peter, threatening to fire him if she does not. Francey agrees to leave, but

609-413: The separation of primitive double-creatures into modern men and women and their subsequent search for their missing half: "... when [a lover] ... is fortunate enough to meet his other half, they are both so intoxicated with affection, with friendship, and with love, that they cannot bear to let each other out of sight for a single instant." The classical conception of love's arrows were elaborated upon by

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638-425: The show. As Temple was singing "Someday You'll Find Your Bluebird", a woman in the audience rose from her seat and pulled out a handgun, pointing it directly at her. The woman hesitated and was disarmed. It was later discovered that she had lost a child on the day it was publicly stated that Temple was born, and blamed her for stealing her daughter's soul. The series benefited during its 1950–51 season on ABC, when it

667-799: The stars and studios were instead donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund , and were used for the construction and maintenance of the Motion Picture Country House . The Screen Guild Theater had a long run beginning January 8, 1939, lasting for 14 seasons and 527 episodes. Actors on the series included Ethel Barrymore , Lionel Barrymore , Ingrid Bergman , Humphrey Bogart , Eddie Cantor , Gary Cooper , Bing Crosby , Bette Davis , Jimmy Durante , Nelson Eddy , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , Clark Gable , Judy Garland , Gene Kelly , Sam Levene , Johnny Mercer , Agnes Moorehead , Dennis Morgan , Gregory Peck , Fred Astaire , Frank Sinatra , Shirley Temple , and Dinah Shore . The series began with

696-470: The tradition of love at first sight, the eye's darts, and the metaphor of Cupid's arrow: "Nor did he ( Troilus ) who was so wise shortly before... perceive that Love with his darts dwelt within the rays of those lovely eyes... nor notice the arrow that sped to his heart." William Shakespeare pays a posthumous tribute to Christopher Marlowe , who himself wrote "Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?" in his 1598 poem Hero and Leander , by citing him

725-522: The train, which departs with both Francey and Mrs. Morgan aboard, but Mr. Morgan, having finally yielded to the combined pressure of his son and wife, stops the train by driving ahead of it with Peter and parking the car on the track. Both marriages are saved, and Peter and Francey finally have their honeymoon on the train. Vivacious Lady marked one of James Stewart's earliest starring roles. Ginger Rogers recommended Stewart as her leading man in this film. Although neither actor collaborated on any prior work,

754-565: The two were dating at the time. After four days of shooting in April 1937, Stewart became ill, but then left to costar in Of Human Hearts (1938). RKO considered replacing Stewart, but shelved the production until December 1937. Actors Donald Crisp and Fay Bainter , who were cast in the original production, were replaced respectively by Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi (both of whom co-starred with Stewart in Hearts as well). The film made

783-513: Was "the only sponsored program on the air which gives all its profits to charity." Nearly $ 800,000 had been contributed by the summer of 1942. The first three seasons of the CBS series were sponsored by Gulf Oil . With uncertainties in the oil market due to World War II , Gulf dropped the show, and in 1942 the Lady Esther cosmetics corporation assumed sponsorship. The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater

812-411: Was consistently one of the top ten radio programs. Reverses in the cosmetics industry led Lady Esther to withdraw in 1947, and Camel Cigarettes purchased a three-year contract. Changing time slots and networks brought about a decline in ratings. In the fall of 1950, the series returned to CBS, where it ran until its final broadcast June 30, 1952. The Screen Guild Theater earned a total of $ 5,235,607 for

841-404: Was said to be the image of the beautiful love object itself. If these arrows arrived at the lover's eyes, they would then travel to and 'pierce' his or her heart, overwhelming them with desire and longing ( love sickness ). The image of the "arrow's wound" was sometimes used to create oxymorons and rhetorical antithesis . "Love at first sight" was explained as a sudden and immediate beguiling of

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