Did anyone catch the framed photograph of Mae West on the window ledge of Colbert's apartment right when she's deciding to use the Aunt Jenny broadcast to reach out to Sally? I swear, that is Mae West, in one of her famous photos - but this was a '32-'33 film, and West had just made her first pic in '32, then She Done Him Wrong in 1933. Cool product placement, Paramount!
shareI noticed the photo of Mae as well. She was the hottest thing in the movies when this film was in production (TORCH SINGER came out in September, SHE DONE HIM WRONG, Mae's second hit, in Februbary) so I'm sure Paramount was sneaking a plug for her next film, I'M NO ANGEL, released the following month in October.
The old studios used to do things similar to that all the time. Often movies will mention the names of other stars at that studio or reuse song hits from recent films as background music (Claudette and Melvyn Douglas dance to "Moonlight and Shadows" in 1937's I MET HIM IN PARIS, a a big hit earlier that year for Dorothy Lamour in her film debut THE JUNGLE PRINCESS.)
Just finished watching it, and enjoyed it very much. To add about Star placement in movies, Adolphe Menjou's office in "Café Metropole" is peppered with portraits of stars from Fox, where the film is from.
Obvious move to promote their Stars, but who is complaining? Love the Classic movies!
"it's a Kafka high, you feel like a bug"
I really didn't see a Mae photo, but a Sylvia Sidney's one, in which she looks extremely unusual with long, curled hair. I'll pay more attention next time.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
Oh I didn't spot a Sylvia photo I'll have to watch for it.
By the way, in America movie star pictures were often included inside frames sold at department stores even into the very early 1960's. Sometimes people would keep the movie star picture in it for display! (The picture usually though was on paper somewhat like a magazine picture not a photograph). I remember a couple of frame sellers briefly revived this fad in the 1980's with but it didn't catch on this time around.