The Broadway musical that most people associate with Jerome Kern after Showboat is Roberta. The plot you see here was expanded quite a bit because on stage the whole thing takes place in the USA where the Randolph Scott character inherits a fashion designing business. RKO decided to invest a little glamor into the project by transporting the whole thing to Paris and it was a wise move, though the film never got further to Paris than the RKO back lot.<br /><br />Both the parts that Helen Westley and Randolph Scott play on stage are singing roles. Helen is the aunt from whom Scott inherits Madame Roberta's Dress Design when she dies. On stage it was played by Fay Templeton in her farewell performance and Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach wrote Yesterdays for her. In the film version Irene Dunne sings the song.<br /><br />Besides Irene, the rest of the vocal chores are taken by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their second film together. Astaire's part on Broadway was done by Bob Hope. Because Astaire was doing the part a dance number was called for so Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields wrote I Won't Dance for Astaire. Fred also partners with Ginger Rogers in I'll be Hard to Handle.<br /><br />Irene Dunne sings Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, one of Jerome Kern's most well known ballads about misplaced love. Folks of my generation might remember that the song got a second life as a doo-wop ballad during the first phase of rock and roll. Such songs as You're Devastating and The Touch of Your Hand got relegated however to just part of the instrumental background.<br /><br />Still half a Kern score is better than a full one by most other composers. This would be the last time that Astaire and Rogers were supporting players in a film. The next time out they would be the leads. <br /><br />During a drunk scene Randolph Scott sings a couple of bars of I Won't Dance. That may have been the limit of his singing career on screen and a good thing too.<br /><br />On Broadway Ray Middleton played Scott's part and Tamara Geva who was killed entertaining troops overseas was the female lead. Can you imagine a show though that had besides those I already mentioned, Fred MacMurray, George Murphy, and Sydney Greenstreet all in the cast.<br /><br />What a film that would have been.