Happy Birthday, Gregory La Cava! Born today in 1892, this American film director of Italian decent is best known for his films of the 1930s.
This includes the film of which he is best known for directing: the 1936 American black and white screwball romance/comedy film 'My Man Godfrey'.
Based off of the 1935 novel 1101 Park Avenue by American writer on the staff of The New Yorker, novelist and screenwriter Eric S. Hatch (who also co-wrote the screenplay), the film is set during the Great Depression.
It tells of Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard), who needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt. And no one is more forgotten than Godfrey "Smith" Parks (William Powell), who resides in a New York City dump by the East River.
Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia (Gail Patrick), who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.
The following year, 'My Man Godfrey' earned La Cava an Oscar nomination for Best Director at the 9th Academy Awards in early March 1937.
Two years later, La Cava was nominated again for his 1937 American RKO black and white comedy-drama/drama film 'Stage Door'. This occurred at the 10th Academy Awards in March 1938.
Years later, 'My Man Godfrey' was remade into a 1957 American CinemaScope Eastmancolor romance/ comedy film, with American stage, film, and television actress, dancer, and singer June Allyson and English actor, memoirist and novelist David Niven in the starring roles.
In 1999, the original version of 'My Man Godfrey' was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
La Cava had been active from 1916–1948.
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