Claire Luce: Broadway's It Girl [Rough Draft]

Introduction

I remember as a kid watching classic musicals but I have never seen myself writing about Cole Porter's "Gay Divorce" and one of its stars, Claire Luce. I remember seeing the 1934 film, "The Gay Divorcee" for the first time in the summer of 2015. I couldn't help but wonder what if Ginger Rogers wasn't picked to portray the role of Mimi and that RKO's executives agreed with Fred Astaire. Film history as we know it, would be so different and we wouldn't have gotten the very famous Cheek To Cheek dance and behind the scenes stories from cast members.

The first film of Fred's that I've seen was "Funny Face" and associated him as Audrey Hepburn's one time dance partner. Yet, I have grown attached to the Astaire-Rogers films, especially 1934's "The Gay Divorcee". Who doesn't want to break into The Continental every thirty minutes or so?

I've first gotten into the Classics when I watched "Mary Poppins" starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke with my sister and mother. I grew fond of the film and musicals in general, but it was during the Fall of my Sophomore in high school that has gotten me into Old Hollywood, especially the films of Humphrey Bogart when the class' instructor, Mr Kevin Bennett showed two of Humphrey's films. 1941's "The Maltese Falcon" with Mary Astor and Peter Lorre; 1942's "Casablanca" with Ingrid Bergman and Peter Lorre. One film in particular stood out. 1930's "Up the River", which placed Humphrey Bogart opposite Spencer Tracy and Claire Luce. I, first, came across the film during the Winter of 2015 and wanted to know more about one of its stars, Miss Claire Luce.

The research alone proved to be a difficult task to do. Only a few websites had something to Claire. She also has very little biography written about her on her Wikipedia page; however, Google Books helped quite a lot when it came to finding more information about the Broadway Queen of ten consistent and successful years as a dancer until her fall in a 1934 production of Cole Porter's "Gay Divorce" on the West End for the British Royal family.

I think that Claire Luce is remembered for her one time work with Fred Astaire, but it wasn't all that she had done in her career. Yet, it's the production that immortalized her style of dance as Fred had mentioned about Claire in his autobiography, "Steps In Time".

My fascination with Claire Luce started when I read about her in Fred's autobiography. I started to think about what she has done in before and after she had worked with Fred. For example, Claire worked for Ziegfeld in the 1920s and would have met a young Billie Burke during the cast parties.

The first film that I have seen of Billie's is The Wizard Of Oz, where she plays the bubbly but wise, Glinda The Good Witch of the North.

I was born in 1995, six years after Claire's death. Though, that's the case. I really think that Claire deserves to be recognized for her work ethic, and not for her retirement in 1955 and Cole Porter's "Gay Divorce". Claire Luce was the girl who inspired Fred Astaire with the dances in The Gay Divorcee and that was how he paid his respects for her. Thank you, Mr Astaire, for immortalizing Claire's style of dancing on film. I hope that they are both happy dancing together again up there in heaven with your fellow "Gay Divorce" co-stars.

Kathryn Reed
Beaverton, OR
2015