Twentieth Century - 1934

"Twentieth Century" was adapted from a Broadway play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

It opened Dec. 29, 1932 at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York and ran for 152 performances.

The play "Twentieth Century" was adapted from an unproduced play "Napoleon of Broadway" by Charles Bruce Millholland, based on Millholland's experiences working for legendary eccentric theater producer David Belasco.

When asked by John Barrymore why he should play the role of Oscar, Howard Hawks replied, "It's the story of the biggest ham on earth and you're the biggest ham I know." Barrymore accepted at once.

John Barrymore once said that the role of Oscar was "a role that comes once in a lifetime" and even deemed this his favorite of all the movies he appeared in.

After filming had ended, John Barrymore gave Carole Lombard an autographed photo inscribed, "To the finest actress I have worked with, bar none."

Howard Hawks was concerned when Carole Lombard could not perform the kicking scene very well. Hawks took her out for a walk and recalls, "I asked her how much money she was getting for this picture. She told me and I said, 'What would you say if I told you you'd earned your whole salary this morning and didn't have to act anymore?' And she was stunned. So I said, 'Now forget about the scene. What would you do if someone said such and such to you?' And she said, 'I'd kick him in the balls.' And I said, 'Well, he (John Barrymore) said something like that - why don't you kick him?' She said, 'Are you kidding?' And I said, 'No.'" Hawks ended the conversation with, "Now we're going back in and make this scene and you kick, and you do any damn thing that comes into your mind that's natural, and quit acting. If you don't quit, I'm going to fire you this afternoon." Hawks' white lies did the trick, and the scene was filmed. In addition, Hawks claimed that after that, Lombard never began another movie without sending him a telegram that read, "I'm gonna start kicking him."

This was later adapted as a Broadway musical "On the Twentieth Century", which opened at the St. James Theatre in New York on Feb. 19, 1978 and ran for 449 performances. In the opening night cast were Imogene Coca, Madeline Kahn, John Cullum and Kevin Kline.

In the original 1932 Broadway play were Etienne Girardot (who re-creates his role for this film), Granville Bates, William Frawley, Joseph Crehan and Dennie Moore. A 1950 revival of the play starred Gloria Swanson. A 2004 revival starred Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche. The first Broadway production opened on December 29, 1932 at the Broadhurst Theater and ran for 152 performances.

Versions presently in distribution, as shown on Turner Classic Movies, bear the updated Columbia logo and title credits from the 1938 re-release.

O'Malley jokes that Jaffe is now calling himself Hemingway and has shot himself, a grim precursor of the writer's death.

Cast of Twentieth Century

John Barrymore as Oscar "O.J." Jaffe
Carole Lombard as Lily Garland, aka Mildred Plotka
Walter Connolly as Oliver Webb
Roscoe Karns as Owen O'Malley
Ralph Forbes as George Smith
Charles Lane as Max Jacobs
Etienne Girardot as Mathew J. Clark
Dale Fuller as Sadie, Lily's maid
Edgar Kennedy as Oscar McGonigle
Herman Bing as Beard #1
Lee Kohlmar as Beard #2
James P. Burtis as Train conductor
Fred "Snowflake" Toones as Train porter