[Publius]

If you examine Busby Berkeley’s body of work at the various studios he served at, you’ll notice the man was quite the voyeur.

[Publius]

THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

HARRY WARREN

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

It started as a Broadway play in the years after World War I without music. It was filmed as a silent movie, and now Jack Warner decided to turn it into a musical. Much of the cast of “42nd Street” returned in different roles, and Busby Berkeley handled choreography. Warner’s was making a mint on these films and decided to keep mining that gold.

“WE’RE IN THE MONEY”

Looking to combat the Depression, the Warner Brothers musicals not only provided needed diversion from the grim reality of American life but attempted to buck up America’s spirits, which is one way how the studio got its reputation for being socially conscious.

Even though the song is supposed to be totally upbeat, there is that dip into the minor for the middle eight. Ginger even sings it in Pig Latin! The scanty costumes are a reflection that the 1934 production code is just a glimmer in a soon-to-be jaundiced eye.

Ginger Rogers: “We’re in the Money”

[left that other site]

Well, he did have a different way of looking at things...kind of kaleidoscopically.