This film is set in a dance hall where patrons could choose from any of the \"taxi dancer\" girls and dance with her all night as long as he had ten cents for a dance. Yes, there really were establishments such as this in the 1920s and 30s. 100+ in New York alone serving 50,000 clients per week. The club owners had to be very good to their girls or they would just go to another club. Floyd, played by William Collier, Jr is the sax player in the house band.He asks Gloria (Miriam Hopkins) to marry him. Duke, the band leader, played by Jack Oakie, has also set his sights on Gloria but for a different reason. He knows of Gloria's rough past and involvement with a gangster named Louie and is trying to protect Floyd who thinks Gloria is a sweet gal. Duke arranges for Max, the owner of the dance hall, to fire Floyd and Floyd is sent away. Meanwhile Louie, the sociopath gangster played by George Raft decides that he wants Gloria for his own again.
Little 5 foot 1 Miriam Hopkins was born to wealth in Savannah, Georgia in 1902. She appeared in 35 movies from 1928 to 1970 and in 16 TV series from 1949-1969. Her most critically acclaimed movie was Trouble in Paradise (1932). She also received glowing reviews for Becky Sharp (1935) and Heiress (1949). On TV, she was in route 66, Lux Video Theater, and General Electric Theater. From 1919 to 1957, she has 33 stage credits with the 1920s being her most active period. She had a decades long running feud with Bette Davis that began in the 20s while they were stage actresses. She died in New York in 1972 and is buried in her native Georgia.
Lyda Roberti was born in Warsaw in 1906 and escaped to Shanghai, China with her parents during the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1927, she left Shanghai for the US. She had been a singer in China and began in vaudeville where her fractured English became a popular comedy act and led to Broadway parts and film roles. Just as in the short film clip of Lyda (Fanny) from this movie, she refers to her dance partner Gus as \"Goose\". Well, phonetically speaking, she was correct. Lyda died at 31 from heart disease.
Dancers in the Dark was released March 11, 1932 and is a 74 minute movie. It was produced by Paramount pictures and filmed on a soundstage at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California.
Jazz Nocturne is played at the opening and was composed by Dana Suesse. Then Siboney for the first dance scene by Ernesto Lecuona. Lady of Spain is being played as Fanny and \"Goose\" dance. The music was composed by Tolchard Evans with lyrics by Robert Hargreaves and Stan Damerell. St Louis Blues, sung by Miriam Hopkins, was composed by W C Handy.
