For this week’s collector’s corner, I’ve got another edition of Star Collections — the subcategory in which I share all of the films, books, and magazines I own featuring a particular classic film star. Today’s star is the lovely Ginger Rogers, who I am considering for my next filmography project!
Ginger Books & Mags
Not much owned on the book and magazine front. I have yet to come across any vintage Ginger filmography books or other neat relics at my local book sales/antique shops. She features in many of the magazines I own, but isn’t on the cover of any of them. I do own a copy of her autobiography, Ginger: My Story, which is a fascinating read! And, in other ephemera, I recently purchased an original advertisement for Once Upon a Honeymoon, co-starring TMP favorite Cary Grant.
Owned Ginger Films
- Flying Down to Rio (1933)
- Follow the Fleet (1936)
- The Gay Divorcee (1934)
- The Groom Wore Spurs (1951)
- Roberta (1935)
- Shall We Dance (1937)
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
- Swing Time (1936)
- Top Hat (1935)
I didn’t realize until drafting this post that all of the Ginger films I own are in boxed sets, and that many of my favorite Ginger films are titles I don’t own! Everything on this owned list comes from TCM’s Astaire and Rogers collection (volumes one and two), with the exception of The Groom Wore Spurs, which appears in Mill Creek’s Nifty Fifties multipack.
Most-Wanted: Ginger films on my DVD wishlist!
- 42nd Street (1933)
- Bachelor Mother (1939)
- Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
- I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)
- Monkey Business (1952)
- Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
- Primrose Path (1940)
- Rafter Romance (1933)
- Romance in Manhattan (1935)
- Stage Door (1937)
- Vivacious Lady (1938)
My most-wanted are Primrose Path and Rafter Romance. Primrose Path (one of my all-time favorite classics) is available on DVD from Warner Archive (not sure why I haven’t snatched it up yet!), but Rafter Romance is out of print.
Like many classic movie buffs, the Ginger and Fred musicals were some of my first introductions to classic film, so Ginger has long been a favorite of mine. Feel free to share your own Ginger collections in the comments, or give your input on which star should be the focus of my next filmography project!
The Motion Pictures 
You have enriched my life with your Barbara Stanwyck project!!! I have so far only seen a fraction of them, but I printed out your list and I am slowly seeing them. In Ball of Fire Barbara was just hilarious and I would have never seen it if it had not been for your blog. I look forward to your Ginger Rogers project!!! She was just great in Primrose Path.
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Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed the Stanwyck project and are enjoying her filmography! That project was so much fun for me, I didn’t want it to end. It makes me even happier to hear that I’ve inspired someone else to see more of her films! 🙂 I’m torn between Ginger and Bette Davis for the next project (though I hope to accomplish them both eventually)!
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“The Major and the Minor” is a great favorite of mine. Wilder’s first U.S. film. There’s the funny bit where Ginger, asked if she can dance, says, “A little, ” IIRC. Then she does. And at the end she plays her own mother. That, when masquerading as a child, she is obviously not, is part of the fun. Have you noticed how often people disguise themselves in Wilder films?
I believe that for the emotional scene in “I’ll Be Seeing You,” where Shirley Temple apologizes to her, George Cukor was called in.
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I started collecting on Ginger long ago. I have lobby cards, photos, magazines, clippings, press books, and more. My best friend and I started an approved fan club back in the mid 1980s. Through this, we met Miss Rogers in 1987, and continued to correspond with and visit her for the rest of her life. I love anything she is in just because she’s in it, but I think my favorites are Primrose Path, Carefree and Roberta. The museum in the house where she was born in Independence, MO is opening this summer. I have tickets to the opening events and am trying to work out the details of my trip since I’m now handicapped by MS.
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I need to go through my magazine collection one day and make note of which films are covered in which issue. I know Ginger appears in quite a few of them, but they’re a bit disorganized and uncataloged at the moment. I will have to amend all of these Star Collections posts when I get around to that massive project, haha.
Wow, how wonderful it must have been to get to know her! Primrose Path is my favorite. Such an underrated gem. I hadn’t heard about the museum — I will have to take a trip there some time!
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