A cute Paramount short from 1930 which must have been made while Ginger Rogers was appearing in George Gershwin's 'Girl Crazy' on Broadway. Her first five features and several shorts were made in New York and give us an idea of her style on stage during the early part of her career. The squeaky Helen Kane type voice seems to have been something of a fad at the time for girls in their late teens/early twenties (you can hear Thelma Todd using it in the Marx Brothers' 'Horsefeathers', much to Groucho's disdain).
The extremely clever lyrics of Ginger's two songs were written by Yip Harburg, later the lyricist for The Wizard of Oz. These songs make up most of Office Blues and certainly everything of interest in it. This appears to be a vehicle to get Ginger Rogers' name in front of the public, and besides her voice it shows up a camera presence that she possessed from the very beginning (you can see it in 'Night in a Dormitory' which I believe is the earliest film of Ginger). Her stage background must have helped, and we'll never see that early style more clearly than we do in 'Office Blues'.
The extremely clever lyrics of Ginger's two songs were written by Yip Harburg, later the lyricist for The Wizard of Oz. These songs make up most of Office Blues and certainly everything of interest in it. This appears to be a vehicle to get Ginger Rogers' name in front of the public, and besides her voice it shows up a camera presence that she possessed from the very beginning (you can see it in 'Night in a Dormitory' which I believe is the earliest film of Ginger). Her stage background must have helped, and we'll never see that early style more clearly than we do in 'Office Blues'.