The title card in the onscreen credits reads: “George White‘s Flying High.” HR pre-production news items note that John Gilbert was originally set to star in the film, and that Martin Broones was set to adapt and supervise the production. HR pre-release news items list actors Tom McGuire, Tommy Conlon and Harry Watson in the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. According to the Var review, forty women and sixteen men comprised the chorus and danced in the film’s two dance numbers. Although a HR pre-production news item noted that six or eight songs were being prepared for the picture, only three songs were featured, and of those three, only one was taken from the original musical comedy. The Var review notes the following information about the production: George White, who produced the Broadway hit Flying High, received a credit in this picture as a result of his contract with M-G-M; Bert Lahr made his film debut in this picture, reprising his role from the Broadway stage production; and the unusual sound effect used in the scene where the aerocopter descends was also used in the M-G-M film Trader Horn (see below). According to censorship material in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, in Jan 1931, the MPAA insisted that M-G-M remove from the script an examination scene in which Rusty is shown pouring liquor into a test tube. In a letter dated 11 Jan 1931, a Hays Office representative stated that in addition to the examination scene, there were “other extremely offensive vulgarities in Flying High which are causing us heap plenty of trouble.” One week prior to the release of the film, Lamar Trotti, a Hays Office staffer, stated in a telegram: “…picture is [the] funniest [I] ever saw in my life and while a little rough in spots deserves the millions it will make…” Trotti went on to say, however, that although the examination scene got “tremendous laughs” at a preview screening, it was, in his opinion, in violation of the Code. That same week, the Hays Office tried once again to pressure M-G-M to remove the scene from the film, but the studio held fast and claimed that it had “paid $100,000 for the rights to the play just for that particular scene” and would fight to retain it. However, following the release of the film, and after a legal fiasco, in which an M-G-M’s Portland, Oregon manager filed an unauthorized injunction against the Portland censors for rejecting the film there, the studio decided to remove the troublesome aspects of the scene from all prints of the picture. Flying High was released in Great Britain as Happy Landing. Bert Lahr reprised his role as “Rusty Krouse” in the Musical Comedy Time television production of the story, which aired on the NBC television network on 19 Mar 1951. The television production was directed by Bill Corrigan and starred Dorothy Claire and Mary May. More on Wikipedia
Watch Flying High (1931)
