Night Nurse (1931) inspires A Star Is Born (1937)

Influencers & Inspiration Whereby the influence on set or in the theatre watching someone else’s film, inspires another…

“This is Mrs. Norman Maine.”

Move over Babs and Lady Gaga – That’s the line-immortal that launched three remakes since the original A Star Is Born premiered in 1937! It was first uttered by Janet Gaynor, the original ‘star,’ and then delivered with great pathos by Judy Garland in its first remake in 1954. Show biz is a tough profession, Hollywood a tough town, and marriage, the toughest gig of all. Whether it’s acting for the cameras or singing for the crowds, it’s hard for love to survive when one spouse’s star is rising and the other’s flaming out. In 1937 William ‘Wild Bill’ Wellman deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Story for A Star Is Born, a film he also directed. 

But, how did a 72 minute film called Night Nurse (1931), made six years earlier, lead to A Star Is Born, a story that’s as true and relatable today as it was back in 1937? 

Night Nurse, a pre-code, crime drama starring Barbara Stanwyck, was directed by Bill Wellman. It was the first time the two worked together and they soon became lifelong friends. And, though Stanwyck never, ever, spoke of it, Wellman eventually became aware, as soon the public would, too, of Stanwyck’s difficult marriage to a difficult man, Frank Fay. Fay had been a popular Vaudeville sensation. Stanwyck, his lesser-known and devoted young wife, who was in Hollywood only because Warner Brothers had offered him a big contract. But, it was Fay who insisted Stanwyck make a screen test. Fay who then insisted Frank Capra watch it. And in so doing, it was Fay who essentially launched his wife’s film career. And, it was also Fay who had a drinking problem, one that got steadily worse as Stanwyck became a star and he, a has-been. Wellman used these elements, inspired by the Fay-Stanwyck marriage, for his poignant story of Norman Maine (Fredric March) and Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor). It’s what gave A Star Is Born its enduring ring of truth.

And when reporters had hounded ‘Miss Stanwyck’ for a comment on her then-husband’s bad behavior, what was her response? 

“I’m Mrs. Frank Fay.”

A sweet and heartfelt delivery of the last line as delivered by Vicki Lester, f.k.a Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) in 1937’s A Star Is Born … plus a visually unique twist on the “typical” Hollywood ending.