Decadence to Make Nero Blush - Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933)

Starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Gloria Stuart, Edward Arnold, David Manners, Alan Mowbray, Billy Barty & The Goldwyn Girls (including a young Lucille Ball & Paulette Goddard)

Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball

Ruth Etting

Ruth Etting

Songwriters Harry Warren & Al Dubin on the set

“When Eddie Cantor walked down the line to give each Goldwyn Girl the once-over, I made a special effort.  I remembered a trick I’d seen Dorothy Gish do at Belmost racetrack.  She and her sister Lillian were sitting in a box with two gentlemen when the Hattie Carnegie models were ushered into seats right behind them.  After a while, Lillian went off with the gentlemen.  Dorothy was just sitting there, tearing off little pieces of her bright red program.  Then she turned around, and I saw she had stuck them like measles all over her face.  Well, I thought this was about the funniest thing I’d ever seen.  So as Eddie Cantor started down the line, I tore up some little pieces of red crepe paper, wet them with my tongue, and stuck them all over my bare arms and chest and face.  When Mr. Cantor got to me, his jaw dropped, his big eyes popped, and then he roared with laughter.  He asked me my name.  He told everyone about ‘that Ball dame — she’s a riot.’  I was in heaven.” — Lucille Ball