“I like to do something with snap to it. I don’t know why I should prefer more peppy roles, but that’s the way I’m constituted. I’ve tried often enough to get romantic leads in serious productions, but people don’t seem to think of me that way.” – Ginger Rogers in 1932

Photo: Elmer Fryer (1933)

 

“I was never going to smoke, but my director made me for the movie. I said, ‘but I don’t know how to smoke a cigarettte.’ He said, ‘go and learn.’ I turned green. It’s a good thing the film wasn’t in technicolor.” — Ginger Rogers

Source: Iris Krasnow (1985)

Photo: 1930

 

“When you’re happy, you don’t count the years.” – Ginger Rogers

 

“My mother was not Gypsy. One writer wrote she was a tyrant. My mother was no tyrant. She never whipped me, maybe slapped me a couple of times because I was naughty, but what mother doesn’t? I didn’t mind. But she was not on the set everyday knitting and watching me. No way. No way.” — Ginger Rogers

Source: Iris Krasnow (1985)

Photo: El Capitan Theatre for the premiere of Anything Goes.

“I’m most grateful to have had that joyous time in motion pictures. It really was a Golden Age of Hollywood. Pictures were talking, they were singing, they were coloring.” – Ginger Rogers

Photo: Elmer Fryer (1933)

 

“The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first.” – Ginger Rogers

 

“The films were humorous, light and beautiful – yes, glamorous. Women weren’t obsolete then; they had as much importance as men.” – Ginger Rogers 

When asked to identify the most important female film stars of the 1930s, she named Greta Garbo, Jean Arthur, Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell.

Source: Bob Thomas in 1965.
Photographer: Ernest Bachrach in 1933.

 

The Gay Divorcee (1934). With Fred Astaire.

 

“Being a good dancer is a definite social advantage. You can learn to dance. We were all born with a sense of rhythm. On the dance floor, a woman can put all her charm and personality into play.” — Ginger Rogers 

Source: 1935

Photo: 1936

 

Artist: Vich. Year: 1930s. Black and red ink. A Brown Derby restaurant caricature, autographed by the star.

 

“I’m like a producer who puts an untried actress under contract. He’s not sure whether the little dear has talent or not. He just hopes and keeps his fingers crossed. That’s me. Some day I’m going to act. Even if I have to wait till I’m old and gray-haired, even if I have to do it in my own little theatre, in my own little backyard, with the chickens and ducks for an audience, I don’t care. I think it’ll be fun.” — Ginger Rogers, on her desire to transition out of musicals.

Source: Ida Zeitlin (1937)
Photo: John Miehle (1937)

 

“She is snippy, you know, which is a shame. She was never on my side.” — Ginger Rogers talking about Katharine Hepburn.

Photo: Stage Door (1937)

 

“Yes, I have had some failed marriages. I yearned for a long, happy marriage with one person. I always loved being married. Caring, cooking, and being a companion with a husband were as natural to me as breathing. Perhaps, in show business, such a marriage is doubly hard to maintain.” — Ginger Rogers, who was married five times.

 

“I believe in living each day as it comes, to the best of my ability. When it’s done, I put it away, remembering that there will be a tomorrow to take it’s place. If I have any philosophy, that’s it. To me it’s not a fatalistic attitude.” — Ginger Rogers

 

 

Photographer: Robert Coburn (1947)