TEN CENTS A DANCE Preservation Spotlight

Barbara Stanwyck’s rarely-seen and provocative TEN CENTS A DANCE, the latest feature film preserved by AFI, was made in the pre-censorship, pre-Code era and is realistic and daring in the pre-Code manner. Directed with great skill by Lionel Barrymore, it is based on a famous Rodgers and Hart song that ran into censorship problems when Ruth Etting introduced it.

TEN CENTS A DANCE describes the not very salubrious lives of dime-a-dance girls in a much earthier manner than its modern equivalent, SWEET CHARITY. Stanwyck plays the prettiest and most popular woman at the Palais de Dance, a dance hall in New York City. She is fancied by a millionaire (Ricardo Cortez) who lavishes her with money and gifts. She, however, prefers a ne’er-do-well boyfriend (Monroe Owsley) and passes the money on to him. When her boyfriend gets in bad trouble, Stanwyck goes to the millionaire for help.

TEN CENTS A DANCE was preserved and restored by the American Film Institute and its National Center for Film and Video Preservation at Library of Congress laboratories with a grant from The Film Foundation, using funds from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.