Rain or Shine
About Rain or Shine
Mary Rainey inherits the Greater John T. Rainey Shows, and rain has left the circus short of money. Ringmaster Dalton and lion tamer Foltz plan to take it over in Shrewsberry. She signs a controlling interest to Dalton. Manager Smiley Johnson tears up the contract and fires them. A riot follows. Townsmen hang Mary by one ankle from the peak of the big top, a tent burns, and Smiley climbs the outside of the blaze to bring her down. The wagons pull out in the rain, Nero on the calliope and Smiley on the elephant.
Cast & crew
More about Rain or Shine
Frank Capra directed it. Jo Swerling and Dorothy Howell wrote it from the 1928 Broadway musical by James Gleason and Maurice Marks. Harry Cohn produced it for Columbia. Joe Walker photographed it. Maurice Wright edited it. Columbia released it on 15 August 1930. It runs 90 minutes. A timed copy runs 1 hour 28 minutes 29 seconds. The musical numbers were cut before release. Part of the circus was shot at James J. Jeffries' ranch in Burbank, and Jeffries appears.
Themes
Making
Capra had bought a musical and then dropped the songs after the late-summer 1930 backlash against musicals.
Audiences
After the songs were dropped, the picture was a box-office success for Columbia.
Look
Joe Walker shot the acts, and several cameras covered the fire when the set was burned.
Music
Milton Ager and Jack Yellen wrote the music. The credits and the end card use an instrumental of Singing in the Rain. Happy Days Are Here Again is heard in the background. The Broadway numbers are not sung.
Preservation
The film survives, including domestic and international sound versions. It entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 2026.
Notes
- Joe Cook plays Smiley Johnson. Joan Peers plays Mary. Louise Fazenda, billed beside Peers and listed first, plays Frankie, a cooch dancer.
- William Collier Jr. is Bud Conway. Alan Roscoe is Dalton. Adolph Milar is Foltz. Clarence Muse is Nero. Tom Howard is Amos K. Shrewsberry. Dave Chasen is Dave.
- Cook, Howard, and Chasen repeat their roles from the Broadway show.
- Capra burned the circus set for the fire and covered it with several cameras.
Scenes
- Smiley tears up the contract Mary has signed over to Dalton.
- Circus people tie white handkerchiefs around their necks and yell hey rube.
- Mary hangs upside down by an ankle from the big-top peak while the canvas burns.
- Smiley rides the elephant out in the rain, with Nero on the calliope.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Rain or Shine (1930).webm)
Quotes
Hey rube!
