The Royal Family of Broadway

An early sound comedy adapted from Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's 1927 play The Royal Family, a thinly veiled portrait of the Barrymore acting dynasty. Ina Claire plays Julie Cavendish, the grande dame of a Broadway acting family modeled on Ethel Barrymore, and Fredric March plays her brother Tony, a swashbuckling matinee idol in the John Barrymore mold, fleeing a breach-of-promise suit in Hollywood. The film follows the family as each member must choose between the stage and a private life. George Cukor, who would become one of Hollywood's great directors of actors, co-directed with Cyril Gardner. The film was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.