User reviews

This wonderful film from Fox is rarely seen these days, and it is such a shame. In the 1930s Janet Gaynor was a huge star, veteran of a number of silent features with Charles Farrell and others; while Will Rogers was one of the best-loved actors and personalities in the USA.

'State Fair' teams Gaynor and Rogers as daughter and father, and adds Norman Foster as her brother, and Louise Dresser (another silent screen veteran) as mother. They're all off to the State Fair; Wayne and Margie to look for fun and frolics, Mother to try to win a prize for mincemeat, and Father to get a prize for his hog, Blueboy. Will they all find the things they wish for? Lew Ayres and Sally Eilers might just have the answers! I really liked this version; I'm very familiar with both musical adaptations but this film is more folksy, more fireside, more farm ... and it works very well. It's a superior product which deserves a clean-up and a decent video release.

The print I have is not brilliant, but is watchable. From what I can see this looks like a film which had high production values and I'm sure it would look great if it is was in pristine condition.

Overshadowed in this day and age by the two musical film versions that succeeded it, this version of State Fair provides a great showcase for the personality and talent of American institutions Will Rogers. Although I was surprised to see that in the billing, Fox's main female star at the time, Janet Gaynor, was billed above him. The power of what winning the first Best Actress Oscar can get you.

It was probably only natural that the two would eventually be in a project together. Gaynor always played good girls, fresh from the farm like Melissa Frake, her best example of that is Esther Blodgett in A Star Is Born. As for Rogers, his patented brand of homespun humor had already established his legend.

When I did a review of Junior Bonner, I said that the film was simply the story of a rodeo family's day at the Presscott Frontier Rodeo. State Fair is a simple film, without any pretensions; the story of the Frake Family and its visit to the State Fair where all of them have an unforgettable time.

I wouldn't believe it, but Will Rogers never had a better straight man than his prize hog Blue Boy who perks up and struts his stuff when an attractive sow comes to his attention. But he's far from the only one who finds romance.

Janet Gaynor meets small city reporter Lew Ayres who says that even though the paper is a Republican one, don't blame him and the rest who have to work there to make a living. Republicans were not highly thought of in the wake of the Depression back in the day. Her wholesomeness attracts him.

As for son Norman Foster he gets quite a lesson in love in a most explicit before the Code encounter with trapeze artist Sally Eilers. Surprising for a Will Rogers film in my humble opinion.

Even Louise Dresser comes home a winner, taking first prize in just about everything she prepares due to Rogers spiking her cooking liberally with some schnapps. He knew the best way to the judge's heart.

State Fair is a great piece of nostalgic Americana and a great showcase for that American institution named Will Rogers.

This 1933 film of STATE FAIR is nearly impossible to see except on one Fox cable channel, but is the best of all versions, with genuine and unsentimental writing and acting. Director Henry King propels the leisurely plot with a thrilling moving camera that efficiently depicts the varied sensations of a state fair, from wholesome contest fun to the menace of barkers and carnies.

King has a consistent handle on the theme, that the state fair is a quick microcosm of life, an event that thrusts persons together in a venue that makes possible the "rollercoaster" of infatuation (and sex--this is pre-code pleasure), the tension of competition, and the diversion from hard work in this depression era America. Even "Blue boy" the hog and "self object" of Will Rogers' likeable character discovers the same conflicted feelings of sexual attraction. The cast is excellent, with standouts of Rogers, a most natural performer, in a film that is unpolluted by awkward stereotyped supporting players common to his films. A truly stunning-looking Lew Ayres is a dream of a roller coaster partner, and Victor Jory in his silk shirt perfectly embodies the carnie whom small children fear to encounter outside the midway. But it's the quiet moments that register the most--the pensive characters driving at dusk to the fair, full of private anticipation, still totally one as a family. Modern films rarely dare such introspective glimpses, but this film doesn't bore because it is so true. These rural citizens are proud and flawed, but like the wonderful characters in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, they embrace the chance to take in the fun and mystery of life.

Before there was the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which is maybe the most well known version of this property, there was this early sound film that starred Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers.

This film meanders amiably along and has almost no dramatic conflict, aside from whether or not a family's pickles or pig is going to win big at the state fair. But nevertheless there's a kind of ethereal, melancholy spell created by this movie that appealed to me. The idea of a state fair becomes a metaphor for life itself: it's full of expectations and excitement, the pursuit of things we want, some of which we get and some we don't, and it's all over more quickly than we want it to be, leaving us with only the memory.

I haven't seen any other versions of this, but am positive none of them treat the sexual awakening of the daughter and son characters, and especially the son's, as frankly as this version does, given its pre-Code status.

Gaynor was a big deal at the time, having won the very first Best Actress Oscar. And Will Rogers was a huge star and American icon, largely because of his performance in this. It's kind of hard to see now what people went nuts for at the time, since it's all so low-key and humble. Chalk it up to changing times I guess.

Neither actor was nominated for this film -- no actors were nominated. But "State Fair" did manage to get itself a Best Picture nomination and a second in the Best Writing (Adaptation) category.

Grade: A-

If I thought I was sick of high society romances I found the only thing worse: a state fair romance. And still, whether it's the city or the country, high society or working class, people fall in love in hours if not minutes in 1930s Hollywood films.

I still have to get used to the term "making love." Now it most definitely means sex while back then it meant as much as kissing to as little as sweet talking.

In the movie "State Fair" the Frake family attended the annual state fair. Paw (Will Rogers) was entering a hog to compete for a blue ribbon. Maw (Louise Dresser) was entering her pickles and mince meat into a competition for whatever prize they issue for that. The kids, Margy (Janet Gaynor) and Wayne (Norman Foster), were along for the ride.

While the parents busied themselves with fair business Margy and Wayne found love. They found two mates who were unlike them. While Margy and Wayne were sheltered, unworldly, innocent country folks, the mates they found were the total opposite. And as they say, opposites attract. Wayne fell in love with Emily (Sally Eilers) while Margy fell in love with Pat Gilbert (Lew Ayres). They were anything but romantic. It actually seemed perverse to me. I envisioned Pat and Emily as prowlers looking for the most innocent prey they can find just to satisfy some perverse curiosity or to add them to a list of conquests. It was a romance movie so it didn't turn out that way, but I still saw it as such.

Free on YouTube.

A farm family encounters situations both poignant & hilarious when they leave home to spend time at the exciting STATE FAIR.

Janet Gaynor gives a sensitive performance as a country girl eager for romance amid the attractions of the Fair. She is both fetching and delightful. She was a big celebrity at the time and gets top billing here even over Will Rogers.

Will gets his own back by deftly underplaying his role as her farmer father. By keeping the corniness to a minimum, he gives the film a special touch of bedrock sensibility and good humor.

The Production Code had obviously not taken effect quite yet, as can be seen by some of the language and situations. These will come as a surprise to some, but were not rare before 1934.

All of Will's scenes are fun - especially those with Miss Gaynor or the hogs. The formidable Louise Dresser appears as his wife. Lew Ayres makes a fine romantic interest for Gaynor & Victor Jory is very good in a small role as an honesty-challenged barker.

Will Rogers was an American cabaret performer, actor and influential social commentator. In the early 1930s, he was also Hollywood's highest-paid movie star, with some fifty silent films to his résumé. And Rogers had more than one string to his bow. After befriending Charles Lindbergh, the most famous pilot of the time, Will Rogers became an ardent advocate for the fledgling aviation industry in the United States. Unfortunately, this would have tragic consequences.

At the beginning of 1933, Fox Film Corporation decided to turn the popular novel "State Fair" into a movie. The book deals with an annual harvest festival in Des Moines, Iowa, and the studio wanted its big star, Will Rogers, for the lead role. Henry King was to direct, so he travelled to Iowa with Rogers and a large camera crew to shoot background material. Particular emphasis was placed on the hog contest as Will Rogers would play a local farmer who participates with his giant Hampshire Pig in the main competition.

Fox Studios acquired three hogs to be used in the film. The largest one was an impressive animal named "Blue Boy". Will Rogers was asked to be careful as the huge swine could be quite aggressive. But everything went smoothly. When principal photography was completed, one supervisor asked Rogers if he wanted to bring Blue Boy home. After all, the giant porker would make a perfect diner. Rogers replied that eating one of his fellow actors wouldn't feel right.

The movie was a huge financial success. The production also helped Fox Studios make it through the Depression in the 1930s. But tragically, "State Fair" turned out to be one of Will Rogers' last films. In 1935, he had become interested in surveying a mail-and-passenger route from the West Coast to Russia. During the following expedition the actor died when his plane crashed in bad weather, 20 miles southwest of Point Barrow in Alaska. Will Rogers was 55 years old.

I was really surprised how much this film moved me. It's really Gaynor and Ayers' movie with Will in more of a supporting role. Well directed with good effects for the era, my enjoyment was genuine and heart felt. Others might enjoy it in terms of sociology or film history,I hated the Pat Boone version and the Dana Andrews' was only alright. I watched it on TCM where the print had several breaks and audio pops.

Aside from the John Ford/Will Rogers films (embarrassing stereotypes aside) Will's sound films are very mixed. They're tailor made for his persona but weak casts, low production and stage bound screenplays have you reaching for the FF. He redeems most of them but I'm happy to find this solid work made shortly before his death. Surprised it escaped my attention until now.

The Frake family is going to the Iowa State Fair. Father Abel (Will Rogers) is taking his best pig for competition. Mother (Louise Dresser) is taking mincemeat for competition, but it has too much brandy. Daughter Margy Frake (Janet Gaynor) is frustrated with her boyfriend and meets reporter Pat Gilbert (Lew Ayres). Son Wayne (Norman Foster) has revenge on his mind.

I actually don't know much about Will Rogers. This is my second Will Rogers movie and this one has him as one of the leads. It's nice to put a face to the name although he probably does a lot more in his usual act. I still don't have a sense of his fame. Janet Gaynor is more the lead and she is a great little actress. On the other hand, I find Wayne rather annoying. He smirks too much and I don't like his voice. I would like for a real state fair to give this a fun reality. This is fine for the time.

STATE FAIR (Fox, 1933), directed by Henry King, the original screen adaptation to Phil Stong's popular 1932 novel, stars Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers, the studio's top box-office attractions, for the first and only time. Basically an all-star cast of then familiar named performers as Lew Ayres, Sally Eilers, Norman Foster (in a type of role that makes one think of Henry Fonda) and Louise Dresser (Rogers' frequent co-star) in support, this is one of those rare occasions where the legendary Will Rogers is not the center of attention, allowing other members of the cast to perform their individual scenes at length. While STATE FAIR rightfully belongs to the Academy Award winning Janet Gaynor, it's become noted by film historians solely as a Will Rogers movie.

Opening title: "A State Fair is like life – begins hastily – offers everything – whether you go for sheep and blue ribbons – or shape and blue eyes, and too soon it's over." The story opens at a farm in Brunswick, Iowa, where the Frake family prepare themselves for their annual trip to the State Fair. Abel (Will Rogers) intends on placing his pig, Blue Boy, in a contest while Melissa (Louise Dresser), his wife, works on pickles and mincemeat for the upcoming food tasting competition. Other members of the family include their daughter, Margy (Janet Gaynor), engaged to a man she does not love, Harry Ware (Frank Melton), and son, Wayne (Norman Forster), having just been jilted by his girlfriend, Eleanor, practicing to perfect his hoop tossing method. Before driving off to their journey for a week at the fair, the neighborhood storekeeper (Frank Craven) wages Abel five dollars that the family will return home a week later in bitter disappointment. After camping on the State Fair grounds, Wayne gets even with a barker (Victor Jory) who made a fool of him the previous year cheating him out of his $8, soon to find romance with Emily Joyce (Sally Eilers), a trapeze artist who introduced herself to him as the sheriff's daughter. As for Margy, she encounters Pat Gilbert (Lew Ayres), a newspaper man for The Register, while riding on a high speed roller coaster, followed by both happiness and disappointments for the Frakes before returning home to the farm where the storekeeper awaits to hear the family's final verdict.

While immensely popular at the time of its release, even to a point of being nominated for Academy Award as Best Picture, STATE FAIR has been eclipsed by the musicalized 1945 Technicolor remake by 20th Century-Fox featuring Jeanne Craine (Margy), Dana Andrews (Pat), Dick Haymes (Wayne), Charles Winniger (Abel) and Fay Bainter (Melissa), with excellent songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, including the Academy Award winning, "It Might as Well Be Spring." Though there's no such "Grand Night for Singing" involved here, the original STATE FAIR does contain its very own beautifully underscored theme song titled "Romantic." Interestingly, STATE FAIR was revamped and musicalized a second time by 20th Century-Fox (1962), the reason why the original title to the 1945 edition was changed to "It Happened One Summer" for television showings during the sixties and seventies before restored to its original title by the 1980s. With the new cast for 1962 headed by Pat Boone, Ann-Margret, Tom Ewell and Alice Faye, it was believed that this slice of Americana belonged to another era and out of place for the 1960s. Yet nothing comes close to Will Rogers' laid-back style and genuine humor for which he is famous.

The first time I've ever heard of the existence of STATE FAIR was when mentioned on a game show, "The Movie Game" (1969-70) during a broadcast on New York City's WOR, Channel 9, where the panelists from that program were surprised to learn there was an ever a STATE FAIR movie starring Will Rogers prior to the better known 1945 musical. For one of the finest films for both Will Rogers and Janet Gaynor, STATE FAIR has been out of circulation for many years. A slow process of availability began sometime the 1970s when presented in revival movie houses, television stations as Hartford, Connecticut's WFSB-TV, Channel 3, around 1974-75; public television's WNET, Channel 13, New York City (1991-92); the Fox Movie Channel and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere" February 8, 2012). Never distributed to video cassette as some other Will Rogers movies during his Fox Film Studio period (1929-1935), distribution on DVD is long overdue for such a fine wholesome movie from a bygone era. (***1/2)

Having previously watched both the 1945 and 1962 musical versions of this film, and knowing YouTube had this non-musical version on its site for the last several years, I finally watched this version of State Fair just now. Other than the added songs in the later versions, this is basically the same story for all three...well, except since this one was produced before the Production Code became more strict, it's implied the male teen had something of a real affair with a female performer. (Though I didn't see the scene of them talking off-screen while the bed on-screen was messed up with another scene of a lingerie on the floor during that. Must have been cut after the Code was enforced.) The humor is both verbally subtle and occasionally visual like when the Janet Gaynor character is on somebody's shoulder and she unknowingly plays with that someone's head when she gets excited about a certain horse in a race. Will Rogers as the father is his charming self as he looks after his pig he hopes wins the big contest. And I always loved when the mother (in this version, Louise Dresser) enters her pickles and mincemeat in another contest because of what is in those foods when they're entered! By the way, I like all three versions but if you don't want to hear those songs, I definitely recommend this version of State Fair.

The thing about summer love is that it is uncertain and often temporary. Normally, only the young are afflicted, and, as such a powerful emotion is a novelty to the recipient, it can be very hurtful. "State Fair" chronicles two of these.

The Frake family is preparing for the Iowa state fair, all with different expectations. Pa (Will Rogers) hopes his prize boar, Blue Boy, can win first prize and Ma (Louise Dresser) pins her hopes on her pickles and mincemeat. Teenagers Wayne and Margy are just hoping for... they're not exactly sure, but something exciting.

The nominal star here is Will Rogers and he gives a folksy, homespun performance as Pa - makes you wonder if he's acting or not. Louise Dresser is Ma just as you would imagine Ma would be. She was one of our best actresses and retired too soon. The story, though, focuses on the two young players, Norman Foster (Wayne) and Janet Gaynor (Margy) and their adventurous encounters with complete strangers.

This is a 'Pre-Code' picture and tame by todays (lack of) standards, and so both are seen conversing in bedrooms with above-mentioned strangers (smelling salts, please), but the picture is so well-written that the breach of decorum is hardly noticeable. The story is true to life and shot through with vignettes of family life from an earlier time in America. If you were not alive in the 1930's and did not live in the Midwest, you should see this movie. It is a quintessential family picture with lots of heart, as well as exceptional performances by all parties.

State Fair is actually a pretty good movie that's mostly just a vehicle for Janet Gaynor. But it ends up being more than that with the help of Will Rogers and Lew Ayres.

The story revolves around a farming family who enters a prize pig in the State Fair. The two children of the family go off on their own separate adventures while the two parents stay with the pig.

Gaynor is one of the children and she meets and falls in love with Ayres. Their chemistry together is a very intriguing one. Will Rogers is the father who is mostly the comic relief.

You'll most likely like the film and it deserves to be liked. Its a great gem from the early '30s that isn't seen much anymore.

I was able to finally watch the film when it was on The Fox Movie Channel last year. It might be on again soon. I suggest you find out.

Can I be slightly crude here and say that an alternate title for this wonderful pre coder could be 'Rutting Season'? I have always been unable to stomach the saccharine 1945 version and the 1962 version is just awful, but this one seems to me far more 'real'. It certainly is quite frank regarding sexual attraction, and not just between hogs and sows. If you pay attention there's more spice to be found in the subtext than in Ma's prize winning pickles. A fascinating film and one that deserves to be shown more than it is.

State fairs are an annual tradition throughout the nation, especially in the more rural states. Back in the 1930s, there was no other anticipated yearly ritual greater than attending and participating in the state fairs, where social gatherings allowed isolated farmers and their families living in remote areas to mix with one another. Fox Films took a look at this popular annual rite in February 1933 "State Fair," one of Will Rogers' most famous movies. Based on Phil Strong's best selling 1932 novel of the same name, "State Fair" has the patriarch of the Frake family, Abel (Rogers), excited about his prized pig, Blue Boy, who's a good bet of winning a first-place prize.

"State Fair," nominated for the Academy Awards Best Picture, was a sanitized version of Strong's book which also detailed the going-ons of Frake's late teenager kids, Margie (Janet Gaynor) and Wayne (Norman Foster), who are raring to mingle with the opposite sex. The studio initially hoped to retain some of Strong's passages describing the siblings' loss of innocence during the fair when it bought the movie rights to his book. But when Rogers was hired for the lead, the scriptwriters were told to dull the descriptive scenes of his character's children while the pair are frolicking in their newfound relationships. Innocent son Wayne meets and falls for a street-wise trapeze artist, Emily (Sally Ellers), who was no stranger to men. The comfortable robe Emily slips into once she persuades Wayne up to her pad sports the symbolic embroidered butterfly. Meanwhile, Margie meets newspaper reporter Pat Gilbert (Lew Ayres) on a roller coaster ride, and that relationship is off and running, even though she's wise to his wandering eyes.

Director Henry King was permitted by the Iowa State Fair and Exposition organizers in Des Moines to film B-Roll, including the harness racing scenes during its summer huskings. The studio bought three hogs to be in "State Fair," including the 1932 fair's grand champion, Dike of Rosedale. Named Blue Boy, his handlers were wary of the pig's temperamental behavior, some who refused to get near the beast while the camera hot lights were blazing. When Rogers was told of the giant pig's volatile temper, the actor said, "I've always been on friendly terms with hogs. Me and him'll get along all right." A few days later, King was ready to direct Rogers in his first scene for the movie. But the actor couldn't be found anywhere, even in his dressing room. A member of the film crew spotted him in the livestock pen where Blue Boy was kept. Rogers was seen fast asleep with his head resting against the pig's side. Later on when the filming wrap up, the studio offered Rogers the hog to buy, most likely for his meat. The actor didn't feel comfortable about the purchase, telling the sellers, "I wouldn't feel right eatin' a fellow actor."

"State Fair" has been remade twice, both as musicals. The 1945 version with Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews contained the Academy Awards Best Song, "It Might As Well Be Spring." The second featured Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in 1962's "State Fair."