Debunking Myth Was Not Dancer Gay Divorcee

It’s a strange thing, the internet. It takes a simple idea, polishes it up a bit like a second-hand suit, and tries to sell it as the truth. And so, we end up here—with people claiming that Neville Goddard, the mystic and lecturer, once twirled around in The Gay Divorcee (1934) alongside Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers in the dancing scene The Continental on the film. It’s exciting to “imagine”, as many (including coolwisdom) have tried to find video footage of Neville, but as it turns out, is false. A closer look at studio records, historical timelines, and Goddard’s own words reveals that he was nowhere near Hollywood at the time. The facts are plain: he was broke, recently back from Barbados, and very much in New York—not waltzing through Stage 10 at RKO Studios in California. 1.n2221 ¶1

The Gay Divorcee Was Filmed in California, Not New York The Gay Divorcee was filmed from June 28 to August 13, 1934, primarily on Stage 10 at RKO Studios in Hollywood, California. Some exterior scenes were shot in Clear Lake, Santa Monica, and Santa Barbara. Release Date: October 19, 1934 Production Dates: June 28 – August 13, 1934 Meanwhile, where was Neville?n2221 ¶2

He tells us himself: living in a basement apartment on 75th Street in New York City, not knowing where his next dollar was coming from. Neville Goddard Lectures: “The Mystery of Life” (1969) “During that time I was a dancer. The country was in the deep depression, and people could not afford to pay to be entertained by a dancer. I lived in a basement apartment on 75th Street in New York City, not knowing where the next dollar was coming from.n2221 ¶3

So unless RKO was secretly filming The Gay Divorcee in Neville’s cockroach-infested basement, it’s safe to say he wasn’t in the movie. 2. Goddard’s Own Timeline Confirms He Was Elsewhere Goddard wasn’t hopping between Hollywood soundstages in 1934. He was busy dealing with financial uncertainty, mystical revelations, and a transformative trip to Barbados. A. 1933: He was studying under Abdullah in New York, learning Hebrew and mysticism, while living on the brink of poverty. Neville stated in his lecture Eternal States: Now, this is how I make my decision to go beyond the Jordan. It was taught me graphically back in l933…always beyond the Jordan. I looked at my Jordan, and I didn’t have a nickel. I had no bank account and I didn’t have a nickel, and there was no one to whom I could turn to borrow any money.n2221 ¶4

Why, five dollars in 1933 would be like asking for $2,000 today. Very few had five dollars. And what I needed at that moment nothing under $1,000 could do it.n2221 ¶5

I wanted to go on a trip. I didn’t have a job, living in the basement on 75th St. in New York City, overrun with cockroaches, I mean really a mess. Anything in New York City on that ground floor is just like that even in the best areas, but this was not the best area. I desired to go to Barbados, and I simply confided, I confessed to my friend Abdullah. As I confessed my limitations, my lack, everything, I was right down at the water’s edge and showing him this wide stream that was Jordan, and telling him of a land beyond the Jordan. It was 2,000 miles away across water. And he said to me, “You are now in Barbados. B.n2221 ¶6

Late 1933 – Early 1934: His brother paid for his trip to Barbados, where he stayed for three months. February 1934: He returned to New York completely changed, but still very much broke. “When I came back to New York in 1934, after three heavenly months in Barbados, I drank, I smoked, and did everything I had not done in years.n2221 ¶7

Five Lessons: A Master Class (1948) By this point, he was drifting away from his past as a dancer, not auditioning for Hollywood musicals. 3. The Dance Auditions for The Gay Divorcee The dance sequences in The Gay Divorcee were choreographed by Hermes Pan and Dave Gould, with casting calls for 30 male and 30 female dancers. Audition Dates: July 1934 Location: RKO Studios, Hollywood, California Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (academycollection.org) So unless Neville Goddard had mastered bilocation, he could not have auditioned for The Gay Divorcee. 4. Why Neville Could Not Have Flown to California in 1934 Let’s pretend, for a moment, that Neville had wanted to dance in The Gay Divorcee. Could he have even afforded the trip?n2221 ¶8

Freedom Barry, (Neville’s student) stated that Neville after he met Abdullah in 1929: “Neville was not in a position to pay for instruction because he didn’t have a sou, but he worked for him. He cleaned his apartment, and Abdullah taught him Hebrew. He taught him the language, he taught him the basics of what later became Neville’s Premise. Short answer: No. In fact, Goddard never moved to California until 1955, when he relocated to Los Angeles for good. After the war was over, Neville began to travel, holding lectures in various large cities as far west as San Francisco. And then one day he knew it was time to leave New York City. He had hoped to move to San Francisco, as he loved this cosmopolitan city, but this was not to be. He knew by then that his major work was to be done in Los Angeles so, packing up his wife and child, the Goddard family moved to Los Angeles in 1955. They returned to New York in the fall of 1956, coming back to Los Angeles in 1957. ( Source ) From The Man Who Knew He Was God So if Neville wasn’t even thinking about moving to California until 1955, why are people convinced he was waltzing through RKO Studios in 1934?n2221 ¶9

5. The Myth Comes from a Misreading of His Lectures It’s easy to see where the confusion comes from. Neville once said: “During that time I was a dancer.n2221 ¶10

But what he meant was that he had been a dancer in the past—not that he was still performing in 1934. One of his last performances with Amerique was in July 1932 at the RKO Prospect which might have meant he had RKO connections. From July 1932 there are no news annoucements about dancing again until 1935 this one gig in Boston at the Cascades with Hughie Barrett. By then, his focus had shifted toward mysticism, spirituality, and—frankly—just trying to eat. His life was not glamorous Hollywood musicals but Barbados, a basement apartment, and early spiritual awakenings. Neville said in “The Mystery of Life” (1969): Back in 1929, the market broke, and 17 million men were unemployed. At that time we only had a population of maybe 130 million, whereas today we number 204 million. Our bins were filled, but people could not pay the tax or get the money to distribute the food. By 1934 I had already gone through five years of the depression, so I wasn’t worrying about my next meal, or my next job for that matter. I was just resting, for by this time depression was a state of mind. So, as I daily did, I sat in my chair and turned my attention inward, into my brain, and contemplated within.n2221 ¶11

Then, as always, the clouds began to appear, grow luminous, and move in lovely, billowy, golden liquid light. Then came the rock. The perfect imagery of scripture. And the Rock was Christ. He formed himself into me, but me as a perfect being. Everyone is destined to have these experiences. They are enigmatic but – luckily for us – those who recorded the story in the gospels kept the mystery in the words, and did not try to explain them in detail. Many will deny it, but they are not lost because of their denial, for nothing is lost but the son of perdition – the belief in destruction and death.n2221 ¶12

The Claim is Pretty Impossible The Gay Divorcee was filmed in Hollywood, California. Neville was in New York City. Dance auditions happened in July 1934. Neville was nowhere near RKO Studios. He was financially struggling. He could not have afforded a trip to California, let alone sustained a career in Hollywood. His own lectures confirm he was living in a basement, not performing on a soundstage. This myth is the result of internet speculation, a misunderstanding of Neville’s past, and a lack of historical fact-checking. Neville Goddard was many things—a visionary, a mystic, a man who could make you believe in the impossible. But a dancer in The Gay Divorcee? Probably not.n2221 ¶13

Stage 10 The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire pg 55 Filming The Gay Divorcee. Hermes Pan, seated, left; Joseph Biroc, behind the camera; Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, right of center (Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Once filming began for The Gay Divorcee, it was Pan’s responsibility to watch the daily rushes of Fred Astaire’s numbers. Before Astaire would take a look at them himself, he quizzed Pan about the quality of the work. “Great,” was Pan’s typical response. “Are you sure? Fred inquired. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, “When you described them to me, you seemed to think there was one little step you didn’t like. Once Hermes gave his input, Astaire went to watch the rushes on his own, and if he felt that, at any time, the figure on the screen looked even slightly off balance, he and Pan would persuade the director to film the sequence again. On Saturday, 7 July, a week after The Gay Divorcee went before the cameras, Hermes Pan, Mark Sandrich, and Dave Gould auditioned more than five hundred hopefuls for the thirty girl dancers required for The Continental. Among the chosen few were Vasso Pan and Angela Blue. “The first time I saw Angie Blue was in the early 1930s in a chorus audition lineup,” Hermes remarked in his memoir, Meeting the Prince. “She was wearing a bikini bathing suit with a large mirror—most of her shoulder. Her appearance was so outrageous I just knew she’d be fun” (Pan, Columbia, Termar ed., p. 249). Hermes didn’t know at the time that Angela Blue would become his dear friend and favorite assistant.n2221 ¶14

On Monday, 9 July, the thirty girl dancers were in rehearsal with Dave Gould and Hermes Pan on Stage Ten for The Continental, joined on the following day by thirty boy dancers, chosen at another audition. The ensemble rehearsed from ten in the morning through early evening for the next two weeks, and then filming began. Astaire and Rogers joined the dancers in more rehearsals on Saturday, 28 July, and Pan finished shooting The Continental on the last day of the month.n2221 ¶15

Paramount Studios – Stage 32. Previous RKO Stage 10. Other Locations: Source Clear Lake California United States. Santa Monica California United States. Santa Barbara California United States. RKO Radio Pictures Studio records. Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire By John Franceschina. The Gay Divorcee Cast & Crew. More Resources. Neville Goddard Research: Neville & Amerique – Broadway Shows and Theaters. Neville Goddard: Marriages, Children and Family Tree: Research Notes. Where Neville Goddard Lived and Lectured in West Hollywood and New York.n2221 ¶16

Part #1 “About Abdullah”. Neville Goddard Research (New York) Part #1. Part #2: “Abdullah’s Real Name”. Neville Goddard Research (New York) Part #2. Part #3 About Abdullah: “The Wall Street Priest David B”. Neville Goddard Research (New York).n2221 ¶17

See all historical research. See all lectures and books.n2221 ¶18