Ginger Rogers Castle", but the serious plot and tragic ending resulted in the worst box-office receipts of any of their films. This was driven not by diminished popularity, but by the hard 1930s economic reality. The production costs of musicals, always significantly more costly than regular features, continued to increase at a much faster rate than admissions. Both before and immediately after her dancing and acting partnership with Fred Astaire ended, Rogers starred in a number of successful nonmusical films. "Stage Door" (1937) demonstrated her dramatic capacity, as the loquacious yet vulnerable girl next door, a tough-minded, theatrical hopeful, opposite Katharine Hepburn.
Ginger Rogers Harry", a 1941 comedy in which she dreams of marrying three different men; "I'll Be Seeing You" (1944), with Joseph Cotten; and Billy Wilder's first Hollywood feature film: "The Major and the Minor" (1942), in which she played a woman who masquerades as a 12-year-old to get a cheap train ticket and finds herself obliged to continue the ruse for an extended period. This film featured a performance by Rogers' own real mother, Lela, playing her film mother. After becoming a free agent, Rogers made hugely successful films with other studios in the mid-'40s, including "Tender Comrade" (1943), "Lady in