Born Yesterday (1950)

Columbia Pictures
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford

Honors:
Academy Award for Best Actress
#24 on AFI 100 Laughs
National Film Registry

The screen adaption of Born Yesterday is full of irony. First its primary plot of a man’s insistence in educating of his naïve girlfriend proves to be his undoing. Secondly the man that purchased the film rights not understanding the villain was based in part on him. And thirdly is most of the cast did not want to be in the picture, but would to critical acclaim. Beyond the picture’s background the feature is one of exceptional writing and brilliant performances coming together as a wonderful work of American cinema

 

Born Yesterday is a comedy/drama about a crooked businessman’s plan to educate his ditsy girlfriend by hiring her a tutor, only to see it backfire. On a visit to Washington DC to perhaps sway favors from politicians, junkyard tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) hires political reporter Paul Verrall (William Holden) to help educate his young, brash fiancée Billie (Judy Holliday) with a hope to perhaps make her socially respectable and more sophisticated, as to not embarrass him during their stay. Encouraging Billie to learn and think for herself, Paul introduces Billie to many study many writings at his insistence and inducing insightful conversations with her. Though this Billie discovers more about herself and the world around her. Her newfound understanding of morals and policies leads her to clash with Harry’s crooked ways, becoming a hurdle in his business dealings with their growing friction. In psychologically removing herself from her abusive relationship with Harry, Billie and Paul begin to fall in love. Billie uses her role in Harry’s company to bring him down, leaving the crooked businessman for the gentle soul that opened her eyes in Paul.

 

Judy Holliday shines in a tremendous role she makes all her own as a somewhat ditsy blond we all sympathize and root for. Although never the brightest character on screen, her charm wins us over as we observe her slowly mature as the film moves forward. Directed by the marvelous George Cukor, one of the finest filmmakers of women driven pictures during the era, and co-starring the William Holden and recent Academy Award winner Broderick Crawford, this tightly contained adaption of the successful Broadway play explodes with great talent and character that wins over audiences then and the decades since.

 

Procured for the unheard-of price of $1 million was the rights of Garson Kanin’s hit play “Born Yesterday” by Columbia for the use of the George Cukor project.  It was to be Cukor’s third such production based on a Kanin work as studio head Harry Cohen sought to turn the Broadway success into box office profits all over the world. Interestingly enough Cukor and Kanin were not fans of Cohen even though they were once again brought togther under his watch. In fact, Kanin disliked Cohen so much that it was said he based the loud, brash, and abusive Harry Brock character on Cohen and his abrasiveness. Word of this never got to Cohen, but that was not an issue as screenwriter Albert Mannheimer was brought in on the project to adapt Kanin’s play for the screen and Kanin having no official role in the production. The resulting screenplay was so disliked by Cukor he would approach Kanin to alter it. Cukor wanting to stick much closer to Kanin’s original stage script having Kanin rework for the screen, ultimately utilizing his work as the shooting script. Despite all of Kanin’s toil Mennheimer receiving lone screen credit and even an Oscar nomination for it.

 

Judy Holliday delivers an outstanding performance in would become a prototypical ditsy blonde performance, a role that would make and define her career after bringing her Broadway performance to the screen. Originally Cohen wished avoiding bringing on Broadway cast members, with Holliday being fetched for a screen test simply to serve as a model for which they would base their cast search on. When Rita Hayworth turned down the role and other actresses considered including Lana Turner and Jean Arthur failed to meet expectations Holliday was asked to reprise the role, which she reluctantly agreed to. Bringing with her the vulnerability, brash quality, sweetness to the Billie role she would win over audiences and critics alike in a performance that earned her the Academy Award and Golden Globe that year, forcing Cohen to sign the actress and find future projects for her.

 

Starring alongside of Holliday were William Holden and Broderick Crawford. Just a couple of years beforehand these two actors would have been a couple of the most unassuming actors in Hollywood, but by the end of 1950 they were two of the best performers in the business. Holden was coming off Sunset Boulevard starring opposite of another Best Actress nominee in Gloria Swanson. Unlike in Sunset Boulevard, here he plays an intellectual that helps turn Billie from being a naive victim to a hero by being a mentor and love interest. Swiftly Holden rose to become one of acclaimed male stars in Hollywood thanks to his work in 1950 alone.

 

Broderick Crawford who jumped into the Hollywood scene with his Oscar winning performance in 1949’s All the King’s Men delivers a gruff and unsophisticated style to the role of Harry, a crooked junkyard tycoon attempting to buy himself loyalty in Washington’s backroom deals. Despite once again playing a part of a crooked political role, his performance plays entirely different, this time as the lobbist rather than the corrupt politician. As Harry he is a trouble character with a genuine deep love for Billie, wanting the best for her, but never allowing that outweigh his own greed. Its his own pride that kads him to want Billie to develop a sense of refinement and respect for his own appearances. Both Holden and Crawford perfectly mesh with each other and Holliday in cast that is fleshed out with a handful of smaller supporting cast members that included Broadway holdovers Frank Otto and Larry Oliver, and the addition of character actor Howard St. John as Harry’s attorney.

 

As with many film consisting of sultry blonds, Born Yesterday had its issue with censors. Form the cuts of Judy Holliday’s dresses, how the set was constructed, and to certain lines of the script censors took issue with aspects of the picture, but Holliday’s masterful would performance help keep some of these issues at bay. Her subtle movements belayed troubles while still remaining alluring, yet innocent at the same time. Innuendo laden dialogue suggested blatant sexual tension between Billie and Paul remains in the picture can and can be surprising considering how often censors nixed such forward sexual conversion. The setting in the movie was changed from a single hotel suite to multiple suites on a single hotel floor to mask that Harry and Billie were not married to keep censors at bay, which may actually have help the story since it made Harry that much wealthier. It was these types of creative changes that creative minds worked with to keep the from Hollywood’s moral police from hinting them down.

 

Adding to the picture Cukor makes the setting of Washington DC a major part of the film. While visiting the capital he fell in love with the setting and decided to film as much as he could on location within the city which included many outdoor scenes around famous Washington landmarks. From the Statler Hotel, to monuments, and even the no longer used outdoor concert venue all featured in Billie’s tour around the city, Born Yesterday becomes a minor patriotic political feature as it showcased the nation’s capital.

 

Born Yesterday opened to near universal acclaim from audiences and critics. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, its lone prize went to Holliday’s performance. With a wonderful mix of humor and drama the picture was one of the best films of 1950 and continues to a well-loved feature in American cinematic history, evidenced with its election to the National Film Registry in 2012. With its delightful story and characters, the feature is a very pleasurable watch with a generous message that leaves those that view it with a happy feeling afterwards.