Exclusive“It Should Happen to You” (1954): First Romantic Comedy

What will it be for me? Will someone say I found you? How will it be to see The heights my fame can grow to? Will it be all real and right? And how will it feel to be Well-known by every stranger? Make fortune mine and sign The book of every stranger I can see my name all alight It's like nothing else before My name and nothing more shining bright I don't want to stand and wait For fate to come attacking Things will be great, just great I'll set the whole world talking Walking from my dazzling light I see my name on that sign I can't wait till it is mine Rebecca, what are you doing? We're filming right now. Just a minute, hold on. I'm about to hit 10,000 views. Where did you even get that? You don't own a smartphone. I borrowed it. Borrowed it? From whom? What's going on? Views on what? I posted this video that's just my name on repeat and it's going viral. Your name on repeat? What's the point of that? What's the point? 10,000 people are going to know my name, that's the point. I did it! 10,000! But getting people to know your name is meaningless if it doesn't stand for anything. But that's what everyone wants. Not everyone. I, for one, want people to know me for something meaningful, if anything. I'm Tiffany Brannan. And I'm Rebecca Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. People our age don't care about old movies. They don't know about old movies and they don't like old movies. Well, I think that's a little bit of a generalization. I mean, with the internet and things like TCM or Turner Classic Movies, there's an awareness of old films that there wasn't like 20 years ago, even. That's true. It's very easy to see old films, even in little snippets on social media. They pop up or YouTube. You can certainly access them so much easier. But just because there's the possibility of seeing them doesn't mean that everybody is an old movie fan. I think that people who really understand and have seen a lot of old movies are still a minority. That's true. And not everyone's going to become an old movie buff, obviously. But I think we can all find at least a few classic films that we really like. I love almost all films from the golden era of Hollywood. But there's no denying that some old movies are more palatable for modern audiences than others, if you're not familiar at all with the genre. If you don't know anything about that time period, some films are going to seem very foreign. And interestingly, the more palatable movies are not always the most famous ones. I'm kind of inclined to say, when looking for your first film, probably steer away from the really famous ones. I feel like sometimes the very thing that makes them so famous is what would make them very foreign to a modern audience. What's better than just going with a name you might have heard before is to find something that fits into a genre that you already like. In modern cinema, a mainstay of modern movies is the rom-com, which is sort of a descendant of the romantic comedy from the classic era. That's right. They're different, though, in that I think the rom-com is tending more toward the comedy end of it. More calm than rom. Yes, because things like the meet cute tends to involve something kind of bumping into each other physically. And just kind of more bordering on slapstick, I would say, while romantic comedy from the classic era is more focused on the romance. That's very true. And as a result, it's kind of hard to choose a romantic comedy because if you look at the international movie database, IMDb, for instance, categorize a lot of movies as romantic comedies because anything that's a somewhat lighthearted romance, even more so than they would have at the time during the golden era, you're more likely to find comedies and romances. Now, of course, almost all comedies of that kind had some romance, but to truly have a romantic comedy, I think it has to be just as much about the romance as it is about making you laugh. I think rom-coms sometimes are more similar to what was called a screwball comedy in the classic era. Because those comedies were fixated more on, I think, intelligent humor or situations that are funny. Yeah, definitely. Less physical violence, although there are some that involve some violence. Yeah. But what I think is a really great classic example of a romantic comedy is It Should Happen to You from 1954. That's a great choice because it's very romantic, but it's also really a comedy. And I think there are a lot of things in that movie that make it a good topic for modern people, especially young people. Absolutely. It tells the story of a young woman, Gladys Glover, who's been in New York for two years trying to make a name for herself. Then one day, she sees this big sign for rent on Columbus Circle, and she decides to rent that sign with the $1,000 she saved up and just put her name on it to just get her name out there. But there's a company, the Adam Soap Company, which always uses this billboard for their summer campaign. And in order to get her to give up the space, they end up giving her six other signs on which to put her name all over New York. And soon, she becomes a personality, and she's doing guest appearances on television shows, having planes named after her, and endorsing Adam Soap. All just because she got her name out there just is famous for being famous. But the one person who isn't happy about it is her sort of tentative sweetheart, Pete Shepard, who liked her as just an ordinary girl and thinks she doesn't have any time for him because she's so famous now. And his romantic rival is Evan Adams III, the young playboy who is in charge of the Adam Soap Company. That's right. And he's sort of trying to romance Gladys, but really just because he wants what he wants. First, he wants the sign, and then he thinks he's entitled to have some fun with her as well, as doing business. When Pete doesn't like that, he can see right through him right away. This movie was made by Columbia Pictures, which was one of the smaller studios at the time, but they made many good movies. It was directed by George Cukor, a very famous director from the Golden Era. It stars Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Peter Lawford in the three leading characters. I would say this movie is probably most notable for being the feature film debut of Jack Lemmon. That's right. It might be a familiar name to some of you because he made a lot of very famous and successful movies into the 1990s, wouldn't you say? Yes, he did. I think some of his most recognizable titles from the later decades would be The Odd Couple, the original film with Walter Matthau, who was his good friend and frequent film collaborator. Save the Tiger. He won an Oscar for that, right? Yes, he won his only Best Actor in 1972. But perhaps he's best known for Grumpy Old Men in the 1990s, also with Walter Matthau. But in this film, he was a not-so-grumpy young man. Yes, he was 28 at the time and very cute. And he was actually my first, I think our first, actually, actor crush. That's right. Which that probably will sound strange to you. In the movies you watch, it doesn't matter. It's really no different than having a crush on a modern day actor. I mean, you're probably not going to meet him anyway. Yeah. And we had been watching a movie that he's in for years. My whole life I remember watching the movie It Happened to Jane. Uh-huh, from 1959, with Doris Day. Yes, but I didn't really notice him in that movie, sort of. He didn't stand out to me. He's good in it, but he didn't grab me. It wasn't until we watched The Wackiest Ship in the Army from 1960, when he stars opposite Rick Nelson, that I just, I don't know, I just was suddenly struck by him. I was like, I really like this actor. And then we started watching some of his other movies, including this one, which we got in a collection of romance films. Yeah, I think they were all, or at least almost all, from Columbia Pictures in that collection of sort of obscure, mostly romantic comedies. And he just kind of charmed us both, I think. And it was really interesting that that is kind of what led us to become not just old movie fans, but sort of historians of the classic era. That's true. Judy Holliday, on the other hand, is not a well-known name. I think even classic movie fans might not recognize her name because she only was acting for around 11 years in the movies. She also was on the stage a lot. Her film debut was in 1949 in Adam's Rib, another Columbia sort of romantic comedy directed by George Cukor. She had a supporting role in that. And then the next year, she made Born Yesterday, and she was a leading lady in that, and she won Best Actress for that part. That's right. And she only acted until 1960. She made her last movie that year, Bells Are Ringing, a musical with Dean Martin. And during that time, she was one of Columbia's top actresses, but she really didn't make that many films. But she was hilarious in the films she did make. She was so funny, but also a very deep, dramatic actress. Yes. Born Yesterday is a fascinating story because that year, there were two very famous, I think lastingly famous, movies made, All About Eve with Bette Davis and Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson. And they were both up for Best Actress, and everyone thought obviously one of them was going to win it. But it's said that they sort of cancelled each other out. Sort of a deadlock situation. She came in as the dark horse. Yeah, and she just sort of won almost by default. Not that she didn't deserve it. It's an amazing performance to see her give, that it goes from being a comedic part to a dramatic part, just in her character arc. Comedies often aren't appreciated as much by the awards, but she goes from being just this dumb, ditzy blonde to a very deep character. So it's quite a character arc, and you really see how talented she was. And it's a fascinating film, too. It's sort of like a political drama almost underneath this sort of romantic comedy. Yeah. Jack Lemmon's first two films were opposite Judy Holliday. That's right. Black and white romantic comedies at Columbia Pictures with a fun, quirky score by Frederick Hollander. In both cases. So she kind of helped him get his start as a comedic actor who would eventually show his dramatic abilities. And the other person who really helped him come into his own as an actor was the director of this film, George Cukor. And he was a great director who'd been working just in Hollywood for years. His first really notable film was 1933, right? Yes. The first Little Women. Little Women, which won Academy Awards. And he made a lot of great romantic comedies throughout the 30s and 40s. And a lot of actors really liked him, right? Especially actresses. Yes. He was Katharine Hepburn's favorite director because he was very sympathetic, but he also knew how to bring a good performance out of people without using unkind or manipulative measures. And he really encouraged ad-libbing. And I think that's so fascinating to see in his movies. Because in a lot of them, you wonder, how much of this is actually written dialogue? And how much did he just say, and kind of feel the scene? You definitely feel that in this film. It's so natural and there are extended periods of time where there's no background music and they're just talking quickly, fast-paced dialogue, even almost yelling at each other. And it's so real. It's really funny. And really believable. And there's a very notable scene in the film where they have this big fight. And Jack Lemmon, always his style was to almost overact. But it worked for him. Billy Wilder said, he was a ham, but a good ham. And apparently he was even more over the top than what we see on the screen when he first started. And this one scene especially, George Cukor just was trying to wear him down. And the way Jack Lemmon recounted the story, he said, George Cukor had a lisp. And he kept saying to him, a little bit less. Every time. They just kept doing it. And finally he said, if I do any less, I'm not going to be acting. And he said, exactly! And that same scene actually, Jack Lemmon gave this really great suggestion, which kind of makes the scene in that the fight is kind of over and he storms out. And then he pops back in and he says, are we still on for Friday lunch? And the line was in, but it was Jack's idea to go out and then come back in. And he suggested that to George Cukor. And he said, oh yeah, that's great. Let's do that. It really makes the end of that scene. It wouldn't have been nearly as funny if he didn't do that. He also encouraged Jack to incorporate a personal mannerism he had. He said, what do you do when you get upset? He's like, well, I put my hand on my stomach. I start to feel sick. He said, well, do that. And you see, he's so upset he puts his hand on his stomach. I've always noticed that, especially in that movie. He's very real in that scene. You wouldn't believe it. And so is Judy Holliday. She really creates this funny, quirky character who always says, I always have to take my shoes off so I can think better. I just think this is one of the most just charming little innocent romances you can find in a film. He moves into her apartment building after the first time they meet and they run into each other again. And then they go upstairs and he's like, oh, you want to see my room? She's like, sure. And then she's like, you want to see my room? And they're like children almost. But it's just so sweet because it's romantic but not in at all a passionate way. It's just a really, you see that they just really like each other. And that eventually grows into something else. And that's really the best way. Yes, it's very sweet. It's really fascinating though, speaking about Jack Lemmon, that his career, at least the first part of it, like what we've watched of his career, is sort of a fascinating study of old Hollywood. Because... Yes, this film, which is the beginning of his career, is the end of an era. Being from 1954, people who really study the golden era of Hollywood will know that there were many things that came into play to influence how the film content was at the time. For instance, when I was reading about all the different movies he made in his early career, I read about a movie from 1956 called You Can't Run Away From It. And as I was reading about it, I saw on Wikipedia that it said this was a remake of It Happened One Night. It was a Frank Capra film with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert from mid-1934. So I looked it up and I saw it was referred to as one of the last pre-code films. I said, what's that, pre-code? So I started reading about the Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code or the Censorship Code. But as I started reading about it, I thought, well, this is a really good idea. Because at the time there were censor boards all over the country that would cut up films if they didn't like what was in them. But in 1934, this production code was adopted by Hollywood and overseen by the Production Code Administration, or PCA, with Joseph Breen at the head of it. Now, is it true that, interestingly, it was actually first adopted in 1930? Yes, it was. But it wasn't enforced properly until 1934 when the administration was started. And what's considered the pre-code era is actually when the code was technically in place between 1930 and 1934. Those early talkies when the silent film era was over. But the Studio Relations Committee, the SRC, which was in charge of it, really didn't do its job. That's right. And when you read about the era, the years of the production code, you'll see that the Production Code Administration was the main organization that had influence in Hollywood between 1934 and 1968 when it was replaced with the ratings. That's right. But I say that the Production Code Administration really ended in 1954 because that was when Joseph Breen, the man who was in charge of it for 20 years, retired and Jeffrey Sherlock took over. So we call 1954-1968 the Sherlock era. That's right. The Breen era and the Sherlock era. And I think if you look at those movies that were made during first those 20 years and then the next 14 years, it tells you all you need to know about what the code was. It influenced and encouraged Hollywood to make movies in a way that was wholesome and decent, like you see in It Should Happen to You so the whole family could enjoy it and really entertaining and romantic and wholesome but also dramatic. But yeah, Jack Lemmon's career is just such a good, it's sort of a master class on that. And the last of his movies that we've seen, the latest, would be The Great Race from 1965. And if you look at that compared to It Should Happen to You, it's like a whole different world. It's amazing to see the steady decline. I remember seeing one of his movies which is called How to Murder Your Wife. From 1964. That was right before The Great Race. Ten years after this. And there were a lot of bad things in that movie. And I remember noticing there was some swearing in it the first time we watched it. And we didn't watch that many movies from the 60s for that very reason because the content started to get kind of questionable. And I remember thinking, oh yeah, this is getting later so society was just declining. I had no idea what the real reason was. And I'm sure a lot of people think that, but if you look at that pre-code era, it's shocking. It's like, goodbye good old days. It's not what you think. That's right. But Jack Lemmon personally was involved in some of the films that are considered the movies that broke down the production code during the Sherlock era. Some Like It Hot, 1959. The Apartment, 1960. Both Billy Wilder films. But it's interesting to see what happened with the romantic comedy. Going from this movie to, you could say, The Apartment is a romantic comedy. How to Murder Your Wife is a romantic comedy. What does that look like five years later? Ten years later? Even one year later. The movie Mr. Roberts. Not that this is a romantic comedy. It's a war film and obviously a drama. But it's hard to believe that's only one year after. He won Best Supporting Actor for that. It's an amazing film. I don't mean to disparage it, but just from a code standpoint, from an acceptability standpoint, it's kind of shocking that that's as early as 1955. Another thing that people often don't consider that was related to the code and made the golden era golden was costumes. Because the code does mention costumes, but mainly no nudity. Obviously that's not much of a costume. No suggested nudity. But it also mentions modesty and decency. It didn't say things like your neckline must be so high, your skirt must not be shorter than that. It says general standards of don't imply nudity, don't make it too suggestive. So if you've watched The Aviator, that scene is not true. They never got out of tape measures and started measuring necklines. That did not happen. And Mr. Marine didn't look anything like that. But what it did encourage was beautiful, glamorous, modest, feminine fashion. The clothes from the 30s, the women walking down the street were quite pretty. But on the screen they tended to be like you could find dresses in Macy's or Forever 21 today that you could wear in a pre-cut film. Because they tend to be about being revealing instead of being beautiful. And Judy Holiday wears some lovely outfits in this movie that are very decent as well as just pretty and glamorous. For instance, my dress replicates one of her outfits which she wears when she and Pete go into Macy's one day to get some towels and a sales lady recognizes her name from the sign that's outside the building. In that scene she's wearing a longer sleeve black outfit with a little white flower and a black hat with a white flower and a little bit of lace as well as classic black pumps. Throughout the film she wears the classic 1950s hourglass silhouette with a full skirt and some kind of belt or tie at the waist as well as the classic small black hat, a lot of times a pillbox. My dress is actually retro, meaning it's a replication of an old style. I wear a lot of clothes that are just from a regular brand but replicate the modern style least to me especially if I put them with certain accessories. But this dress is actually based on the 1950s with the full circle skirt. Throughout the film, especially when Gladys is walking barefoot, you see that she's wearing the classic seamed stockings with the distinct Cuban heel. I also have stockings from the same brand, what Katie did, that have that Cuban heel as well as the classic black pump. My dress is inspired by the outfit Gladys wears when she first goes to the Horace Spifer company to inquire about the sign. While hers has longer sleeves, the puff sleeves are a staple of 1950s fashion as is a black patent leather belt and matching pumps. She wears this outfit again in a later scene without a hat but with the addition of white flower earrings. One of the most interesting things about this movie is the location footage. A lot of movies at this time were made on a sound stage because it's easier to control and less expensive to keep everything in Hollywood. But you can tell that a good deal of this film was shot on location in New York City. Especially in Central Park and in Columbus Circle. You can tell they really rented that billboard and put Gladys Glover up there. That's definitely authentic footage. Yes, it's right next to the NBC building. The film opens with a shot of a man by the beautiful fountain right by the lake in Central Park. It's Jack Lemmon. There he is with his wind-up camera because he makes documentaries. You see the footage he's getting around town right there in the park. Children playing, people walking, pigeons. Finally, it focuses on a young woman who is barefoot, or rather in her stocking feet, walking around and has to wonder, what's she doing? And that's Gladys. She thinks better with her shoes off, so he follows her around and sees this altercation she has with a really grumpy man who's sitting there in the park on the grass. Yeah, when we went to New York a few years back, it was shortly after we discovered this film. I had so much fun going around Central Park, especially, and trying to find the different locations where they filmed different things. Like, oh, where's the bridge where they did that one scene? And we saw that fountain, definitely. Columbus Circle has changed a lot. You can still see the statue of Columbus in the center, but yeah, it's true that a lot of the buildings around the outside have changed. As they're talking in the park, you can see in the background very distinct buildings of the New York skyline that you'll still recognize today if you're walking around Central Park. Absolutely. What do you think it is that really makes this the right choice for romantic comedy for modern audiences? I think that it's the right choice because of Gladys' whole scenario with wanting to be well-known. Yes. You know, Gladys actually has kind of a good idea. It's crazy, but if you really think about it, if you had enough money to rent a big billboard in a really prominent location like that, which, you know, it's not the full thousand dollars, but it's a good deal of money for her, and with inflation, that's a lot. But it does get her name out there. It's kind of a clever idea. I think that people today might understand and relate to Gladys more than people would have in the 1950s. Yeah, I mean, we all get it. We all know what that thrill is if you see somebody liked something you posted on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it is. I think social media has made people have a bit more of a taste of what she's experiencing. Like fame-conscious? Yeah. The idea of how you can become well-known for really nothing. It's less, I want to be a movie star, I want to become a famous singer. She never really says that. We know she's a model at the opening film. She just wants to be famous. She just wants to be famous, and that's what people are doing online. Yeah, Gladys is the first influencer. How many people are there out there who are like, why is this person famous? Why is this person endorsing brands? He hasn't really done anything noteworthy to get that. It's just, posted the right thing and got enough people to look at it that now this person is somebody. And the idea of endorsement from someone who isn't that famous is disgusting in this film. That's right. Evan Adams gets this idea in a board meeting to have a pitch for the average American girl endorsing. When he sees how famous Gladys has become, he's like, we're responsible for it because we gave her these six signs, but we should get something from it. So let's have her endorse Adam Soap. And they say, who endorses Soap now? Movie stars, opera singers, six day bicycle riders. But how about the average American girl? And then one fellow objects, I don't think she's so average. Why not? Because she's unusual. And he says, that's what you men don't seem to realize. The average American girl is unusual. And they based this whole campaign on that and she's just Gladys Glover and she's famous for being famous, honestly. It's wild. But the thing is, she puts her name up on that sign but it's fleeting. It doesn't make her really famous because, alright, Gladys Glover, great, we see that name. Nobody knows even her face. Yeah, nobody knows who she is or what she is until someone who wants to make money off her gets hold of her and starts exploiting her, really. Because she's complaining, the peach. She's saying, oh, in three days more it's all gonna be over. Because, yeah, first she has one sign, then she has six, but it's only for three months. And she doesn't have the money to rent more signs. Yeah. But this man, Mr. Clinton, who's just a newscaster, gets a hold of her and then he becomes her agent. He starts plugging her in places, putting her on these television shows and she just kind of goes out and makes a fool of herself. People laugh at her. But that becomes her notoriety. They're sort of like early reality TV shows. They were sort of like game shows. First it's the people speak when he's talking about it and he says, oh, they're always looking for goofballs. And Pete tells her, see that? Now you're a goofball. And he says, oh, he's gonna turn you into some sort of freak. And she just can't see it. She just thinks, he's gonna make me first get money. And her first goal is to make money so she can rent more signs. She never actually ends up doing that. And you don't see that she's getting any, necessarily any wealth. You don't see any signs of that. She's still in the same apartment. Yeah, it's basically just she's become this personality to the point that the military air transport service names a plane after her. That's right. But all these are just stunts that Clinton has worked out. And she only realizes how meaningless this all is when Pete leaves her this little movie that he made all about her saying goodbye to her and telling her that he loves her, but that she couldn't see him because of this fame clouding her vision, so to speak. And he leaves and she doesn't know where he is and then she has a moment of realization that he was right that just fame doesn't mean anything. That's right. So I think it's romantic. It's funny. There's some really funny scenes with Gladys doing crazy things. But it's also poignant and relatable and it's an important message for all of us about just the desire for fame is meaningless and fleeting if it doesn't stand for anything. And Pete gives a really great speech when he's trying to get through to her, when she just keeps talking about her signs and he can't stop her. He's trying to talk about coffee, a fish market, anything to get her mind off it, but she just keeps going right back to that topic. And finally he has to say, but what's the point of it? Where is it getting you? No place. And she says, no place? Well, first I got no signs and then I got one sign, so then I got six. So where do you get no place? And he says, it's not just making a name, Gladys, don't you understand that? It's making a name stand for something, even on one block, than for nothing or something bad all over the entire world. And she doesn't understand it then, but later after he's left and she realizes that she's miserable and she's not, she doesn't have any real friends, everybody's just laughing at her, and Clinton just wants to make money off of her, she repeats what he says to Clinton. Says, there's no point to it, there's no sense to it, it's not just making a name, what's that? It's making a name stand for something, even on one block, instead of for nothing all over the world. Yeah, and she just realizes she doesn't stand for anything, and she says that to the television audience and to all these servicemen. She's like, I don't stand for anything, but all of you do, and that plane does, even though nobody knows your names. Because they're doing something meaningful. They're serving their country. And she realizes that it's just silly to just want your name to be famous without some meaning to it. And I think that's a really great message that's in this film, as well as just being really fun and romantic. And it's really easy to see, too, because it's a lesser-known film. You can actually watch it for free if you have Amazon Prime membership. That's right. You can get it for free with Prime Video, and you can find it for free many other places on the internet, as well as, like, it's in that DVD collection we mentioned. And you can buy it on several streaming services or rent it. So it's not hard to see this really fun movie. Just look it up. You can find almost any classic movie online. Romantic comedies are such a wide genre, I think they can appeal to almost any audience member. But if you're looking for something more specifically geared to you, and you're either a dancer or a ballotomane, join us next time as we discuss one of the greatest dance films of all time. This movie not only has an amazing score of great American songbook standards and some classy tap numbers, it also includes an extended ballet sequence with real ballerinas on point. Join us next time. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.