Born Yesterday

Harry Cohn, who ran Columbia, did not want Judy Holliday in this part. He wanted an established star like Gloria Grahame, Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth, and what he said about Holliday is on the record and thoroughly ugly. Holliday had created the role herself on Broadway in 1946. What got her onto the screen was a trap set by her friends: Garson Kanin, who wrote the play, and Ruth Gordon brought in Katharine Hepburn and George Cukor, wrote Holliday a part in Adam's Rib and then enlarged it. She took every scene she entered. Cohn gave way. A crude scrap-metal magnate hires a tutor for his girlfriend so she will be useful to him in Washington. As Billie Dawn learns, she starts to understand what he actually does, and the arrangement turns on him. William Holden plays the tutor and Broderick Crawford the businessman. Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar over Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis; the votes are generally said to have split between those two. Who it is for: viewers who like classical Hollywood comedy and performances that carry an entire film. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. Its origins are theatrical, most of it happens in one hotel suite, and the last stretch openly preaches.