born yesterday

the year: 1950

the genre: comedy


the cast: Judy Holliday (Emma "Billie" Dawn); Broderick Crawford (Harry Brock); William Holden (Paul Verrall)

the plot: Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn. Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall to see if he can soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in Capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history and not only comes to the realization that Harry is nothing but a two-bit, corrupt crook, but in the process also falls in love with her handsome tutor.


listen for: "Shut up! You ain't gonna be tellin' nobody nothin' pretty soon!" "DOUBLE NEGATIVE! Right?" "Right."


did you know: that to help build up Judy Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part.


also listen for: "How about the story of your life?" "Oh no. Much too long... and mostly untrue."


count: how many times Billie "looks it up".


extra bonus points: if you can list who starred in the 1993 remake.


you can watch the movie in parts starting here.