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.

bells are ringing

the year: 1960

the genre: musical


the cast: Judy Holliday (Ella Peterson); Dean Martin (JEffrey Moss); Fred Clark (Larry Hastings); Jean Stapleton (Sue); Frank Gorshin (Blake Barton)


the plot: Ella Peterson is a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who listens in on others' lives and adds some interest to her own humdrum existence by adopting different identities for her clients. They include an out-of-work Method actor, a dentist with musical yearnings, and in particular playwright Jeffrey Moss, who is suffering from writer's block and desperately needs a muse. Adding complications to the plot are the police, who are certain the business is a front for an "escort service," and the owner's shady boyfriend, who unbeknownst to her is using the agency as a bookmaking operation.



don't miss: the mail-order classical record business/horse betting system.



watch for: Frank Gorshin's spot on Brando impression.




listen for: "Titantic Records - the highest fi of them all."






did you know: Judy Holliday won Broadway's 1957 Tony Award as Best Actress for the same role she recreated in the film version.



count: how many orders come in for Beethoven's tenth symphony.




also listen for: "I'm going back where I can be me, at the Bonjour Tristese Brassiere Company!"



and my favorite song:

solid gold cadillac

the year: 1956

the genre: comedy

the cast: Judy Holliday (Laura Partridge); Paul Douglas (Edward L. McKeever); Fred Clark (Clifford Snell); John Williams (Jon T. Blessington); Hiram Sherman (Harry Harkness); Arthur O’Connell (Mark Jenkins)


the plot: Laura Partridge is a very enthusiastic stockholder of 10 shares of the International Projects corporation based in New York. She attends her first stockholder meeting ready to question the board of directors on everything from their salaries to their operations. Edward McKeever, the current CEO has resigned in order to take an advisory position at the Pentagon. Following the meeting, he bumps into Laura and offers to drive her home. On the way there, Laura shares her enthusiasm for being a stockholder, and as a result, Edward takes a liking to her. With Edward in Washington, the remaining (and crooked) board members establish their hold on International Projects. They see an opportunity now that McKeever has influence with the US Senate in awarding federal contracts but get frustrated because he is honest and won't do their bidding. In the meantime, Laura continues to be a nuisance to the board. They decide to give her a high paying, but harmless (or so they think) position with the company to keep her quiet. When they send her to Washington to use her influence on McKeever, Laura decides to take matters into her own hands and get him back in charge of the company.


don’t miss: McKeever’s foray into Shakespeare.


check out: George Burns as the narrator.


listen for: “Miss Partridge, you see, I am a businessman. All my life I've concentrated on business. Now, this has necessarily forced me to devote more of my time to some things and less to others. You understand. “ “Sure. You're scared of girls.”

watch a movie clip here.