Classic Movie Review: Born Yesterday
I’m not usually a fan of shrill, but loud ex-showgirl Billy Dawn in the 1950 version of Born Yesterday is actually a joy to behold. In the deft hands of Judy Holliday, original playwright Garson Kanin and screenwriter Albert Mannheimer, Billy Dawn has depth that allows you to be patient with her decibel level — and even enjoy it.
In this Pygmalian-like story, Billy is the kept woman of rich man Harry Brock, played by Broderick Crawford. Both are fine with that arrangement until Harry’s business dealings as a well-to-do junk dealer take him to Washington so he can do a little influence peddling and buy a few national officials. As always, Billy comes along. But for the first time in their long relationship, she’s perceived as a liability because her lack of polish makes her stand out in stuffy Washington D.C.
Enter William Holden in the form of Paul Verrall, a newspaper reporter whom Harry hires to educate Billy and “smarten her up a little.” Engaging Verrall to spend so much time with Billy was a little like letting the fox into the hen house, because as a reporter he was well aware of Harry’s slimy reasons for being in Washington. But he doesn’t flat-out warn Billy about Harry. Instead, Billy sees the light for herself as the story unfolds. And that light does more than educate her about who she’s been living with; it shines on everyone around her and exposes their motives — for good or for bad.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding the casting of Born Yesterday. Although Holliday played the role for four years on Broadway to rave reviews, Columbia head Harry Cohn thought she was too fat for the movies. He tried to give the film role to Rita Hayworth but she knew it wasn’t right for her. Using the excuse that she wanted to spend time with her new husband Prince Aly Kahn, she turned it down. Cohn then tried to draft Celeste Holm, Lucille Ball, Marie McDonald, Shelly Winters, Evelyn Keyes, Paulette Goddard, Ida Lupino and Lana Turner but none of them were right for the job. In the end, he returned to Holliday and asked her to reprise the part she had already perfected on Broadway.
As a result of many years of embodying Billy Dawn, even Holliday’s most subtle movements are perfect: from the way she wiggled her pinky while tallying her cards after beating Harry at gin rummy, to the way she screamed, “W-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t?” like a bleating goat across Harry’s expensive suite and to the duck noise she made that sounded completely natural, even though it was coming out of a beautiful woman’s mouth.
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And Holliday wasn’t the only one who perfected her role. Director George Cukor actually had the actors rehearse the script like a play. They even gave six performances in front of live audiences so they could hone the timing of the jokes. This relentless pursuit of excellence resulted in Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Costume Design, and a Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe for Judy Holliday. Her win was quite a feat, because she was up against Anne Baxter and Bette Davis for All About Eve, Eleanor Parker for Caged and Gloria Swanson for Sunset Blvd.
Because the original version of Born Yesterday was crafted with such distinction, it was brave of Melanie Griffith to try to recreate the role of Billy Dawn in 1993. But to my surprise, Melanie carved out her own unique portayal, while managing to maintain the best aspects of the character Judy Holliday established. In my opinion, that makes both versions of Born Yesterday well worth the popcorn.
Other Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:
To Kill a Mockingbird
My Man Godfrey
Now, Voyager
The Enchanted Cottage
All About Eve
