"Born Yesterday" Question

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:12pm

I rewatched this movie again today, and I have a question! How did Billie Dawn own as many shares of the company as she did?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:36pm

Thinking she was too dumb to know what she had, Brock signed them over to her to hide them from the government.

Updated On: 4/30/08 at 03:36 PM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:37pm

That makes some sense! Also, I couldn't remember is name, but it was Brock......Harold Brock, right?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:40pm

Harry.. Harold.

Great American Play.

I saw a tepid production with Madeline Kahn a hundred years ago. Even a comic thoroughbred like Kahn couldn't touch Holliday.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:43pm

Hmmmm....Ellen Greene or Faith Prince might have been good as Billie once upon a time.

Don't mind me I'm just talking to myself.

Updated On: 4/30/08 at 03:43 PM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:46pm

I agree!

Nowadays, the best you're going to get is Kristen Chenoweth!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 3:50pm

Or Melanie Griffith.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:02pm

LOL!!!!!!

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:07pm

Saw a very tepid production of it recently as well. I do love the classic film.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 8:46pm

BFB, I saw that production, too. I adore both Madeline Kahn and Judy Holliday, but you are so right, Ms. Kahn paled in comparison. I was actually bored.

Ed Asner was Harry Brock. It was still boring.

Judy Holliday is magnificent. You can't take your eyes off her...no easy task when William Holden is always on the screen!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 8:51pm

Judy Holliday replaced Jean Arthur in the play when it was out of town.

It wasn't working with her in it.

And Jean had turned down the role of Mary Bailey in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" to do the Broadway production of "Born Yesterday."

Bad career move, ultimately.

Nice break for Donna Reed though.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 9:08pm

Jean Arthur is my #1 favorite film actress.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 9:20pm

My favorite Arthur performance is in A Foreign Affair.

Talk about a movie that needs to be on DVD!!!

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 9:57pm

I especially love her in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:03pm

My favorite line "Anything but Tutti Fruti!"

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:09pm

Here's my favorite part:

Billie: "Thirty? Do I look like I'm 30?!"

Paul: "How old ARE you?"

Billie: "TWENTY-NINE!"

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:12pm

Oh I love that part!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:54pm

I adore Jean Arthur, but she's just not Billie Dawn. She's too smart (as a persona), too girl-next-door, and too headstrong.

Judy Holliday was VERY smart in real life, but she could play "dumb and resigned" so well. And she was more "of the streets."

And as CRAZY a year for Best Actress nominees (maybe the toughest year EVER!), I think she deserved her Oscar.

But any of the other nominees could have won: Bette Davis & Ann Baxter in "All About Eve," Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd." and Eleanor Parker in "Caged" (so good!).

Yet Judy ruled.

And I totally get it.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:59pm

That brings up a debate I've always wanted to have!
Excluding Judy, "Who do you you think out of the other four nominees should have won the oscar?"

My vote would be for Gloria Swanson!

[blueroses]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 10:59pm

best12, I'm glad she turned it down. Donna Reed was the perfect Mary Bailey.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 11:22pm

As much as I adore Jean Arthur (and I do!), her career downfall gave two stars their big breaks! Judy Holliday AND Donna Reed became stars, because of her decisions and ultimately unfortunate fate.

Norma Shearer made similar "questionable" choices. She TURNED DOWN Scarlett in "Gone With the Wind" and the title role in "Mrs. Miniver."

Her last big film was 1939's "The Women." But after her husband Irving Thalberg died, I'm fully believing her heart simply wasn't in it anymore.

Still she "gave" the Oscars and a place in film history to both Vivien Leigh and Greer Garson.

No foolin'. All she had to do was say "yes," and those two ladies would have missed out on their ultimate roles.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 11:45pm

Judy Holliday completely deserved that Oscar. And that's from someone who loved the other films and performances.

It's too bad she never a film as good as BORN YESTERDAY, but thank goodness we have it.

Besty, I didn't mean to imply for even a second that Jean Arthur would have been a better Billie Dawn than Judy Holliday. Can't see it.

I can see Jean Arthur as Mary Bailey though. Not that Donna Reed wasn't perfect in the part!

BTW, didn't Norma Shearer turn down GONE WITH THE WIND to star in HER CARDBOARD LOVER?

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:21am

Love the film!

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:23am

Glad Judy won the oscar.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:26am

I'd vote for Gloria Swanson also as a second choice.