Maria DiBattista
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088151
- eISBN:
- 9780300133882
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088151.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing ...
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This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing things that never were and wanting things that are not yet. It looks at the film's fast-talking dame, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), and the object of her sexual choice, Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), and explores the zoomorphic humor that explores human behavior—especially human sexual behavior—as the developed instance of the rampant instincts enlivening the entire animal world. Within the film is represented an entire menagerie of human and animal types, comparing human to animal life. This comedy of a post-Darwinian and post-Freudian age provides an explanation closer to home regarding the sexual difference between men and women—compared, for example, to the popular proposition that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.Less
This chapter takes a closer look at 1938's Bringing Up Baby in order to study the role of the female as pathfinder within adventurous screen comedies—the evolutionary trailblazer who is always seeing things that never were and wanting things that are not yet. It looks at the film's fast-talking dame, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), and the object of her sexual choice, Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), and explores the zoomorphic humor that explores human behavior—especially human sexual behavior—as the developed instance of the rampant instincts enlivening the entire animal world. Within the film is represented an entire menagerie of human and animal types, comparing human to animal life. This comedy of a post-Darwinian and post-Freudian age provides an explanation closer to home regarding the sexual difference between men and women—compared, for example, to the popular proposition that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.003.0014
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks ...
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Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks about incorporating humor into scenes in Red River, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, The Big Sky, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, and Bringing Up Baby.Less
Hawks reflects on the comedic attitude of his films, and his subtle incorporation of comedy into dramatic plots. Hawk credits Chaplin as his teacher of how to make comedy out of tragedy, and talks about incorporating humor into scenes in Red River, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, The Big Sky, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, and Bringing Up Baby.
Mark Glancy
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190053130
- eISBN:
- 9780190053161
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190053130.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
In 1937, Cary Grant’s career as a freelance star began with three screwball comedies that established him as the master of this genre. Topper (1937), made by the independent producer Hal Roach, ...
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In 1937, Cary Grant’s career as a freelance star began with three screwball comedies that established him as the master of this genre. Topper (1937), made by the independent producer Hal Roach, initiated this sharp upturn in his career. This stylish screwball comedy brought out a new playful, wry, ironic dimension in Grant’s performance style. Improvisation on the set was key to his new screen persona, and he was given even greater reign to improvise in his first Columbia film, Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth (1937). Legend has it that he was uncomfortable working with McCarey, but McCarey helped him to mould the Cary Grant star persona, unique for combining debonair and slapstick qualities. He signed a contract with Columbia Pictures that gave him the power to choose which films he made, and control over both his publicity and his wardrobe, but it was a non-exclusive contract, allowing him to make his next film at RKO Pictures. In Bringing Up Baby (1938), director Howard Hawks encouraged a frenzied edge to his performance. This is perfectly exemplified in the famous scene in which Grant leaps in the air, shouting “I just went gay all of the sudden”—a line he improvised on the set and one that demonstrates the liberated, unconventional mores of screwball comedy. Bringing Up Baby had a mixed reception on first release in 1938, but in later years, through repeated revivals and screenings on television, it became one of his best known and most admired films.Less
In 1937, Cary Grant’s career as a freelance star began with three screwball comedies that established him as the master of this genre. Topper (1937), made by the independent producer Hal Roach, initiated this sharp upturn in his career. This stylish screwball comedy brought out a new playful, wry, ironic dimension in Grant’s performance style. Improvisation on the set was key to his new screen persona, and he was given even greater reign to improvise in his first Columbia film, Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth (1937). Legend has it that he was uncomfortable working with McCarey, but McCarey helped him to mould the Cary Grant star persona, unique for combining debonair and slapstick qualities. He signed a contract with Columbia Pictures that gave him the power to choose which films he made, and control over both his publicity and his wardrobe, but it was a non-exclusive contract, allowing him to make his next film at RKO Pictures. In Bringing Up Baby (1938), director Howard Hawks encouraged a frenzied edge to his performance. This is perfectly exemplified in the famous scene in which Grant leaps in the air, shouting “I just went gay all of the sudden”—a line he improvised on the set and one that demonstrates the liberated, unconventional mores of screwball comedy. Bringing Up Baby had a mixed reception on first release in 1938, but in later years, through repeated revivals and screenings on television, it became one of his best known and most admired films.
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.003.0015
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on ...
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This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on screen, and the “Number Seven” method that he and Grant came up with when filming these scenes. He praises Grant’s work in His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and I Was A Male War Bride, and describes working with Ann Sheridan (on I Was A Male War Bride).Less
This chapter discusses Hawks’ working relationship with Carey Grant and Katharine Hepburn. He talks about his penchant for making the woman character the dominant figure in romantic relationships on screen, and the “Number Seven” method that he and Grant came up with when filming these scenes. He praises Grant’s work in His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and I Was A Male War Bride, and describes working with Ann Sheridan (on I Was A Male War Bride).
Joseph McBride
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813142623
- eISBN:
- 9780813145242
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813142623.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and ...
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Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of the last seven years of his life, giving rare insight into Hawks’s artistic philosophy, his relationships with some of the major figures in Hollywood, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. Both an account of Hawks’s life and work and a guide to his insights on how to make movies, the book features the director’s refreshing candor as he gives pithy and often witty assessments of his own films, the work of other filmmakers, and his collaborators.Less
Howard Hawks (1896–1977) is the most versatile of all the great American directors, having worked with equal ease and brilliance in screwball comedies, Westerns, gangster movies, musicals, and adventure films. Hawks on Hawks draws on interviews Joseph McBride conducted with the director over the course of the last seven years of his life, giving rare insight into Hawks’s artistic philosophy, his relationships with some of the major figures in Hollywood, and his position in an industry that was rapidly changing. Both an account of Hawks’s life and work and a guide to his insights on how to make movies, the book features the director’s refreshing candor as he gives pithy and often witty assessments of his own films, the work of other filmmakers, and his collaborators.
Mark Glancy
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190053130
- eISBN:
- 9780190053161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190053130.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Archie Leach was a poorly educated, working-class boy from a troubled family living in the backstreets of Bristol. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s most debonair film star—the embodiment of worldly ...
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Archie Leach was a poorly educated, working-class boy from a troubled family living in the backstreets of Bristol. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s most debonair film star—the embodiment of worldly sophistication. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend tells the incredible story of how the sad, neglected boy became the suave, glamorous star. The first biography to be based on Grant’s own personal papers, the book takes the reader on a fascinating journey from his difficult childhood through years of struggle in music hall and vaudeville, a hit-and-miss career in Broadway musicals, and three decades of film stardom during Hollywood’s golden age. For the first time, the bitter realities of Grant’s impoverished childhood are revealed, including his mother’s mental illness and his expulsion from school at the age of fourteen. New light is shed on his trailblazing path as a film star who defied the studio system and took control of his own career. His genius as an actor and a filmmaker is highlighted through identifying the crucial contributions he made to classic films such as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Notorious (1946), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Charade (1963) and Father Goose (1964). His own search for happiness and fulfilment, which led him to having his first child at the age of sixty-two and embarking on his fifth marriage at the age of seventy-seven—is explored with new candor and insight. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend is the definitive account of the professional and personal life of an unforgettable star.Less
Archie Leach was a poorly educated, working-class boy from a troubled family living in the backstreets of Bristol. Cary Grant was Hollywood’s most debonair film star—the embodiment of worldly sophistication. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend tells the incredible story of how the sad, neglected boy became the suave, glamorous star. The first biography to be based on Grant’s own personal papers, the book takes the reader on a fascinating journey from his difficult childhood through years of struggle in music hall and vaudeville, a hit-and-miss career in Broadway musicals, and three decades of film stardom during Hollywood’s golden age. For the first time, the bitter realities of Grant’s impoverished childhood are revealed, including his mother’s mental illness and his expulsion from school at the age of fourteen. New light is shed on his trailblazing path as a film star who defied the studio system and took control of his own career. His genius as an actor and a filmmaker is highlighted through identifying the crucial contributions he made to classic films such as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Notorious (1946), An Affair to Remember (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Charade (1963) and Father Goose (1964). His own search for happiness and fulfilment, which led him to having his first child at the age of sixty-two and embarking on his fifth marriage at the age of seventy-seven—is explored with new candor and insight. Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend is the definitive account of the professional and personal life of an unforgettable star.
