Genre	Comedy :: Romance
Date Released	26 December 1950
Production	Columbia TriStar Television
Distribution	Fox Network
Related Dates	1950 Movies December 1950 Movies

Trivia and Quotes

Trivia

Judy Holliday, who played Billie Dawn on Broadway, was the third choice to play Billie after: Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth.

# # After Rita Hayworth put her career on hold due to her recent marriage to Prince Aly Khan, Harry Cohn was forced to recast the part of Billie Dawn. He tested a host of candidates rumored to have included Celeste Holm, Marie McDonald, Evelyn Keyes, Paulette Goddard, Ida Lupino and Lana Turner. He finally found the perfect Billie Dawn with the actress who had created the part 4 years before on Broadway.

# # To help facilitate shooting, George Cukor decided to rehearse "Born Yesterday" as if it were still a stage play. For two weeks, the cast worked on their lines while a construction crew built a 300-seat mini-theater within one of the studio`s sound-stages. It was there that Judy Holliday, William Holden and Broderick Crawford gave six performances in front of a live audience so that Cukor could precision-time the pacing of the film`s jokes.

Garson Kanin sold "Born Yesterday" to Columbia Pictures for $1 million, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a film property.

Paul Douglas, who created the role of Harry Brock on stage, turned down the chance to play him in the movie adaptation because the part had been considerably reduced for the film.

Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia, paid $1 million for the film rights, intending it to be a vehicle for his hottest female star, Rita Hayworth. His star, however, wasn`t interested as she`d just married Prince Aly Khan. One thing Cohn didn`t want was for Judy Holliday to reprise her Broadway role. He relented when he saw how effectively George Cukor used her in Adam`s Rib (1949).

The Broadway production of "Born Yesterday" opened at the Lyceum Theater on February 4, 1946 and ran for 1642 performances. Judy Holliday reprises her role in the movie.

The part of Billie Dawn was written by Garson Kanin for Jean Arthur. A couple of nights before the play was due to open, Arthur abruptly dropped out and Judy Holliday was drafted in.

Garson Kanin wrote that Marilyn Monroe made a screen test for this film. Those who saw it thought it was excellent, but Columbia head Harry Cohn did not take the trouble to walk six steps from his desk to his projection room to watch it.

See also Trivia Index (B) :: Quotes Index (B) :: Connections Index (B)

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