Die unglaubliche Geschichte der Gladys Glover

Aspiring model comes to New York and concocts a novel idea to advertise herself - her name on billboards. This is a pleasant little comedy that benefits tremendously from the presence of Holliday. In fact, she's the whole show as the kooky blonde named Gladys Glover, a simple, good-hearted young lady who revels in her 15 minutes of fame. It is lamentable that the actress had such a brief career before her untimely death. Lemmon makes his film debut here, establishing the sensitive, hyperactive good-guy persona that he would go on to play variations of pretty much throughout his career. This was the last of a half-dozen films that Kanin and Cukor collaborated on.

The Garson Kanin screenplay isn't out of his top drawer, but it has a cute idea at the heart of it, one that has become more timely with the passing years: Celebrity can be bought. Judy Holliday plays a nobody who wants to be a somebody, and with the help of a cynical agent and a clever marketing ploy, she becomes one. Indeed, with the media machine grown so disproportionately huge since, this movie cries out for a remake. But who could ever match Holliday's musical, clinically precise line readings, or her wide-eyed facial expressions? There really is only one of her.

Jack Lemmon, in his movie debut, is likeable and accomplished, and some amusing faces turn up in supporting and cameo roles -- Constance Bennett, Ilka Chase, Peter Lawford. There's some gritty New York location filming, approximately where Lincoln Center is now (and where "West Side Story" was shot years later), adding to the verite motif in the subplot (Lemmon plays a documentary filmmaker).

With Cukor's sure direction, everybody seems to be having a wonderful time. So will you.

A true comedienne is something of a rarity. Judy Holliday will always be remembered as one of the stage and screen's finest comediennes. The problem facing top comedians has always been finding the right material to suit their talents. More often than not they find themselves saddled with inferior material, (Bob Hope, Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis….the list goes on).

In her brief screen career Judy Holliday was fortunate in having vehicles that managed to show off her talents. Yet there remains a nagging sense that even a movie as successful as "It Should Happen to You", does not quite do Holliday justice. It's pleasant and amusing viewing, but ultimately Holliday deserved more.

A young Jack Lemmon proves an almost perfect foil for Holliday. In his very first screen role he is a pleasure to watch. As the years passed Lemmon began to lean more and more on his famed idiosyncrasies.

The theme of "It Should Happen to You" is as relevant as ever in its dealing with the public's fascination with vacuous celebrity. Clearly not much has changed over the past fifty years.

A lonely women feeling insignificant rents a giant billboard in the high traffic locale of Columbus Circle to gain notoriety. That's the premise of 'It Should Happen To You'. Best known for being Jack Lemmon's first film (he would go on to win a supporting Oscar for 'Mr. Roberts' in 1956 - a mere two years later) and also starring a dashing Peter Lawford, mid career and recently released from his MGM contract, this Judy Hollliday rom com (she won an Oscar for 'Born Yesterday' in 1951) revolves around the pursuit and consequence of sudden dubiously acquired fame. Sound familiar? It's relatable enough, but instead of thefacebook and YouTube, the post war era of commerical advertising and television are the medium to fame and fortune. Judy Holliday made a career out of playing the unsophisticated and guileless "dumb bunny" and Lemmon plays the affable guy next door (that would be the mainstay of his early movie roles). Holliday is not a comedian, she is an actress who finds herself in comedic situations, which lends an emotional depth to her performance. Lemmon and Lawford were close in age but it's Lemmon's kinetic earnest energy and confident ease, representative of the new generation of actors of that era, that leaps through the screen and is in direct contrast to the tempered and old school reserve of Peter Lawford. Garson Kanin, responsible for the smart snappy banter made famous by Spencer and Hepburn in classics like 'Adam's Rib', wrote the screenplay and so the dialogue has a familiar rhythm but without the gravitas. The result is a light, cheery and unsubstantial movie.

This movie was made at a time when Reality TV wasn't in the vocabulary, yet it foretold the future, in this tale of a young woman (Judy Holliday) who longs for fame and hates being unknown, prompting her to rent billboard space, so everyone in New York City will know the name Gladys Glover! She gets her wish and discovers it's not all she thought it would be.

Jack Lemon was on the road to fame with his portrayal of Pete Sheppard, the young man Gladys meets in Central Park, who's soon a tenant in her west side apartment building, then her boyfriend, then the guy she loses and must win back (in a reversal of the usual boy-meets-girl routine).

Peter Lawford plays the other man in the picture, wealthy Evan Adams, whose family company wanted the billboard space Gladys rented and made a deal with her, launching her "reality" career, and sparking Evan's interest in the new "star", though his intentions are not exactly honorable!

There are some great location shots, a chance to see some scenes of New York City in the 1950's. This is a fun and entertaining movie.