Born Yesterday

A brilliant Judy Holliday performance is the main attraction in this witty, brisk adaptation of Garson Kanin's Broadway success. As a gangster's moll who gradually awakens to her civic responsibility, Holliday expands her dumb-broad persona from her previous film with Cukor, Adam's Rib, into a character who's sweet, memorable and surprisingly tough.

Born Yesterday is a suitable companion piece to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, a much more self-consciously "important" film that imparts similar messages about political corruption and the responsibility of individuals to require ethical governance. The message is arguably more powerfully imparted here - filtered through the perspective of the selfish, spoiled and barely-literate Ms. Dawn - than in the film focused on Jimmy Stewart's eloquent (and intimidatingly ethical) Mr. Smith, an "everyman" who is vastly morally superior to most audience members.

William Holden is relaxed and charming as the Henry Higgins-ish newspaper man tasked with opening Billie's eyes and Broderick Crawford is suitably broad and menacingly raspy as her corrupt, vulgar boyfriend. However, the movie is all Holliday's from the opening scenes, which play on the audience's lack of familiarity with the actress by presenting her as a refined, statuesque beauty in an extended sequence until, at last, she squawks out her first lines in nearly impenetrable, helium-voiced Brooklynese to hilarious effect.

A richly deserved Best Actress Oscar for the newcomer Holliday, despite formidable competition from grande dames Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).

Boisterous and highly enjoyable comedy written by the prolific and talented Garson Kanin and filmed by his regular collaborative director George Cukor, "Born Yesterday" showcases the talent of comedienne Judy Halliday to superb, or should that be "supoib" effect, so much so that she won the Oscar that year (over Gloria Swanson, no less in another Holden-starring feature, the great "Sunset Boulevard").

The story roughly adapts the old Pygmalion / Eliza Doolittle story, a sort of educating Billie, as mobster boss Broderick Crawford, with a finger in every pie and a bought-and-paid-for congressman in his pocket comes to Washington to expand his operation along with his dutiful attorney and tie up another major crooked deal. Staying in the best hotel suite in town, also in tow is his eye-candy "dumb blonde" fiancée played by Halliday, who is pressed for tax reasons into being a silent partner in Crawford's business empire and who duly signs every dodgy contract he places in front of her.

After Crawford bumps into William Holden's journalist, to amuse Billie and get her to better fit in with the higher class of the town's corrupt cognoscenti, he offers Holden the gig to educate her, which Holden does by bringing her books and teaching her history through visits to some of the capital's national monuments. A little knowledge as they say is a dangerous thing and it's not long before Halliday and Holden become an item and, even worse for Crawford, his bimbo doormat literally wises up to her situation and naturally rebels.

A good example of a stage play which cleverly belies its origins by having Holden and Halliday doing the town, the film nevertheless stands or falls on characterisation and dialogue and thankfully it's a winner in both respects. Halliday is a delight as the slowly dawning, now bespectacled former-airhead, seizing with relish on every new word or iota of information she absorbs and with a particular way with a put-down ("Vice-versa!") when she and Crawford are in full argumentative flow. Crawford too is a hit as the boorish kingpin, although I didn't like seeing his character revert to using his hands to get the upper hand over her, so to speak, even as I appreciate the scene's importance as a plot-point given that it actually signals the end of his sway over her. Holden too is fine in the kind of part Jack Lemmon would later make his own as the reliable if slightly put-upon regular guy who becomes Billie's ally.

While the screenplay may slightly overdo its promotion of American capitalism and democracy to signpost Billie's awakening and at the same time, demonise Crawford's criminality, it's still a fast-paced, sharply-drawn and well-realised contemporary comedy with a political edge. There's an interesting real-life postscript too, in that when the left-leaning Halliday was later called by the House Of Un-American Activities to testify before them and name names, she invoked the empty-vessel Billie Dawn character under interrogation to cleverly avoid giving up her friends. Crazy like a fox, indeed.

She bursts into the screen. Every tiny little nuance in her extraordinarily telling eyes are absolutely true and we surrender to her persona without even thinking about it. She was miraculous. "I'm stupid and I like it" she tells William Holden with devastating sincerity. She exudes such honesty that it's impossible to be indifferent to her. Ruth Gordon and Garson Kannin concocted a realistic fairy tale that Judy Holliday inhabits (rather than inhibits)with overwhelming naturalness. It is a sensational creation and George Cukor, as usual, puts the camera at her service to magnificent results. Look at the card game, no cut aways from her face for which, I was enormously grateful. If you haven't seen it, rent it now. You'll have an unforgettable time.

Any play that runs 1642 performances on Broadway for three years you know will wind up in Hollywood. But usually the Broadway cast never makes it intact.

It didn't here, but we were lucky to get Judy Holliday to repeat her acclaimed Broadway role her as Billie Dawn, gal pal of junk tycoon Broderick Crawford. Judy only got the role because Rita Hayworth decided to marry Aly Khan and after testing several others who weren't quite right Harry Cohn decided to go with the original. She rewarded Cohn's late faith with a Best Actress Oscar for 1950.

Speaking of Oscars, Cohn had an interesting problem on his hands which he solved with Born Yesterday. Broderick Crawford had brought home an Oscar the year before for All the King's Men. But Crawford was hardly traditional leading man material. But there sure were enough similarities with the dictatorial minded Willie Stark with the tyrannical Harry Brock so that Cohn could cast Crawford and keep the momentum going for his career. Crawford's part was played by Paul Douglas on stage who would get to Hollywood right around this time as well.

Still neither Holliday or Crawford were box office and Columbia needed one name that had some guaranteed pull with movie audiences. That's where Bill Holden came in. The part was built up from the Broadway version, all that tourist business at the Capitol and other Washington sites were not on Broadway. The role of the intellectual newspaper reporter was played by Gary Merrill and Merrill was certainly better suited for the part than Holden. Personally I think that Cohn should have gone with his other reliable leading man, Glenn Ford in this part. Still even with the built up role Holden was a definite number three in this film.

The plot is very simple, the magic of Born Yesterday is watching Holliday's character grow in awareness of what's around her. She's the play thing of junk tycoon Harry Brock, a self made millionaire who's street smart, rich, and nothing else. He's aware of it though and aware that Holliday lacks the social graces as well.

Since Crawford can't or won't learn them, at least he wants a polished hostess to make up for it. He hires newspaper reporter Holden to teach Holliday. But he teaches her about democracy and the corrupting influence of special interests of which Crawford is one and she's now aware of.

Crawford also put a lot of his holdings in her name for tax purposes. That's a created situation, Crawford regrets starting.

Holliday became so identified with the Billie Dawn role that when she started having blacklisting problems due to her left wing politics, she went into character as Billie Dawn before Congress. The chumps in Congress actually bought it all and she skated. Actually in real life Holliday was a well read intelligent woman, the last thing from Billie Dawn you could imagine.

Judy Holliday spent the remainder of her career between Broadway and Hollywood so her film output remains small and she died way too young. Still as another uneducated character in a film said, what there is, is cherce.

Born Yesterday is as cherce as it gets.

More often than not, I get annoyed at the sound of Oscar award winning (for this part) Judy Holiday's (né Judith Tuvim) voice but it served her character well in this moving drama in which she plays a dim witted and exploited partner of a uncouth and domineering man (Broderick Crawford). William Holden, as always, is very good in his role; this time he is the reporter hired to refine Holiday but falls in love with her. There are so many memorable scenes in this movie but I think the best ones are the card game between Judy and Broderick, the somewhat heavy handed references to Jefferson, and of course the comeuppance of Broderick. The supporting actors, especially Broderick's longsuffering lawyer are also more than competent in their complimentary roles. 8/10.