How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Nunnally Johnson

Writers:

Edward Hope (novel)
Nunnally Johnson (writer)

Release Date:

6 January 1956 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

2 girls on the lam hide out in a college fraternity.

Plot Keywords:

College | Commencement | Burlesque Theater | Criminally Insane | Person In Hiding

Cast

Betty Grable	...	Stormy Tornado
Sheree North	...	Curly Flagg
Robert Cummings	...	Fillmore 'Wedge' Wedgewood
Charles Coburn	...	Dr. Tweed
Tommy Noonan	...	Eddie Jones
Orson Bean	...	Toby Marshall
Fred Clark	...	B.J. Marshall
Charlotte Austin	...	Midge
Alice Pearce	...	Miss 'Syl' Sylvester
Rhys Williams	...	Cedric Flagg
Andrew Tombes	...	Sgt. Moon
Noel Toy	...	Cherry Blossom Wang
Emory Parnell	...	Chief of Police
Harry Carter	...	Bus Driver
Jesslyn Fax	...	Music Teacher

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17444) | Finland:S | Portugal:17 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This was the final feature of Betty Grable's 25-year film career. Her first screen appearance in Let's Go Places (1930) had been released less than a month after Betty had turned 13 years old.

Quotes:

Stormy: Hey Curly!
Wedgewood: Not so loud... do you wanna get me expelled? Curly...
Curly: Yeah?
Wedgewood: Do you think you can get in here without being seen?
Curly: For what purpose?
Stormy: Don't argue the man's got a fried chicken in here.
Curly: Hold him.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Bristol Bell Song

An Undiscovered Masterpiece? No, but not as bad as you think...

"How to Be Very, Very Popular" was anything but upon its release, and has not gained any stature since. In fact, its reputation has actually grown worse. It's infamous as the picture that Marilyn Monroe refused to do, leading to her celebrated walk-out on Fox. Sheree North, a practically unknown dancer-starlet, was quickly put into the role, coiffed and made up to look almost exactly like MM. The film, needless to say, bombed, and Sheree--strong armed into being a virtual Monroe clone--bore the brunt of most of it. Betty Grable (MM's co-star from "How to Marry a Millionaire") took advantage of the film's lack of success and used it as her chance to retire from the grind. In retrospect, the film really isn't all that bad--although it's obvious why Monroe balked at playing the North role; it's little more than window-dressing. Actually, had North been given the role from the get-go, and not encouraged to look and sound EXACTLY like a carbon copy MM, the picture might've been pulled off as a cute, harmless little comedy. The film was clearly a step down for a superstar of Monroe's stature, but could've been a nice, showy stepping stone for a rising starlet. Grable is her usual warm, bright self, but she's getting a bit old to be playing scantily-clad chorines. Next to the very young North, especially, she looks decidedly matronly. North isn't given much to work with (again, it's hard to comment on a performance which was basically conceived as a blurred copy of an original), but she does get to do a splendid, wild, rock and roll dance to "Shake, Rattle & Roll." Sadly, the film's complete failure relegated the promising North to the back burner; and she had much more musical and dramatic talent than Jayne Mansfield, whom Fox began to build up instead. So, if "How to Be Very, Very Popular" should show up on television one afternoon, sit back and enjoy it. It may not be great cinema, but it's an underrated little slice of mindless entertainment.