Born Yesterday

(George Cukor, US 1950, 103 min., 35mm)

In her short but memorable career, Judy Holliday created few characters as memorable as the seemingly dumb blonde in this comedy.  She's aptly named Billie Dawn, for she's about to awaken to a new day.  Billie is the "kept woman" of a big-time lobbyist (Broderick Crawford), who hires newsman William Holden to make her sound more intelligent.  Turns out she's far smarter than anyone had imagined. After the Broadway triumph of this hilarious Garson Kanin comedy, Judy Holliday earned the Oscar for playing the quintessential dumb blonde. In its theme, this is a brilliant prequel to the 1964 classic My Fair Lady.