Born Yesterday (1950)

In BORN YESTERDAY (1950), Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) is a wealthy, corrupt junk dealer with a "dumb blonde" girlfriend, Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday). Harry is embarrassed by her crassness and lack of social skills, so he hires journalist Paul (William Holden, serious in glasses) to give her a crash course in culture. As Paul and Billie spend time together and get closer, Billie begins to understand how Harry has been using her in his corrupt deals, and refuses to cooperate any longer. Judy Holliday's performance as Billie Dawn is a must-see; you can't take your eyes off of her and it is easy to see why she won a Best Actress Oscar for the role. But even though she was so terrific and played the same role on Broadway, she was not even considered for the film version at first; the studio wanted Rita Hayworth! In this episode, James and Lara talk about what Katharine Hepburn had to do with Judy landing the role in the film, Director George Cukor's unique method for perfecting the comedic timing, and Bill Holden as a virtuous writer in BORN YESTERDAY vs. Bill Holden as a scheming writer in SUNSET BOULEVARD, which came out the same year.