To celebrate its 62nd anniversary, The Senator Theatre hosted a week-long 1939 film festival from Oct. 12-18. The historical Baltimore theater opened in October of 1939, and each year some special event commemorates that inaugural year. This year, a different 1939 classic film was shown each day for the 1939 admission price of just "25 cents per person." The Senator advertised the film festival by telling its prospective patrons to "Dig those quarters out of the couch!" It was truly exhilarating to walk to a ticket booth and buy a movie ticket for only a quarter.
As the Senator calls 1939 the "golden year of the Golden Age of film," there were many films to choose from. However, the two most famous, best picture-winning Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz were not part of this year's line-up. In past years the showing of either one of these two films was the commemorative event. And, naturally the Senator could not charge 25 cents a person for the tickets to either of these entirely famous films. This year, more low-key, yet high quality films made up the festival, such as Howard Hawk's His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.
The Senator offered an experience somewhat like time travel, if you are willing to participate. Perhaps it's the little details: the knowledge that the theater is a historical landmark, the fact that the movie only costs 25 cents, or flickering lights in all shades of red that surround the "Senator Theatre" sign. Images of skipping down the sidewalk and running up to the ticket booth with a quarter in hand like a scene in My Girl came to mind. There's an escapist quality to black-and-white films such as His Girl Friday that isn't present in the color-coated or animated films of today. It's like being transported to a different era - in this case, a 1939 newspaper office. Strangely enough, in His Girl Friday, the managing editor, played by Cary Grant, says in the midst of a high-stress moment "take Hitler and stick him on the funny page," as if the 1939 war situation and Hitler conquering Europe were secondary concerns to the jail-break that makes the front page in the movie.
His Girl Friday is often advertised as a "screwball comedy," a term used to describe many of the humorous and "hysterically funny" films of the 30s and 40s. The story centers around big-city newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) trying to prevent Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), his "ace" reporter and ex-wife, from marrying an insurance salesman (Ralph Bellamy), settling into domesticity and leaving the newspaper. Walter also tries to win back Hildy's heart in the process. The movie is famous for its "breakneck dialogue," capturing the delirious quality of a hectic newsroom. Catalogued at 240 words per minute, the speaking rate of the characters in the movie is 100-140 words per minute faster than the average speaking rate. The dialogue is also quite amusing and witty as conversations overlap and end abruptly.
His Girl Friday was adapted from the Broadway play The Front Page, only the sex of one of the male leads was changed from Hildegard Johnson to the female "Hildy" Johnson, and thus a battle of the "sexes" and "exes" ensued in Hawk's new version. Emphasizing the conflict for women of the time between love/marriage/children and a prosperous professional career, Hildy ultimately chooses to remain at the newspaper. Her choice didn't seem to hard to make, with her fiance portrayed as doting, but boring compared to the exciting newspaper business and the charming ex-husband she'd leave behind.
Hildy Johnson is basically Hildegard Johnson with a pin-stripe skirt and jacket instead of a suit. Her reason for quitting the newspaper is that she wants to go "someplace where I can be a woman," basically affirming the idea that the newsroom is a man's world. The film shows the newsroom as tumultuous, where everyone speaks at one in rapid succession. There's a glorious card game being played by a bunch of male journalists as they wait for a story, each one smoking a cigarette and wearing a top-hat.
Hildy is the only female journalist, but considered the best by editor Walter Burns who transformed her from a "doll-faced hick" into a "great newspaperman." It was quite humorous to hear the term "doll-faced hick" several times with no reaction from Hildy.
The sexual tension between Hildy and Walter is magnified by the newsroom hysteria as the two passionate journalists are able to block out the rest of the world in the middle of a news story. The advertisement of His Girl Friday is, "She learned about men from him." This strange phrase is used to describe the movie, but I'd remember it more for its distinctive and amusing portrayal of the newsroom.
I suppose its possible to get away from the world by watching most movies. The 1939 film festival at the Senator was a particularly enjoyable experience, and His Girl Friday is an oldie worth seeing.
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