That Black and White Movie Where People Yell at Each Other...

Movie Poster

^The title of this post above is how a person once described His Girl Friday to me. Words can not describe the emotions that I felt at hearing this classic film so maligned (wiping a tear as a recount this sad tale of ignorance).

His Girl Friday (1940)

Dir. Howard Hawks Written/adapted by Charles Lederer from a play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur

Starring: Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy

Hildy Johnson: [speaking to Walter on the phone] Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee: There ain't going to be any interview and there ain't going to be any story. And that certified check of yours is leaving with me in twenty minutes. I wouldn't cover the burning of Rome for you if they were just lighting it up. If I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I'm gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkeyed skull of yours 'til it rings like a Chinese gong.

I'd like to draw your attention, for a moment, to the movie poster pictured above, if you've ever seen Rosalind Russell before I don't know that you would recognize her. The poster artist took liberties with this impressionistic (as in his impression of her) painting he or she did of her. Also, the narrative arc of His Girl Friday is such that it takes place in the space of one day in the life of Hildegarde Johnson (Russell,) Ace Girl Reporter. She only wears two costumes throughout the whole film; neither of which looks remotely like the yellow gown on the film poster. Another thing that is way off is the provocative one-liner above her, it reads: "She Learned About Men From Him!". "Him" being Walter Burns, played by Cary Grant-Hildy's ex-husband. False advertsing, in my opinion, the photo of Hildy combined with the blurb is misleading and has nothing to do with the film.

I'm currently reading a book, Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre, by Tamar Jeffers McDonald. She talks about the romcom as a whole and also different offshoots or as she calls the "sub-genres," Screwball, The Sex Comedy of the late 50s and sixties, the radical romantic comedy, and the neo-traditional romantic comedy. McDonald, like me, also believes that even immediatly after screwball's heyday it's elements went into other sub-genres.

In the section on screwball she talks about violence and the what it means to Romantic Comedy and screwball. This struck me as I had just watched His Girl Friday, and this film has what you might call a violent pace. Barbs and insult fly with deadly intent between Hildy and Walter, mumbled or spat back and forth they skewer each other with suprising venom, Hildy as the wronged woman and Walter because will do anything to keep her around long enough to con her back into being a "newspaper man." Insults also fly towards the inept sheriff and the crooked warden who are part of a newspiece that Hildy's writing.

Violence is not simply physical but a verbal act as well. Although, their is a scene where Hildy in order to get a scoop hikes up her skirt and sprints after a man and then literally jumps him from behind. At Walter and Hildy's first meeting, after heated words Hildy throws her purse at Walter. He proceeds to stalk her around the room gesticulating and simaltaneously cajoling and threatening try to get her to return to work and also saying,

"Let's not fight, Hildy. Tell you what. You come back to work on the paper and if we

find we can't get along in a friendly way, we'll get married again."

This statement exemplifies marriage in classic screwballs. McDonald points out that the

difference between romcoms and screwballs, concerning violence both physical and verbal, is

that in a screwball it never stops between the protagonists. The traditional concept of a home

and married life is absent from a SC. The end of His Girl Friday implies that Walter and Hildy

will get married again, will it have the oh-so important honeymoon that Hildy longs for:

Hildy: Oh, yes -- we were to have it right after our

honeymoon -- honeymoon!

Walter: Was it my fault? Did I know that coal mine

was going to have another cave-in? I meant to be with you on our

honeymoon, Hildy -- honest I did.

Hildy: All I know is that instead of two weeks in Atlantic City with my bridegroom,

I spent two weeks in a coal mine with John Kruptzky -- age sixty-three -- getting food and air

out of a tube! You don't deny that. Do you?

Walter: Deny it! I'm proud of it! We beat the whole

country on that story.

Hildy: Well, suppose we did? That isn't what I got

married for.

There will be no white picket fences or babies for Hildy Johnson. This ending and the ideologies

that lie behind it are the reasons why I believe that the screwball couple no longer has to follow

an antiquated norm of heterosexuality. While marriage is an important element it is not crucial,

it does not make or break the narrative structure of a SC. Censorship can explain the use of

marriage which allowed screwball couples freedoms onscreen that would not have otherwise

been shown. Marriage is in effect a "beard." So, that is why after the code was lifted a

screwball couple could manifest itself as Seth and Evan in the film Superbad or Lorelai and Rory,

mother and daughter duo on Gilmore Girls.