Detail view of Movies Page

Movie Detail

Name Occurs Before Title

Offscreen Credit

Print Viewed By AFI

Designing Woman

Director: Vincente Minnelli (Dir) Release Date: Apr 1957 Premiere Information: Los Angeles opening: 16 Apr 1957 Production Date: 10 Sep--early Nov 1956 Duration (in mins): 117-118 Duration (in feet): 10,569 Duration (in reels): 14			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:		Gregory Peck	(Mike Hagen)
		Lauren Bacall	(Marilla Hagen)
		Dolores Gray	(Lori Shannon)
		Sam Levene	(Ned Hammerstein)
		Tom Helmore	(Zachary Wilde)
		Mickey Shaughnessy	(Maxie Stulz)
		Jesse White	(Charlie Arneg)
		Chuck Connors	(Johnny O)
		Edward Platt	(Martin J. Daylor)
		Alvy Moore	(Luke Coslow)
		Carol Veazie	(Gwen)
		Jack Cole	(Randy Owen)
		Richard Deacon	(Larry Musso)
		Casey Adams	(Musical director)
		George Cisar	(Fred Seixas)
		Syl Lamont	(Danziger)
		Mel Welles	(Solly Horzmann)
		Eddie Simms	(Joey Yustik)
		Charles Hicks	(Galatos)
		Rodney Bell	(Drunk reporter)
		Chuck Webster	(Reporter)
		Gene O'Donnell	(Reporter)
		Jack Daly	(Reporter)
		Reid Hammond	(Reporter)
		Wilson Wood	(Reporter)
		Jack Shea	(Reporter)
		Walter Johson	(Reporter)
		Joe McGuinn	(Reporter)
		Sid Kane	(Reporter)
		Jack Gargan	(Elevator man)
		Helen Eby Rock	(News girl)
		Lillian Powell	(Western Union girl)
		Donald Kerr	(Page boy)
		Lomax Study	(Waiter)
		Saverio LoMedico	(Waiter)
		Jean Dante	(Telephone operator)
		Anthony Jochim	(Justice)
		Alice Markham	(Stewardess)
		Jan Arvan	(TV director)
		Don Orlando	(Italian waiter)
		Mario Siletti	(Andrucci)
		Ed Haskett	(Doorman)
	Party guests:	Paul Power	(Sheldon Stevens)
		Nora Marlowe	(Jenifer Deane)
		Gil Stuart	(Mr. Orvac)
		James Douglas	(Tommie Reese)
		Benny Rubin	(Chris Matthews)
		Don Burnett	(Johnnie Gates)
		Ralph Gamble	(Jeff Dowling)
		Max Power	(Fred Sellers)
		Phyllis Blanchard	(Ann Ashmond)
		Jo Gilbert	(Florrie Canfield)
		Ruth Clifford	(Vanessa Cole)
		Ann Morriss	(Marie Dozier)
		Patricia Morne	(Pauline Beaton)
		Helen Andrews	(Dottie Reams)
		Jane Lynn	(Model)
		Betty Koch	(Model)
		Honey King	(Model)
		Jackie Blanchard	(Model)
		Pat Jones	(Model)
		Maruja Ploss	(Model)
		Kay Mansfield	(Assistant fitter)
		John V. Connors	(Dunnigan)
		Allen Ray	(Smith)
		Stuart Holmes	(Author)
		Otis Bigelow	(Set designer)
		Michael Ferris	(Makeup man)
		Jeane Wood	(Lighting expert)
		Theona Bryant	(Secretary)
		Charles Horvath	(Hood)
		Bob Morgan	(Hood)
		Kay Kuter	(Hotel clerk)
		Hazel Boyne	(Telephone operator)
		Geraldine Wall	(Mrs. Hammerstein)
		Jack Lomas	(Steen)
		Sid Melton	(Miltie)
		Sammy White	(Bewildered man)
		Matt Moore	(Stage door man)
		Dean Jones	(Assistant stage manager)
		May McAvoy	(Wardrobe woman)
		Ann Staunton	(Secretary)
		Walter Johnson	(Reporter)
		Joe McGuinn	(Reporter)
		Sid Kane	(Reporter)
		Mushy Callahan	(Referee)
		Cy Malis	(Dippy Rollo)
		Madge Blake
		Harriet Brest
		Eva Pearson

Summary:

At the Beverly Hills Hotel, after a long night of drinking, sports writer Mike Hagen is hung over and anxious because he cannot recall writing his New York Record assignment that was due the previous evening. When fashion designer Marilla, whom Mike does not recognize, informs him that they actually wrote the story together and then attempts to return the $700 Mike paid her for her help, Mike, charmed by the spunky woman, insists that they spend the money together vacationing in California. After a whirlwind courtship, the couple marries and returns to New York, where Mike abandons his small, cluttered apartment for Marilla's East Side abode, site unseen. While packing Mike's apartment, Marilla finds a picture of woman caught in a seductive pose, but disregards it to avoid any conflict. At the newspaper office, editor Ned Hammerstein warns Mike that crooked boxing promoter Martin J. Daylor has placed several calls threatening Mike's life because of the reporter’s articles about Daylor's racket. Later, Mike lunches with his previous girl friend, actress Lori Shannon, and announces his recent marriage. Lori soon grows angry at Mike's effusive descriptions of Marilla and tips a plate of ravioli in his lap. As Lori storms out of the restaurant, Marilla arrives and suspects the accident was caused by something other than his carelessness. After changing into a pair of short busboy pants, Mike returns with Marilla to her upscale apartment, where they walk into a surprise wedding shower thrown by Marilla's friends. Mike is embarrassed by his attire and contemptuous of the ceremonious gentility of the actors, artists and designers who surround Marilla while ignoring him. The only guest to befriend Mike is Broadway producer Zachary Wilde, whom Mike shuns when he realizes Zachary is Marilla's ex-boyfriend. Later, Marilla apologizes for her friends's behavior and tearfully defends her job to a stunned Mike. For several weeks the couple are quite happy while managing to keep their professional worlds apart. Then one night, Marilla attends a boxing match with Mike, where she is overwhelmed by the brutal fight, Daylor’s threats and informant Charlie Arneg's demands for more money for information. The following week, Mike and his cronies gather at the apartment for their weekly poker game while, in another room, Marilla holds a reading of Zachary's musical, for which she has been chosen to design the costumes. The evening turns into a fiasco when dimwitted ex-boxer Maxie Stulz scares Marilla with his violent boxing stories and choreographer Randy Owen accidentally upturns the poker table with his wild dance steps. After everyone leaves, Mike mocks Randy for his effeminate behavior, but the dancer suddenly returns and offers to fight Mike over the incident. Marilla jokes that Randy is as punchy as Maxie, thus relieving the conflict. Days later, Mike attends Marilla's haut couture fashion show and finds Lori, the musical's new star, at his wife's table. Both he and Lori act as if they have never met, but when Mike bolts from his chair thinking Lori is about to dump her food again, Marilla becomes suspicious. During a subsequent rehearsal, Marilla finally concludes that Mike and Lori have had an affair when she recognizes Lori as the woman in the seductive picture. Meanwhile, at Marilla's apartment, Johnny O and several other Daylor henchmen try to force Mike to stop writing the articles by punching him. When Marilla walks in, Mike makes an excuse for his bloody lip and introduces the henchmen as his friends. After they leave, Marilla admits to previous romantic relationships hoping Mike will acknowledge his relationship with Lori, but Mike does not confess. When Marilla accuses him of lying, Mike denies the affair and leaves abruptly. At the office, Ned suggests Mike hide out to evade the gangsters while finishing his exposé on Daylor's boxing racket. He assigns Maxie to protect Mike, ordering the boxer to punch anyone who looks "cross-eyed" at Mike. After telling Marilla that he is leaving town to follow the Yankees, Mike checks into a seedy hotel with Maxie. On the couple's first night apart, Mike contends with the over-protective Maxie, who sleeps with his eyes open, while Marilla fantasizes that Mike is continuing his affair with Lori. The next day, Marilla begs Zachary to interrogate Lori, but Zachary asks the actress to dinner instead and later assures Marilla of Lori's innocence. Over the next few weeks, Mike calls Marilla from the hotel, claiming to be in various cities, while he continues to write about Daylor. Meanwhile, at Daylor's hangout, the racket boss has deduced that Mike is hiding in New York and sends his henchmen to find him. One night, when Marilla calls Mike and threatens to confront Lori herself, Mike tells her to do so. Mike then tricks Maxie into falling asleep, slips out of the hotel and rushes to Lori's apartment. He has concocted a story about how he and Lori briefly met, thus explaining the picture, but Lori assures him that Marilla will not believe the lie. Suddenly, Marilla arrives at the apartment, forcing Lori to hide Mike in her bedroom. As Marilla enters the apartment, Lori's poodle jumps into her arms, disarming her, but when the dog later comes out of the bedroom carrying Mike's shoe, Marilla follows the dog back to Mike. Outraged by his betrayal, Marilla runs from the building. Meanwhile, Maxie wakes up and, finding Mike gone, loudly calls his name out in the lobby, where Charlie overhears him. Upon locating Mike, Charlie, who has discovered that Daylor plans to kidnap Marilla during the opening night of the musical in Boston, offers to sell him the information. After Charlie tells him about Marilla’s danger, Mike places a call to the Boston stage to warn her, but she ignores his pleas. While Maxie and Mike catch the next plane to Boston, Lori, whose costume Marilla is aggressively altering with her scissors, finally admits to the affair with Mike. She suggests to Marilla that she accept Mike’s story because he is only trying not to hurt her. Marilla leaves the dressing room satisfied that her husband meant no harm and longs to reunite him. When Johnny O suddenly appears, Marilla, still assuming he is one of Mike's friends, accepts his offer to take her to Mike immediately. Mike and Maxie arrive just as Johnny and several other henchmen are forcing Marilla into their car. When a fistfight ensues, Mike yells "cross-eyed," inciting Maxie to punch everyone, including Zachary and the stagehands who are trying to help. Randy then leaps into action, knocking out all the henchmen with his acrobatic footwork and thus establishing his masculinity. When Mike finally tells Marilla the lie about his relationship with Lori, she lovingly accepts it as a token of his true devotion. Months later, Zachary and Lori are happily engaged while Maxie continues to insist he is making a comeback. With Daylor behind bars and his underworld business destroyed, Mike and Marilla enjoy their marriage and each other's differences.

Production Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.	(Loew's Inc.)
Distribution Company:	Loew's Inc.
Director:	Vincente Minnelli	(Dir)
	William Shanks	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Dore Schary	(Prod)
	George Wells	(Assoc prod)
Writer:	George Wells	(Wrt)
	Helen Rose	(From a suggestion by)
Photography:	John Alton	(Dir of photog)
Art Direction:	William A. Horning	(Art dir)
	Preston Ames	(Art dir)
Film Editor:	Adrienne Fazan	(Film ed)
Set Decoration:	Edwin B. Willis	(Set dec)
	Henry Grace	(Set dec)
Costumes:	Helen Rose	(Gowns)
Music:	André Previn	(Mus)
Sound:	Dr. Wesley C. Miller	(Rec supv)
	Wally Wallace	(Sd)
	William Dorfman	(Sd)
Special Effects:	Warren Newcombe	(Spec eff)
Dance:	Jack Cole	(Mus numbers and dances staged)
	Barrie Chase	(Asst dance dir)
Make Up:	Sydney Guilaroff	(Hair styles)
	William Tuttle	(Makeup)
Production Misc:	Mushy Callahan	(Tech adv)
Color Personnel:	Charles K. Hagedon	(Col consultant)
Country:	United States
Language:	English

Music:
Songs:	"There'll Be Some Changes Made," words and music by Billy Higgins, W. Benton Overstreet and Herbert Edwards.
Composer:	Herbert Edwards
	Billy Higgins
	W. Benton Overstreet
Source Text:

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number
Loew's Inc.	26/2/1957 dd/mm/yyyy	LP7800

PCA NO:	18350
Physical Properties:	Sd:	Westrex Recording System; Perspecta Sound
	col:	Metrocolor
	Widescreen/ratio:	CinemaScope


Genre:	Romantic comedy

Subjects (Major):	Class conflict
	Costume designers
	Deception
	Newlyweds
	Sports reporters

Subjects (Minor):	Apartments
	Beverly Hills (CA)
	Boston (MA)
	Boxing
	Bribery
	Choreographers
	Confession
	Dancing
	Effeminacy
	Fashion shows
	Fistfights
	Hangovers
	Hotels
	Jealousy
	Kidnapping
	Love affairs
	New York City
	Poodle dogs
	Racketeers
	Rehearsals
	Stagehands

Note:	George Wells was credited onscreen as follows: “written by George Wells Associate Producer.” Following the opening credits, several of the lead characters give individual introductions to the story, addressing the camera directly. Intermittently throughout the film, actors Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and Dolores Gray, provide voice-over narration. At the close of the film, several of the lead characters give story epilogues, directly addressing the camera. During the early scene in which "Mike Hagen" is hungover from a night of drinking, every noise is amplified, including the sound of a pin from a new shirt dropping into a wastebasket. Jul and Aug 1955 HR news items state that Grace Kelly and James Stewart were originally considered for the film, but, according to modern sources, when Kelly refused the part due to her recent marriage, Stewart also declined the production. A 13 Mar 1956 HR news item states that Cyd Charisse was then slated to star in the film, but was replaced by Bacall. According to a 30 Jul 1956 HR news item, Peck completed the deal to star in the film with Bacall in return for the loan of M-G-M star Ava Gardner to appear in his own independent production Thieves' Market ; however, that film was never made. A 24 Aug 1956 HR news item states that director Vincente Minnelli tested Jarma Lewis for a role in the film, but her appearance in the film has not been confirmed. HR production charts add Jesse White, Kip King, Lysa Baugher, Sheila Hackett, Roberta Leune, Edith Udane, Sallie Whalen and Bette Curtis to the cast; however, their appearance in the film has not been confirmed. Designing Woman was producer Dore Schary's first comedy and last film for M-G-M, the studio at which he had been head of production since the late 1940s. Portions of the film were shot on location at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA; Marineland, CA and in Hollywood, CA. Wells received an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for his contribution to the film. According to a 17 Apr 1957 LAT article, costume designer Helen Rose received a Golden Hatbox Award for her contribution. Although some modern sources claim that Designing Woman is a remake of the 1942 M-G-M film Woman of the Year and the films's characters and theme bear some similarities, the stories are different. Designing Woman marked the first acting role for choreographer Jack Cole, who had previously worked in film as as a choreographer or onscreen dancer.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Box Office	16 Mar 1957.
Box Office	30 Mar 1957.
Daily Variety	12 Mar 1957	p. 3.
Film Daily	13 Mar 1957	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	29 Jul 1955	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	1 Aug 1955	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	13 Mar 1956	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	30 Jul 1956	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	24 Aug 1956	p. 2, 6.
Hollywood Reporter	7 Sep 1956	p. 10.
Hollywood Reporter	10 Sep 1956	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	27 Sep 1956	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	5 Oct 1956	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	26 Oct 1956	p. 12.
Hollywood Reporter	9 Nov 1956	p. 10.
Hollywood Reporter	12 Mar 1957	p. 3.
Life	20 May 1957.
Los Angeles Examiner	11 Apr 1957.
Los Angeles Times	17 Apr 1957.
Motion Picture Herald Product Digest	16 Mar 1957	pp. 297-98.
New York Times	14 Apr 1957.
New York Times	17 May 1957	p. 20.
New Yorker	26 May 1957.
Saturday Review	13 Apr 1957.
Time	1 Apr 1957.
Variety	13 Mar 1957	p. 6.

	Display Movie Summary
The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



Advanced Search