''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' is a 1951 American
romantic drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Michael Gordon. The screenplay by
Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky (December 5, 1910 – October 26, 1999) was an American film director, screenwriter, essayist and novelist. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for '' Body and Soul'' but in the early 1950s ...
is based on
Vera Caspary
Vera Louise Caspary (November 13, 1899 – June 13, 1987) was an American writer of novels, plays, screenplays, and short stories. Her best-known novel, '' Laura'', was made into a successful movie. Though she claimed she was not a "real" myste ...
's loose adaptation of the 1937 novel of the same title by
Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman (April 4, 1913, New York City – October 6, 1998, New York City) was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical ''Fiorello!'' with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldo ...
.
Plot
Set in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's
garment district, the story focuses on ambitious model and
fashion design
Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates ...
er Harriet Boyd, production manager Sam Cooper, and salesman Teddy Sherman, who leave their firm to start their own business that specializes in $10.95 dresses. Their plans temporarily are derailed when Harriet's mother refuses to give her the insurance payment the family received when her father died, having promised it to Harriet's younger sister Marge for her wedding. Harriet dupes Marge and her fiancé Ray into giving her the money, and Sherboyco Dresses opens for business.
Teddy, who has fallen in love with Harriet, is dismayed when she flirts with lecherous buyer Mr. Savage during a business dinner, so he proposes marriage. She declines his offer, telling him she enjoys her freedom. Her refusal prompts Teddy to try to back out of their partnership, but he discovers their contract is ironclad.
Harriet begins dating J. F. Noble, the owner of a chain of upscale department stores, who wants her to quit and work exclusively for him. Her uncertainty puts her on edge, and when Teddy discusses her change in attitude, she claims she is stressed by overwork and wants to quit. Teddy repeats his offer of marriage and this time Harriet considers accepting. She visits Noble to decline his offer, but Teddy interrupts their meeting, misunderstands her motives, and mistakenly believes her behavior was a ploy designed to lead the way to her departure from Sherboyco. Heartbroken and angry, Teddy departs, and soon after leaves town for a sales trip. During his absence, Harriet shifts money from Sherboyco to a new company she is founding, stops production on Sherboyco's dresses, and begins designing for Noble's department stores.
Unaware what has happened, Teddy continues to take orders for Sherboyco's popular low-cost women's wear while on the road. Not until buyer Hermione Griggs contacts him about an order she has not received does he learn about Harriet's deception. She tries to convince her Sherboyco partners it is in their best interest to align with her at Noble's company, but Sam and Teddy prefer to declare
bankruptcy rather than join forces with the competition. Harriet prepares to sail to Paris with Noble, but at the last moment she realizes her commitment to Sam and Teddy is too important to ignore. She returns to Sherboyco, where she admits she loves Teddy and asks him and Sam to forgive her.
Production
The
protagonist of Weidman's novel had been an ambitious businessman, but his gender was changed to accommodate
Twentieth Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
contract player
Susan Hayward. She and co-star
Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947).
Biography Early life
D ...
reprised their film roles for a ''
Lux Radio Theatre
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...
'' broadcast on March 31, 1952.
[''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' at Turner Classic Movies]
/ref>
Shortly after the film was released, screenwriter Abraham Polonsky was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although he refused to deny or confirm affiliation with the Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
, he found himself blacklisted. He continued to write under pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
s, but it was not until ''Madigan
''Madigan'' is a 1968 American neo-noir crime drama thriller film directed by Don Siegel (as Donald Siegel) and starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda and Inger Stevens
The screenplay—originally titled ''Friday, Saturday, Sunday''—wa ...
'' in 1968 that he received screen credit under his own name.
The film was released in the United Kingdom as ''This Is My Affair''. When it was broadcast on American television in 1962, its title was changed to ''Only the Best'' to avoid confusion with the stage musical
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
based on Weidman's novel that was running on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
at the time.
Main cast
* Susan Hayward as Harriet Boyd
* Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947).
Biography Early life
D ...
as Teddy Sherman
* George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
as J.F. Noble
* Sam Jaffe
Shalom "Sam" Jaffe (March 10, 1891 – March 24, 1984) was an American actor, teacher, musician, and engineer. In 1951, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in '' The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950) and ap ...
as Sam Cooper
* Randy Stuart as Marge Boyd
* Marvin Kaplan
Marvin Wilbur Kaplan (January 24, 1927 – August 25, 2016) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Best known as Henry Beesmeyer in ''Alice'' (1978–1985).
Early years
Kaplan was born on January 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, th ...
as Arnold Fisher
* Harry von Zell
Harry Rudolph von Zell (July 11, 1906 – November 21, 1981) was an American announcer of radio programs, and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show''.
Life and ...
as Savage
* Barbara Whiting
Barbara Whiting Smith (May 19, 1931 – June 9, 2004) was an American actress and singer.
Early life
Whiting was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of music manager Eleanor Youngblood Whiting and composer Richard A. Whit ...
as Ellen Cooper
* Vicki Cummings as Hermione Griggs
* Ross Elliott
Ross Elliott (born Elliott Blum, June 18, 1917 – August 12, 1999) was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career in the Mercury Theatre, where he performed in ''The War of the Worlds (radio), The War of t ...
as Ray
* Richard Lane as Kelley
* Mary Philips
Mary Philips (January 23, 1901April 22, 1975) was an American stage and film actress.
Biography
The only child of Charles and Anna (née Hurley) Philips of New Haven, Connecticut, Philips was born in New London, Connecticut, and she was ed ...
as Mrs. Boyd
Critical reception
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' observed, "In adapting Jerome Weidman's sizzling novel of 1937 to the screen, Vera Caspary has changed practically everything except the title of Mr. Weidman's book. An ambitious model now is the center of attraction, but she does not compare with Harry Bogen, the breezy, unscrupulous Bronxite who left a trail of broken promises in his sweep up Seventh Avenue in the novel. However, give Susan Hayward some quick recognition for bringing to life a hard-shelled dame, who travels just as fast and loose as the screenplay written by Abraham Polonsky permits her to. Within the story framework laid out by Miss Caspary, Mr. Polonsky has written some crisp, double-edged dialogue, but the flavor of the garment industry never is really exploited. This is regrettable because the chief distinction in the way of freshness the picture has to offer are the scenes which reflect the pulse beat of the dress industry — the crowds scurrying along Seventh Avenue amid the traffic of dress carts and the frenetic atmosphere of the showrooms where the buyers are not only baited with dresses but blandishments as well. The camera roves excitingly through this fabulous, hurly-burly in the pictures' opening sequences, but too soon Director Michael Gordon has to face the business of telling the story of a pert young-lady who is determined to climb to the top of the heap . . . With less whitewash and more honesty, ''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' could have been an exciting, instead of just an average good, entertainment."
''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' rated it three out of four stars, calling it a "smooth but not stellar adaptation of Weidman's novel" and "about as accurate an image as one can get of the 'Rag Trade' circa 1951."''TV Guide'' review
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:I Can Get It For You Wholesale (Film)
1951 films
Films based on American novels
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Films directed by Michael Gordon
20th Century Fox films
1951 romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Films produced by Sol C. Siegel
Films scored by Sol Kaplan
Films about fashion designers
American black-and-white films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films