''I Married a Woman'' is a 1958 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

made in 1956, directed by

Hal Kanter Hal Kanter (December 18, 1918 – November 6, 2011) was a writer, producer and director, principally for comedy actors such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley (in '' Loving You'' and ''Blue Hawaii''), for both feature films and televis ...

, written by

Goodman Ace Goodman Ace (January 15, 1899 – March 25, 1982), born Goodman Aiskowitz, was an American humorist, radio writer and comedian, television writer, and magazine columnist. His low-key, literate drollery and softly tart way of tweaking trends ...

and starring

George Gobel George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, ''The George Gobel Show'', broadcasting from 1954 to 1959 ...

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was pr ...

and

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley Ku ...

. The picture was produced by Gobel's company Gomalco Productions. ''I Married a Woman'' also features

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

in a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

as himself. It was filmed in

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

-Scope and

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

except for one of Wayne's two scenes, which was shot in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. The film's original title was ''So There You Are''. The film was a box office disappointment which hurt the careers of Dors and Gobel.

Plot

Advertising executive Mickey Briggs is given 48 hours by his boss, Sutton, to come up with a

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

for client Luxemberg Beer and save the company from ruin. Mickey neglects his wife, Janice, who once had been a "Miss Luxemberg" in a successful ad campaign featuring various attractive models. Janice has just discovered she is expecting a baby, but is unable to inform Mickey, who is too distracted by work. Even when they find time to go to a movie,

is on screen, being considerate to his screen wife (

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

), which makes Janice weepy but Mickey finds unrealistic. It does give Mickey an idea, however, for a campaign in which "Miss Luxemberg" is now "Mrs. Luxemberg", enjoying family bliss. Sutton loves it, then rejects all the applicants until he decides that Janice herself must return to be "Mrs. Luxemberg". Film footage of their real life is shot without Janice's knowledge. All goes terribly wrong, with Janice instead suing Mickey for divorce and Sutton's company for $100,000. After flirting with Mickey's wife, best pal Bob Sanders breaks the news that she's pregnant, which makes Mickey try harder to win her back. On a cruise and in love again, the couple is startled to spot John Wayne on board, arguing with his wife.

Cast

Production

The film was based on an original story by New York radio writer and producer, Goodman Ace. In September 1950, the screen rights were bought by

Norman Krasna Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year car ...

and

Jerry Wald Jerome Irving Wald (September 16, 1911 – July 13, 1962) was an American screenwriter and a producer of films and radio programs. Life and career Early life Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, he had a brother and sons who were act ...

, who had a production deal at RKO. They wanted to cast

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

and

Betsy Drake Betsy Drake (September 11, 1923 – October 27, 2015) was an American actress, writer, and psychotherapist. She was the third wife of actor Cary Grant. Early life and education Betsy Drake, the eldest child of two American expatriates, was b ...

. In October,

Richard Fleischer Richard O. Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. Though he ...

was assigned the job of directing. In November,

Celeste Holm Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's ''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to th ...

was announced as star. Ace was brought to Hollywood to work on a script, which Krasna wanted to aim at the female audience. In December 1950, RKO announced the film would be made the following year. However production kept being put back. In February, Wald and Krasna said the film would be made in August, with Stanley Rubin as producer, but the film had no star or director. In September 1951, Wald and Krasna said they had a script, and wanted to cast

but wanted to get the casting right. Wald and Krasna eventually left RKO. The project was reactivated a number of years later. In April 1956, Diana Dors signed to play the female lead opposite TV star George Gobel. Her fee was $75,000 plus expenses. It was Gobel's second leading role after ''

The Birds and the Bees The talk about sex, often colloquially referred to as "the birds and the bees" or "the facts of life", is generally the occasion in most children's lives when their parents explain what sex is and how to do it. According to tradition, "the birds ...

'', in which Gobel had

top billing Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, directo ...

above

Mitzi Gaynor Mitzi Gaynor (born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber; September 4, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her notable films include '' We're Not Married!'' (1952), '' There's No Business Like Show Business'' (1954), '' The Birds ...

and

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

. Dors arrived in the US in late June. The job of directing was given to Hal Kanter, who worked with Gobel in television. Filming took place in July 1956. Kanter called the film "light and frothy. It gave Goodman Ace... the chance to unload a lot of witty barbs he's been saving up over the years." Gobel called Dors "a fine performer". During filming RKO signed Dors to make a second film, ''The Lady and the Prowler'', which became ''The Unholy Wife''.

References

External links

* * * *
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:I Married A Woman 1958 films 1958 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films American romantic comedy films Films about advertising Films directed by Hal Kanter Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in New York City RKO Pictures films Universal Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links