Monkey Business (1952)

    "Grant has never been better..."

With Marilyn Monroe.

Monkey Business - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

" Grant has never been better than in his part as the absent-minded professor in search of the elixir of youth.
His extraordinary agile and amusing performance is matched to the hilt by that of Ginger Rogers as his long-suffering wife. And those who recall that Miss Rogers was once a famous dancing star, will find that she excels in that department. She obviously delights in her part, which is a demanding one.
Throughout, director Hawks has seen to it that Monkey Business doesn't become static. Grant's wild car ride with Marilyn Monroe is pure farce in the great tradition of the screen and some other climactic sequences come across with the same explosive effect." 

- Motion Picture Herald

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 58 - Monkey Business (Lobby Card Style)

Part Of

For more, see also:

Quote From Today - 15 September 2022

On This Day - 15 September 2021

On This Day - 15 September 2020

On This Day...Monkey Business (1952)

 Today, in 1952, saw the release of Cary Grant's 58th film Monkey Business.

Grant's character is Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a research chemist, who has been working on a formula to regenerate worn-out tissues in the human body. After taking the formula himself, he starts to feel younger which leads to complications and fun!!

 

Marilyn Monroe stars as Lois Laurel, a secretary at Dr. Fulton's company. Also starring as his wife, Edwina, is Ginger Rogers.

"If youth is anything like the nonsense displayed here, maybe it's just as well that nobody has really concocted anything that would force us older citizens back into it." - John McCarten, The New Yorker

"Grant has never been better than in his part as the absent-minded professor in search of the elixir of youth." - Motion Picture Herald

"...only Cary Grant could do Barnaby justice with the underplaying that avoids the mawkish and the silly." - Newsweek

Cary Grant showing that once an acrobat always an acrobat.

The skating scene with Marilyn Monroe, overseen by Howard Hawks and crew.

Cast:

Professor Barnaby Fulton     Cary Grant

Edwina Fulton                      Ginger Rogers

Mr. Oliver Oxly                    Charles Coburn

Lois Laurel                           Marilyn Monroe

Hank Entwhistle                   Hugh Marlowe

Dr. Siegfried Kitzel               Henri Letondal

Dr. Zoldeck                          Robert Cornthwaite

Mr. G.J. Culverly                 Larry Keating

Dr. Bruner                            Douglas Spencer

Mrs. Rhinelander                 Esther Dale

Little Indian                         George Winslow

Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe costume test pictures.

Lobby Cards:

Lobby card that has the alternative title "Be Your Age"

Spanish lobby card - "Vitamins for Love"

With Ginger Rogers and George Winslow.

Directed by Howard Hawks.

Distributed by 20th Century-Fox.

Running time: 97 minutes.

With Ginger Rogers and "Esther".

Quote From Today... Monkey Business (1952)

"Well, watch your head. I'll watch everything else!"

Monkey Business was Cary Grant's 58th full length feature film.

Barnaby: Well, all set? Is you motor running?

Lois Laurel: Is your motor running?

Barnaby: Is yours? Takes awhile to warm up.

Lois Laurel: It does, me too.

Barnaby: Well, watch your head. I'll watch everything else!

On This Day... Monkey Business (1952)

 Cary Grant's 58th film, Monkey Business, was released on today's date back in 1952. 

Summary: 

Research chemist Barnaby Fulton(Cary Grant) finds his and his wife's personal and professional lives turned upside down when he believes he's discovered a fountain of youth pill.

Cast:

Cary Grant...Dr. Barnaby Fulton

Ginger Rogers...Mrs. Edwina Fulton

Charles Coburn...Mr. Oliver Oxley

Marilyn Monroe...Miss Lois Laurel

Hugh Marlowe...Hank Entwhistle

Henri Letondal...Dr. Jerome Kitzel

Robert Cornthwaite...Dr. Zoldeck

Larry Keating...G.J. Culverly

Douglas Spencer...Dr. Brunner

Esther Dale...Mrs. Rhinelander

George Winslow...Little Indian

Did You Know?

The off-screen voice during the opening credits is director Howard Hawks.

The small sports car used in the film was a red 1952 MG TD Roadster, which was owned by Marilyn Monroe. It sustained a dent in the front bumper when Cary Grant hit a fence while driving the car. It was later purchased by Debbie Reynolds in a pre-sale at a 20th Century Fox studio auction. It was then stored for several years. In 2011, it was sold at auction for $210,000.

The address that Edwina gives when she calls the police was Ginger Rogers' real-life address: 1605 Gilcrest.

Postal zip codes were not created until 1963. Yet numbers are recited after addresses in the film.  Cary Grant refers to an address as being in Inglewood, but the zip code, 90645, would be in Whittier, quite a distance away.

Quotes:

Barnaby: Hello, Griffith Park Zoo, Snake Department. Sssshhh!

Oliver Oxley: Hello? Hello? What is this?

Barnaby: What do you want?

Oliver Oxley: This is Mr Oxley.

Barnaby: I'll see if he's here.

Oliver Oxley: No, I said *this* is Oxley!

Barnaby: Who is?

Oliver Oxley: I am, speaking!

Barnaby: Oh, you're Mr. Speaking...

Oliver Oxley: This is Mr. Oxley speaking!

Barnaby: Oxley Speaking? Any relation to Oxley?

Oliver Oxley: Barnaby Fulton is that you?

Barnaby: Who's calling?

Oliver Oxley: I am, Barnaby!

Barnaby: Oh, no, you're not Barnaby. I'm Barnaby! I ought to know who I am.

Oliver Oxley: This is Oxley speaking, Barnaby!

Barnaby: No, that's ridiculous! You can't be all three. Figure out which one you are and call me back!

Lois Laurel: [at her secretarial desk, responding to Barnaby's remark that she is at work early] 

Mr. Oxley's been complaining about my punctuation, so I'm careful to get here before nine.

Hank Entwhistle: Well, I can only tell you, Mrs. Fulton. If you had been smart enough to marry me instead of...[points at Barnaby]

Hank Entwhistle: this, you wouldn't be in the kitchen cooking.

Barnaby: No? Where would she be cooking?

Barnaby: Umph! I'm beginning to wonder if being young is all it's cracked up to be. We dream of youth. We remember it as a time of nightingales and valentines. But what are the facts? Maladjustment, near idiocy, and a series of low comedy disasters. That's what youth is. I don't see how anyone survives it.

Barnaby: In my opinion, your opinion that it's a silly song is a silly opinion.

Mrs. Edwina Fulton: Oh, darling! Stop by the automobile agency. Mr Peabody just called and says he had a very good buy.

Barnaby: A good buy? Well, good bye to you!

Lobby Cards:

Directed by Howard Hawks.

Distributed by 20th Century-Fox.

Running time: 97 minutes.

Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36.

Leading Ladies...Part 2.

So here are the actresses who starred in two films each alongside Cary Grant.

Jean Arthur:

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and Talk Of The Town (1942)

Also appeared in the following radio shows:

Only Angels Have Wings (May 28th, 1939)
Talk Of The Town (May 17th, 1943)

Joan Bennett:

Big Brown Eyes (1936) and Wedding Present (1936)

Ingrid Bergman:

Notorious (1946) and Indiscreet (1958)

"She wears no make-up and has big feet and peasant hips, yet women envy her ability to be herself." 
- Cary Grant

Nancy Carroll:

Hot Saturday (1932) and Woman Accussed (1933)

Betsy Drake:

Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) and Room For One More (1952)

Also appeared in the following radio show:

Every Girl Should Be Married (June 27th, 1949)

"Betsy was a delightful comedienne, but I don't think Hollywood was ever really her milieu. She wanted to help humanity, to help others help themselves." - Cary Grant

Joan Fontaine:

Gunga Din (1939) and Suspicion (1941)

Sophia Loren:

The Pride and the Passion (1957) and Houseboat (1958)

"I was fascinated with him, with his warmth, affection, intelligence, and his wonderfully dry, mischievous sense of humor." - Sophia Loren

Ginger Rogers:

Once Upon A Honeymoon (1942) and Monkey Business (1952)

Ann Sheridan

Enter Madame (1935: as Clara Lou Sheridan) and I Was a Male War Bride (1949)

Mae West:

She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933)

Loretta Young:

Born To Be Bad (1934) and The Bishop's Wife (1947)

"Light, Camera...Action!" - The Directors - Part 1

When Cary Grant received his Academy Award for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting, in 1970, he thanked all those who had assisted in his career.

He thanked by name, six directors, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Leo McCarey, George Stevens, George Cukor and Stanley Donen.

So, that made me think about which directors he worked with and how often?

Howard Hawks:

30th May 1896 - 26th December 1977

Hawks and Grant worked on a total of six films together:

Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Katharine Hepburn

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) with Rita Haywood

His Girl Friday (1940) with Rosalind Russell

I Was a Male War Bride (1949) with Ann Sheridan

Monkey Business (1952)

Hawks on Grant - "He was so far the best that there isn't anybody to be compared to him."

Howard Hawks directed many films include those from the silent era, but as well as his first three films with Cary Grant he is probably most remembered for Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959).