Judy Holliday - NOT a dumb blonde

5/19/13, Born Yesterday, Best Actress, 1950

After watching Born Yesterday, my biggest regret was that I was not more familiar with Judy Holliday's work, but I can safely say that will change. She plays a dumb blonde, a former chorus girl, who has taken up with a brutish troglodyte, played by Broderick Crawford (All the King's Men). The irony in her portrayal is that according to Wikipedia , Holliday had an IQ of 172, so she was no dummy. Billie Dawn (Holliday) and Harry Brock (Crawford) come to Washington, D.C. to try and buy a Congressman and his vote (in another bit of irony, William Holden's character gives an impassioned speech about the honesty of people in Congress...I laughed out loud). Harry is boorish and aggressive and really not very likable at all; Billie is very rough around the edges and not the brightest bulb on the tree, but there is something about her that I did like. The movie was filmed in the 1950s and there were moral standards to uphold, Billie and Harry are not married, so they do not sleep together; they have separate suites in the wing Harry has booked at the hotel. William Holden plays Paul Verrall, a writer who starts out interviewing Harry, but after Billie embarrasses Harry in a meeting with the Congressman and his wife, Harry decides Billie needs some tutoring, and Paul becomes Henry Higgins to Billie's Eliza Doolittle. Paul and Billie visit all the sites in Washington, and Paul shares with Billie information on the Founding Fathers, music, literature, art, and she is enjoying the experience...mostly. Knowledge is power, but it also shows Billie how much she didn't know and that Harry really wasn't any kind of great guy. The story itself isn't so unique or special, Harry is very clearly bad and Paul is very clearly good, but Holliday was a joy to watch, ditzy, yet insightful. Her comedic timing was spot on, and she did more with 'WHAT?" than some actors due with a whole soliloquy. She had some good dramatic moments as well. Judy Holliday won for Best Actress, and it was big year with two nominees from All About Eve and Gloria Swanson from Sunset Boulevard (also starring William Holden, nominated for Best Actor). Definitely go with Holliday on this one. She made the movie. It was also nice to see William Holden do something different than in The Bridge on the River Kwai or Stalag 17; he was very versatile actor. I totally recommend this movie, I don't think you'll regret it.