Recorded at the Historic Camelot Theater, Palm Springs, CA (May 28, 2023)

Edited by Aliece Pickett

(ALIECE PICKETT:) Today’s film is the gem “Adams Rib” (1949).

It was released in 1949 and directed by George Cukor.

It’s about husband-and-wife lawyers who end up on opposite sides in a sensational women’s rights case.

The film stars Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as the married lawyers.

This was the 6th of their nine collaborations.

The film also stars Judy Holliday in her major breakout role.

Her next role was what shot her to the stratosphere of stardom, when she played the Screwball heroine “Billie Dawn” in the film “Born Yesterday” (1950), also directed by George Cukor.

She received an Oscar for her portrayal of the ditzy gangster’s moll.

She only made eight films during her short career, because she died of cancer at age 43.

During her life, she was known as a gifted comedienne and beautiful, but unafraid to be the butt of the joke.

She was a Screwball heroine of the highest order because she was a sex goddess who came off her pedestal to compete with men on banter, one-upmanship, and kooky physicality.

Today she’s best known for being investigated by the FBI and McCarran (the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950) during Hollywood’s Blacklist period.

What were her crimes?

She was a liberal civil rights activist in her personal role, and she was a Jew.

She was a second-generation Jew whose lineage traced back to Eastern Europe.

At the time, being Jewish meant “You’re a communist”.

That was the thinking.

It was another way to demonize Jewish people.

Despite the FBI investigation and no finding that she was a communist or attempting to overthrow the government of the United States, she was still “invited” to testify in Washington.

And testify she did.

She did something audacious.

She gave her testimony in the voice and manner of her character “Billie Dawn” from the “Born Yesterday” film, the ditzy gangster’s moll.

I have heard the audio tape of the hearing.

It is hilarious.

But the Blacklist was no laughing matter.

Film industry members were persecuted, fired, incarcerated.

Their lives were destroyed for their supposed Communist sympathies.

This process violated their Constitutional rights of Freedom of Association, and Freedom of Speech.

It was a dark period in American history.

The Hollywood Blacklist is the subject of a summer film series at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

It features discussions with film historians, filmmakers, and family members of Blacklisted artists.

The film series is being programmed and hosted by Alan K. Rode.

He is a renowned author, and host of the Film Noir Festival held annually in Palm Springs.

Mr. Rode is here today to support the Screwball Comedy Film Series.

Thank you.

To recap where we’ve been so far in our film series celebrating Screwball Comedy, we’ve defined “Screwball Comedy”.

It satirizes courtship, marriage, traditional institutions, and the wealthy.

At the center of the action is a mismatched couple, often from different social backgrounds.

There is a sexual antagonism between the two.

The dialogue is fast and witty.

And it’s not sentimental.

We’ve also contrasted the Screwball Comedy with Romantic Comedy.

The genres are often confused.

A Romantic Comedy is a traditional love story.

The characters are earnest and sincere.

The plots involve melodrama and sentiment.

Boy-meets-girl.

Boy loses girl.

Boy gets girl back.

The male is dominant in Romantic Comedy, and the woman is the prize to be won after the man overcomes obstacles.

Her satisfaction is knowing she completes him.

The Screwball Comedy heroine is a different story.

She is self-determined.

She’s on equal footing with men.

And she overturns normal courtship rules.

We’ve talked about the origins of Screwball Comedy.

There are five factors beginning in the early 1930s that led to the advent of the genre.

First and foremost, the Great Depression.

The repeal of Prohibition.

Women’s freedom socially and in the workforce as they started to be let into society.

In the film industry, the advent of sound, and finally, the imposition of severe censorship on all films beginning in 1934.

Today’s film, released in 1949, is at the end of the Classic Screwball era.

We see how America is changing.

It’s reflected in the storyline and the characters.

We’ll discuss that more after the film.

What doesn’t change throughout the genre is the eternal battle-of-the-sexes.

So, on with the movie and let the battle continue.

Thank you.