It Should Happen to You

This movie was made at a time when Reality TV wasn't in the vocabulary, yet it foretold the future, in this tale of a young woman (Judy Holliday) who longs for fame and hates being unknown, prompting her to rent billboard space, so everyone in New York City will know the name Gladys Glover! She gets her wish and discovers it's not all she thought it would be.

Jack Lemon was on the road to fame with his portrayal of Pete Sheppard, the young man Gladys meets in Central Park, who's soon a tenant in her west side apartment building, then her boyfriend, then the guy she loses and must win back (in a reversal of the usual boy-meets-girl routine).

Peter Lawford plays the other man in the picture, wealthy Evan Adams, whose family company wanted the billboard space Gladys rented and made a deal with her, launching her "reality" career, and sparking Evan's interest in the new "star", though his intentions are not exactly honorable!

There are some great location shots, a chance to see some scenes of New York City in the 1950's. This is a fun and entertaining movie.

This is probably both Judy Holliday's and Jack Lemmon's happiest film, or at least one of them. It was Jack Lemmon's first, and George Cukor's problem with him was that he was a little too good and always overdid it, but as such he was ideal for Judy Holliday who was the opposite - always getting in on understatements. Her sense of humour is something unique in American film, always funny especially when she is dead serious, and in all her films you always suspect there is something dark and tragic under all that brilliant sunshine of sparkling wit and good humour, and she did die far too early at only 43. The comedy is one of the best and sunniest ever produced in Hollywood, and the main credit goes to Garson Kanin, who wrote the script. It is actually a satire on the career and advertising business, and the urge to make a name for oneself and be a success by some glorious career is exploited for fun but never in a negative sense. It reminds very much of Carole Lombard's best comedies in the 30s, like the Ben Hecht hilarious satire "Nothing Sacred" - it's the same kind of reckless making fun of how the vanity of society works. George Cukor himself must have thoroughly enjoyed making it, especially as he also could enjoy how well Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon went together.

A true comedienne is something of a rarity. Judy Holliday will always be remembered as one of the stage and screen's finest comediennes. The problem facing top comedians has always been finding the right material to suit their talents. More often than not they find themselves saddled with inferior material, (Bob Hope, Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis….the list goes on).

In her brief screen career Judy Holliday was fortunate in having vehicles that managed to show off her talents. Yet there remains a nagging sense that even a movie as successful as "It Should Happen to You", does not quite do Holliday justice. It's pleasant and amusing viewing, but ultimately Holliday deserved more.

A young Jack Lemmon proves an almost perfect foil for Holliday. In his very first screen role he is a pleasure to watch. As the years passed Lemmon began to lean more and more on his famed idiosyncrasies.

The theme of "It Should Happen to You" is as relevant as ever in its dealing with the public's fascination with vacuous celebrity. Clearly not much has changed over the past fifty years.

Holliday is radiant in this excellent comedy about a nobody who wants to be a somebody. It's the story of an average woman who devises a plan to plant her name on a billboard. She immediately hits it big, doing commercials and public appearances and the only one who sees the danger in it is her boyfriend, played by Lemmon, in his scene stealing film debut.

Holliday, a master of play on words is hilarious in this well made romance-comedy, perfectly paced and directed by George Cukor.

There's just something about a ditzy woman miraculously making herself a name that always seems to be a winner. I loved the way Gladys and Pete interacted throughout the entire story, through friendship, frustrations, unreturned feelings, and finally contented love.

It is certainly a feel-good movie, and accomplishes this task rather well. Recommended for all you touchy-feelies out there.