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

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)

 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".

"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).

The 1950's...

During the 1950's Cary Grant turned in some classic performances, 13 in total, from romance comedy to thrillers!

1950:

Crisis 1950

1951:

People Will Talk 1951

1952:

Room For One More 1952

Monkey Business 1952

1953:

Dream Wife 1953

1954:

No film released in this year.

1955:

To Catch A Thief 1955

1956:

No film was released in this year.

1957:

The Pride and The Passion 1957

An Affair to Remember 1957

Kiss Them For Me 1957

1958:

Indiscreet 1958

Houseboat 1958

1959:

North By Northwest 1959

Operation Petticoat 1959

Cary Grant Style No.2 - Debon..Hair and Clean Cut?

Cary Grant had a  clean cut look that said...sophisticated, refined, classy and debonair!

This look he carried off in almost all of his films...almost!

Wardrobe and costumes may have changed to fit the role or the era but very rarely did that classic Cary Grant look.
Here are the few exceptions...

The Last Outpost (1935):
As a British Officer, Michael Andrews, sporting a moustache.

With Gertrude Michael.

With Martha Scott.

The Howards of Virginia (1940):

As Matt Howard in an American Revolution role, complete with low ponytail.

I Was A Male War Bride (1949):

Captain Henri Rochard, found himself going to extraordinary lengths...horse hair wig!

With Ann Sheridan.

.

With Ginger Rogers.

Monkey Business (1952):

A short haired and youthful, Professor Barnaby Fulton

Father Goose (1964):

As a South Pacific island resident, Walter Ekland...some what disheveled.

With Leslie Carron.