A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 10 nominations total
Chet Brandenburg
- Hotel Worker
- (uncredited)
Charles Cane
- Policeman
- (uncredited)
Helen Eby-Rock
- Manicurist
- (uncredited)
Mike Mahoney
- Elevator Operator
- (uncredited)
Paul Marion
- Interpreter
- (uncredited)
William Mays
- Bellboy
- (uncredited)
John Morley
- Native
- (uncredited)
David Pardoll
- Barber
- (uncredited)
Bhogwan Singh
- Native
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTo help build up Judy Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib (1949) was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part in Born Yesterday (1950).
- GoofsIn the final scene of the movie Billie and Paul are pulled over by a motorcycle cop. There are three shots, one of them driving to the curb, one of them talking to the officer, and then driving away. The officer who talks to them is obviously much older (and bigger) than the thin young man in the first and third shots.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Film Preview: Episode #1.2 (1966)
- SoundtracksSymphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36, 2nd movement
(uncredited)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Played at the outdoor concert
Also played on the phonograph
Featured review
Ms. Dawn Goes To Washington
A brilliant Judy Holliday performance is the main attraction in this witty, brisk adaptation of Garson Kanin's Broadway success. As a gangster's moll who gradually awakens to her civic responsibility, Holliday expands her dumb-broad persona from her previous film with Cukor, Adam's Rib, into a character who's sweet, memorable and surprisingly tough.
Born Yesterday is a suitable companion piece to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, a much more self-consciously "important" film that imparts similar messages about political corruption and the responsibility of individuals to require ethical governance. The message is arguably more powerfully imparted here - filtered through the perspective of the selfish, spoiled and barely-literate Ms. Dawn - than in the film focused on Jimmy Stewart's eloquent (and intimidatingly ethical) Mr. Smith, an "everyman" who is vastly morally superior to most audience members.
William Holden is relaxed and charming as the Henry Higgins-ish newspaper man tasked with opening Billie's eyes and Broderick Crawford is suitably broad and menacingly raspy as her corrupt, vulgar boyfriend. However, the movie is all Holliday's from the opening scenes, which play on the audience's lack of familiarity with the actress by presenting her as a refined, statuesque beauty in an extended sequence until, at last, she squawks out her first lines in nearly impenetrable, helium-voiced Brooklynese to hilarious effect.
A richly deserved Best Actress Oscar for the newcomer Holliday, despite formidable competition from grande dames Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).
Born Yesterday is a suitable companion piece to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, a much more self-consciously "important" film that imparts similar messages about political corruption and the responsibility of individuals to require ethical governance. The message is arguably more powerfully imparted here - filtered through the perspective of the selfish, spoiled and barely-literate Ms. Dawn - than in the film focused on Jimmy Stewart's eloquent (and intimidatingly ethical) Mr. Smith, an "everyman" who is vastly morally superior to most audience members.
William Holden is relaxed and charming as the Henry Higgins-ish newspaper man tasked with opening Billie's eyes and Broderick Crawford is suitably broad and menacingly raspy as her corrupt, vulgar boyfriend. However, the movie is all Holliday's from the opening scenes, which play on the audience's lack of familiarity with the actress by presenting her as a refined, statuesque beauty in an extended sequence until, at last, she squawks out her first lines in nearly impenetrable, helium-voiced Brooklynese to hilarious effect.
A richly deserved Best Actress Oscar for the newcomer Holliday, despite formidable competition from grande dames Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).
helpful•365
- Griffin-Mill
- Dec 24, 2004
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Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $12,000,000
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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