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The Birds and the Bees (film)
Encyclopedia
The Birds and the Bees is a 1956 screwball comedy film
with songs
, starring George Gobel
, Mitzi Gaynor
and David Niven
. A remake of Preston Sturges
' 1941 film The Lady Eve
, which was based on a story by Monckton Hoffe, the film was directed by Norman Taurog
and written by Sidney Sheldon
.
), a very eligible but naive vegetarian heir to a meat-packing fortune, returns home to Connecticut by luxury cruise ship, accompanied by Marty Kennedy (Harry Bellaver
), his valet, guardian and best friend, after spending three years together on a scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo looking for a rare snake. Onboard, the woman-shy George attracts a lot of attention from the opposite sex, despite being the consummate milque-toast, but the one he can't avoid is Jean Harris (Mitzi Gaynor
), a beautiful con artist travelling with her equally larcenous father, Colonel Patrick Henry "Handsome Harry" Harris (David Niven
), and his partner-in-crime Gerald (Reginald Gardiner
).
The three con artists are out to fleece George of a small fortune, but even the best laid plans can go astray. First, Jean falls hard for George and shields him from her card sharp father. Then, when Marty discovers the truth about her and her father and tells George about them, he dumps her. Furious at being scorned, she re-enters his life masquerading as the posh "Countess Louise", the cousin of "Jacques Duc de Montaigne" (Hans Conreid), who is actually Frenchie, another con man who's swindling the rich folks of Connecticut. Jean is determined to get back at George, so she sets out to seduce him, again.
George's domineering father (Fred Clark
) throws a party in honor of the visiting French royalty, and George is completely taken in by Jean's masquerade. Soon her hapless victim is so confused and bothered he doesn't know which way is up, but, in the end, after all the twists and turns, deceptions and lies, true love wins out.
Cast notes:
(music) and Mack David
(lyrics):
Two other songs were written for the film but not used:
, which had been running since 1954
, but he had not yet appeared in a film. This remake of The Lady Eve
, the plot of which it follows closely, was designed as a vehicle for Gobel, and had the working titles "The George Gobel Comedy", "The Gobel Story" and "The Lady Eve". Paul Jones was the producer for both this version of the story and the original.
The film was in production from mid July to 22 April 1955, and opened with a series of invitational premieres in thirty-two key cities across the United States on 20 March 1956, followed by a New York City premiere on 22 April and a general release in May.
Screwball comedy film
The screwball comedy is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving...
with songs
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
, starring George Gobel
George Gobel
George Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
, Mitzi Gaynor
Mitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
and David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
. A remake of Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
' 1941 film The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The film is based on a story by Monckton Hoffe about a mismatched couple who meet on board a luxury liner...
, which was based on a story by Monckton Hoffe, the film was directed by Norman Taurog
Norman Taurog
Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director, and screenwriter.Between 1920 and 1968, Taurog directed over 140 films, and directed Elvis Presley in more movies than any other director...
and written by Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon was an Academy Award-winning American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show , I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart , but he became most famous after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game ,...
.
Plot
George "Hotsy" Hamilton (George GobelGeorge Gobel
George Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
), a very eligible but naive vegetarian heir to a meat-packing fortune, returns home to Connecticut by luxury cruise ship, accompanied by Marty Kennedy (Harry Bellaver
Harry Bellaver
Harry Bellaver was an American stage, film and television actor who appeared in many roles from the 1930s through the 1980s.-Life and career:...
), his valet, guardian and best friend, after spending three years together on a scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo looking for a rare snake. Onboard, the woman-shy George attracts a lot of attention from the opposite sex, despite being the consummate milque-toast, but the one he can't avoid is Jean Harris (Mitzi Gaynor
Mitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
), a beautiful con artist travelling with her equally larcenous father, Colonel Patrick Henry "Handsome Harry" Harris (David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
), and his partner-in-crime Gerald (Reginald Gardiner
Reginald Gardiner
Reginald Gardiner was an English-born actor in film and television and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. His parents wanted him to be an architect and he studied at it but he wanted to be an actor and eventually got his way.He started as a super on stage and eventually...
).
The three con artists are out to fleece George of a small fortune, but even the best laid plans can go astray. First, Jean falls hard for George and shields him from her card sharp father. Then, when Marty discovers the truth about her and her father and tells George about them, he dumps her. Furious at being scorned, she re-enters his life masquerading as the posh "Countess Louise", the cousin of "Jacques Duc de Montaigne" (Hans Conreid), who is actually Frenchie, another con man who's swindling the rich folks of Connecticut. Jean is determined to get back at George, so she sets out to seduce him, again.
George's domineering father (Fred Clark
Fred Clark
Frederick Leonard Clark was an American film character actor.-Career:Born in Lincoln, California, Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included almost 70 films, and numerous television appearances...
) throws a party in honor of the visiting French royalty, and George is completely taken in by Jean's masquerade. Soon her hapless victim is so confused and bothered he doesn't know which way is up, but, in the end, after all the twists and turns, deceptions and lies, true love wins out.
Cast
- George GobelGeorge GobelGeorge Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, which ran from 1954 to 1960 .-Early years:He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago, Illinois, His father, Hermann Goebel, was a...
as George "Hotsy" Hamilton II - Mitzi GaynorMitzi Gaynor-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
as Jean Harris aka Countess Louise - David NivenDavid NivenJames David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
as Colonel Patrick Henry Harris - Reginald GardinerReginald GardinerReginald Gardiner was an English-born actor in film and television and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. His parents wanted him to be an architect and he studied at it but he wanted to be an actor and eventually got his way.He started as a super on stage and eventually...
as Gerald - Fred ClarkFred ClarkFrederick Leonard Clark was an American film character actor.-Career:Born in Lincoln, California, Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included almost 70 films, and numerous television appearances...
as Horace Hamilton - Harry BellaverHarry BellaverHarry Bellaver was an American stage, film and television actor who appeared in many roles from the 1930s through the 1980s.-Life and career:...
as Marty Kennedy - Hans ConriedHans ConriedHans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...
as Duc Jacques de Montaigne - Margery MaudeMargery MaudeMargery Kathleen Maude was an English actress of stage, screen and television.-Family:Maude was born in Wimbledon, London, the elder daughter of actors Cyril Maude and Winifred Emery. She married Joseph Warren Burden on 23 July 1917 in New York City. Maude and Burden had three children: Joseph...
as Mrs. Hamilton - Clinton SundbergClinton SundbergClinton Sundberg was a stage and film character actor.Sundberg was born in Appleton, Minnesota on December 7, with sources differing on his year of birth...
as Purser - Milton FromeMilton FromeMilton Frome was an American character actor. He made approximately 140 television and film appearances between 1934 and 1982.-Career:...
as Assistant Butler - Rex Evans as Burrows - Butler
- King DonovanKing DonovanKing Donovan was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director.-Film:...
as Waiter - Mary TreenMary Treen-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as Mrs. Burnside - Charles LaneCharles Lane (actor)Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...
as Charlie Jenkins - Bartender
Cast notes:
- The Birds and the Bees was one of only two feature films that George Gobel starred in; the other was I Married a WomanI Married a WomanI Married a Woman is a 1958 film made in 1956, starring Diana Dors and George Gobel. It also features John Wayne in a cameo role as himself. It was filmed in RKO-Scope and black and white except for one of Wayne's two scenes, which was shot in Technicolor...
in 1958.
Songs
The songs in The Birds and the Bees were written by Harry WarrenHarry Warren
Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
(music) and Mack David
Mack David
Mack David was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning from the early 1940s through the early 1970s. Mack was credited with writing lyrics and/or music for over one thousand songs...
(lyrics):
- "(The Same Thing Happens with) The Birds And The Bees(The Same Thing Happens With) The Birds and the Bees" The Birds and the Bees" is a popular song, written by Harry Warren and Mack David and published in 1956...
" - performed by George Goebel and Mitzi Gaynor - "La Parisienne" - sung by Mitzi Gaynor
Two other songs were written for the film but not used:
- "Each Time I Dream" - by Harry Warren (music) and Mack David (lyrics)
- "The Songs I Sing" - by Walter ScharfWalter ScharfWalter Scharf was an American film composer.Born in New York, he was the son of Yiddish theatre comic Bessie Zwerling...
(music) and Don Hartman (lyrics)
Production
At the time The Birds and the Bees went into production, "Lonesome" George Gobel had the highest rated television show on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, which had been running since 1954
1954 in television
The year 1954 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1954.-Events:*January 1 – NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade in NTSC color on 21 stations.*January 3 – RAI launched in Italy....
, but he had not yet appeared in a film. This remake of The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve
The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The film is based on a story by Monckton Hoffe about a mismatched couple who meet on board a luxury liner...
, the plot of which it follows closely, was designed as a vehicle for Gobel, and had the working titles "The George Gobel Comedy", "The Gobel Story" and "The Lady Eve". Paul Jones was the producer for both this version of the story and the original.
The film was in production from mid July to 22 April 1955, and opened with a series of invitational premieres in thirty-two key cities across the United States on 20 March 1956, followed by a New York City premiere on 22 April and a general release in May.