How to Be Very, Very Popular

Stormy Tornado and Curly Flagg are two showgirls from a San Francisco cabaret who witness the murder of one of their fellow performers and can identify the killer. Not wanting to get mixed up in a murder rap, the girls flee the scene and hide out at Bristol College, disguising themselves as boys. However the need for attention makes the girls want to stand out in their stage costumes and then the trouble begins.{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=863&dat=19551117&id=DUkvAAAAIBAJ&pg=6203,6559809&hl=en|title=The News and Eastern Townships Advocate - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19560427&id=glVVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2372,3827976&hl=en|title=The Age - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}

The ladies hide in the room of Fillmore Wedgewood, who proudly calls himself "the world's oldest student", and is always looking for ways to forestall graduation and facing "the real world" outside.

College President Dr. Tweed tries to coax a sizeable donation from wealthy alumni B.J.Marshall. This proves difficult when Marshall is continually caught in the crossfire of the comical events that follow.

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• Betty Grable as Stormy Tornado
• Sheree North as Curly Flagg
• Bob Cummings as Fillmore "Wedge" Wedgewood
• Charles Coburn as Dr. Tweed
• Tommy Noonan as Eddie Jones
• Orson Bean as Toby Marshall
• Fred Clark as B.J. Marshall
• Charlotte Austin as Midge
• Alice Pearce as Miss "Syl" Sylvester
• Rhys Williams as Cedric Flagg
• Andrew Tombes as Sergeant Moon
• Noel Toy as Cherry Blossom Wang
• Emory Parnell as Police chief

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How to Be Very, Very Popular was the third adaptation derived from the 1933 novel She Loves Me Not by Edward Hope. The novel was first made into the 1934 Paramount comedy She Loves Me Not which starred Miriam Hopkins as Curly Flagg and co-starred Bing Crosby. That was then remade as True to the Army for Paramount in 1942. How to Be Very, Very Popular was based on the Broadway adaptation of She Loves Me Not, by Howard Lindsay{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1933/12/30/after-hope|title=After Hope|first=Helen|last=Cooke|magazine=The New Yorker|date=23 December 1933 }} which was adapted from the original Edward Hope (Edward Hope Coffey){{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxJbAAAAYAAJ&q=%22She+Loves+Me+Not%22+%22Edward+Hope+Coffey%22&pg=RA7-PA30 |title = Princeton Alumni Weekly|year = 1957}} novel.{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19550728&id=gQtbAAAAIBAJ&pg=4767,737440&hl=en|title=The Michigan Daily - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}} It was also based on a second play, Sleep It Off,{{cite web |title=Ann Corio Collection |url=https://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/xOU-TR0028.xml;chunk.id=a23 |website=Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs, The Ohio State University Libraries |publisher=OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository |access-date=5 January 2025 |quote=Folder 13.9 Sleep It Off, Scope and Content: Souvenir program from Sleep It Off starring Ann Corio, written by Lynford Moore and Harlan Thompson, featuring Charlie Smith, Ben Weldon, Stanley Brown.}}[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/40s/1943/Billboard%201943-08-07.pdf LOU MARTIN] Billboard 1943-08-07 - World Radio History[https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-feb-13-1948-p-29/ Oakland Tribune, Feb 13, 1948, p. 29] NewspaperArchive which was about a woman hypnotised for 24 hours.

It was written, produced and directed by Nunnally Johnson who had written and produced How to Marry a Millionaire. Johnson called Popular "an old fashioned farce. Wacky." He said he felt like making a comedy after doing two dramas, Night People and Black Widow.{{cite news |last1=Scheuer |first1=Philip K. |title=A TOWN CALLED HOLLYWOOD: Nunnally Johnson Gambles on Chorines and Baldheads |work=Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) |date=27 Mar 1955 |location=Los Angeles, Calif. |page=E2}}

The character of Curly Flagg was the lead in She Loves Me Not but was made the secondary character to Stormy Tornado in How to Be Very, Very Popular to accommodate Betty Grable. She had been the number one box office attraction throughout the 1940s and early 50s with her films making enormous amounts of money for 20th Century Fox.

Nunnally Johnson said he wrote the script for Grable and Marilyn Monroe who had previously starred together in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) which is credited for basically creating the changeover in who was the top star at Fox. Grable was the top star in the 1940s and Monroe would become the top star of the 50s. However, there was no rivalry between the two bombshells, in fact Grable is said to have famously told Monroe, "go and get yours honey! I've had mine". The two became friends after that.

In December 1954 Fox announced the film would star Monroe.Marilyn Monroe Begins Work on Comedy Film in January

Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 6 Dec 1954: c12. Sleep It Off was an alternative title.SINATRA TO STAR IN MUSICAL FILM: He Will Appear in Lasky's Salute to Young America, 'The Big Brass Band' ; By THOMAS M. PRYOR The New York Times. 17 Dec 1954: 36. However Monroe refused to make the movie. In January 1955 the studio suspended her and replaced her with Sheree North who had been scheduled to appear in a film called Pink Tights.Studio Suspends Marilyn for Failure to Report Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 16 Jan 1955: A.

Johnson said North had "been in the bull pen warming up too long and I'll hope she'll emerge from this a star. To date she's just been a threat but she's good looking and frank as they come."Sheree North Joining All-Star Cast at 20th

Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 19 Jan 1955: B6.

Johnson later said in an interview he was "handed" North, and knew nothing about her. Johnson called the script "a mess, and Sheree, nice little woman, but unbelievably untalented. Untalented in the sense that she couldn't do this. [Johnson looks from left to right] You know;, she had to do this. [Johnson looks left, looks down, looks up to the left]. Her eyes would go down like this. I'd say, "Now; look, when you turn from him to her, can't you just look?" She says, "Isn't that what I'm doing?" I said, "No, this is what you're doing." With that kind of talent, it was hard to get anything out of her."Johnson p 358-359

In the absence of Monroe, Fox offered the co starring role to Betty Grable.METRO WILL FILM GRAZIANO STORY New York Times 20 Jan 1955: 35. Robert Cummings then joined the cast.Of Local Origin New York Times Y]26 Jan 1955: 22.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/movie-star-cold-streaks-robert-cummings/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Movie Star Cold Streaks: Robert Cummings|date=29 October 2024|access-date=29 October 2024}}

Archer MacDonald was meant to play a key role but was hospitalised for ulcers and replaced by Tommy Noonan.DISNEY RELEASES TV SERIES AS FILM: By THOMAS M. PRYORSpecial to The New York Times. New 26 Feb 1955: 12.

Johnson reflected "Betty was good as always, but its only distinction, if you want to call it that, is that I'm convinced that Billy Wilder pinched the plot." Wilder would make Some Like It Hot with Monroe, which had a similar plot.

• Song "How to Be Very, Very Popular" by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn
• Vocal Supervision    Ken Darby
• Orchestration    Edward B. Powell    {{•}}    Skip Martin

At the time of its release, How to Be Very, Very Popular was greeted with mixed-to-positive press. Betty Grable's performance was generally praised, whereas newcomer Sheree North's performance drew less impressive notices. North appeared on the cover of LIFE just before the film's release. It enjoyed reasonable success, earning an estimated $1.65 million in rentals at the North American box office during its first year of release.'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956

• List of American films of 1955

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|title= Recollections of Nunnally Johnson oral history transcript

|last=Johnson|first= Nunnally|publisher=University of California|year=1969 |url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofn00john/mode/2up?q=sheree}}

• {{IMDb title|id=0048183|title=How to Be Very, Very Popular}}
• {{AFI film|51528|How to Be Very, Very Popular}}
• {{tcmdb title|78623|How to Be Very, Very Popular}}
• [http://www.tvguide.com/movies/how-to-be-very-very-popular/review/101452/ How to Be Very, Very Popular] at TV Guide (1987 write-up was originally published in The Motion Picture Guide)

{{Nunnally Johnson}}

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Category:1955 films

Category:1955 comedy films

Category:1950s American films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:20th Century Fox films

Category:American comedy films

Category:American films based on plays

Category:CinemaScope films

Category:Cross-dressing in American films

Category:English-language comedy films

Category:Films based on American novels

Category:Films directed by Nunnally Johnson

Category:Films produced by Nunnally Johnson

Category:Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge

Category:Films set in universities and colleges

Category:Films with screenplays by Nunnally Johnson

Category:Remakes of American films