1960s (?) movie about a woman who wants to be famous for no reason

May 19, 2022 12:00 PM

I remember watching this movie on British television in the late 1960s/early1970s, but the film itself was already quite old by then. It was a feature which would have had a cinema release in its day. A light romantic comedy with mild satire on people's growing appetite for fame. A woman wants her face on a particular billboard because she wants everyone to see it there - no other reason. She enlists a male character (The billboard's owner? An advertising exec?) to make this happen.

Lessons are learned about the downside of fame and I think the couple end up falling in love.I think the film was in B&W, but I can't be sure about that. The title and who was in it has vanished from my brain completely, though my hunch is it was set in NYC. Feels in my mind more like an American film than a British one, but again I could be wrong.

All maddeningly vague, I know, but does this ring a bell with anyone? Thanks.

posted by Paul Slade to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Best answer: George Cukor's It Should Happen to You, starring Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon.
posted by bcwinters at 12:13 PM on May 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

Response by poster: Blimey, that was quick! And you're absolutely right, of course. Thank you so much.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:30 PM on May 19, 2022

It Should Happen To You, a wonderful movie with the very wonderful Judy Holliday does not include a billboard with her face plastered on it, but rather her name, Gladys Glover, which she pays to have plastered on multiple billboards. Not sure if this could be the film you are remembering.
posted by citygirl at 12:33 PM on May 19, 2022

Spoiler alert: It looks like a fun movie, but the lengthy trailer at the Imdb link looks like it spoils the whole thing.

Introducing a "new star," Jack Lemmon. LOL.
posted by JimN2TAW at 3:45 PM on May 19, 2022

Response by poster: "This lark, from the workshop of Columbia, which opened yesterday at Loew's State, is a neat piece of comic contrivance that will contribute to the joy of man. [...] Mr. Kanin has developed an expert's hand at writing precisely the right business for the brilliantly droll Miss Holliday. It is a compound of clever situation and broad but authentic character, wrapped up in freely splurged emotions and witty, idiomatic dialogue. And Mr. Cukor knows how to direct it so that it bounces and tumbles along with speed in the slam-bang comic stretches and gentle pacing when the heart is slightly tugged. [...] As for this new young man, Jack Lemmon—a fugitive from TV, we are told—he has a warm and appealing personality. The screen should see more of him. And the screen should see more of Mr. Kanin, Mr. Cukor and Miss Holliday. Once more they have brightened superbly a winter season of comparative comic drought. - NY Times, Jan 1, 1954.

Available as a cheap rental on Amazon Prime. This evening I shall be rewatching it for the first time in 50 years.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:37 AM on May 20, 2022