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Monkey Business (1952)

Posters ,,

 

After a first role in "Don't Bother to Knock"(1952), Marilyn played the part of a secretary purely decorative in a quite stupid comedy which is talk of a chimpanzee and an elixir of youth.

Her partner was Cary Grant. The Fox tried hard to employ form then on , its new young star at the best of her possibilities, but it was Marilyn last part as a secretary.

The premiere took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. For the roadshow, the studios ensured that Marilyn could lead the Miss America parade. It was the first one to be led by a woman.

After its release date, the movie had a fair success. For their publicity, the movie theaters promoted Marilyn's name instead of those of her partners, Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, however, better known than her.

Dress and scarf

alone

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with Cary Grant ,,;

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with the other actors

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with Joe DiMaggio 

off set

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Pompom dress

alone  ,

with the other actors

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Roller-skating

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with Cary Grant -,-,,;

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Swimming-pool

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With the monkey -,,,;
                           

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With reporter Aline Mosby -,-            

Publicity pictures

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Wardrobe tests

Bathsuit ,,-

Dress -,-,;

 

CREDIT

Twentieth Century-Fox, Black and White

Runtime : 97 mn

Release date : September 5, 1952 .

Premiere at the Stanley Theater, Atlantic City

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Publicity pictures ,,,;-;

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Director : Howard Hawks

Producer : Sol C. Siegel

Screenplay : I.A.L. Diamond, Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, Harry Segall (original story)

Director of photography : Milton R. Krasner

Music : Leigh Harline

Production : George Patrick, Lyle R. Wheeler

Costumes : William Travilla

Film editing : William B. Murphy.

 

CAST

Cary Grant - Barnaby Fulton

Ginger Rogers - Edwina Fulton

Charles Coburn - Mr Oliver Oxley

Marilyn Monroe - Lois Laurel

Hugh Marlowe - Hank Entwhistle

Henri Letondal - Siegfried Kitzel

Robert  Cornthwaite - Dr Zoldeck

Larry Keating - G.J. Culverly

Douglas Spencer - Dr Brunner

Esther Dale - Mrs Rhinelander

George Winslow - little indian

Emmett Lynn - Jimmy

Joseph Mell - Barber

George Eldredge - auto salesman

Heinie Conklin - the house painter

Kathleen Freeman - neighbor

Olan Soule -  Pickwick Arms Desk Clerk

Harry Carey Jr - reporter

John R. McKee - photographer

Faire Binney - dowager

Bill McLean - bellboy

Paul Maxey - board member

Mack Williams - board member

Gil Stratton - Yale man

Forbes Murray - board member

Marjorie Holiday - Oxley receptionist

Harry Seymour - clothing store salesman

Jerry Paris - scientist

Roger Moore - bit man

Ruth Warren - laundress

Isabel Withers - laundress

Olive Carey - blanchisseuse

Dabbs Greer - cab driver

Russ Clark - policeman

Ray Montgomery - policeman

Melinda Plowman - bit girl

Terry Goodman - bit boy

Ronnie Clark - bit boy

Rudy Lee - bit boy

Mickey Little - bit boy

Brad Mora - bit boy

Jimmy Roebuck - bit boy

Louis Lettieri - bit boy

Robert Nichols - garage man

Jerry Sheldon  - the guard.

 

TECHNICAL CREW

W.D. Flick - sound

Earle H. Hagen - orchestrator

Paul Helmick  - assistant diretor

Roger Heman - sound

Ray Kellogg - special effects

Charles LeMaire - costumes

Thomas Little - set decoration

Lionel Newman - musical director

Ben Nye - make-up

George Patrick - art director

Walter M. Scott - set decoration

Helen Turpin - hairdresser

Lyle R. Wheeler - art director.

 

SYNOPSIS

Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant) is a scientist who tried to discover an elixir of youth, but his works are frustrated by one of the chimpanzees on which he had done tests.

The monkey escapes form his cage and by chance, makes the chemical mixture. He pours a part of the chemical in the water foutain, and Fulton drinks a large draught of it. He immediately looks younger. Fulton's boss sends his secretary, Lois Laurel (Marilyn Monroe), looking for the savant, who has disappeared. Fulton, very excited, leads the young girl to the pool, then on a roller-skating track, then in a high-powered car he drives full speed ahead.

The effects of the magic potion disappears, but it's Fulton's wife turn, Edwina (Ginger Rogers), to unvoluntarily drink it.
She behaves as a teenager and causes a mini scandal in the laboratory. Things are getting worse, when the couple drink some coffee made by the polluted water. They regress to childhood and make many childishness.
The whole scientist crew drink by accident water from the fountain, which arouses youthful desire feelings towards Marilyn, who is the only unspoiled one.

Soon, everybody comes back to its normal condition, but, because the elixir has been made by accident, the formula is lost and it's impossible to make another one.




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