It Should Happen to You

Starring:Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon, Michael O'Shea, Vaughn Taylor, Connie Gilchrist, Walter Klavun, Whit Bissell, Constance Bennett, Ilka Chase, Wendy Barrie, Melville Cooper, James Nusser, Almeda Fowler, Rex Evans, Art Gilmore, Roger Pace, Harold J. Kennedy, Heywood Hale Broun, Hank Mann
Director: George Cukor
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

All Gladys Glover wants is to make a name for herself in New York--which explains the giant billboard with her name plastered across it. Celebrity, of course, follows. It Should Happen to You proves that the concept of "being famous for being famous" did not arrive with Angelyne or Paris Hilton. This comedy was designed for the dumb-blonde talents of the expert Judy Holliday, re-uniting with Born Yesterday writer Garson Kanin and director George Cukor. She's in prime form, and some of her scenes with Jack Lemmon (his film debut) have a spritzy give-and-take. (Alas, his character, a documentary filmmaker, is a bit of a nag.) The media satire is a little dated, from a 21st-century perspective, and a subplot with soap magnate Peter Lawford doesn't wash. The pleasures are in Cukor's airy Manhattan location shots and Holliday's offbeat line readings, her lasting gift from a brief career. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Romantic comedy of innocent daft (recommended).......2006-12-23

Though she hasn't quite figured out what comes next, Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) wants everyone to know her name. After meeting an infatuated photographer named Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemon in debut performance) while walking through Central Park, Gladys discovers a prominent billboard for rent. With her life savings, she has it plastered with "GLADYS GLOVER" to the chagrin of soap advertiser Evan Adams III (Peter Lawford). Failed negotiations for her prominent location lead to an offer of many more billboards in exchange for the one. The exposure is followed by television appearances, fame and fortune. Playboy Adams sees quite a different future for Glover -- one that interferes with Sheppard's courtship plans. Glover must then decide between fame and love.

More than half a century later I am discovering the charming antics of Judy Holliday in what is now my third DVD purchase. With considerable Broadway play performances in her career, Judy is quite comfortable on screen projecting innocent daft.

Movie quote: "I haven't changed. I'm the same as I was before - only in a different way."

Buyer Beware - Fake Widescreen Presentaion.......2006-06-21

The aspect ratio is fake.
The top and bottom of the regular full screen version has been cropped out of the picture to give the illusion your getting a widescreen - what your getting is less picture!
The studios should label the DVD's as they did when they cropped VHS video picture " this film has been modified to fit you tv screen" as in modified to fit a 16x9 tv in this case.
You have already lost one third of the picture when it was modified to full screen, now you loose an additional one third to one fourth of the movies image!
The reason leterbox and widescreen has a demand, is that the audience or consumer wants to view the Movie as it was filmed and framed by the filmaker, and not loose out on portions of the movie that the director intended.
In other words the idea to release in widescreen was for the intention of showing MORE not LESS of the movies image.
The studios believe they can get away with this, since the average buyer does not have a full screen video version to compare with, or the consumer is just unaware.
I compared this DVD to a full screen VHS version, and in many cases where some DVD's come with both Full & Wide Screen on a flip disc, compare them before watching, many of the widesreen sides are just chopped versions of the full screen.
The picture quality is great on this and most DVD's, it is unfortunate though that it has to be a conciliation for cropped picture.

Cukor and Holliday at their best.......2005-07-23

George Cukor's breezy comedy IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU features the lovely Judy Holliday in one of her greatest roles, as well as Jack Lemmon in his movie debut.

The story concerns a young woman named Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) whose compulsion for fame drives her to rent a billboard in Columbus Circle, on which her name is displayed for all to see. Pretty soon Gladys is known all over New York and she becomes an overnight celebrity. Gladys is also faced with a decision of the heart: a choice between her next-door-neighbour Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemmon) an amateur filmmaker who genuinely loves her; and suave businessman Evan Adams (Peter Lawford) who is only after her valuable billboard!

Fans of Judy Holliday won't be disappointed with this gem. The DVD presents the film in a sparkling anamorphic print, with the original trailer as the only extra. A talent taken from us too soon (just 10 years after this movie). Judy Holliday was definitely one-of-a-kind.

wonderful classic Judy Holliday at her best!.......2005-07-14

I watched this as a double-header with another film by the great Judy Holliday, probably her most well-known performance in BORN YESTERDAY, for which she won a much-deserved Academy Award for Best Actress. IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU may not be as well-known, but it certainly should be. Judy's comedic genius as "the dumb blonde" is showcased here, brilliantly. She was definitely a comic GENIUS, and more people need to see this film to get a glimpse into the artistic talent of a woman who, perhaps, was the smartest "dumb blonde" in film history, who used her deceptive "dimwittedness" as a ruse to successfully turn things upside down.

Gladys Clover (Judy Holliday) is a young woman who wants nothing more but to be famous just for the sake of being famous. What is her masterplan to obtain it? Through commissioning a series of billboards with her name, to be displayed downtown for the world to see, of course! This unsual approach to gaining celebrity actually works, and leads to many opportunities in the limelight. What Gladys comes to learn, of course, is that all that glitters is not gold. Along the way, she encounters a young, intelligent would-be documentary filmmaker, Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemmon), who watches her rise to the top as a billboard superstar, and wonders how long she will manage to stay there. Gladys is also persued by a manipulative young tycoon, Evan Adams III (Peter Lawford), with less than wholesome intentions.

This movie has wonderful humor and a soulfulness quite absent from the movies of today. What you come to learn from watching this wonderful story is how irreplaceable the brilliant Judy Holliday is, and you will definitely enjoy watching her play off of the wonderful cast! This was Jack Lemmon's film debut, and you can tell from the minute he steps on screen that this man was going to go places as an actor. His presence is indeniable. Everyone needs to see this!

Charming and entertaining.......2005-03-20

I recently saw the rebroadcast of an archival interview with George Cukor and he absolutely loved working with Judy Holliday. He valued her for her intelligence and he labeled her an intellectual. I know that an actor has to be sober to effectively portray a drunkard and so too, the highly intelligent Holliday effectively portrays a good natured but very ditzy character named Gladys Glover. If she wasn't so bright, she could not have effectively played such a ditzy character. Gladys wants to make a name for herself. She sees that there is prime billboard space available at Columus Circle in New York. That gives her an idea and you can guess what that idea is. Anyway, her name on one billboard gets parlayed into fame and there is a great satirical scene where people seek her autograph simply because her name is known.

Peter Lawford plays a potential love interest who is really interested in her for what she can mean to his corporation's bottom line. Her real love interest is Jack Lemon in his first role ever. In this early performance, we can see the seeds of the quirkiness that charcterized his movie career. This movie is delightful and I recommend it. Incidentally, there are great shots of Columbus Circle as it appeared in 1954. My!! How it has changed!

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