John Updike R.I.P.

Writer John Updike passed on January 27 at the age of 76. The cause was cancer.

John Updike was born on March 18, 1932 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Shillington, Pennsylvania. His father, Wesley Updike, was a junior high math teacher. His mother Linda Hoyer Updike later wrote fiction for The New Yorker and other magazines. When Updike was thirteen years old his family moved to an 80 acre farm near Plowville, Pennsylvania. As a youngster he read voraciously and wanted to grow up to either be a magazine cartoonist or an animator for the Walt Disney studio. While growing up he was a copyboy for The Reading Eagle, for which he wrote a few articles.

Updike attended Harvard College on a scholarship, where he wrote for and edited The Harvard Lampoon. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in English, then attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts in Oxford on a Knox Fellowship. It was that same year, 1954, that Updike made his first sale, a short story to The New Yorker. Upon his return to the United States, Updike started writing "Talk of the Town" bits for The New Yorker. It was in 1959 that Updike published his first novel, The Poorhouse Fair, and his first collection of stories, The Same Door. He had already published collections of poetry.

Nineteen sixty would see the publication of his first novel about Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, Rabbit, Run. Angstrom started out as a 26 year old former high school basketball player selling kitchen gadgets. John Updike would write four more novels centred on Rabbit (Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest, and Rabbit Remembered). The novels followed Rabbit as he struggled with the problem of being a middle class American male in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Updike also wrote about a character named Henry Bech. Bech was a Jewish writer who enjoyed the literary high life, even though he was not particularly prolific. He even won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Bech first appeared in the short story collection Bech: a Book and would appear in two more (Bech is Back and Bech at Bay).

Among Updike's other novels were Of the Farm, Couples, The Witches of Eastwick, Memories of the Ford Administration, and Villages. Updike ultimately published nine collections of poetry, fourteen short story collections, and ten nonfiction books on subjects ranging from golf to art.

A few of John Updike's works were adapted for the big screen, including Rabbit, Run, A & P, and The Witches of Eastwick. The telefilms The Music School, Too Far to Go, The Roommate, and Pigeon Feathers were all based on his works.

If John Updike became among the most famous of American writers of his time, it is perhaps because he was so good at making pointed observations about small town life in the United States. He once said in an interview with Life that his subject was "...the American Protestant small-town middle class." He wrote about the American Protestant, small town, middle class with loving attention to detail and not a little humour. His prose itself was very lyrical, so that while writing about the problems of the American middle class at the same time it was as if he was writing poetry. No other writer could capture the middle class quite so well and certainly not so poetically. It was an even greater testament to Updike's talent that he was prolific, writing a novel a year for much of his career. He was a writer matched by only a very few. He will certainly be remembered.

"The Pied Piper" by Crispian St Peters

One of the songs I can remember from my very early childhood is "The Pied Piper" by Crispian St. Peters. I remember that we had the single, which I assume my sister had bought (my sister was 17 years old when I was born). Given that it was one of the few singles we had, we played it quite often.

"The Pied Piper" was written by Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld, who performed together as The Changin' Times (Kornfield would later to be one of the men who would plan and produce the Woodstock Rock Festival in 1969. The Changin' Times recorded "The Pied Piper" in 1965. Sadly, they did not have a hit with the song. It would take English pop performer Crispian St. Peters to turn the song into a hit.

Crispian St. Peters was born Robin Peter Smith. He had played with a number of obscure bands in England. He struck out on his own in 1965, signing with Decca Records. It was in 1965 that he recorded "You Were On My Mind," which was first recorded by Canadians Ian and Sylvia in 1964. His version would hit #2 in the United Kingdom. He released his version of "The Pied Piper" in 1966. It became a major hit on both sides of the Pond. It reached #4 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom.

Of course, the song owes its title to the legend of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The legend tells how the town of Hamelin was infested by rats in 1284. A man dressed in multicolour clothes (hence the descriptive "pied") showed up one day in town claiming to be rat catcher. He told the townsmen he would rid their town of rats. In turn the townsmen of Hamelin promised to pay him. The man accepted the deal and then set forth playing his pipe. The rats followed the Piper, who led them into the Weser River. Although the Pied Piper had rid their town of rats, the townsmen of Hamelin would not pay him.

The Pied Piper was naturally angry and then set about taking his revenge. While the townsfolk were in church on Saint John and Paul's Day, the Pied Piper began playing his pipe again, this time drawing the children of Hamelin to him. He then led all of the children save one or two (the legend varies on this point) into a cave where they were never seen again. According to the legend, one of the children was lame and could not follow the Piper, while the other was deaf and could not hear the music. There are a more sinister version of the legend, in which the Pied Piper led the children into the Weser River to drown like the rats. There is also a kinder, gentler version of the legend in which the Piper returned the children after the townsfolk paid him.

The legend appears to have some antiquity. The earliest reference to The Pied Piper may have been a stained glass window in the Church of Hamelin. The window was described in accounts as early as the 14th century and as late as the 17th century. Constructed around 1300, the window depicted The Pied Piper and several children dressed in white. The earliest written version of the legend appears in the Luenberg manuscript from around 1440–1450. Jobus Fincelius mentioned the lgend in De miraculis sui temporis in which he identifies the Piper with Satan. The legend is mentioned fairly regularly from that time forward. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a poem based on the legend in 1803. The Brothers Grimm published the legend in their book Deutsche Sagen. It was in 1842 that Robert Browning wrote a poem based on the legend.

While the legend centres on the Pied Piper luring children away, the song appears to deal more with the relationship between a man and a woman. The woman appears to be afraid of making a commitment due to the way in which she views the world ("...always contemplating what to do...," "It's your mind/and that's all that's trickin' you."). The man addressing the woman in the song proclaims himself to be The Pied Piper, although he is not using the term to mean that he intends to mislead, but rather to open her eyes. From the point of view of the song, then, The Pied Piper was not someone who misled the children of Hamelin, but someone who opened their eyes to other possibilities.

For those who have never heard the song, here is a television clip of Crispian St. Peters from the Finnish television show Ohimennen, courtesy of YouTube.


As to Crispian St. Peters, he was never able to follow up the success of "The Pied Piper." Having no more hits, he was dropped by Decca Records in 1970. Since then his output has been sporadic. While he had only two hits, he will forever be remembered as the man who sang the song "The Pied Piper."

The Death of Analogue Television

Unless someone in the United States has not watched television, listened to the radio, read newspapers, or surfed the internet of late, it is impossible that he or she has not heard of the transition to digital television set to take place on February 17 of this year. And while there has been a lot of news on the transition to digital television, not much has said or written about the flip side of the story. Namely, the transition to digital television means the death of analogue television.

Since the very invention of television, the medium has depended on an analogue signal. I won't define what an analogue signal is here, as I am not sure I understand it myself, but I do know that analogue signals have a distinct disadvantage over digital signals. Quite simply, analogue signals will inevitably have "noise" or random variations. These variations will increase over distance. In other words, this is why one can pick up one's favourite television station (on an antenna, at least--it makes no difference by cable) better the closer one is to it.

I do know that television itself works on principles similar to that of motion pictures. Images are sent through analogue signals one frame at a time Each image is made of a number of lines of information ("raster lines"). Quite naturally, different systems for encoding analogue television would be developed, based around the number of lines composing each image and the number of frames transmitted per second. Here in the United States the system used is NTSC short for National Television System Committee). In 1940 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established the National Television System Committee to set for a standard television system for use across the United States. Originally, NTSC called for 525 lines of information in each image and a standard 30 frames per second. The system was developed based upon a recommendation made by the Radio Manufacturers Association in 1936, as well as a compromise between RCA and Philco's desires. At the time RCA already used a 441 line standard at NBC-TV. Philco wanted to increase this from 605 to 800 lines. When the NTSC system was developed it made no provision for colour television. When colour was developed it would have to be adjusted slightly.

Other parts of the world would develop their own analogue television systems. PAL (Phase Alternating Line) was developed in Germany in 1963 with the development of colour television. It had been discovered that the NTSC system for transmitting colour television simply would not fit the power grid of Western Europe, so that another system would have to be developed. It is used in Western Europe, South America, and parts of Asia and Africa). Another system is SECAM ("Séquentiel couleur a mémoir"--in English "Sequential Colour with Memory"). SECAM was developed in France as an alternative to NTSC in 1956. Curiously, it never caught on in Western Europe. It is used only in France, Eastern Europe, Asia, and part of Africa. Much of this may be because it cannot be easily edited when it is in analogue form and has transmission problems that neither NTSC nor PAL ever had. Even France, where it was developed, plans to abandon SECAM broadcasts by 2011.

Of course, here I should point out to those who grew up with cable television or satellite television that there was a time when most of us picked up our TV channels through the airwaves, just like using a radio. This meant one needed an antenna to pick up the signal (here I should point out that this is true of digital television as well). Antennas were used as far back as Thomas Edison in 1885 (for radio transmission) and Heinrich Hertz in 1888 (for picking up electromagnetic waves). The term appears to have been coined by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895, where he referred to the device as l'antenna, "the pole." Antennas are also called aerials as well (particularly in the United Kingdom and parts of the United States), although technically an antenna is a metal structure while an aerial relies on wires (like many FM radio antennas).

Television antennas have always come in an array of shapes and sizes. Among the most common from the beginning have been those using one rod or two rods (those using two rods being called "rabbit ears"). These antennas are sometimes built into the television, but can come separately from the TV so that they must be hooked up to the set. Of course, there are also larger, outdoor antennas which stand on a pole attached to one's house. Growing up my family relied on such an antenna for television reception in the living room, while the TVs in the bedrooms used "rabbit ears." Curiously, we always called the big, outdoor antenna an aerial, while the "rabbit ears" were merely "antennas."

Of course, I am guessing the "cable generation" is wondering how the big, outdoor antennas could be moved to improve reception, as they are too large to move manually like rabbit ears. Big, outdoor antennas or aerials use a device called a rotator. The rotator is a little box (in the old days they had dials--I don't know what they use these days). Here I must point out that aerials can be rotated manual as well, although it is a hassle to do so. When a tornado severed the connection to our rotator and the aerial, we used a big pipe wrench to rotate it. Needless to say, the rotator was much preferable!

Here I should point out that receiving analogue television with an aerial had its advantages and disadvantages. With the large, outdoor aerial we could pick up television stations as far away as St. Louis and Kansas City. Growing up I was then able to watch shows not seen in the Columbia/Jefferson City market, such as The Avengers and F Troop. The problem was that severe weather, such as a heavy rain or particularly a thunderstorm could make picking up even the local stations problematic. While on good days we could pick up KPLR out of St. Louis, on stormy days we might have problems receiving KOMU out of Columbia.

This does not mean that there were not other means of receiving analogue television in the old days. Cable television has existed since nearly the beginning of regular television broadcasts in the United States. It was originally called "community antenna television" or CATV for short. It was invented in 1948 by John Walson and Margaret Walson of the Service Electric Company, which sold General Electric appliances including television sets in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. The problem was that many of the residents of the Mahanoy City area either had no reception or very poor reception on their TV sets due to the mountainous terrain. John Walson then erected a huge aerial on top of one of the mountains and connected it by cable to the Service Electric Company store in town. Soon many of his customers would be connected to the gigantic antenna by cable as well.

John and Margaret Walson offered their cable service for free, but it would not be long before the first cable subscription service would be started. In 1950 Robert Tarlton and television set retailers in Lansford, Pennsylvania began offering television signals transmitted over a cable for a subscription price. Tarlton's success was noticed by Milton Shapp, then president of Jerrold Electronics. He swiftly reorganised the company so that it manufactured equipment for cable systems. Tarlton would later go to work for Jerrold Electronics.

Despite the rapid development of cable television in the late Forties and early Fifties, it would remain stymied for many years by FCC regulations. Throughout the Fifties and much of the Sixties it was available only in inaccessible or remote areas. As time passed the FCC would relax many of these regulations. By the early Seventies, then, even not so remote areas like here in Randolph County would have cable television. In 1972 the FCC lifted rules which kept cable television out of large cities. Original programming for cable developed in 1972 with the rise of Home Box Office (HBO). Cable television would grow dramatically in the Eighties. It is safe to say that by the Naughts the vast majority of Americans would receive their television by cable or satellite.

With the development of digital television in the late Nineties, the death warrant for analogue television was signed. Digital television is both more efficient and more pliant than analogue television. With simply an old fashioned antenna one can receive many more channels. It is also supposed to have better sound and better image than analogue television. In 2006 the Netherlands became the first nation to convert entirely to digital television. Canada will follow the United States in 2011, while the United Kingdom will do so in 2012. Here in the United States it was in 1996 that a bill was passed to make the transition to digital television by December 2006. By 2004, however, not enough people had digital television sets for the transition to really be feasible. The deadline for the transition was then extended in 2005 so that the transition would take place by February 17, 2009. Currently there is a bill to delay the transition once again, as at least three million homes are still on the waiting list for government coupons for digital television converters.

Even if the transition to digital television is delayed once more in the United States, it is safe to say that it is inevitable. And while I realise that digital television is superior to analogue television and have enjoyed cable television most of my adult life (the cable company switched to digital long ago), I cannot help but feel a bit of remorse for the death of analogue television. Like such obsolete technologies as the telegraph and the phonograph, analogue television revolutionised American life. A large part of my life as spent watching analogue television received through an aerial. It was how I first watched The Avengers, The Monkees, Star Trek, and most of the other classic TV shows. For old times' sake, then, I might just hook up the rabbit ears one night for one last bit of viewing of good, old fashioned analogue TV.

Producer Charles H. Schneer and Model Jim Horne Pass On

Producer Charles H. Schneer, who worked with stop motion legend Ray Harryhausen on the majority of his classic films, passed on January 21 at the age 88.

Charles H. Schneer was born in Norfolk, Virginia on May 5, 1920. Much of his youth was spent in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Columbia University. He began his career at Columbia Pictures. During World War II he served in the United States Army Signal Corps producing training films.

Schneer served as associate producer on his first film, The 49th Man, in 1953. His first work with Ray Harryhausen came when he served as producer on his first film It Came from Beneath the Sea in 1955. The idea came to Schneer when he thought of an image of a giant octopus pulling down the Golden Gate Bridge. Schneer and Harryhausen would make two more science fiction films together (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and 20 Million Miles to Earth) before making a conscious shift to fantasy. Together Schneer and Harryhausen would make such classic fantasy films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). They would also make First Men in the Moon (1964), The Valley of Gwangi (1969), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), and Clash of the Titans (1981) together.

Schneer also produced movies without Harryhausen. He produced the Ronald Reagan camp classic Hellcats of the Navy, the film noir The Case Against Brooklyn, the Western Good Day for a Hanging (1959), the biopic Werener von Braun (AKA I Aim for the Stars), and the musical Half a Sixpence.

Unlike many producers, Charles H. Schneer did not simply handle the money, but also played a part in the creative process. Besides coming up with the idea for It Came from Beneath the Sea, he also came up with the idea for Earth vs. the Flying Saucers after reading about UFOs in newspapers. Of the films he and Ray Harryhausen made together, he considered Jason and the Argonauts to be the best.

I cannot deny that Charles H. Schneer had an enormous impact on my life. The first movie I remember watching as a child was Jason and the Argonauts. As a producer he was arguably responsible for more hours of the finest fantasy films than any other. In the hands of another producer, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts may not be the classics we now know and love. He and Harryhausen made a formidable team.

While most people probably don't recognise his name, most people probably recognise the face of Jim Horne. Starting in the late Forties, he became the most photographed male model of all time. He passed on December 29 at the age of 91.

Jim Horne was born James Wesley Horne Jr. on March 28, 1917 in Glendale, California. His father was director James W. Horne, who directed many silent films, as well as Laurel and Hardy in Way Out West and The Bohemian Girl among other films, Charlie Chase in various comedy shorts, and such serials as The Spider's Web and The Shadow. His mother was silent movie actress Cleo Ridgely, well known for beauty (she played Beauty in a 1912 version of Beauty and the Beast). Jim Horne's twin sister, June, appeared in bit parts in movies and married actor Jackie Cooper. His sister Victoria Horne was an actress who appeared in such films as Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw, Secret Agent X-9, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and Harvey.

Given his family's career, Horne appeared in uncredited roles in movies from Gunga Din to A Place in the Sun. He had tried out for the role of Joe Bonaparte in the 1939 adaptation of Golden Boy, but the role would go to William Holden. William Holden would later be his bunkmate when the two went through basic training for the United States Army during World War II. Horne served as a combat photographer in the Army. He received the Bronze Star twice.

After the war Horne would try his hand at acting in movies again, making little progress. In the late Forties he also became a male model. His image appeared in magazine and newspaper advertisements, on billboards, in catalogues, and even industrial brochures. With the advent of television on a wide scale in the Fifties, he began appearing in television commercials. Horne's appearance proved extremely adaptable. He could be a businessman, a doting father, a sharp dressed man, a ladies' man, a wealthy sophisticate, and, closest to Horne in reality, the rugged outdoorsman. Over the years he appeared in ads for Budweiser, Chrysler, Lucky Strike, Marlboro (in the days before the Marlboro Man), Macy's, Remington, and The Saturday Evening Post. He appeared on covers of such magazines as Gentleman's Quarterly (now known as GQ). Horne would continue modelling into the Sixties, when he appeared in ads directed at mature men. In the end, Jim Horne would be the most photographed male model in history. When his modelling career ended, Horne became a salesman and spokesman for an apparel company. He later founded his own company, manufacturing leather belts.

Jim Horne appeared in literally thousands of ads from the late Forties to early Sixties. Curiously the one shot of him that has persisted is the one shown here, in which he has a worrisome look as if he has a headache. The photograph has been used repeatedly since it was taken in 1953, in ads for aspirin, stress relievers, hangover remedies, and even tax services. For many today it may be familiar in the internet from a famous meme, in which the photograph is accompanied by the legend "Aw jeez, not this s*** again!" or more simply "Ah jeez!"

Sadly for many of we younger folk (and I use the term relatively here), Jim Horne may be best remembered as the "Aw jeez" guy. But there was a time when his image was ubiquitous. In the Fifties there was probably no escaping Jim Horne. His image was on magazines, in newspapers, on television, in catalogues. At the time he was probably one of the most famous faces around, even though no one outside of the advertising world recognised his name. In this respect he made a very real contribution to American pop culture. It is perhaps for this he should be remembered.

The 2009 Oscar Nominations

Yesterday morning the nominations for the 81st Annual Academy Awards were announced. I saw fewer movies last year than I have in quite some time, so I don't have strong feelings about a lot of the nominees. That having been said, I do have a few opinions on what was and wasn't nominated.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The big surprise for me was that The Dark Knight was not nominated. The movie received sterling reviews and made a boatload of money (currently it is second only to Titanic in the biggest money makers of all time). It seemed to me to be a shoe in. I would have thought that it would have gotten an nomination before The Reader. The only thing I can figure is that the Academy still has a bias against genre films (science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero, et. al.) that kept it from being nominated for Best Picture.

As to who will win, I think that is difficult to say. My own bet is that it could be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It has received a good deal of critical buzz. And of the nominees it is arguably the most commercial--it has already made around $105 million at the box office. The movie is also a panorama of American history at a time when this country is in an economic depression, which could incline Academy members to vote for it. That having been said, I can see arguments as to why it won't win. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a bit of a genre film--it is, after all, about a man who ages backwards. I also get the feeling that the Academy is not particularly fond of David Fincher. While he has made a slough of critically acclaimed movies, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the first one to see much in the way of Oscar nominations. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button could be at a bit of disadvantage between these two things.

I also have to say that while Slumdog Millionaire appears to be the feel good movie of the year and the odds on favourite of many, I don't think it has much chance to win. My reasoning is that as a small, independent picture Slumdog Millionaire is a bit of an outsider in an awards ceremony that prefers its industry favourites. Indeed, I cannot remember the last time an independent movie ever won the Best Picture Oscar (I know it has happened at some point). I also think that the sheer fact that it is a feel good movie may put it at a disadvantage. While I am sure definitions of "feel good movie" vary, for me that last such film to win was Forrest Gump in 1994 (and don't get me started on how it didn't deserve to win...). While the Academy nominated Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways for Best Picture, it is notable that they did not win. Of course, I can see how one could argue the exact opposite of what I have. We are in an economic depression, if the Academy was ever going to give Best Picture to a feel good movie, it would probably be now.

Director:

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

I think David Fincher could take the Best Director award, unless I am underestimating any possible bias the Academy has against him. Let's face it. He did not get nominated for Fight Club or Zodiac. Here I must say I think Danny Boyle could actually stand a chance for Slumdog Millionaire. The Academy might not give Best Picture to a feel good movie, but they might give an award to its director.

Of course, here I was was surprised by the absence of Christopher Nolan. I can only guess that it is another example of the Academy's bias against superhero movies (in other words, no matter how great the direction on The Dark Knight was, it's still just a superhero movie).

Best Actor:

Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

I think this award could well go to Mickey Rourke. He has gotten raves for his performance in The Wrestler and he has already won a few Best Actor awards for it. Too, Hollywood loves a comeback. It loves the bad boy who makes good. And if ever there was a bad boy who made good, Rourke is it.

Best Actress:
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

The big shock for me was that Kate Winslet was nominated in this category The Reader and not Revolutionary Road. I thought that she would be nominated for Best Actress for Revolutionary Road and for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. I am not sure I follow the Academy members' reasoning on this one. At any rate, I figure she is the odds on favourite.

Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

The big surprise for me was that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Tropic Thunder. It's not that he did not do a good job, but that the role was somewhat controversial and that the Academy has always preferred drama to comedy. At any rate, I think this award will go posthumously to Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight having been snubbed in every other major category.

Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

I have no idea who will take Best Supporting Actress, although I have to say my heart lies with Amy Adams and Marisa Tomei. But then that would be the case even if they gave bad performances....

As to the other categories, I must say that I am shocked that Iron Man was only nominated in two technical categories (Sound Editing and Visual Effecs). Surely it deserved more (Sound Mixing, at the very least). And how is it that Milk received nominations for Best Costume? The movie is set in the Seventies, a decade whose fashions can be found in most thrift stores even now! I would think any number of period pieces set in earlier times were worthier of being nominated. And how did Milk get a nomination for Film Editing? Unless I am missing something, while it's editing is good, it's hardly remarkable.

I must also admit I am puzzled by the nominees for Best Song. Okay, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman were nominated for "Down to Earth" from Wall-E. But where is The Boss? I thought Bruce Springsteen was a shoe in, given the fact that he is an ageing rock star? You can't tell me that there are more Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney fans in the Academy than Springsteen fans....

While I was sorely disappointed that The Dark Knight was snubbed in the major categories and Iron Man did not pick up more technical nominations, I am glad to see Hellboy II: The Golden Army picked up a nomination for Makeup. Although now that I think of it, it really deserved one for Costume as well...

At any rate, it looks like this year's Academy Awards ceremony will be interesting. For once it will have some real suspense for me, as I really haven't much idea as to who will win in many of the categories. As far as I am concerned, it's anybody's game.

Sixties Sex Comedies Part Three

The late Fifties saw the emergence of the sex comedy. In 1958 a cycle towards sex comedies began with three different films being released. By 1960 the Sixties sex comedy cycle was well under way. That year saw several different sex comedies released.

Among these was the film Let's Make Love, starring Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand. The movie's plot centred around millionaire Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand), who visits the set of an off-Broadway revue, only to be mistaken for an actor supposed to play him. Clement plays along and takes the part so he can be close to actress Amanda Dell. As mentioned earlier, it is debatable whether The Apartment is a sex comedy or not. The Apartment centres on C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), a hapless employee of a major insurance company, whose apartment is constantly taken over by his superiors at work for their extramarital affairs. This arrangement is complicated when Baxter falls in love with elevator operator Fran Kublick (Shirley MacLaine). Unfortunately, Miss Kublick had an affair with their boss, Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), who wants her back. The Battle of the Sexes, so central to the sex comedies, is nearly absent in The Apartment, existing only between Miss Kublick and Mr. Sheldrake, not between the two principal characters. And the deception that is seen in most sex comedies is absent. While it is certainly a romantic comedy, then it is doubtful The Apartment can be considered a sex comedy.

That is not to say that The Apartment would not have an influence on sex comedies. Indeed, both of its stars (Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine) would go onto star in several sex comedies. MacLaine had already appeared one sex comedy even before starring in The Apartment: Ask Any Girl in 1959. She would go onto appear in My Geisha, Irma la Douce, and What a Way to Go. Irma la Douce, released in 1963, was directed by Billy Wilder and once more teamed her with Jack Lemmon. MacLaine played the title character, a prostitute with whom ex-police officer Nestor Patou falls in love. To keep her away from men and in an effort to get her out of business, Patou pretends to be an elderly English lord, known only as Lord X. In some respects, it is debatable whether What a Way to Go is a sex comedy, as it does not really contain the Battle of the Sexes central to sex comedies. The plot centred on Louisa May Foster (Shirley MacLaine), a luckless girl whose husbands always die, often in unusual ways, trying to get rich. The Battle Between the Sexes and the deception absent from What a Way to Go, although it is still counted as a sex comedy by many.

In 1962 the cycle would continue with the release of yet more sex comedies, including Lover Come Back. Among the films released that year was Come September. Come September centred on millionaire Robert L. Talbot (Rock Hudson) who goes on vacation at his Italian villa. Unfortunately, it seems that his long term girlfriend Lisa (Gina Lollobrigida) has tired of waiting for him and is going to marry another man. Among the co-stars of Come September was Sandra Dee. Best known at the point for having played Gidget in the movie of the same name and Tammy in Tammy Tell Me True and Tammy and the Doctor, she would go onto make a few sex comedies. In fact, in 1962 she would star in If a Man Answers, playing rich socialite Chantal Stacy who is trying to train her new husband Eugene Wright (Bobby Darin) to be the perfect husband. She went onto appear in That Funny Feeling and Doctor, You've Got to be Kidding. The latter, released in 1967, was notable in that Sandra Dee actually played a woman with sexual experience. Early in the movie she finds herself pregnant with marriage proposals from three different men.

By 1962 the sex comedies had grown considerably more daring than they had in the days of Teacher's Pet. Love Come Back implied a one night stand between its two lead characters, although it was under the intoxicating effects of VIP and involved a marriage licence as well.

Nineteen sixty two saw the sex comedy cycle continue stronger than ever, with the released of A Touch of Mink and If a Man Answers. Boys' Night Out was similarly daring. The film centres on three married men and one bachelor (James Garner) who rent an apartment as a love nest for extramarital affairs. They also hire a housekeeper, a beautiful blonde named Cathy (Kim Novack). In reality, Cathy is actually a graduate student in sociology researching her thesis--the sexual fantasies of the average male. Although tame by today's standards, Boys' Night Out must have seemed risque for the era.

Boys' Night Out would be significant in introducing a new star to the sex comedies, James Garner. Best known for his role on the TV series Maverick at the time, Garner would go onto star in two more sex comedies, both important in the history of the genre. He appeared opposite Doris Day in The Thrill of It All, released in 1963. Garner played Dr. Gerald Boyer, whose Beverly (Doris Day) soon finds herself a spokesman for a major brand of soap and a television personality. He would co-star with Doris Day again in Move Over, Darling, in which Doris Day plays Ellen, a woman declared legally dead after a plane crash only to show up five years later.

From 1963 to 1965 the sex comedy cycle was at its height, with more films in the genre released than in any other three year period. Many of the films were fairly significant: Move Over, Darling, The Thrill of It All, Under the Yum Yum Tree, Send Me No Flowers, Boeing Boeing, and How to Murder Your Wife . Two films released during this two year period are notable for their place in film history or pop culture history. Both were also released during the Christmas season of 1964. With Kiss Me, Stupid director Billy Wilder once more challenged the movie industry establishment. The film was passed by the Production Code Administration (a sign of how much the Code had weakened), but would run afoul of the Legion of Decency. The Catholic organisation would give the film a "C" rating for "Condemned," the first film it so labelled since Baby Doll in 1956. For once the Legion of Decency was not alone in its condemnation of a film. The film was roundly attacked by critics, many of whom attacked its vulgarity. Kiss Me, Stupid was very loosely based on the bedroom farce L’Ora della Fantasia by Anna Bonacci. It starred Dean Martin as a crooner called Dino, who finds himself in the small Nevada town of Climax, where struggling songwriter Orville Jeremiah Spooner (Ray Walston) tries to keep his wife Zelda (Felicia Farr) away from the handsome Dino while trying to sell the singer songs. He even goes so far as to hire a prostitute, Zelda (Kim Novack) to pose as his wife. The film dealt in adultery and in sexual humour that was much more obvious than any of its contemporaries. Roundly condemned in its time, Kiss Me, Stupid would later be re-evaluated so that its reputation was somewhat redeemed.

Also released during the holidays in 1964, Sex and the Single Girl shared its title with Helen Gurley Brown's famous sex manual. Warner Brothers had purchased the film rights to Brown's book, but ultimately the movie would be based on a screenplay that had been floating around Warner Brothers for years entitled How To Make Love and Like It. In the end, the only thing the movie would take from Brown's book was its name. The film Sex and the Single Girl cast Natalie Wood as a young sexologist named Helen Gurley Brown who crosses swords with scheming scandal sheet editor Bob Weston (Tony Curtis), who plots to seduce her and reveal her as an inexperienced virgin. As in other sex comedies, Weston pretends to be someone else in order to seduce Brown.

It was in 1966 that the cycle towards sex comedies finally showed signs of slowing down. While the past three years had yielded a bumper crop of sex comedies, 1966 would only see the release of a few. Among that year's sex comedies were The Swinger, Any Wednesday, and The Glass Bottom Boat. The Glass Bottom Boat is significant as Doris Day's last successful sex comedy. Doris Day played widow Jennifer Nelson, who has just taken a job as in public relations for NASA and also works as a mermaid for her father's glass bottom boat tours. It through her job as a mermaid for her father (Arthur Godfrey) that Jennifer meets Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor)--he accidentally catches her while fishing. As it turns out Templeton is also Jennifer's new boss. Not only was The Glass Bottom Boat a sex comedy, but it also capitalised on the spy craze of the time. It featured a large number of cameos, including Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo. It was the second time Doris Day and Rod Taylor had starred together, having first appeared together in 1965's Do Not Disturb.

There was perhaps no greater sign that the sex comedy cycle was coming to an end than the fact that 1966 was the last year that Doris Day would rank in the top ten of the exhibitors' polls of the top box office stars. Nineteen sixty seven would see yet fewer sex comedies released, including Doctor, You've Got to be Kidding and A Guide for the Married Man. It would be 1968 that would see the end of the cycle. That year How to Save a Marriage (And Ruin Your Life) was released, as was Doris Day's very last sex comedy, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out. Where Were You When the Lights Went Out was set in New York City during the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965. Despite this, it was actually based on the French play Monsieur Masure by Claude Magnier. In the film Dois Day played a parody of herself, an actress typecast in virginal roles. Released in July 1968, it was the first Doris Day movie in years that did extremely poorly at the box office. At any rate, it was perhaps fitting that having started the cycle towards sex comedies, Doris Day would also end it as well.

Ultimately, the Sixties sex comedies had fallen victim to the same weakening of the production code and Sexual Revolution that had allowed them to exist to begin with. In 1961 the Production Code was revised once more, this time to include "sexual perversion (by which was pretty much meant homosexuality)." The production code would only be weakened by such foreign movies as L'Avventura, Jules et Jim, Room at the Top, Never On Sunday, and La Dolce vita, which often contained material that the current Production Code forbade in American films. American movies (including American co-productions) also challenged the Production Code. In 1964The Pawnbroker had included some very brief female nudity, which resulted in the Production Code Administration denying it a seal. This decision was overturned by the Production Code Administration's own review board.

Another challenge to the code came in the form of Blowup, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. The movie included two scenes that the Production Code Administration found objectionable--one in which the protagonist cavorted with two nude girls in which pubic hair was very briefly visible, and another scene in which the protagonist watched his neighbour make love. Rather than cut the scenes, the film's distributor, MGM (originally a strong supporter of the Production Code), simply released the film under its subsidiary Premier Productions without a seal. The film did quite well at the box office. Curiously, it would not be the full frontal nudity of Blowup that would break the Production Code, but the four letter words of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.. The film was based on the Broadway play of the same name, which utilised exceedingly coarse language, including the word "goddamn" no less than fifteen times, as well as such words as "ass" and "son of a bitch." Before the film was even made, then the Production Code Administration advised Warner Brothers to remove every bit of profanity and coarse language. After negotiations with the Production Code Administration, in the end Warner Brothers only wound up cutting the words "screw you" and "frigging" from the film and added a special warning all advertisements for the film.

While The Pawnbroker, Blowup, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf challenged the Production Code, other films tested the boundaries of the Production Code. Some of these movies were even sex comedies, such Some Like It Hot and Kiss Me Stupid. By 1967 the Production Code was so weak that The Graduate was able to deal with adult themes such as extramarital sex. That same year two films, the screen adaptation of Ulysses and the movie I'll Never Forget What's His Name went further than Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf had--they both included the "F" word. As much more was permissible in movies by this point, the sex comedies (in which there was no sex) probably started to seem both tame and dated by 1967. The films may have lost any audience who watched them primarily for their risque content.

Indeed, it must be pointed out that as the Sixties progressed, the sex comedies became more and more risque. Some Like It Hot included cross dressing. Boys' Night Out toyed with adultery (although it never actually occurred in the film). Doctor, You've Got to be Kidding featured a heroine who actually had a child out of wedlock. The sex comedies kept up with the changes in what was acceptable in films until, at last, they could not keep up.

Just as the Production Code was weakening in the Sixties, the Sexual Revolution began to gain steam. The birth control pill was approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 1960, removing much of the threat of pregnancy from the sex act. In many quarters of the population premarital sex became acceptable. While it may not have been acceptable by other quarters of the population, it certainly became less shocking. By the late Sixties the concept of free love, which argues that sex between consenting adults should not be regulated by law, caught among among certain parts of the American populace. These changes in society effectively removed the impetus of many of the Sixties sex comedies, in which much of the plot was propelled by the woman saying, "No," to sex unless it was within the confines of marriage. It is safe to say that such films as Pillow Talk must have seemed dated by 1967.

Even without the weakening of the Production Code and the Sexual Revolution, however, the Sixties sex comedies cycle would have probably have ended sooner or later. Most movie cycles only last a few years before they burn themselves out. And by 1966 the market was literally glutted by sex comedies. It is safe to say that at some point audiences would have tired of them, even without the changes that occurred in both the movie industry and American society.

Regardless, while the sex comedy cycle would end, the sex comedies themselves would be remembered. Among some they would even become a source of controversy. There are those who maintain that the bulk of sex comedies are both sexist and misogynistic. In my opinion, however, this thought does not bear close inspection. While many sex comedies include protagonists who make speeches against both women and marriage, in nearly every sex comedy ever made such sentiments are proven wrong by the movie's end. At the end of Pillow Talk Brad Allen ceases to be misogynistic and finally concedes to Jan Morrow in having a monogamous relationship. If the films were truly misogynistic, it would be safe to say that characters who started out as playboys would remain playboys at the movies' ends.

It must also be pointed out that for films that are supposed to "sexist," the sex comedies paint a better portrait of women than many other venues in the media. While TV shows and other movies were still portraying the average American woman as a housewife, the sex comedies featured women in their own careers. There can be no better example of this than Doris Day. She was an interior decorator in Pillow Talk, an advertising executive in Lover Come Back, and in public relations in The Glass Bottom Boat. And Doris Day was not an isolated case by any stretch of the imagination. Prior to Boys' Night Out Kim Novak had previously played only sexpots; Boys' Night Out was the first time she played an educated woman with her own career. In fact, it is notable that once the sex comedy cycle ended, fewer women appeared in comedies for quite some time.

Of course, it must be pointed out that in the vast majority of the movies the women want monogamous relationships, namely marriage. In none of the sex comedies, however, is it indicated that the women were actively seeking marriage before they fell in love and in none of them is it indicated that they gave up their careers after getting married. It is then true that the sex comedies are very pro-marriage. That having been said, it seems likely that this was the consensus of most Americans in the late Fifties and even in the Sixties. Playboys such as Brad Allen in Pillow Talk and Hogan in Under the Yum Yum Tree were probably not nearly as common as men who preferred to be married at the time. In this respect, then, the sex comedies were merely reflecting the mores of their time.

Since the Sixties there have been very few movies that could be considered sex comedies. One instance was a television movie from 1976 called How to Break Up a Happy Divorce, starring Barbara Eden, in which a woman seeks to win her ex-husband back. Two other instances were feature films, both made in 2003. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, starring Kate Hudson, utilised the Battle of the Sexes and the charade of the sex comedies, but it turned it on its head. In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, both journalist Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) and playboy Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) are simply playing roles in their Battle of the Sexes. Down With Love was an outright pastiche of the Sixties sex comedies, drawing upon Pillow Talk, Boeing Boeing, A New Kind of Love, Sex and the Single Girl, and practically every other sex comedy made in the Sixties. The sex comedies would also influence many latter day romantic comedies, from When Harry Met Sally to Sunny Side Up.

When I was growing up the Sixties sex comedies were often shown on television, so I had many opportunities to watch them. I must confess that I enjoyed them as a child and that I still enjoy them. The plots of the sex comedies were often wonderfully complex and fully of witty dialogue. They often had excellent production values and featured great performances (due to their very form, sex comedies succeeded or failed most often because of their casts). It is not simply that many of the sex comedies were very well made, but that, like the screwball comedies of old, they were made so that members of both sexes could enjoy them. Sadly, this is not the case with most of today's romantic comedies (I have not seen Made of Honour and I never will). If the sex comedies of old are still viewed today, perhaps it is because they are so superior to romantic comedies from other eras.

Sixties Sex Comedies Part Two

By the mid-Fifties the stage had been set for the sex comedies which were about to emerge and which would proliferate through much of the Sixties. Prior to the advent of the sex comedies, however, there were a few movies that could be considered predecessors of the form. Foremost among these may have been Howard Hawks' Monkey Business, released in 1952.

Howard Hawks' Monkey Business is not a sex comedy. The plot centres on Dr. Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant), a chemist developing a "fountain of youth" pill for a pharmaceutical company. The pill would have the effect of restoring individuals to the vigour of their youth. Unfortunately, one of the chimpanzees upon whom they experiment gets loose and dumps a portion of the "fountain of youth" chemical in a water cooler at the lab. And, unfortunately, the chemical not only restores one to his or her youthful vigour, but to the mindset he or she had in his or her youth as well. The humour of the comedy emerges from individuals acting much younger than they actually are, and the "battle between the sexes," so central to the Sixties sex comedies, is nowhere to be found in the film. That having been said, the film does have some aspects of a sex comedy. After imbibing the chemical, Dr. Fulton goes out on the town with his boss's secretary, Miss Laurel (Marilyn Monroe). His wife, Edwina, also downs the chemical and mischievously calls her college beau, who then thinks she is unhappy in her marriage and wants a divorce. With various situations with a sexual component and humour stemming from misunderstandings that are sexual in nature, Monkey Business could be considered a forerunner of the sex comedies of the late Fifties and sixties.

Another predecessor of the Sixties sex comedies was Phffft, released in 1954. Phffft starred Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday as a married couple who divorce. Robert (Jack Lemmon) joins his friend Charlie Nelson (Jack Carson), a womaniser, while Nina (Judy Holliday) cries on her mother's shoulder. The battle of the sexes does exist to some degree in the film, although not to the extend that it would the later sex comedies. That having said, Phffft lacks the element of deceit present in nearly every sex comedy, as well as the misunderstandings that often occur in sex comedies. Like Monkey Business, then, Phffft could be considered a forerunner of the sex comedies.

Another forerunner of the Sixties sex comedies was the classic The Seven Year Itch. The Seven Year Itch centres on Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell), who sends his wife and son to Maine for the summer. Unfortunately, Sherman soon finds himself extremely attracted to The Girl (Marilyn Monroe), a model renting the apartment upstairs for a short time. The rest of the movie centres upon Sherman's attempts to resist temptation as he and The Girl grow closer. The central theme of The Seven Year Itch is certainly sex. That having been said, there is no Battle of the Sexes in the movie, nor is deceit central to the plot (Sherman does not pretend to be someone else to get close to The Girl). With sex as a central theme, The Seven Year Itch is definitely a forerunner to the sex comedies, but not a sex comedy itself.

While it is easy to find predecessors to the sex comedies of the Sixties, it is a bit more difficult to determine what the first Sixties sex comedy was. To what extent must deceit and the battle of the sexes play a role in a film before it can be considered a sex comedy? This is not a question that is easily answered. One possible candidate is The Tender Trap from 1955. The Tender Trap stars Frank Sinatra as theatrical agent Charlie Y. Reader, who could easily qualify as the forerunner of the many playboys of the Sixties sex comedies. With many female admirers, Charlie meets actress Julie Gillis (Debbie Reynolds) at an audition. After a few dates Julie informs Charlie that they will not get married until he stops seeing other women. Naturally, as a result, Charlie falls in love with her. Unfortunately for Charlie, his friend Joe (David Wayne) pays a visit and Charlie soon finds himself falling for Joe's girlfriend Sylvia (Celeste Holm). Charlie proposes to Sylvia, but only after he has proposed to Julie as well. The Battle Between the Sexes exists between both Charlie and Julie, and Charlie and Sylvia in the The Tender Trap, even if it is not as prominent as it is some later sex comedies. And there is a certain amount of deceit involved on Charlie's part, as he gets engaged to both Sylvia and Julie. In fact, even though he does not have an extravagant bachelor pad, Charlie is a close cousin to the playboys of the later sex comedies. The Tender Trap could then be considered the first of the sex comedies so prevalent in the Sixties.

If The Tender Trap is not counted as the first sex comedy, then it seems quite possible that the very first was Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter starred Tony Randall as the title character, a writer for television commercials. Eager to advance at the agency where he works, Rock finds the perfect model for the new line of lipstick he is promoting, Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield). Before Rita will promote the new line of lipstick, however, Rock must pretend to be her boyfriend in order to make her boy friend, Bobo Branigansky (Mickey Hargitay), the star of a jungle adventure show, jealous. Rock suddenly finds himself the idol of women and moves up the corporate ladder at work until he is the agency's president. Unfortunately, none of this makes his fiancee, Jenny Wells (Betsy Drake), happy. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter has many of the elements central to the Sixties sex comedies. The movie centres to a large degree on sex and deceit is central to the plot. The Battle of the Sexes is not particularly prominent in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, although it can be seen in Rock's relationship with Jenny and Rita's relationship with Bobo. With a plot centred on sex and featuring misunderstandings of a sexual nature, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter could be counted as a sex comedy.

Kiss Them for Me, released in late 1957, is another candidate for the first sex comedy. It stars Cary Grant as Commander Crewson, a consummate womaniser who finds wine and women for the suite at a hotel they rent during leave. Into all of this comes Alice Kratzner (Jayne Mansfield), who starts out attracted to Crewson, but soon find herself attracted to another pilot, Lieutenant McCann (Ray Walston), who also happens to be married. Sex is one of the central themes of Kiss Them For Me, and Commander Crewson shares a lot with the later playboys of sex comedies. Like The Tender Trap and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, it is also a candidate for the first sex comedy.

Regardless of which movie one decides is the first Sixties sex comedy (even though they were all released in the Fifties), it was in 1958 that the cycle towards sex comedies emerged at last. That year three movies that are most definitely sex comedies were released. In fact, it can be argued that Teacher's Pet set the stage for nearly all sex comedies to come. Teacher's Pet starred Doris Day as Erica Stone, a journalism professor at a local university. The plot begins when Erica asks James Gannon (Clark Gable), a city editor of a large newspaper who never went beyond the 8th grade, to speak before her journalism class. Gannon refuses, but soon finds himself forced by his editor in chief to find Erica and apologise for the letter he sent rejecting her invitation. Before he can introduce him and make his apology, however, Erica reads his letter before her class and makes fun of him. Humiliated but attracted to Erica, Gannon poses as a wallpaper salesman and enrols in Erica's class. All of the elements of the sex comedy are present in Teacher's Pet: the Battle of Sexes, the deceit (even to the point that Gannon pretends to be someone he isn't), and the wild misunderstandings. If none of the previous candidates for the first sex comedy are counted, Teacher's Pet would definitely be the first sex comedy.

The female lead of Teacher's Pet, Doris Day, would go onto be the star of Sixties sex comedies. She would go onto star in what may be the quintessential Sixties sex comedy, Pillow Talk, released in 1959. Pillow Talk was a huge hit, not only spurring the sex comedy cycle, but insuring that Doris Day would make even more sex comedies. In 1959 alone she would also appear in It Happened to Jane, going onto appear in Lover Come Back, That Touch of Mink, The Thrill of It all, Move Over, Darling, Do Not Disturb, The Glass Bottom Boat, and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out. The popularity of the sex comedies and particularly the popularity of Doris Day's sex comedies would propel her to the top of the box office. Starting in 1959, Doris Day appeared in the exhibitor's poll of the top ten box office stars for eight straight years. In 1962 she topped the list for three straight years. She would not drop out of the top ten until 1968, the year after The Glass Bottom Boat was released.

The other two sex comedies released in 1958 also featured actors who would go onto feature prominently in the sex comedy cycle of the Sixties. The Perfect Furlough starred Tony Curtis as Corporal Paul Hodges, a playboy who is unfortunately stationed in the Arctic. When morale is running low, Army pscychologist Lieutenant Vicki Loren (Janet Leigh) devises the "perfect furlough" to raise morale--give three men three weeks on a furlough that would fulfil their deepest fantasies. Naturally, Corporal Hogan wants to go to Paris with his favourite movie star, Sandra Roca (Linda Cristal). Unfortunately for Corporal Hogan, Lieutenant Loren goes along as a chaperone. Like Doris Day, Tony Curtis would figure prominently in the sex comedy cycle. He would go onto star in what could be the best sex comedy of all time, Some Like It Hot, as well as Who Was That Lady and Boeing Boeing.

Of Tony Curtis's sex comedies, Boeing Boeing may be the best besides Some Like It Hot. Released in 1965, Boeing Boeing was based on the French farce of the same name by Marc Camoletti, first staged in 1960. The play was adapted as a French film in 1960. For the most part Boeing Boeing remained loyal to the original bedroom farce, although the protagonist and his roommate were made Americans. Curtis played journalist Bernard Lawrence, who created a system based on the airline schedules so he can see three different stewardesses. Lawrence's system begins to break down when an acquaintance Robert Reed (Jerry Lewis) moves in with him and the airline schedules abruptly change. Indeed, unfortunately for Lawrence Reed plots to take over not only Lawerence's apartment, but his job and his girlfriends as well.

Houseboat was the third sex comedy released in 1958. The movie centred on widower Tom Winters (Cary Grant) who hires Cinzia Zaccardi (Sophia Loren), whom he hires as a maid to him and his three children, even though she is actually the daughter of a famous Italian conductor. While Cary Grant would not make very many sex comedies, he would make one of the most influential. That Touch of Mink starred Doris Day as Cathy Timberlake, who encounters wealthy Philip Shayne (Cary Grant) when he splashes mud on her dress just as she is on the way to a job interview. While both are attracted to each other, the two find themselves in conflict as Philip simply wants to have an affair while Cathy would prefer marriage.

The sex comedy cycle continued in 1959 with what is considered by many to be the quintessential Sixties sex comedy. Pillow Talk was the first time that Rock Hudson and Doris Day were paired together. The two of them play playboy Brad Allen and interior decorator Jan Morrow, who find themselves constantly at odds over the use of a party line. When Brad finally sees Jan at a nightclub, he puts on the charade of being rich Texas rancher Tex Stetson to get close to her. Pillow Talk was exceedingly influential as far as the Sixties sex comedies go. It was perhaps the first to feature an extravagantly furnished bachelor's pad, complete with the most advanced technology. It took the premise of a character pretending to be someone else further than any film in the genre had before. It retained the Battle of the Sexes from Teacher's Pet, if anything intensifying it. Pillow Talk proved wildly successful. It was one of the top movies of 1959 and almost single handedly revitalised both the careers of Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

While many are under the impression that Rock Hudson and Doris Day co-starred frequently, in fact they would only make three films together. Lover Come Back was released in 1961. This time out Rock Hudson played womanising ad executive Jerry Webster and Doris Day his rival Carol Templeton. Like Pillow Talk, Love Come Back focused on the Battle of Sexes, making it even more intense. Like Pillow Talk it also proved successful. Send Me No Flowers, released in 1964, broke with the first two movies in that Rock Hudson and Doris Day played a married couple--George and Judy. George, a total hypochondriac, becomes convinced he is dying after hearing his physician talk about another patient. He then sets about trying to find Judy a husband for her after he is gone. Unfortunately, Judy takes his attempts to find a her a new husband as a sign he is having an affair. Although starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day and still centred on the Battle of the Sexes, Send Me No Flowers stands apart from the other two in that they play a married couple and George is not a deceitful womaniser, but merely an overly concerned doting husband. Rock Hudson would go onto make sex comedies without Doris Day. He starred in Come September, Man's Favourite Sport, Strange Bedfellows, and A Very Special Favour.

Tony Randall appeared in all three Doris Day and Rock Hudson vehicles, playing a different role in each. While he rarely played the lead, he has become as identified with sex comedies as either Rock Hudson or Doris Day. The reason for this was quite simple. He appeared in many of the sex comedies in the Sixtie. In fact, the same year he made Pillow Talk, Randall starred in The Mating Game. In The Mating Game Randall played tax collector Lorenzo Charlton, who visits country bumpkin Pop Larkin (Paul Douglas) to find out why he has not paid his back taxes, only to fall in love with Paul's daughter Mariette (Debbie Reynolds). Randall would also go onto appear in Let's Make Love and Boy's Night Out. He would have a part (one of his last) in the pastiche of Sixties sex comedies Down With Love

What may be the best sex comedy ever made, Some Like It Hot, was also released in 1959. Some Like It Hot stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as musicians Joe and Jerry who wind up posing as female musicians to join an all girl band--their only way out of town after witnessing a gangland massacre in the Twenties. Unfortunately, both fall in love with Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), the band's singer. To court Sugar Joe creates another alter ego, that of the millionaire "Junior." While Some Like It Hot is a period piece, it fits in quite well with other sex comedies of the era, making the most of the charade that plays such a big role in many of them. It was also one of the films that would challenge the Production Code, thus weakening it even further and paving the way for other risque sex comedies. The film was almost condemned by the Legion of Decency, the national Roman Catholic organisation responsible for fighting what it saw as objectionable material in movies (if a movie was rated "C" or condemned by the Legion, it would be a mortal sin for any Catholic to watch it). Upon its initial release it was banned by the state of Kansas. Regardless, Some Like It Hot would prove incredibly successful, coming in second for the year at the box office to only Ben Hur.

Just as Tony Curtis would go onto make more sex comedies so too would Jack Lemmon. It is debatable whether The Apartment can be considered a sex comedy (the Battle of the Sexes is present, but not between the two protagonists), although it is counted as such by some. It Happened to Jane most certainly is, with Lemmon playing opposite Doris Day. It most certainly includes the Battle of the Sexes, as lobster dealer Jane Osgood (Doris Day) takes on railroad executive Harry Foster Malone (Ernie Kovacs) after one of her shipments of lobsters goes bad due to the railroad's neglect. Lemmon would also star in Irma La Douce and Under the Yum Yum Tree. While Lemmon detested Under the Yum Yum Tree, it is notable for two things. Lemmon plays one of the smarmiest playboys on film, Hogan, who is the landlord of an apartment complex who takes an unhealthy interest in a co-end living in the complex (Carol Lynley), who just happens to be living with her platonic boyfriend (Dean Jones). Hogan has what may be one of the most outlandish bachelor pads in the history of sex comedies, complete with blood red walls, a fireplace activated by remote control, and automated violins. Lemmon would also star in How to Murder Your Wife. In that film he played cartoonist Stanley Ford, who wakes up after one of his many drunken sprees one morning to find himself married to a beautiful Italian (Virnia Lisi). Forced to drastically alter his life and even change his comic strip (a secret agent strip titled Bash Brannigan) into a generic, domestic comedy. To vent his frustrations, Lemmon plots to kill the wife in the comic strip off, only to have his plot interpreted as a plan to actually kill his wife. How to Murder Your Wife is one of the more notable sex comedies. It is well regarded by many and it was one of Lemmon's favourite films. That having been said, others tend to see the film as a bit misogynistic.

Between Pillow Talk and Some Like It Hot, the sex comedy cycle was well under way. Started in the Fifties, it would thrive in the Sixties. In fact, for several years in the Sixties it must have very difficult to find a theatre that was not showing several sex comedies in any given year.