Holiday Affair centres on young war widow Connie Ennis (played by Janet Leigh) with a young son, Timmy (played by Gordon Gebert). For the past few years she has been seeing lawyer Carl Davis (played by Wendell Corey), who has proposed to her multiple times to no avail. Connie's life is turned upside down when she meets drifter and veteran Steve Mason (played by Robert Mitchum). Connie then finds herself having to choose between the two men.
Holiday Affair was based on the original story "Christmas Gift" by John D. Weaver. In fact, its working title was Christmas Gift and it would go through one other title, The Man Who Played Santa Claus, before receiving its name "Holiday Affair." The film was directed by Don Hartman, who had written the screenplays for Road to Morocco (1942) and Wonder Man (1945) among other movies. Prior to Holiday Affair he had directed the films It Had to Be You (1947) and Every Girl Should Be Married (1948). The screenplay was written by Isobel Lennart, who had earlier written the screenplays for Anchors Aweigh (1945) based on a story by Natalie Marcin and It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) with J.P. McGowan. She would later write screenplays for such films as Love Me or Leave Me (1955) and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956).
Among other things, today Holiday Affair is known for its unusual casting. In 1949 Robert Mitchum was best known for his "tough guy" roles in film noirs such as Crossfire (1947) and Out of the Past (1947). Contrary to popular belief, Robert Mitchum does not appear to have been cast in Holiday Affair in an effort to soften his image after his September 1 1948 marijuana bust with actress Lila Leeds. In fact, the drug bust appears to have had little to no impact on his career. Howard Hughes, who had control of RKO, was clearly not worried about Mr. Mitchum's arrest. Following the arrest, he moved up the release of Rachel and the Stranger (1948), which proved to be a box office hit. With regards to Holiday Affair, production on the film began in July 1949 in order for the film to be released in November or December of that year. Regardless of having been arrested for possession of marijuana, Robert Mitchum was an unusual choice for a romantic comedy.
While in 1949 Robert Mitchum was already an established actor with an established image, Janet Leigh was still relatively new to films. She had signed with MGM and made her film debut in 1947 in The Romance of Rosy Ridge. Afterwards she appeared in such high profile films for the studio as Words and Music (1948) and Little Women (1949). Among the people who took notice of Janet Leigh was none other than Howard Hughes. Hughes made a deal with MGM to loan Miss Leigh to RKO for three movies. MGM never bothered to ask her permission or to even ask if she wanted to be loaned out.
Unfortunately, Janet Leigh's experiences with Hughes would be unpleasant, to say the least. According to the biography Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care" by Lee Server, in one scene Hughes had Miss Leigh wear an extremely tight sweater. That would hardly be the worst of her experiences with Howard Hughes. It was towards the end of production on Holiday Affair that Hughes called Miss Leigh into a meeting. Once there he showed her a report made by private eyes on her activities and claimed that her current boyfriend, Arthur Loew, Jr., had been keeping track of her out of jealousy. Janet Leigh knew right then that it was Hughes himself who had ordered the investigation. She told him in no uncertain terms that any further meetings would strictly be business.
While her experiences with Howard Hughes were unpleasant, Janet Leigh enjoyed working with co-stars Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey. The two men liked to pull practical jokes on the young actress, some of which actually helped her performance in the film. In a scene in which Steve is supposed to plant a surprise kiss on Connie, Robert Mitchum planted a real kiss on Janet Leigh instead of a stage kiss. The surprised look on her face is then quite genuine. In a later scene, in which Steve and Carl are sitting on either of side of Connie, each man placed a hand on each of Miss Leigh's knees, making her look uncomfortable in a scene that called for her to look uncomfortable. Janet Leigh would later say that she learned a great deal about acting from Robert Mitchum.
While Wendell Corey's stage career went back to the Thirties, he was still relatively new to movies when he appeared in Holiday Affair. He had made his film debut in Desert Fury in 1947 and soon found his niche playing the secondary male lead in most of his films. Holiday Affair would be his first comedy, having appeared in thrillers and dramas up to that point.
Variety gave Holiday Affair a positive review, describing it as "...a warm Christmas offering." Showman's Trade Review also gave the movie a good review, calling it an "...amusing romantic comedy that is certain to delightfully and thoroughly entertain everyone." The New York Times was a bit more critical of the film. While it refers to Holiday Affair as "an amiable little romance," the review also says, "This corner finds it much too saccharine for either credibility or delight."
While Holiday Affair received fairly good reviews, it performed dismally at the box office. It lost $300,000. Today the reason for the failure of Holiday Affair is difficult to say. It is possible that audiences in 1949 could not accept "tough guy" Robert Mitchum as a romantic lead. It is also possible that the promotional campaign backfired, as audiences might not have known what to expect from posters that made it look like a film noir or a sex comedy. It also seems possible that its release date may have played a role in its failure at the box office. Although it premiered in New York City on November 23, it was not released to the rest of the United States until December 24. That means that for most of its initial run Christmas Day was already past. Particularly after New Year's Day, audiences may not have been in the mood for a holiday themed romantic comedy.
While Holiday Affair failed at the box office, it would become a holiday favourite through repeated showings on television. According to film critic and expert on when feature films first aired on television, Lou Lumenick, the earliest showings of Holiday Affair on television in the United States were in December 1958. It may have first aired in New York City on December 12 1960 on Million Dollar Movie on WOR, although it is possible it could have aired earlier on Sneak Preview, a movie anthology on which titles were not announced ahead of time (hence they do not appear in TV listings). Regardless, Holiday Affair would become a staple on television stations throughout the United States during the Sixties. Contrary to popular belief, Turner Classic Movies did not save Holiday Affair from obscurity. The film was still being shown frequently on local television stations throughout the Nineties. That having been said, there can be no doubt that TCM helped expose Holiday Affair to many who had never seen it before.
Holiday Affair would be remade as a TV movie in 1996 by the USA Network with Cynthia Gibb as Connie Ennis and David James Elliott as Steve Mason. Unlike the original movie, the TV movie has long since been forgotten and is rarely seen today.
As to why Holiday Affair would prove to be a success, it may well be because it is a romantic comedy that is very different from any made before or since. In many romantic comedies one of the rivals vying for the heroine's hand will either be a bore (an example being John Sloan in Christmas in Connecticut) or an outright cad (a recent example being Glenn in The Wedding Singer). In Holiday Affair, however, both Steve and Carl are totally nice guys. In fact, I have heard quite a few women say that they would have chosen Carl instead of Steve.
Another way in which Holiday Affair is a bit more sophisticated than films made before and since is its portrayal of Connie's son Timmy. In many movies, even from the Golden Age of Hollywood, children are either portrayed as saccharine sweet angels or as total brats. This is not the case with Timmy, who comes off as a real kid. Much of this is by Gordon Gebert's performance, which is entirely naturalistic.
Of course, much of the success of Holiday Affair is probably due to the performance of the leads. Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum, and Wendell Corey all do very well in their respective roles. Indeed, many watching Holiday Affair may well regret that Robert Mitchum didn't make more comedies. In addition to the leads, Holiday Affair also has a good supporting cast. In one of the earliest roles of his career and what may be the movie's standout scene, Harry Morgan (later known for Pete and Gladys and M*A*S*H) plays a wisecracking police lieutenant. It is quite possibly one of the best performances of Harry Morgan's career.
At the core of Holiday Affair, and what may be responsible for much of its success, is Isobel Lennart's screenplay. She could have easily written Carl as a total heel so that audience's sympathies would be firmly with Steve, but instead she wrote him as a nice guy, making him a much more viable romantic rival. She could have easily written Timmy as a brat, given him funny one-liners and having him engage in humorous hijinks in an effort to make the movie funnier. Instead she wrote him as a more realistic little boy, making the film both more poignant and more true-to -life. She also provided the movie with some truly great lines (particularly the ones coming from Harry Morgan's police lieutenant).
Holiday Affair bombed at the box office upon its initial release, but through repeated showings on television it has become a beloved holiday classic. If it hasn't done so already, it seems possible that one day it could be included in the top tier of classic Christmas movies alongside It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Bishop's Wife.
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