How to Marry a Millionaire - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[miriam]

In her 1979 memoir "By Myself", Lauren Bacall recalled what it was like to work with the new CinemaScope technology: "As CinemaScope was a new experiment for everyone, it was difficult. One had to keep the actors moving and not too close together, as the screen was long and narrow. You shot longer scenes in CinemaScope, five or six pages without a stop, and I liked that--it felt closer to the stage and better for me."

[ray]

When Pola (Marilyn Monroe) is modeling the red swimsuit, the description given of the outfit is: "You know, of course, that diamonds are a girl's best friend." Marilyn Monroe sings the number "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), which was released the same year as this film.

[kenneth]

This was 20th Century-Fox's first CinemaScope feature, but it was not released until after The Robe (1953).

[jeffrey]

Zoe Akins's play, "The Greeks Had a Word for It," opened on Broadway in New York City on 25 September 1930 and closed in May 1931 after 253 performances. The opening-night cast included Verree Teasdale, Muriel Kirkland and Dorothy Hall. Dale Eunson's and Katherine Albert's play, "Loco," opened on Broadway on 16 October 1946 and closed on 16 November 1946 after 37 performances. The opening-night cast included Jean Parker as Loco. Parts of this play were added to beef up Betty Grable's part in the movie.

[dustin]

This plot is similar to The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932), in which 15-year-old Betty Grable showed up briefly as a hatcheck girl, and also to Moon Over Miami (1941), one of Grable's most popular Technicolor vehicles.

[manuel]

Before becoming a major Hollywood success, Lauren Bacall worked as a model for several years of her teenage life while auditioning for roles on Broadway. The modeling she did is exactly like that of her character Ms. Paige, showing pieces for clients.

[ronnie]

During the exterior shots at the beginning of the movie, the camera pans up to a street sign that reads "Sutton Place" outside the building where the girls rent their apartment. Marilyn Monroe actually lived at 2 Sutton Place on the Upper East Side. She shared a penthouse apartment there with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller. Their apartment was recently listed for sale in June of 2016 with an asking price of $6.75 million.

[melinda]

In a gracious display of camaraderie, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable decided not to fight with Marilyn Monroe. "Grable and I decided we'd try to make it easier for her," said Bacall, "make her feel she could trust us. I think she finally did."

[sophie]

According to Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe was a challenge to work with. It wasn't because she was unpleasant, but rather her insecurity and total dependence on her personal acting coach Natasha Lytess for approval: "Betty Grable was a funny, outgoing woman, totally professional and easy. Marilyn was frightened, insecure--trusted only her coach and was always late. During our scenes she'd look at my forehead instead of my eyes; at the end of a take, look to her coach, standing behind Jean Negulesco, for approval. If the head shake was no, she'd insist on another take. A scene often went to 15 or more takes, which meant I'd have to be good in all of them as no one knew which one would be used. Not easy--often irritating. And yet I couldn't dislike Marilyn. She had no meanness in her--no bitchery. She just had to concentrate on herself and the people who were there only for her."

[russell]

The success of the film made its impact in many ways. It helped make an auspicious introduction for Fox's CinemaScope process to audiences and usher in a new era of widescreen entertainment. Lauren Bacall was able to prove that she could indeed play comedy with panache, and it opened a whole new avenue in her illustrious career that made her just as in demand for comedies on stage and screen as she was for drama. Betty Grable, Fox's long-reigning Queen of the Lot, was able to leave the studio on a high note at the end of her long run, taking with her some of the best reviews of her life. She would return to make just one more film for Fox--this time as a free agent--in How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955).

[jesse]

Signed to Twentieth Century-Fox since October 25, 1939, Betty Grable informed studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck during production that she would not commit to the remaining three years of her latest contract. On June 3, 1953, a studio press release announced the official split. Returning only once to Fox, Betty would star in How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), a vehicle in which Marilyn Monroe refused to appear and was replaced by Sheree North. Two unfulfilled proposals to have Grable film again at Fox were the mother role (subsequently played by Ginger Rogers) in Teenage Rebel (1956) and then in 1964, another mom part in a project ultimately canceled called "High Heels."