For Hotel del Coronado:
Lauren Ash Donoho
Director of Public Relations
619.522.8041
lashdonoho@hoteldel.com
For HarperCollinsPublishers:
Joseph Papa
Assistant Publicist
212.207.7326
joseph.papa@harpercollins.com
May 1, 2009
THE SOME LIKE IT HOT COMPANION DEBUTS AT THE HOTEL DEL CORONADO
IN CELEBRATION OF THE FILM’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Coronado, CA — A new book celebrating the 50th anniversary of Some Like It Hot – which was named the #1 comedy of all time by the American Film Institute – will be released on September 18, 2009, at the Hotel del Coronado, which was the historic setting for the 1959 comedy classic.
The Some Like It Hot Companion (Collins Design, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers), is written by noted film and theater historian Laurence Maslon, associate professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and the author of two other theater/film companion books in the same series: The Sound of Music Companion and The South Pacific Companion. He is also the coauthor, with Michael Kantor, of two highly regarded PBS documentary series and their companion volumes: Broadway: The American Musical and Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America.
“Some Like It Hot combines three of America’s great preoccupations: jazz, gangsters and Marilyn Monroe,” says Maslon. “Throw in some cross-dressing, Billy Wilder – one of Hollywood’s greatest directors – the impeccable teamwork of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and put them all on the magnificent beachfront of the Hotel Del, and you’ve got a Prohibition-era cocktail that has stood the test of time.”
MGM opened up its vaults for Maslon’s research, as did the film’s original producer, Walter Mirisch. As a result, The Some Like It Hot Companion includes scores of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photos and many images of vintage memorabilia. Also included are elements from drafts of the original screenplay, pre-production casting files, the production log, lyrics from the film’s songs, details about a 1961 television pilot based on the movie starring Vic Damone and Tina Louise, the various musical stage versions, and a never-ending stream of movie-making trivia and insider information. “For half-a-century, the legend of Some Like It Hot has entered popular culture,” says Maslon. “This book sets the record straight on a number of long-running myths, while organizing the story of the actual shooting – a very tense battle between Wilder and Monroe – by following the trail of the actual production schedule. Some myths are debunked, while new – and frequently hilarious – stories are revealed for the first time.”
Directed by Billy Wilder, the film’s stars, along with about 200 other cast and crewmembers, were on location at The Del for about two weeks during September 1958. According to Maslon, the original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond was based on a rarely seen 1951 German movie called Fanfaren der liebe, but Wilder and Diamond reinvented the script to suit their own original comic sensibilities. “Their genius was to reset the script in Chicago in the late 1920s, which allowed them to bring in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. This very American idea let them bring in all the terrifically fun aspects of the Roaring Twenties, including the jazz-era music that suited Monroe so well.
The hilarious storyline is set against the unlikely backdrop of Chicago’s February 14, 1929, “St. Valentine’s Massacre.” According to Wilder’s version, however, this historic event is witnessed by two out-of-work musicians (played by Lemmon and Curtis) who assume female identities to escape gangsters. After joining an all-girl band with a ukulele-strumming singer (played by Monroe), the duo ends up at a seaside Florida resort (played by California’s Hotel del Coronado). A world of shenanigans ensues, mostly centered on Curtis’ pursuit of Monroe (he assumes a new male identity to woo his fellow band mate) and on the hilariously hapless Lemmon, who is unable to escape the romantic attentions of a wealthy male guest (played by Joe E. Brown).
Some Like It Hot was the first original screenplay of this caliber since the end of WWII and brought cross-dressing front and center as a comedic device for American movies, which was considered risqué in 1959. So many subsequent film hits — Tootsie (named the #2 comedy of all time by the American Film Institute), The Birdcage, Mrs. Doubtfire and even the Madea movies — were inspired by Some Like It Hot. Perhaps even more influential, it is one of the great “buddy” movies of all time, and its signature can be seen in movies as varied as Butch Cassidy, Wedding Crashers and The Producers. But few comedies, if any, come close to being as well-played, well-crafted and perfectly paced as Wilder’s masterpiece.
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