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Comedy Movies/Bringing Up Baby

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Expert: - 10/14/2004


Question
Hello,
In the film  comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), Cary Grant meets Katharine Hepburn's fictional aunt Mrs Carleton Random for the first time. Cary Grant then says something irrelevant to the plot or story, namely ("I am sitting in the middle of 42nd Street waiting for a bus"). Cary did this sort of thing often. For example, in  the film "Gunga Din", he refers constantly to the name "Archie Leach", which was of course his real name in life. If you could give me some idea of where he was quoting from, I'd be grateful.
Thanks
Geoff Purcell  

Answer
Dear Geoffrey:  Although Grant did make reference to other films, etc., from what I can tell, this statement was just a sarcastic comeback to Mrs. Random's demanding question. I found nothing else to suggest he was making an allusion to something else with this line.

However, his later remark, "I just went gay all of a sudden" is probably the first time the word "gay" was used in Hollywood as an allusion to homosexuality.  Also, there is a definite reference much later in the film, when Susan (Katherine Hepburn) calls David (Grant) "Jerry the Nipper."  This is a direct reference to Grant's role in "The Awful Truth" (this was his character's nickname). Thus, when David objects that she is making it all up out of movies, he is right!  This type of in-joke wasn't limited to Cary Grant, by the way.  Movie intertextuality has a long history.

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Barbara L. Baker

Expertise

I am a professor of communication at a midwest university, who has expertise on subjects related to film. I can answer general questions on U.S. film comedy (especially satires of the 1960s and 1970s) and comic theory. I also could answer questions related to specific comic genres, such as comedian comedies, screwball comedies, "stupid" comedies, and so forth. The more specific you can make your question, the better (e.g. main plot details, main characters, possible character names, possible actors, how you viewed the show, etc.). I also need to have a release date (or range of dates, or at least the year you viewed the film). Please do not just provide a set of links to someplace else (e.g. imdb discussion threads). I am less able to answer questions about comedies from other countries, made-for-TV movies, and recent comic films and actors (although I would do my best to find out). I cannot answer questions about specific TV shows or series, "Our Gang" episodes, anime/magna or about film collectables. I generally cannot provide movie recommendations, since what I find funny others may not. Nor will I answer obvious homework (although I will point you to resources to help answer the question, if asked). I also can't help you find movie stars, or where to buy movie memorabilia, or tell you how to break into the business.

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Course work in comedy films along with teaching about comedy films for several years; I've also conducted research into comedy films.

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Ph.D. in Communication, emphasis in film and rhetoric

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A dissertation award from a national organization plus various paper awards

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My students

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