Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charlie Ruggles, May Robson

Directed by Howard Hawks

Available to stream on Prime Video

Cary Grant is a bumbling, bespectacled paleontologist whose only interest in life is dinosaur bones until he meets ditzy Katharine Hepburn and becomes involved in zany situations of her making, meeting an assortment of eccentric characters and a leopard named Baby.

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant

Why we love it: This is the ultimate fast-talking, slapstick screwball comedy. Katharine Hepburn in beautiful 1930’s fashions and Cary Grant with his Harold Lloyd glasses are wonderful together. The supporting actors are fantastic -- Miss Swallow hits just the right note, as does May Robson as Aunt Elizabeth. 

(This movie can drive you crazy if you let it – but don’t let it!  Just relax and enjoy.)

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn

Fun Facts:

• Though the film received several good reviews initially, it turned out to be a box office failure. Director Howard Hawks was essentially fired from RKO after this movie was released. Around this same time, Katharine Hepburn was listed as "box office poison" and she was forced to buy out her contract from RKO. The film is now considered an absolute classic and the quintessential screwball comedy.
  

• The part of George (the dog) is played by Skippy, most famous for his role as Asta in The Thin Man movies.

• Bringing Up Baby was Hepburn's first comedy and Howard Hawks later remembered what a difficult time she had initially because she overacted and tried too hard to be funny. He had Walter Catlitt (noted vaudeville comedian who plays the constable in the film) talk to her and tell her she'd be funnier if she didn't try so hard. She was able to relax and be herself and it worked beautifully.
  

• Cary Grant modeled his character and acting in this film off of silent film star Harold Lloyd.
  

• The movie inspired several adaptations including Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) with Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss and What's Up Doc? (1972) with Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand.

Cary Grant

Grant, Hepburn, and Skippy

Katharine Hepburn

• Hepburn and Grant ad-libbed some of their dialogue and spent so much time making each other laugh that production was often delayed.

For reviews from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

Ramos Fizz

When Enrico Ramos’s New Orleans bar was shut down because of Prohibition, his brother was so outraged that he made this formerly secret recipe available to everyone. Aficionados claim that shaking for 5 to 12 minutes is the secret of a truly exceptional Ramos Fizz. In Ramos’s bar, the shaker was passed down a line of “shaker men” to ease the burden. In this recipe, “dry shaking” before adding ice shortens the time.

2 oz (60 ml) gin

7.5 ml (1/2 Tbsp) lime juice

7.5 ml (1/2 Tbsp) lemon juice

1 Tbsp (15 ml) sugar syrup

4 drops orange flower water (hard to find; may have to leave out)

1 egg white

1 oz (30 ml) cream

1-2 oz (30-60 ml) club soda

Shake all the ingredients except club soda without ice for 2 minutes. Add ice and shake for another minute or so. Strain into a Tom Collins or highball glass. Slowly pour club soda down the side of the shaker to loosen the foam. Ease the foam/soda mixture onto the drink.

Cheers to the Classics!