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To celebrate Judy Holliday's 95th birthday, which was on Tuesday, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you the film for which she is best remembered, the one that gave her the Academy Award for Best Actress. This also happens to be one of my favourite films of all time. Directed by George Cukor, Born Yesterday (1950) begins when wealthy, but crooked, junk dealer Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) and his brassy girlfriend, former showgirl Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday), arrive at a swanky hotel in Washington, D.C. Harry proceeds to instruct his attorney, Jim Devery (Howard St. John), to buy votes in the U.S. House of Representatives to get a bill passed that will save him millions of dollars in federal taxes. For Harry's protection, Jim puts his business holdings in Billie's name and asks her to sign all of his legal documents, which she does without questioning. Jim also warns Harry to marry Billie since, legally, wives cannot testify against their husbands in a court of law. ...

George Cukor's Born Yesterday (1950) follows a newspaper reporter as he takes on the task of educating a crooked bussinessman's brassy girlfriend. The crooked businessman, Harry Brock, is played by Broderick Crawford, who received the Oscar for Best Actor for All the King's Men (1949) just before he started working on Born Yesterday . He is a crude, menacing, nefarious self-made man who goes to Washington D.C. looking to "influence" a politician or two. The brassy girlfriend, Billie Dawn, is played by Judy Holliday, reprising the role she originated on Broadway in the play written by Garson Kanin. After Billie's ignorance and lack of manners embarrass Harry during a meeting with a congressman, he hires Paul Verrall ( William Holden ) to be her tutor. She eventually learns not just about U.S. History and Literature, but also about self-respect and love . I n the end, Billie turns out to be much smarter than anybody knew. Billie prepa...