Bringing Up Baby

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Timing: 1:42 (102 min)

7.536/10
937

All about film

Video 14

Photo 65

Actors and characters

Release date

1938-02-18

Country

United States

Production

RKO Radio Pictures

Genre

Comedy, Romance, Drama

Budget

$1 073 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Howard Hawks

Actors

Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett, Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson, Fritz Feld, Leona Roberts, George Irving, Tala Birell
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Howard Hawks

Operator

Russell Metty

Composer

Roy Webb

Artist

Perry Ferguson

Audition

Editing

George Hively
All team (21)

• Before the film's release, Cary Grant (1904-1986) worried that he would never become a screen star, as he was already 34 years old at the time of filming, while younger actors like Errol Flynn (1909-1959) and James Stewart (1908-1997) were considered stars.
• The scene where Susan's dress is torn was inspired by an incident that once happened in Cary Grant's life. He told director Howard Hawks (1896-1977) about this case, and he decided to include such a scene in the film.
• Katharine Hepburn had never starred in comedies before, so Howard Hawks and several experienced vaudeville actors specifically hired for this purpose served as her mentors in this regard.
• May Robson’s character asks David, played by Cary Grant, why he is wearing a woman’s dress, to which he replies: “Because I just went gay all of a sudden.” Many believe this to be the first use of the word “gay” in a meaning approximately corresponding to the modern one. The word began to be used in that sense among homosexuals in the 1920s or even earlier, although it only entered widespread use as a designation for homosexuality in the 1960s. This line was not in the original script; Cary Grant came up with it on the spot.
• Split-screen techniques and other optical effects were repeatedly used during filming to minimize the number of times the leopard was near the actors. This was especially true for Cary Grant, who was frightened by it even more than Katharine Hepburn (she repeatedly petted the animal, and the trainer even said that if she wanted to, she would have made an excellent predator trainer herself).