Tonight's movie was "Teacher's Pet" (1958), starring Clark Gable and Doris Day, which also turned up in my Library search of the Cinema Classics Collection. The film's title makes it sound like a romp, or the kind of lightweight bedroom comedy Day would star in a year later, "Pillow Talk". Instead, it turns out to be a sophisticated battle-of-the-sexes story with a comedic tone, but also a a lot of social commentary.
Gable plays the editor of a big city newspaper. The city is not specified, but it could be New York or Chicago. His newspaper has high circulation but is of the old fashioned, headline grabber style. Think "New York Post" for a modern day comparison, although Gable's paper is not that awful.
He gets an offer to speak to a journalism class at the local University that he turns down in a tactless letter that proffers his opinion of such courses and University education in general. He writes his opinion that there is no substitute for on-the-job experience, especially in the world of news, and thus it would be inappropriate for him to lecture the class because he doesn't respect the idea of "teaching" journalism. He believes it can only be learned first hand, as he learned it.
Too bad for Gable that his boss, the publisher, is a friend of the University's dean. The publisher orders Gable to speak to the class, but when he reluctantly arrives, several minutes late, the first thing he discovers is that the teacher (Doris Day) has just read his letter to the class, by way of explaining why he will not be there that night. His letter was harsh and rude. Now the class, and Miss Day, think he is a jerk, and they are openly jeering him, while he has just arrived and taken a seat in the classroom. When Doris Day says, "excuse me, Sir, are you part of the class"?, to the new arrival, the humiliated Gable gives her a false name and pretends to be just another student, though he is a good 30 to 40 years older than all the others.
As a quick aside, Clark Gable was 57 in "Teacher's Pet", but looked 67, at least, by today's standards. Back then every actor smoked and drank a lot, and in Gable's case he would pass away just two years later at age 59. He did look very macho nonetheless, because he was Clark Freakin' Gable.
Anyhow, now that he is assumed to be a student in the journalism class, Gable gets an idea. He decides to play dumb and go along with his publisher's request, but instead of speaking to the class he will attend incognito and write an expose about the teacher's lack of credibility. He assumes she is an academic with no actual experience as a reporter.
But his macho ways get the better of him. Doris Day plays her usual character (which is not to say she was not talented because she was very much so), the clean cut, intelligent but "can't help it sexy" career woman. She is focused entirely on teaching her class, but the handsome and craggy Gable has other ideas. She rebuffs him, and from there the story, written by screenwriting greats Fay and Michael Kanin, turns in other directions.
Gable wants to prove that education doesn't mean anything in the news business. Doris Day tells him that the days of "blood & sex" reporting are over. Readers now want to know the psychology of crime stories, or politics, not just the who, what, when and where. Now they want to know "why".
It turns out that Day is close friends with another professor, played by Gig Young, who is an expert on psychology and many other subjects. Gable hates him at first because he considers him a rival for Day's affections. But as things transpire, he ends up turning to Professor Young for psychological advice on how to deal with an educated woman.
The scenes in Gig Young's apartment steal the show, as the two men drink martinis and adjust to one another's level of culture. Ultimately, they bond in alcohol and general maleness, despite their educational differences, and Young, with his psychology expertise, tutors Gable on how to win over the headstrong Doris Day.
This is just an outline of the plot, and as always in a well written film from this era, there is so much going on with so many characters that I would have to write for another hour to describe it to you.
There are even several classic scenes with Marion Ross, who 18 years later would become "Mrs. C" from "Happy Days". In "Teacher's Pet" she plays Doris Day's secretary, and while you watch you are going....."who is that actress.....I've seen her before somewhere"? And she is pretty cute herself.. :)
But yeah, this movie - though to my knowledge is largely unheralded - should be considered a near-classic because of it's in depth script and range of topics. The sexual tension comedy between Gable and Day is perfection, with drop dead come-ons and put-downs between both, and especially Clark Gable's facial responses to Doris Day's attempts to school him.
It's a unique film, and was unusually shot in black and white (hooray!), when most films of this type by 1958 would have been shot in color. I would have said hooray for color, too, because it would have been expected.
All in all, a film about the newspaper business, the meaning of real journalism (important in the era we are living in), and the importance of education (and what defines same) versus pure work experience.
Lastly, it is also about macho men who assume woman will automatically acquiesce, and are then surprised when that doesn't happen, especially when the woman is more sophisticated.
But sometimes the macho man turns out to have a heart, too, and is not as dumb as he seems. ////
So there you have it. A complex script, a romantic comedy that deals with social issues that would be current today, 60 years later, and the scene-stealing Gig Young, who really makes the movie.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Teacher's Pet", an under-the-radar classic from the late '50s, when Drama infused everything. See it if you get the chance.
That's all I know for today, except for Still Hot & Humid, and Ants.
Watching MSNBC every evening and late night here at Pearl's. This is a time of trepidation in American history. It would be wrong to call it unprecedented, because we did not live through the Civil War, but this current situation is one that needs to be resolved definitively, and very soon, because the man in the White House is a very bad man indeed. He needs to go as soon as possible. Trusting Federal Law Enforcement to properly deal with him.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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