It Should Happen to You (1954)

It Should Happen to You (1954) is a romantic comedy film starring Judy Holliday and Peter Lawford, and notable as the first major screen appearance of Jack Lemmon, who was then an aspiring young actor. The film was directed by George Cukor and filmed on location in New York City. Screenwriter Garson Kanin originally intended the script as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, but Kanin's wife, Ruth Gordon, suggested casting Judy Holliday instead. The title was initially A Name for Herself.

Lemmon had a contentious meeting with studio boss Harry Cohn, who feared that critics might use jokes about the name "Lemmon" in headlines panning the film. He wanted Lemmon to change his name to "Lennon." Lemmon countered that if he did that people might confuse his name with "Lenin" and associate his name with Communism, a very real concern in the 1950s.

Synopsis

The script, by Garson Kanin, is about a naive young woman named Gladys Glover who yearns for fame. Strolling through Central Park, she meets a young handsome man named Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemmon). He is a maker of documentaries (apparently equipped only with a handheld 16mm camera). He is taking brief shots of people in the park. He films Gladys feeding pigeons and introduces himself.

Actors