Editing The Awful Truth (section)

==Pre-production==
[[File:Promo for The Awful Truth.jpg|thumb|right|Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in ''The Awful Truth'']]
The film is based on the stage play ''The Awful Truth'' by playwright Arthur Richman.{{sfn|Leonard|1981|pages=116-117}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sloan|first=J. Vandervoort|title=The Loop Faces South|magazine=[[The Drama]]|date=March 1923|page=215|access-date=March 15, 2019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylZCAQAAIAAJ&q=%22The%20Awful%20Truth%22%20stage%20play&pg=PA215}}</ref> In that play, created on September 18, 1922, at the Henry Miller's Theater of Broadway (current [[Stephen Sondheim Theatre]]), Norman Satterly divorces his wife, Lucy Warriner Satterly, after they accuse one another of infidelity. Lucy is about to remarry, but needs to clear her name before her [[Engagement|fiancé]] will agree to go forward with the marriage. As she tries to salvage her reputation, she falls in love again with her ex-husband and they remarry.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=195}}

There were two previous film versions, a 1925 [[silent film]] ''[[The Awful Truth (1925 film)|The Awful Truth]]'' from [[Producers Distributing Corporation]]{{sfn|Katchmer|1991|page=29}} starring [[Warner Baxter]] and [[Agnes Ayres]]{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}} and a 1929 [[talkie|sound version]] from [[Pathé Exchange]],{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}}  ''[[The Awful Truth (1929 film)|The Awful Truth]]'', starring [[Ina Claire]] and [[Henry Daniell]].{{sfn|Vermilye|1982|page=201}} Producer D.A. Doran had purchased the rights to the play for Pathé. When Pathé closed, he joined Columbia Pictures.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}} Columbia subsequently purchased all of Pathé's scripts and screenplay rights{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}}{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}} for $35,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|35000|1936|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars).{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=122}} Doran chose to remake the film in 1937, just as Columbia head [[Harry Cohn]] was hiring director Leo McCarey to direct comedies for the studio.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}}{{Efn|Although a number of sources claim McCarey was on loan from [[Paramount Pictures]],<ref name=parsonsmccarey /><ref>{{cite news|title=McCarey Plans Stage Drama|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 10, 1937|page=23|postscript=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Developing of Screen Stories Found Expensive|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=July 28, 1937|page=11}}</ref> the director had been fired from Paramount due to the poor box office performance of his film ''[[Make Way for Tomorrow]]''. Cohn did not hire McCarey until after McCarey left Paramount.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=125}}}}

Cohn offered the film to director [[Tay Garnett]].{{sfn|Schultz|1991|page=89}} Garnett read Dwight Taylor's script, and felt it was "about as funny as the seven-year-itch in an iron lung."{{sfn|Garnett|Balling|1973|page=102}} He turned it down.{{sfn|Schultz|1991|page=89}} According to Garnett, McCarey accepted the project simply because he needed work. "Sure, the script was terrible, but I've seen worse. I worked it over for a few weeks, changed this and that. I finally decided I could make something of it."{{sfn|Garnett|Balling|1973|page=102}}

McCarey did not like the narrative structure of the play, the previous film versions,{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}} or the unproduced Pathé script.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=125}} Cohn had already assigned [[Everett Riskin]] to produce the film,{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=122}} and screenwriter [[Dwight Taylor (writer)|Dwight Taylor]] had a draft script.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=122}}{{sfn|Wansell|1983|page=121}} Taylor changed Norman Satterly to Jerry Warriner, got rid of much of the play's moralistic tone, and added a good deal of screwball comedy. Jerry is violence-prone (he punches Lucy in the eye), and the couple fight over a necklace (not a dog). Much of the action in Taylor's script is set at Jerry's club. The mishaps in the script cause Jerry to crack up emotionally. When the couple visit their old home (which is being sold at auction), his love for his wife is rekindled.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|pages=195-196}}

McCarey didn't like Taylor's script.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=123}} He believed, however, that ''The Awful Truth'' would do well at the box office. With the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] in its seventh year, he felt audiences would enjoy seeing a picture about rich people having troubles.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}} During face-to-face negotiations with Cohn, McCarey demanded $100,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|100000|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) to direct. Cohn balked. McCarey wandered over to a piano and began to play show-tunes. Cohn, an avid fan of musicals, decided that anyone who liked that kind of music had to be talented—and he agreed to pay McCarey's fee.{{sfn|Greene|2008|pages=265-266}} He also agreed not to interfere in the production.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=188}}

McCarey's hiring was not announced until April 6, 1937.<ref name=parsonsmccarey>{{cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|author-link=Louella Parsons|title=McCarey Is Named to Direct Irene Dunne in 'Awful Truth'|newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]]|date=April 7, 1937|page=19}}</ref> Riskin withdrew from the film as McCarey insisted on producing.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=123}}

===Script===
McCarey worked with screenwriter [[Viña Delmar]] and her regular collaborator, her husband, Eugene.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=196}} The couple had written racy novels{{sfn|Welch|2018|pages=776-777}} as well as the source material and screenplay for McCarey's ''[[Make Way for Tomorrow]]''.{{sfn|Nelmes|Selbo|2018|pages=776-777}} The Delmars refused to work anywhere but their home, visit the studio or the set, or to meet any of the actors when working on a script.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=196}} In a letter to author [[Elizabeth Kendall (historian)|Elizabeth Kendall]], Viña Delmar said that McCarey worked with them on the script at their home, suggesting scenes.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=196}} McCarey asked the Delmars to drop the major plot points of the play—which focused on Dan Leeson's attempt to purchase mineral rights, a fire in Lucy Warriner's apartment building, and Lucy's midnight meeting with another man at a luxurious mountain resort—and focus on the pride which Jerry and Lucy feel and which keeps them from reconciling.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}}

According to the Delmars, they completed a script{{sfn|Morgan|Davies|2016|page=149}}{{Efn|Columbia Pictures archives show it was finished on June 15, six days before shooting was to begin.{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=197}}}} which included musical numbers, making it resemble [[musical theatre]] more than screwball comedy.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=266}} It also largely retained the play's narrative structure, with four [[Act (drama)|acts]]: the break-up at the Warriner house, events at Jerry Warriner's sports club, arguments and misunderstandings at Lucy Warriner's apartment, and a finale at Dan Leeson's apartment. The sets were simple, and few actors were needed.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}}

According to other accounts, [[Mary C. McCall Jr.]], Dwight Taylor (again), and [[Dorothy Parker]] all worked on the script as well.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=34}}{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}}{{Efn|Author [[Elizabeth Kendall (historian)|Elizabeth Kendall]] says Parker worked on the script with her husband, [[Alan Campbell (screenwriter)|Alan Campbell]].{{sfn|Kendall|2002|page=196}} Bellamy says that it was Harry Cohn who assigned the script to Parker and her husband.{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}} According to Ralph Bellamy, these scripts were worked on during the several months before shooting began,{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}} although the timeline is not clear.}} None of their work was used by McCarey,{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=34}} and Taylor even asked that his name be taken off the script.{{sfn|Harvey|1998|page=269}} Ralph Bellamy says that McCarey himself then wrote a script, completely reworking Delmar's effort.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=34}} Harry Cohn was not happy with McCarey's decision to abandon Delmar's work, but McCarey convinced the studio boss that he could rework it.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}} Film historians Iwan W. Morgan and Philip Davies say that McCarey retained only a single aspect of Delmar's work: The alleged infidelity of both man and wife.{{sfn|Morgan|Davies|2016|page=149}}{{Efn|The play and the two previous film versions had focused only on the wife's infidelity.{{sfn|Morgan|Davies|2016|page=149}}}}

===Casting===
Irene Dunne had freelanced and had not been under contract to a studio since her arrival in Hollywood.{{sfn|Carman|2016|pages=48-52}} She appeared in ''[[Theodora Goes Wild]]'' (1936) for Columbia, and despite her misgivings about doing comedy her performance had garnered her an [[Academy Award]] nomination as [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]].{{sfn|Gehring|2006|page=38}} Dunne wanted to undertake a new project quickly after negative reaction to her performing in [[blackface]] in ''[[Show Boat (1936 film)|Show Boat]]'' (also 1936).<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Devine|first=John F.|title=Irene Goes Wild|magazine=Modern Movies|date=April 1937|pages=34–35, 73–75}}</ref>{{Efn|Film historian Wes Gehring claims Dunne wanted to do a comedy to restore her public appeal and prestige after the box office failure of ''[[High, Wide and Handsome]]''.{{sfn|Gehring|2006|page=84}} This seems unlikely, as that film did not premiere until July 21, 1937,{{sfn|Schultz|1991|page=13}} and Dunne had signed on to ''The Awful Truth'' five months earlier.<ref name=parsonscolbuys />}} Her agent, [[Charles K. Feldman]], helped develop ''The Awful Truth'' for Dunne,{{sfn|Carman|2016|pages=24, 173 fn. 58}}{{sfn|Kemper|2010|page=90}} and the film was rushed into production to accommodate her.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=123}}{{sfn|Schultz|1991|page=276}} McCarey wanted her for the film{{sfn|Wiley|Bona|MacColl|1986|pages=77-78}} because he thought the "incongruity" of a "genteel" actress like Dunne in screwball comedy was funny,{{sfn|Parish|1974|page=154}} and she was asked to appear in it even though Delmar was still working on a script.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}} Dunne was attached to the picture in mid-February 1937, although commitments to other stage and film projects meant production could not begin for several months.<ref name=parsonscolbuys>{{cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|title=Columbia Buys Comedy Success for Irene Dunne|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|date=February 16, 1937|page=23}}</ref> Dunne was paid $75,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|75000|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) for her work.{{sfn|Dick|2009|page=125}}{{Efn|In 1935, Dunne signed a three-picture deal with Columbia Pictures, guaranteeing her $65,000 for her first film, $75,000 for her second, and $85,000 for her third.{{sfn|Dick|2009|page=125}} She was to be paid whether the film she was assigned to was made or not.{{sfn|Greene|2008|page=266}}{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=124}} Her total income for 1937 was $259,587 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|259587|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars).<ref name=highestpaid />}} Dunne later said her decision to work on the film was "just an accident".{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=170}}

Cary Grant was cast three days after Dunne.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bits From the Studios|newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]]|date=February 19, 1937|page=24}}</ref> Grant had also recently become a freelance actor without long-standing contractual obligations to any studio.{{sfn|McCann|1998|pages=83-84}} By late 1936, he was negotiating a contract with Columbia. He ran into McCarey on the street, and told McCarey he was free.{{sfn|Wansell|1983|pages=120-121}} In February 1937, he signed a non-exclusive contract with Columbia Pictures in which he agreed to make four films over two years, provided each film was a [[prestige picture]].{{sfn|Morgan|Davies|2016|page=149}} He was paid $50,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|50000|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) to appear in ''The Awful Truth''.{{sfn|Morecambe|Sterling|2001|page=98}}{{Efn|Grant's contract paid the actor $50,000 for each of the first two movies, and $75,000 for each for the third and fourth films.{{sfn|Morecambe|Sterling|2001|page=98}} The first two films were ''[[When You're in Love (film)|When You're in Love]]'' (released February 16, 1937){{sfn|Larkin|1975|page=212}} and ''The Awful Truth'' (released October 21, 1937). The second two films were ''[[Holiday (1938 film)|Holiday]]'' (released June 15, 1938){{sfn|Larkin|1975|page=116}} and ''[[Only Angels Have Wings]]'' (released May 15, 1939).{{sfn|Larkin|1975|page=271}} Grant's total income for 1937 was $144,291 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|144291|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars).<ref name=highestpaid>{{cite news|title=Film Industry Leads High-Salaried Field|newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|date=April 8, 1939|page=5}}</ref>}} Grant was eager to work with McCarey,{{sfn|Morgan|Davies|2016|page=149}} McCarey wanted Grant,{{sfn|Wiley|Bona|MacColl|1986|pages=77–78}} and Cohn assigned Grant to the picture.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=265}}

For Ralph Bellamy, a contract player with Columbia, the film was just another assignment.{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=34}} Delmar's draft script, sent to Bellamy by his agent,{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}} originally described Dan Leeson as a conservative, prudish Englishman,{{sfn|Bawden|Miller|2017|page=34}} a role written with [[Roland Young]] in mind. Per his agent's request, Bellamy ignored the script. Some time later, Bellamy got a call from his good friend, the writer Mary McCall, who asked him to work with her on redeveloping the role. McCall had been instructed to change the Leeson character into someone from the American West. They spent an afternoon together, and recrafting the character as well as writing a scene for his entrance in the film.{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}}{{Efn|Leeson was to have climbed down a fire escape at a hotel and entered Lucy's room through a window.{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}}}} After more time passed, Bellamy ran into writer Dwight Taylor at a cocktail party and learned that Taylor was rewriting his part. After a few weeks more, Dorothy Parker called Bellamy to tell him she was now working on the script and changing his role once more.{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}} The second week of June 1937, Bellamy's agent told him he'd been cast in ''The Awful Truth'' and was to report to the studio the next Monday.{{sfn|Maltin|2018|page=171}} His casting was announced on June 23.<ref>{{cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|title=Carl Laemmle, Jr., Plans More Eerie Melodrama|newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=June 24, 1937|page=12}}</ref>

Joyce Compton was cast on June 9,<ref>{{cite news|title=The Movie Lots Beg to Report|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=June 10, 1937|page=19}}</ref> and Alexander D'Arcy was cast some time before July 11.<ref name=parsonsblowing>{{cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|title=Movie-Go-Round|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|date=July 11, 1937|page=27}}</ref>

For the animal role of Mr. Smith, two dogs were cast but did not work out. [[Skippy (dog)|Skippy]], better known to the public as "Asta" in the [[The Thin Man (film)|''Thin Man'' film series]], was cast at the end of June. Skippy proved difficult to work with. For a critical scene in which Mr. Smith is to leap into Jerry Warriner's arms, a white rubber mouse (one of the dog's favorite toys) was placed in Cary Grant's breast pocket. But whenever Grant held his arms open, Skippy would dodge him at the last moment. It took several days to get the shot.<ref>{{cite news|last=Carroll|first=Harrison|title=Movie Gale Batters Actors|newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph]]|date=July 2, 1937|page=12}}</ref> The human cast of ''The Awful Truth'' was also forced to take several unscheduled days of vacation in late July 1937 because Skippy was booked on another film.<ref>{{cite news|last=Megahan|first=Urie|title='Stargazing' With Urie Megahan|newspaper=[[Indiana Weekly Messenger]]|date=July 29, 1937|page=Town Weekly Magazine Section 11}}</ref>

===Pre-production activity===
''The Awful Truth'' was budgeted at $600,000 (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|600000|1937|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars).{{sfn|Dick|2009|page=120}}{{Efn|Columbia made three kinds of pictures in the 1930s and 1940s: "AA", which cost about $1 million each; "Nervous A", which cost about $500,000 to $750,000; and "B" or "programmers", budgeted at $250,000. "Nervous A" films had lower budgets than "AA" films, but were expected to perform about the same at the box office. Savings in any single category could be applied to the budgets of other films, which often meant that a "Nervous A" or "B" picture could cost more than its average budget.{{sfn|Dick|2009|page=120}} About 70 percent of Columbia's films in the 1930s and 1940s were "B" movies, but the "AA" and "Nervous A" films produced 60 percent of the studio's profit.{{sfn|Bohn|Stromgren|1987|page=212}}}} [[Film and television production manager|Pre-production]] on the film neared completion at the beginning of May 1937.<ref>{{cite news|last=Percy|first=Eileen|title=Half Dozen Pictures Get Going at Columbia Studio|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=May 1, 1937|page=9}}</ref> [[Stephen Goosson]] was the supervising art director (his role today would be called [[production designer]]), and Lionel Banks the unit art director.{{sfn|Eagan|2010|page=264}} Goosson was a 20-year veteran art director for Columbia Pictures, and ''The Awful Truth'' is considered among his most important films of the 1930s.{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=133}}{{Efn|The others are ''[[American Madness]]'', ''[[You Can't Take It with You (film)|You Can't Take It With You]]'', ''[[It Happened One Night]]'', and ''[[Lost Horizon (1937 film)|Lost Horizon]]''.{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=133}}}} Lionel Banks was primarily responsible for the production design of the film. He specialized in films set in the present day,{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=21}} and created restrained, well-crafted{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=21}} [[Art Deco]] sets for the picture.{{sfn|Ramirez|2004|page=189}} ''The Awful Truth'' is considered one of his more elegant designs.{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=21}}{{Efn|Banks had worked on a single film for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] in 1935 before joining Columbia Pictures in 1937. He would be nominated for an Academy Award for his art direction on ''Holiday'' in 1938.{{sfn|Stephens|2008|page=25}}}}

===Costumes===
Columbia Pictures' chief costume and fashion designer, [[Robert Kalloch]], created Dunne's wardrobe.<ref name=grahamdressy>{{cite news|last=Graham|first=Sheilah|title=Dressy Afternoon Costume Designed|newspaper=[[The Indianapolis Star]]|date=July 26, 1937|page=4}}</ref> His work was personally approved by studio head Harry Cohn.{{sfn|Thomas|1990|page=73}} The clothes were the most elegant and expensive yet worn by her on film,<ref name=dayluxury>{{cite news|last=Day|first=Sara|title=Fashioned for Luxury|newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]]|date=August 15, 1937|page=[[Screen & Radio Weekly]] 11}}</ref><ref name=bathurst>{{cite news|title=Film Fashions|newspaper=[[The National Advocate|Bathurst National Advocate]]|date=November 26, 1937|page=8|access-date=March 18, 2019|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/bathurst-national-advocate-nov-26-1937-p-8/}}</ref> and costume design historian Jay Jorgensen has described them as "magnificent".{{sfn|Jorgensen|2010|page=77}} In 2012, ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' ranked ''The Awful Truth'' as one of the 25 most fashionable films ever made in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Jacobs|first=Laura|title=Scenes of Glamour|magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=September 2012|access-date=March 18, 2019|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/09/photos-the-25-most-fashionable-films}}</ref>