Editing His Girl Friday (section)

===Filming===
After makeup, wardrobe, and photography tests, filming began on 27 September 1939. The film had the working title of ''The Bigger They Are''.<ref name=tcmarticle>{{cite web| last=Miller | first=Frank | url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/206/his-girl-friday|title= His Girl Friday}}</ref>

The film is noted for its rapid-fire repartee, using overlapping dialogue to make conversations sound more realistic, with one character speaking before another finishes. Although overlapping dialogue is specified and cued in the 1928 play script by Hecht and MacArthur,<ref>Hecht, Ben, & Charles MacArthur, ''The Front Page'', 1928. Samuel French, Inc.</ref> Hawks told [[Peter Bogdanovich]]:

{{stack|[[File:His Girl Friday 3.jpg|thumb|267px|[[John Qualen]] playing escaped convict Earl Williams, who is discovered hiding in a [[rolltop desk]].]]}}

{{quote|"I had noticed that when people talk, they talk over one another, especially people who talk fast or who are arguing or describing something. So we wrote the dialogue in a way that made the beginnings and ends of sentences unnecessary; they were there for overlapping."{{sfn|Bogdanovich|1997}}}}

To get the effect he wanted, as [[multi-track sound recording]] was not yet available at the time, Hawks had the sound mixer on the set turn the various overhead microphones on and off as required for the scene, as many as 35 times.<ref name=tcmarticle /> Reportedly, the film was sped up because of a challenge Hawks took upon himself to break the record for the fastest dialogue on screen, at the time held by ''The Front Page''.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=283}} Hawks arranged a showing for newsmen of the two films next to each other to prove how fast his dialogue was.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=284}}

Hawks gave the actors the freedom to improvise some of their lines and actions, as he did with his comedies more than his dramas.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=283}} In her autobiography ''Life Is a Banquet'', Russell wrote that she thought she did not have as many good lines as Grant, so she hired her own writer to "punch up" her dialogue. With Hawks encouraging ad-libbing, she was able to slip her writer's work into the movie. Only Grant was wise to this tactic and greeted her each morning with "What have you got today?"<ref>New York : Random House, 1977. {{ISBN|978-0-394-42134-6}} OCLC 3017310</ref> Her ghostwriter gave her some of the lines for the restaurant scene, which is unique{{clarify|date=June 2023|reason=Unique how?}} to ''His Girl Friday''. It was one of the most complicated scenes to film; because of the rapidity of the dialogue the actors actually ate very little during the scene. Hawks shot this scene with one camera a week and a half into production, and it took four days to film instead of the intended two.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=285}} The improvisations made it difficult for the cinematographers to know what the characters were going to do. Russell was also difficult to film because her lack of a sharp jawline required makeup artists to paint and blend a dark line under her jawline while shining a light on her face to simulate a more youthful appearance.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=284}}

{{stack|[[File:His Girl Friday 6.jpg|thumb|275px|Walter denies Mrs. Baldwin's accusation that he arranged to kidnap her. Left to right: Cary Grant, Frank Jenks, Roscoe Karns, Gene Lockhart, Pat Flaherty, Porter Hall, Alma Kruger, and Rosalind Russell.]]}}

Hawks encouraged aggressiveness and unexpectedness in the acting, breaking the [[fourth wall]] a few times in the film. At one point, Grant broke character because of something unscripted that Russell did and looked directly at the camera, saying "Is she going to do that?" Hawks decided to leave this scene in, although it does not appear in the final cut.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=284}}

Owing to the numerous ensemble scenes, many retakes were necessary. Having learned from ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' (1938), Hawks added some [[straight man|straight]] supporting characters in order to balance out the leading characters.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=285}}

[[Arthur Rosson]] worked for three days on [[second unit]] footage at [[Columbia Ranch]].{{fact|date=September 2024}}

Filming was completed on 21 November 1939, seven days past schedule.{{fact|date=September 2024}}

Unusually for the time period, the film contains no music except for the music that leads to the final fade out of the film.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=286}}

====Ad-libs by Grant====
Grant's character describes Bellamy's character by saying "He looks like that fellow in the movies, you know ... Ralph Bellamy!" According to Bellamy, the remark was ad-libbed by Grant.<ref name=tcmnotes /> Columbia studio head [[Harry Cohn]] thought it was too cheeky and ordered it removed, but Hawks insisted that it stay. Grant makes several other "inside" remarks in the film. When his character is arrested for kidnapping, he describes the horrendous fate suffered by the last person who crossed him: Archie Leach (Grant's birth name).{{sfn|Fetherling|1977|p=85}} When Earl Williams attempts to climb out of the rolltop desk in which he has been hiding, Grant's character tells him, "Get back in there, you mock turtle!" Grant played the Mock Turtle in the 1933 film version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''.<ref name=tcmarticle />