Editing Ball of Fire

{{Short description|1941 film by Howard Hawks}}
{{About|the 1941 film|the song by Tommy James and the Shondells|Ball of Fire (song)|other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox film
| name           = Ball of Fire
| image          = Ball of Fire (1941 three-sheet poster).jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Howard Hawks]]
| producer       = [[Samuel Goldwyn]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Charles Brackett]]
* [[Billy Wilder]]
}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''From A to Z''|Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Gary Cooper]]
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]]
}}
| music          = [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]]
| cinematography = [[Gregg Toland]]
| editing        = [[Daniel Mandell]]
| studio         = [[Samuel Goldwyn Productions]]
| distributor    = [[RKO Pictures|RKO Radio Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1941|12|02}}<ref name=DanaAndrewsBook>{{cite book|first=Carl|last=Rollyson|title=Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews|date=2012|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-60473-567-3|quote=In ''Ball of Fire'' (released December 2, 1941), Gary Cooper plays Bertram Potts, a professor who falls in love with nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea, played by Barbara Stanwyck.}}</ref>
| runtime        = 111 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         =
| gross          = $2,641,000 (worldwide rentals)<ref name=tevlin>{{cite journal|first=Richard B.|last=Jewell|title=RKO Film Grosses, 1929-1951: the C.J. Tevlin ledger|journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|volume=14|number= 1|year=1994|pages=37–49|doi=10.1080/01439689400260031}}</ref><ref name=tevlina>{{cite journal|first=Richard B.|last=Jewell|title=Appendix 1|journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|volume=14|number= S1|year=1994|pages=1–11|doi=10.1080/01439689408604545}}</ref>
}}

'''''Ball of Fire''''' (also known as '''''The Professor and the Burlesque Queen''''') is a 1941 American [[screwball comedy]] film directed by [[Howard Hawks]] and starring [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]]. The [[Samuel Goldwyn Productions]] film (originally distributed by [[RKO Pictures|RKO]]) concerns a group of professors laboring to write an [[encyclopedia]] and their encounter with a [[nightclub performer]] who provides her own unique knowledge. The supporting cast includes [[Oscar Homolka]], [[S. Z. Sakall]], [[Henry Travers]], [[Richard Haydn]], [[Dana Andrews]], and [[Dan Duryea]].

In 2016, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States [[Library of Congress]], and selected for preservation in its [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infodocket.com/2016/12/14/library-of-congress-adds-25-films-to-national-film-registry-including-thelma-louise-the-princess-bride-and-the-breakfast-club/|title=Library of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry Including Thelma & Louise, The Princess Bride, and The Breakfast Club|last=Price|first=Gary|website=LJ INFOdocket|date=14 December 2016 |access-date=2017-02-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-09-16|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> In 1948, Hawks recycled the plot for a musical film, ''[[A Song Is Born]]'', this time starring [[Danny Kaye]] and [[Virginia Mayo]].<ref name="Kael"/>

{{TOC limit|limit=2}}

==Plot==
A group of professors, all bachelors except for one widower, have lived together for some years in a [[New York City]] residence, compiling an encyclopedia of all human knowledge. The youngest, Professor Bertram Potts, is a [[Linguist|grammarian]] who is researching modern American [[slang]]. The professors are accustomed to working in relative seclusion at a leisurely pace with a prim housekeeper, Miss Bragg, keeping watch over them. Their impatient financial backer, Miss Totten, suddenly demands that they finish their work soon.
When a slang-using garbage man comes in asking the professors' assistance for a [[quiz]], Bertram realizes he is far behind the latest uses of slangs and ventures out to do some independent research and becomes interested in the slang vocabulary of nightclub performer Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea. She is reluctant to assist him until she suddenly needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, [[mob boss]] Joe Lilac. Sugarpuss takes refuge in the house where the professors live and work, despite Bertram's objections and their housekeeper's threat to leave because of her. In the meantime, Joe decides to marry her, but only because as his wife she would not be able to testify against him.

The professors soon become fond of her, and she of them. Sugarpuss teaches them to [[Conga line|conga]] and demonstrates to Bertram the meaning of the phrase "yum yum" (kisses). She becomes attracted to Bertram, who reciprocates by proposing marriage to her. She avoids giving him an answer and agrees to Joe's plan to have the professors drive her to New Jersey to marry him. After a series of misadventures, including a car crash, Sugarpuss realizes that she is in love with Bertram, but is forced to go ahead with her marriage to Joe to save the professors from his henchmen. Bertram, meanwhile, unaware of Sugarpuss's love for him, prepares to resume his research, sadder but wiser, until he discovers her true feelings.

The professors eventually outwit Joe and his henchmen and rescue Sugarpuss. She claims she is not good enough for Bertram, but his application of "yum yum" changes her mind. The other seven professors leave the room to give Bertram and Sugarpuss a moment alone.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Gary Cooper]] as Prof. Bertram Potts
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]] as Sugarpuss O'Shea
* [[Oskar Homolka]] as Prof. Gurkakoff
* [[Henry Travers]] as Prof. Jerome
* [[S. Z. Sakall]] as Prof. Magenbruch
* [[Tully Marshall]] as Prof. Robinson
* [[Leonid Kinskey]] as Prof. Quintana
* [[Richard Haydn]] as Prof. Oddly
* [[Aubrey Mather]] as Prof. Peagram
* [[Allen Jenkins]] as Garbage Man
* [[Dana Andrews]] as Joe Lilac
* [[Dan Duryea]] as Duke Pastrami (one of Lilac's henchmen)
* Ralph Peters as Asthma Anderson (another henchman)
* [[Kathleen Howard]] as Miss Bragg
* [[Mary Field]] as Miss Totten
* [[Charles Lane (actor, born 1905)|Charles Lane]] as Larsen (Miss Totten's assistant)
* [[Charles Arnt]] as McNeary (Lilac's lawyer)
* [[Elisha Cook Jr.]] as Waiter
* Alan Rhein as "Horseface"
* Eddie Foster as Pinstripe
* [[Aldrich Bowker]] as Justice of the Peace
* [[Addison Richards]] as District Attorney
* [[Pat West (actor)|Pat West]] as Bum
* [[Kenneth Howell]] as College Boy
* Tommy Ryan as Newsboy
* [[Tim Ryan (actor)|Tim Ryan]] as Motor Cop
* [[Will Lee]] as "Benny, the Creep"
* [[Gene Krupa]] and his Orchestra
}}

==Music==
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire.jpg|thumb|left|Publicity photo of Barbara Stanwyck for the film]]
[[Martha Tilton]] provided Barbara Stanwyck's singing voice for the song "[[Drum Boogie]]".<ref>Smith 1985, p. 93.</ref> Drummer and bandleader [[Gene Krupa]] performed the song onscreen with his band.<ref name="Kael">Kael, p. 48.</ref> In an unusual twist, he also played it on a matchbox with matches for drumsticks. Krupa band member and noted trumpeter [[Roy Eldridge]] received a brief on-camera spot during "Drum Boogie". At one point, the professors also perform an [[a cappella]] version of the 1869 song "[[Sweet Genevieve]]".

==Production==
The script was written by [[Charles Brackett]], [[Thomas Monroe (screenwriter)|Thomas Monroe]], and [[Billy Wilder]] from a short story titled "From A to Z", which Wilder had created while he was still in Europe.<ref name="Fusco">{{Cite book |last=Fusco |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qY1NDwAAQBAJ&q=%2522Professor%2520and%2520the%2520Burlesque%2520Queen%2522&pg=PT49 |title=Dan Duryea: A Career Appreciation |date=2017-09-12 |publisher=BearManor Media |location=Albany, Georgia |language=en}}</ref> Partly inspired by the fairy tale "[[Snow White]]", the professors were loosely based on the dwarfs from [[Walt Disney]]'s animated film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''. Although ''Ball of Fire'' was directed by the well-established [[Howard Hawks]], Wilder had already decided that he needed to direct his screenplays to protect them from studio and other directors' interference. Hawks was happy to let Wilder study his directing on the set and Wilder thereafter directed his own films. The film was the second feature of 1941 to pair Cooper and Stanwyck, following ''[[Meet John Doe]]''.

The role of Sugarpuss was offered to [[Ginger Rogers]] and [[Carole Lombard]], but both turned it down. [[Lucille Ball]] was almost cast in the role until Gary Cooper recommended Stanwyck.<ref>Wayne 2009, p. 106.</ref><ref>Thomson 2010, p. 80.</ref>

Wilder reveled in poking fun at those who took politics too seriously. At one point, Sugarpuss points to her sore throat and complains "Slight rosiness? It's as red as the ''[[Daily Worker]]'' [a left-wing newspaper] and just as sore."

Wilder also worked in a reference to Cooper's [[Academy Awards|Oscar]]-winning performance in the title role of Hawks's 1941 film ''[[Sergeant York (film)|Sergeant York]]'' by having Dan Duryea's character Duke Pastrami say, "I saw me a movie last week" before licking his thumb and rubbing it on the sight of his gun, a technique Cooper's York uses to improve his marksmanship.

==Reception==
According to RKO records, ''Ball of Fire'' took in $1,856,000 in [[Theatrical rental|theater rentals]] from the United States and Canada and an additional $785,000 from foreign rentals,<ref name="tevlin"/><ref name="tevlina"/> but, because of the terms of Sam Goldwyn's deal with RKO, RKO recorded a loss of $147,000 on it.<ref>Jewell 2012 p. 254.</ref>{{clear left}}

''Ball of Fire'' holds a 100% approval rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 28 reviews, with a [[weighted arithmetic mean|weighted average]] of 8.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "A splendidly funny twist on the story of Snow White, ''Ball of Fire'' boasts a pair of perfect leads in Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck".<ref>[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ball_of_fire/ "Ball of Fire."] ''Rotten Tomatoes.'' Retrieved: June 1, 2024.</ref>

==Awards and honors==
[[Image:Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire trailer 2.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper]]
''Ball of Fire'' was nominated for [[14th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]] for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]] (Barbara Stanwyck), [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing|Best Sound, Recording]] ([[Thomas T. Moulton]]) and [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]].<ref name="Oscars1942">[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 "The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners."] ''oscars.org.'' Retrieved: November 17, 2011.</ref>

In [[World War II]], a total of 12 servicemen were pen-pals with Stanwyck; two of them asked for a poster of her in the ''Ball of Fire'' outfit for their mess hall.<ref>Madsen 1994, p. 216.</ref>

''Ball of Fire'' was ranked 92nd in the 2000 [[American Film Institute]] (AFI) list [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs]].<ref>[http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs."] ''American Film Institute''. Retrieved: August 21, 2016.</ref> In a 1999 AFI poll, Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck were both ranked #11 on the male and female lists of the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars|greatest American screen legends]].

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kael |first=Pauline |author-link=Pauline Kael |title=5001 Nights at the Movies |year=2011 |orig-year=1991 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1-250-03357-4}}
* Jewell, Richard B. ''[[RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born]]''.  Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-52027-179-1}}.
* Madsen, Axel. ''Stanwyck: A Biography''. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. {{ISBN|0-06-017997-X}}.
* Smith, Ella. ''Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck.'' New York: Random House. 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-517-55695-5}}.
* Thomson, David. ''Gary Cooper'' (Great Stars). New York: Faber & Faber, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-86547-932-6}}.
* Wayne, Jane. ''Life and Loves of Barbara Stanwyck.'' London: JR Books Ltd., 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-906217-94-5}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ball of Fire (film)|Ball of Fire}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{AFI film|27129|Ball of Fire}}
* {{TCMDb title|68020|Ball of Fire}}
* {{IMDb title|0033373|Ball of Fire}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/ball-of-fire-am3579 ''Ball of Fire'' at AllMovie]
* [https://archive.org/download/ScreenGuildTheater/Sgt_42-11-30_ep120_Ball_of_Fire.mp3 ''Ball of Fire''] on [[Screen Guild Theater]]: November 30, 1942
* [https://archive.org/download/Romance_339/Romance45-01-23088BallOfFire.mp3 ''Ball of Fire''] on ''Theater of Romance'': January 23, 1945

{{Howard Hawks}}
{{Samuel Goldwyn}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball Of Fire}}
[[Category:1941 films]]
[[Category:1941 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s screwball comedy films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American screwball comedy films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Alfred Newman]]
[[Category:Films directed by Howard Hawks]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:RKO Pictures films]]
[[Category:Samuel Goldwyn Productions films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Billy Wilder]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Charles Brackett]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Films about lexicography]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]