Editing His Girl Friday

{{short description|1940 film by Howard Hawks}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = His Girl Friday
| image          = His Girl Friday (1940 poster) crop.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Howard Hawks]]
| producer       = Howard Hawks
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[The Front Page]]''<br />1928 play|[[Ben Hecht]]{{Efn|Hecht was also heavily involved with the writing of the screenplay, but was not credited for his contributions.<ref>Mankiewicz, Ben and Muller, Eddie (July 23, 2020) Intro to the [[Turner Classic Movies]] presentation of the film.</ref>}}<br />[[Charles MacArthur]]}}
| screenplay     = [[Charles Lederer]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Cary Grant]]
* [[Rosalind Russell]]
* [[Ralph Bellamy]]
* [[Gene Lockhart]]
}}
| editing        = [[Gene Havlick]]
| cinematography = [[Joseph Walker (cinematographer)|Joseph Walker]]
| studio         = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| distributor    = Columbia Pictures
| released       = {{Film date|1940|1|18}}
| runtime        = 92 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}
'''''His Girl Friday''''' is a 1940 American [[screwball comedy]] film directed by [[Howard Hawks]], starring [[Cary Grant]] and [[Rosalind Russell]] and featuring [[Ralph Bellamy]] and [[Gene Lockhart]]. It was released by [[Columbia Pictures]]. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. The screenplay was adapted from the 1928 play ''[[The Front Page]]'' by [[Ben Hecht]] and [[Charles MacArthur]]. This was the second time the play had been adapted for the screen, the first occasion being the 1931 film which kept the original title ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]''.

The script for ''His Girl Friday'' was written by [[Charles Lederer]] with the most major alteration to the source material being the changing of Hildy Johnson's gender, an idea introduced by Hawks. Filming began in September 1939 and finished in November, seven days behind schedule. Production was delayed because the frequent improvisation and numerous ensemble scenes required many retakes. Hawks encouraged his actors to be aggressive and spontaneous. ''His Girl Friday'' has been noted for its surprises, comedy, and rapid, overlapping dialogue. Hawks was determined to break the record for the fastest film dialogue, at the time held by ''The Front Page''. He used a sound mixer on the set to increase the speed of dialogue and held a showing of the two films next to each other to prove how fast his film was.

''His Girl Friday'' was #19 on [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs|100 Years ... 100 Laughs]] and was selected in 1993 for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]] as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Librarian Announces National Film Registry Selections (March 7, 1994) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/94/9405/film.html|access-date=2020-10-30|website=www.loc.gov}}</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=2020-10-30|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> The film is in the [[public domain]] because the copyright was not renewed; the play it was based on remained under copyright for several decades until it expired in 2024, fully releasing the film from remaining copyright.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jackson |first1=Matthew |title=11 Classic Films in the Public Domain |url=https://mentalfloss.com/article/92931/11-classic-films-public-domain |access-date=4 January 2019 |work=mentalfloss.com |date=6 March 2017 |language=en}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:His Girl Friday (1940, SDR).webm|left|thumb|thumbtime=20|The Full film is in the public domain.]]
Walter Burns, a hard-boiled newspaper editor, learns that his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson, is about to marry insurance man Bruce Baldwin and settle down as a housewife in [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. Determined to sabotage these plans, Walter convinces a reluctant Hildy to cover one last story: the execution of Earl Williams, convicted of murdering a black policeman. Walter maintains that Williams is innocent and that the city fathers are only going through with the execution to curry favor with black voters. Hildy accepts the assignment on the condition that Walter buy a large life insurance policy, earning Bruce a hefty commission. Wary of Walter’s trickery, Hildy has Bruce give her for safekeeping the $500 he is carrying and instructs him to hide the $2500 certified check for the insurance premium in the lining of his hat to prevent Walter’s pickpocket associate, Louie, from stealing it back.

While Hildy works on a story sympathetic to Williams, based on irresistible impulse in an insanity defense, Walter does everything he can to keep Bruce from taking her to Albany. Louie plants a watch on Baldwin, who is arrested for theft, forcing Hildy to bail Baldwin out of jail (Baldwin finds his wallet gone as well as other personal items). Exasperated, Hildy quits, but when Williams escapes, her journalistic instincts get the better of her. 
[[File:HisgirlFriday.jpg|thumb|right|425px|{{center|[[Cary Grant]] as Walter Burns, as a manipulative newspaper editor,  and [[Rosalind Russell]] as Hildy Johnson, his ex-wife and former star reporter.}}]]
Williams escapes by shooting Sheriff Hartwell, using Hartwell’s gun, provided to him during a reenactment of Williams’s crime during a sanity examination by psychiatrist Dr. Eggelhoffer. Hildy uses $450 of Baldwin's money to buy the story from Warden Cooley, which Walter promises to reimburse, sending Louie with counterfeit money. Walter frames Bruce again for mashing of a blonde (Evangeline, another associate), who faked a dizzy spell, and Baldwin is immediately sent back to jail. Meanwhile, a messenger from the governor arrives at the mayor's office with a reprieve for Williams. Determined to see Williams hanged, the mayor bribes the messenger to delay delivering the reprieve until it is too late. The mayor gives a “shoot to kill” order on sight for Williams. Williams enters through the window of the press room where Hildy is working, holding her at gunpoint. She hides him in a [[rolltop desk]], notifies Walter, and puts off bailing out Bruce. Williams’s girlfriend, Molly, arrives on scene and helps Hildy distract everyone from Williams. 

Hildy's future mother-in-law, Mrs. Baldwin, enters the press room, having eluded a kidnapper sent by Walter. She reveals to the mayor and the reporters that Hildy has claimed to have found Williams. To redirect the press from Williams, Molly jumps out the window, surviving the fall, but wounded, drawing the reporters away to cover her story. Walter arrives and attempts to trick the Sheriff into carrying out the desk from the building by impounding the Post’s property. The Sheriff finds the gun Williams left in the room, recognizing it as his own gun. Mrs. Baldwin returns, having escaped from a second kidnapping attempt, accusing Walter for the kidnapping. Denying the charge, Walter unintentionally pounds on the desk three times, the signal to Williams that he can come out. Williams reveals himself and is apprehended.

Williams is taken back to his cell, and Walter and Hildy are arrested for abetting his escape. At this point, the messenger returns with the reprieve, telling the mayor that he has decided not to take the bribe after all. Walter uses this information to blackmail the mayor into letting them go. 

Walter tells Hildy that she is free to go to Albany with Bruce. Dejected by this, Hildy realizes that she still loves Walter and is not ready to give up her career as a journalist. Bruce then calls to say he has been arrested again, this time for carrying counterfeit money. Recognizing Walter’s ploy to stop her leaving with Bruce,  Hildy is relieved to learn that Walter never had any intention of letting her go quietly. Walter proposes to Hildy, promising to take her on the honeymoon they never had in [[Niagara Falls, New York|Niagara Falls]]. He then learns that there is a strike in Albany, on the way to Niagara Falls. Hildy agrees to honeymoon in Albany, accepting that Walter will never change.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Cary Grant]] as Walter Burns
* [[Rosalind Russell]] as Hildy Johnson
* [[Ralph Bellamy]] as Bruce Baldwin
* [[Gene Lockhart]] as Sheriff Hartwell
* [[Porter Hall]] as Murphy
* [[Ernest Truex]] as Bensinger
* [[Cliff Edwards]] as Endicott
* [[Clarence Kolb]] as the Mayor
* [[Roscoe Karns]] as McCue
* [[Frank Jenks]] as Wilson
* [[Regis Toomey]] as Sanders
* [[Abner Biberman]] as Louie
* [[Frank Orth]] as Duffy
* [[John Qualen]] as Earl Williams 
* [[Helen Mack]] as Mollie Malloy
* [[Alma Kruger]] as Mrs. Baldwin
* [[Billy Gilbert]] as Joe Pettibone
* [[Pat West (actor)|Pat West]] as Warden Cooley
* [[Edwin Maxwell (actor)|Edwin Maxwell]] as Dr. Eggelhoffer
* [[Marion Martin]] as Evangeline (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
{{stack|[[File:Howard Hawks head shot.jpg|thumb|167px|Director Howard Hawks ({{circa}} 1940s.)]]}}

===Development and writing===
While producing ''[[Only Angels Have Wings]]'' (1939), Howard Hawks tried to pitch a remake of ''The Front Page'' to [[Harry Cohn]] of Columbia Pictures. [[Cary Grant]] was almost immediately cast in the film, but Cohn initially intended Grant to play the reporter, with radio commentator [[Walter Winchell]] as the editor.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=278}} Hawks' production that became ''His Girl Friday'' was originally intended to be a straightforward adaptation of ''The Front Page'', with both the editor and reporter being male.{{Efn|A "[[Girl Friday (idiom)|girl Friday]]" is an assistant who carries out a variety of chores. The name alludes to "Friday", [[Robinson Crusoe]]'s native male [[dogsbody]] in [[Daniel Defoe]]'s novel. According to Merriam-Webster's, the term was first used in 1940 (the year the film was released).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/girl%20friday|title=Girl Friday|work=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=August 17, 2017}}</ref>}} During auditions, Howard Hawks' secretary, a woman, read reporter Hildy Johnson's lines. Hawks liked the way the dialogue sounded coming from a woman, resulting in the script being rewritten to make Hildy female and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns played by Cary Grant.{{sfn|Phillips|2010|p=308}} Cohn purchased the rights for ''The Front Page'' in January 1939.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=279}}

Although Hawks considered the dialogue of ''The Front Page'' to be "the finest modern dialogue that had been written", more than half of it was replaced with what Hawks believed to be better lines.{{sfn|Mast|1982|pp=208-209}} Some of the original dialogue was left the same, as were all of the characters' names with two exceptions: Hildy's fiancé (now no longer a fiancée) was given the name Bruce Baldwin,{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=279}} and the name of the comic messenger bringing the pardon from the governor was changed from Pincus to Pettibone.{{sfn|Birmingham|1984|p=261}} [[Harry Cohn]] of [[Columbia Pictures]] approved Hawks' idea for the film project. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the writers of the original play, were unavailable for screenwriting. Consequently, Hawks considered [[Gene Fowler]] as the screenwriter, but he declined the job because he disliked the changes to the screenplay Hawks intended to make.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=279}} Hawks instead recruited [[Charles Lederer]], who had worked on the adaptation for ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]'', to work on the screenplay.{{sfn|Grindon|2011|p=96}} Though he was not credited, Hecht assisted Lederer in the adaptation.{{sfn|Martin|1985|p=95}} Additions were made at the beginning of the screenplay by Lederer to give the characters a convincing backstory; it was decided that Hildy and Walter would be divorced with Hildy's intentions of remarriage serving as Walter's motivation to win her back.{{sfn|Grindon|2011|p=97}}
[[File:Hgf3.jpg|right|thumb|Walter Burns meets Hildy's fiance, Bruce Baldwin. Left to right: Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell]]

During writing, Hawks was in Palm Springs directing ''Only Angels Have Wings'', but stayed in close contact with Lederer and Hecht.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=279}} Hecht helped Lederer with some organizational revisions, and Lederer finished the script on May 22. After two more drafts completed by July, Hawks called [[Morrie Ryskind]] to revise the dialogue and make it more interesting. Ryskind revised the script throughout the summer and finished by the end of September before filming began. More than half of the original dialogue was rewritten.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=279}} The film lacks one of the well-known final lines of the play, "the son-of-a-bitch stole my watch!", because films of the time were more censored than [[Pre-Code Hollywood]] films, and Hawks felt that the line was too overused. Ryskind developed a new ending in which Walter and Hildy start fighting immediately after saying "I do" in the wedding they hold in the newsroom, with one of the characters stating, "I think it's gonna turn out all right this time." However, after revealing the ending to a few writers at Columbia one evening, Ryskind was surprised to hear that his ending was filmed on another set a few days later.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=281}} Forced to create another ending, Ryskind ended up thanking the anonymous Columbia writer, because he felt that his ending and one of his final lines, "I wonder if Bruce can put us up", were better than what he had written originally.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=281}} After reviewing the screenplay, the [[Hays Office]] saw no issues with the film, besides a few derogatory comments towards newsmen and some illegal behavior of the characters. During some rewrites for censors, Hawks focused on finding a lead actress for his film.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|pp=281-282}}

===Casting===
{{stack|[[File:His Girl Friday still 2.jpg|250px|thumb|Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy in a promotional picture for the film.]]}}
Hawks had difficulty casting ''His Girl Friday''. While the choice of Cary Grant was almost instantaneous, the casting of Hildy was a more extended process. At first, Hawks wanted [[Carole Lombard]], whom he had directed in the screwball comedy ''[[Twentieth Century (film)|Twentieth Century]]'' (1934), but the cost of hiring Lombard in her new status as a freelancer proved to be far too expensive, and Columbia could not afford her. [[Katharine Hepburn]], [[Claudette Colbert]], [[Margaret Sullavan]], [[Ginger Rogers]], and [[Irene Dunne]] were offered the role, but turned it down. Dunne rejected the role because she felt the part was too small and needed to be expanded. [[Jean Arthur]] was suspended by the studio when she refused to take it. [[Joan Crawford]] reportedly was considered.<ref name=tcmnotes>{{cite web |title=His Girl Friday (1940) - Notes |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/206/his-girl-friday#notes |website=Turner Classic Movies |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=June 14, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Hawks then turned to Rosalind Russell, who had just finished MGM's ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' (1939).{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=282}} Russell was upset when she discovered from a ''New York Times'' article that Cohn was "stuck" with her after attempting to cast many other actresses. Before Russell's first meeting with Hawks, to show her apathy, she took a swim and entered his office with wet hair, causing him to do a "triple take". Russell confronted him about this casting issue; he dismissed her quickly and asked her to go to wardrobe.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=282}}

===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 />

==Release==
[[File:His Girl Friday (1940) by Howard Hawks, Trailer.webm | thumb|''His Girl Friday'' (1940) by Howard Hawks, trailer]]
Release of the film was rushed by Cohn and a sneak preview of the film was held in December, with a press screening on January 3, 1940.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=286}} ''His Girl Friday'' premiered in New York City at [[Radio City Music Hall]] on January 11, 1940, and went into general American release a week later.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cohn |first1=Herbert |title='His Girl Friday' Makes Gay Music Hall Comedy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/52684151/?terms=%22%27His+Girl+Friday%27+Makes%22 |access-date=27 June 2018 |newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=January 12, 1940 |page=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=At the Logan Wednesday |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/image/85484391/?terms=his+girl+friday |access-date=27 June 2018 |work=The Logan Daily News |date=January 22, 1940 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

== Reception ==
[[File:His-Girl-Friday-Grant-Russell.jpg|right|thumb|Cary Grant with Rosalind Russell; Russell wears a costume designed by [[Robert Kalloch]]]]
Contemporary reviews from critics were very positive. Critics were particularly impressed by the gender change of the reporter.{{sfn|McCarthy|1997|p=286}} [[Frank Nugent|Frank S. Nugent]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote "Except to add that we've seen ''The Front Page'' under its own name and others so often before we've grown a little tired of it, we don't mind conceding ''His Girl Friday'' is a bold-faced reprint of what was once—and still remains—the maddest newspaper comedy of our times."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Nugent |first1=Frank S. |title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Frenzied's the Word for 'His Girl Friday,' a Distaff Edition of 'The Front Page,' at the Music Hall--'The Man Who Wouldn't Talk' Opens at the Palace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/01/12/archives/the-screen-in-review-frenzieds-the-word-for-his-girl-friday-a.html |access-date=October 29, 2018 |work=The New York Times  |date=January 12, 1940}}</ref> The ''Variety'' reviewer wrote "The trappings are different—even to the extent of making reporter Hildy Johnson a femme—but it is still ''Front Page'' and Columbia need not regret it. Charles Leder (sic) has done an excellent screenwriting job on it and producer-director Howard Hawks has made a film that can stand alone almost anywhere and grab healthy grosses."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 10, 1940 |title=His Girl Friday (review)|url=https://archive.org/details/variety137-1940-01/page/n177/mode/1up |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=14 }}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' wrote "Even though the story and its development will be familiar to those who saw the first version of ''The Front Page'', they will be entertained just the same, for the action is so exciting that it holds one in tense suspense throughout."<ref>{{cite journal |date=January 6, 1940 |title='His Girl Friday' with Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |page=3 }}</ref> ''[[Film Daily]]'' wrote "Given a snappy pace, a top flight cast, good production and able direction, the film has all the necessary qualities for first-rate entertainment for any type of audience."<ref>{{cite journal |date=January 5, 1940 |title=Reviews of the New Films |journal=[[Film Daily]] |page=5 }}</ref> [[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''The New Yorker'' wrote that after years of "feeble, wispy, sad imitations" of ''The Front Page'', he found this authentic adaptation of the original to be "as fresh and undated and bright a film as you could want".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=January 13, 1940 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Corp. |page=59 }}</ref> Louis Marcorelles called ''His Girl Friday'' "le film américain par excellence".{{sfn|Bordwell|1985|p=188}}

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 99% based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 9.00/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Anchored by stellar performances from Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, ''His Girl Friday'' is possibly the definitive screwball romantic comedy."<ref>{{Cite web |title=His Girl Friday (1940) |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/his_girl_friday |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=February 4, 2022}}</ref>

In the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' poll of the greatest films of all time, ''His Girl Friday'' appeared on several lists, including those of critic [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=David Thomson |work=[[Sight & Sound]] |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/667|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818140915/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/667|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 18, 2016}}</ref> and director [[Quentin Tarantino]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Quentin Tarantino |work=[[Sight & Sound]] |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/1134|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212204753/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/1134|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2016}}</ref>

==Interpretation and themes==

=== Story ===
[[File:His Girl Friday 7.jpg|right|thumb|Walter delays Hildy's departure with her insurance salesman fiance by agreeing to buy a large insurance policy. [[Irving Bacon]], Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy and Rosalind Russell]]
[[File:His Girl Friday 4.jpg|right|thumb|To delay Hildy's departure with her finance, Walter appeals to her journalistic instincts in covering the Williams execution. [[Frank Jenks]], [[Roscoe Karns]], Rosalind Russell, [[Porter Hall]], [[Gene Lockhart]], [[Regis Toomey]], and [[Cliff Edwards]]]] 

The title ''His Girl Friday'' is an ironic title, because a [[Girl Friday (idiom)|girl "Friday"]] represents a servant of a master, but Hildy is not a servant in the film, but rather the equal to Walter. The world in this film is not determined by gender, but rather by intelligence and capability. At the beginning of the film, Hildy says that she wants to be "treated like a woman", but her return to her profession reveals her true desire to live a different life.{{sfn|Grindon|2011|p=105}} In ''His Girl Friday'', even though the characters remarry, Hawks displays an aversion to marriage, home, and family through his approach to the film. Specific, exclusionary camera work and character control of the frame and the dialogue portray a subtle criticism of domesticity.{{sfn|Danks|2016|pp=35-38}} The subject of domesticity is fairly absent throughout the film. Even among the relationships between Grant and Russell and Bellamy and Russell, the relationships are positioned within a larger frame of the male-dominated newsroom.{{sfn|Danks|2016|pp=35-38}} The film, like many comedies, celebrates difficult, tumultuous love rather than secure, suburban love through its preference for movement and argument rather than silent poise.{{sfn|Haskell|1974|p=126}} Film critic [[Molly Haskell]] wrote that the scene near the end of the film when Hildy sheds tears was not included to expose her femininity, but to express the confusion she felt due to the collision of her professional and feminine natures. The feminine side of Hildy desires to be subservient and sexually desirable to men, while the other side of Hildy desires assertion and to forfeit the stereotypical duties of a woman. Her tears represent her emotional helplessness and inability to express anger to a male authority figure.{{sfn|Haskell|1974|pp=133-134}}

A commonality in many Howard Hawks films is the revelation of the amorality of the main character and a failure of that character to change or develop. In ''His Girl Friday'', Walter Burns manipulates, acts selfishly, frames his ex-wife's fiancé, and orchestrates the kidnapping of an elderly woman. Even at the end of the film, Burns convinces Hildy Johnson to remarry him despite how much she loathes him and his questionable actions. Upon the resumption of their relationship, there is no romance visible between them. They do not kiss, embrace, or even gaze at each other. It is evident that Burns is still the same person he was in their previous relationship as he quickly waves off the plans for the honeymoon that they never had in pursuit of a new story. Additionally, he walks in front of her when exiting the room, forcing her to carry her own suitcase despite Johnson already having criticized this at the beginning of the film. This hints that the marriage is fated to face the same problems that ended it previously.{{sfn|Dibbern|2016|p=230}}

Hawks is known for his use of repeated or intentional gestures in his films. In ''His Girl Friday'', the cigarette in the scene between Hildy and Earl Williams serves several symbolic roles in the film. First, the cigarette establishes a link between the characters when Williams accepts the cigarette even though he does not smoke. However, the fact that he doesn't smoke, and they don't share the cigarette shows the difference between and separation of the worlds in which the two characters live.<ref>{{harvnb|Neale|2016|p=110}}; {{harvnb|McElhaney|2006|pp=31–45}}</ref>

The film contains two main plots: the personal and the professional. Walter induces  Hildy to get back in the beat in the paper’s attempt to scoop the story of murderer Earl Williams; the concurrent plot is Walter attempting to scuttle Hildy’s upcoming marriage.{{sfn|Bordwell|1985|p=158}} The speed of the film results in snappy and overlapping dialogue among interruptions and rapid speech. Gesture, character and camera movement, as well as editing, serve to complement the dialogue in increasing the pace of the film. There is a clear contrast between the fast-talking Hildy and Walter and slow-talking Bruce and Earl. The average word per minute count of the film is 240 while the average American speech is around 140 words per minute. There are nine scenes with at least four words per second and at least two with more than five words per second.{{sfn|Grindon|2011|p=103}} Hawks attached verbal tags before and after specific script lines so the actors would be able to interrupt and talk over each other without making the necessary dialogue incomprehensible.{{sfn|Mast|1982|p=49}}

Film theorist and historian [[David Bordwell]] explained the ending of ''His Girl Friday'' as a "closure effect" rather than a closure. The ending of the film is rather circular, and there is no development of characters, specifically Walter Burns, and the film ends similarly to the way in which it starts. Additionally, the film ends with a brief epilogue in which Walter announces their remarriage and reveals their intention to go cover a strike in Albany on the way to their honeymoon. The fates of the main characters and even some of the minor characters such as Earl Williams are revealed, although there are minor flaws in the resolution. For example, they do not discuss what happened to Mollie Malloy after the conflict is resolved. However, the main characters’ endings were wrapped up so neatly that it overshadows the need for the minor characters' endings to be wrapped up. This creates a "closure effect" or an appearance of closure.<ref>{{harvnb|Bordwell|1985|p=159}}; {{harvnb|Dibbern|2016|p=230}}</ref>

=== Editing style ===
[[File:Rosalind Russell & Cary Grant in 'His Girl Friday' (2).jpg|right|thumb|Magazine ad for the film]]
[[File:His Girl Friday 8.jpg|right|thumb|Walter confronts the mayor, who bribed the governor's messanger to delay a reprieve of the Williams execution. Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, [[Billy Gilbert]], [[Clarence Kolb]] and Gene Lockhart]]
[[File:His Girl Friday 5.jpg|right|thumb|Hildy's competitors in the pool of reporters. Roscoe Karns, Cliff Edwards, Porter Hall, Regis Toomey, and Frank Jenks]]
''His Girl Friday'' is a movie intentioned for speed: it set the record on fastest words spoken per minute in a movie.<ref>{{Citation|title=His Girl Friday (1940) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032599/trivia/|language=en|access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref> A second to appreciate the moment is a foregone luxury in the whirlwind nature of the publishing business. Dissecting one of the scenes from the movie to best display the editing style, consider the specific scene where Earl Williams escapes. Howard Hawks emphasizes the pace difference between Hildy’s two possible lives, by having plot elements and staging mirror the editing, where slow and languid moments are interspersed with sub-second shots of newsworthy freneticism. To emphasize the contrast of rhythm between Hildy’s domestic life with Bruce versus her dynamic life with Walter, the director mirrors with editing techniques like lengthier contemplative shots versus rapid fire shots, matches on action versus elliptical shots with continuous [[Diegetic sound|diegetic]] sound, and scenes with one element of focus versus several different objects and sounds splitting our attention.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bottomore|first=Stephen|date=1990|title=Shots in the Dark – The Real Origins of Film Editing|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781838710170.0014|journal=Early Cinema|pages=104–113 |doi=10.5040/9781838710170.0014|isbn=9781838710170 }}</ref>

The scene opens with two lengthy (10 second) shots of Hildy describing her life outside the newsroom—the shots reinforce the idea that the life with Bruce will be predictable and slowly paced. As Hildy looks off away from the camera for the first time, literally turning her back on the newspaper life for just an instant, her attention is snapped back to the newsroom as shots are fired. Immediately, the editing reflects the newfound fast pace: from slow pans to static shots with the only movement being Hildy’s slow walking, the movie immediately shifts to dynamic shots with several people’s movements on the street, as well as gunshots, ducking, spotlight-exaggerated lighting shifts, and shouting with the men in the window. The medium shots of the frantic news reporters are in contrast with a now obscured long shot of Hildy—while previously she was the main character and source of sound, the director makes it clear that she will be suddenly relegated to the background when the action is happening: her background presence is obscured by a frosted window, and her sounds obscured by the frenzy of the gunshots and shouting.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lederer|first=Charles|date=1939|title=Shooting Draft: His Girl Friday Screenplay|url=https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/His%20Girl%20Friday.txt}}</ref>

Upon revealing that Earl Williams has escaped, the movie then shifts from multi-second shots to sub-second shots as the news editors enter maximum monkey mode. As gunshots provide a diegetic backdrop of time, ellipses shots become more obvious; the first reporter immediately cuts from reaching the table to talking on the phone. The next 5 shots are also sub-second close-ups of newsmen yelling into phones. As she is slowly drawn into this world again, Hildy begins to occupy more of the frame—going from a long shot to a medium shot as the newsmen stream past her. Once the men are gone, the longest shot of the sequence ensues: 16 seconds as she closes the distance she created from her old life, shedding her coat, symbolizing her chilly life in Albany, to reveal the reporter-ready dress underneath, the person she truly is. She fully reunites with it as she picks up the phone to talk to Walter, then rushes out of the room with the same fervor as the news folk. The camera cements this final switch as the dolly moves out, and a crossfade ensues on her running out, unlike all the prior cuts.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Scott|first1=A. O.|last2=Dargis|first2=Manohla|date=2020-04-08|title=He Said, She Said, We Said, You Said|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/movies/his-girl-friday-viewing-party.html|access-date=2021-10-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Finally it concludes using shots of gates opening, cars streaming out, and people running. Here, Hawks’ shots are not just fast—they are explicit about being faster than time. A [[Diegetic sound|diegetic]] siren delineates unit seconds as cars screech, but the film shows the abbreviated ellipses shot of the gate closing, skipping the time with a shot of guards running. This sequence is faster than real time, and the contrast with the siren shows how time in the news reporters world is faster paced than the world around them. Hildy joins the chaos shouting "HEY!", providing a final contrast to the start of the scene where she described the idyllic and calm city life she was originally headed for.<ref>{{Citation|title=3. Chasing Film Narrative|date=2019-12-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/9780520941199-007|work=Body Shots|pages=85–103|publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.1525/9780520941199-007 |isbn=9780520941199 |s2cid=226775454 |access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref>

Throughout this sequence, Hawks is explicit about the passage of time and focus of characters through his edits and mocks the slow Albany life Hildy begins with by showcasing the romantic frenzy of news life through shot timing, continuity of action, and shifting attention-grabbing elements.<ref>{{Citation|title=Editing procedure|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203427866_chapter_4|work=Film and Video Editing|year=1981 |pages=64–82|place=Abingdon, UK|publisher=Taylor & Francis|doi=10.4324/9780203427866_chapter_4 |isbn=978-0-203-44690-4 |access-date=2021-10-22}}</ref>

=== Women reporters ===
According to [[Pauline Kael]], all female reporters in newspaper films are based on [[Adela Rogers St. Johns]].{{sfn|Haskell|1974|p=134}}

==Legacy==
''His Girl Friday'' (often along with ''[[Bringing Up Baby]]'' and ''[[Twentieth Century (film)|Twentieth Century]]'') is cited as an archetype of the screwball comedy genre.{{sfn|Brookes|2016|p=2}} In 1993, the [[Library of Congress]] selected ''His Girl Friday'' for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{cite web| title= U.S. National Film Registry — Titles| url= https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/Web/Unofficial/Movies/NFR-Titles.html#1993 | work= Clamen's Movie Information Collection| first= Stewart M. |last=Clamen| publisher = [[Carnegie Mellon University]] | access-date=July 28, 2013}}</ref> The film ranked 19th on the [[American Film Institute]]'s [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs|100 Years ... 100 Laughs]], a 2000 list of the funniest American comedies.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf | title= America's Funniest Movies | publisher= [[American Film Institute]] | access-date= July 28, 2013 | archive-date= June 24, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160624052741/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/laughs100.pdf | url-status= dead }}</ref> Prior to ''His Girl Friday'', the play ''The Front Page'' had been adapted for the screen once before, in the 1931 film, also called ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]'', produced by [[Howard Hughes]], with [[Adolphe Menjou]] and [[Pat O'Brien (actor)|Pat O'Brien]] in the starring roles.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fristoe |first1=Roger |last2=Nixon |first2=Rob |title=The Front Page (1931) |url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/64127 |website=Film Article |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=2 July 2018}}</ref> In this first film adaptation of the Broadway play of the same title (written by former Chicago newsmen Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur), Hildy Johnson was male.<ref name="NYT" />

''His Girl Friday'' was dramatized as a one-hour radio play on the September 30, 1940, broadcast of ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]'', with [[Claudette Colbert]], [[Fred MacMurray]] and [[Jack Carson]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bU0xAAAAIBAJ&pg=5029%2C2483635&q=Radio+Theater+His+Girl+Friday+Claudette+Colbert+Fred+MacMurray |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Willkie and Wallace to be Network Speakers Tonight |newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette |date=1940-09-30 |access-date=2023-04-14 }}</ref> It was dramatized again with a half-hour version on ''[[The Screen Guild Theater]]'' on March 30, 1941, with Grant and Russell reprising their film roles.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PfUaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6359%2C2752286 |title=TONIGHT - 7:30 WJAS (advertisement) |page=3 (Section 5) |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |date=1941-03-30 |access-date=2018-08-23 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/ScreenGuildTheater/Sgt_41-03-30_ep080_His_Girl_Friday.mp3|title=Screen Guild Theater|date=March 26, 2007|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> ''The Front Page'' was remade in a [[The Front Page (1974 film)|1974 Billy Wilder movie]] starring [[Walter Matthau]] as Walter Burns, [[Jack Lemmon]] as Hildy Johnson, and [[Susan Sarandon]] as his fiancée.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Canby |first1=Vincent |title=Wilder's Uneven Film of 'Front Page' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/19/archives/wilders-uneven-film-of-front-page-the-cast.html |access-date=27 June 2018 |work=The New York Times  |date=December 19, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Winners and Nominees: The Front Page |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/front-page |website=Golden Globes Awards |publisher=Hollywood Foreign Press Association |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>

''His Girl Friday'' and the original Hecht and MacArthur play were adapted into another stage play ''His Girl Friday'' by playwright [[John Guare]]. This was presented at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in London from May to November 2003, with [[Alex Jennings]] as Burns and [[Zoë Wanamaker]] as Hildy.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tarloff |first1=Erik |title=Theater; The Play of the Movie of the Play |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/movies/theater-the-play-of-the-movie-of-the-play.html |access-date=27 June 2018 |work=The New York Times  |date=July 6, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Billington |first1=Michael |title=His Girl Friday |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/jun/06/theatre.artsfeatures1 |access-date=27 June 2018 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian New and Media Limited |date=June 6, 2003}}</ref> The 1988 film ''[[Switching Channels]]'' was loosely based on ''His Girl Friday'', with [[Burt Reynolds]] in the Walter Burns role, [[Kathleen Turner]] in the Hildy Johnson role, and [[Christopher Reeve]] in the role of Bruce.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/04/movies/film-turner-in-switching-channels.html|title=Film: Turner in 'Switching Channels'|first=Vincent|last=Canby|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=March 4, 1988}}</ref> In December 2017 Peter Giser, the artistic director of the Snowglobe Theatre, an independent theatre based in Montreal, Canada, adapted the script for the stage, expanded some characters, and made the play more accessible to modern audiences. It was performed that December after Snowglobe obtained copyright status of this adapted version.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Toben |first1=Byron |title=His Girl Friday: a fast paced witty show |url=https://www.westmountmag.ca/his-girl-friday/ |access-date=October 29, 2018 |work=Westmount Magazine |publisher=Visionnaires}}</ref>

Director [[Quentin Tarantino]] has named ''His Girl Friday'' as one of his favorite movies.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Greatest Films Poll - 2012 - Quentin Tarantino|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/1134|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825234900/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/1134|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 25, 2012|access-date=December 14, 2014|publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref> In the 2004 French film ''[[Notre musique]]'', the film is used by Godard as he explains the basic of filmmaking, specifically the [[shot reverse shot]]. As he explains this concept, two stills from ''His Girl Friday'' are shown with Cary Grant in one photo and Rosalind Russell in the other. He explains that upon looking closely, the two shots are actually the same shot, "because the director is incapable of seeing the difference between a man and a woman."{{sfn|McElhaney|2016|p=199}}

Rosalind Russell's performance as Hildy Johnson was cited{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} as the model for the character of Lois Lane in the [[Superman]] franchise.

==See also==
* [[Public domain film]]
* [[List of American films of 1940]]
* [[List of films in the public domain in the United States]]

==References==
'''Informational notes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Birmingham |first1=Stephen |title="The rest of us" The rise of America's eastern European Jews |date=1984 |publisher=Little |location=Boston |isbn=0316096474 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtLSCgAAQBAJ&q=his+girl+friday+pincus+pettibone&pg=PT161 |access-date=May 21, 2019}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bogdanovich |first1=Peter |title=Who the Devil Made it: Conversations With Legendary Film Directors |date=1997 |publisher=The Ballantine Publishing Group |location=New York |isbn=9780307817457 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBPHL2sQ3JoC&q=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&pg=PT500 |access-date=October 29, 2018}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bordwell |first1=David |title=Narration in the Fiction Film |date=1985 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, Wisconsin |isbn=978-0299101701}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Brookes |editor1-first=Ian |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |location=London |isbn=9781844575411}}
* {{cite book |last1=Danks |first1=Adrian |editor1-last=Brookes |editor1-first=Ian |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |location=London |isbn=9781844575411 |pages=35–38 |chapter='Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?' Space, Place and Community in the Cinema of Howard Hawks}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dibbern |first1=Doug |editor1-last=Brookes |editor1-first=Ian |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=9781844575411 |page=230 |chapter=Irresolvable Circularity: Narrative Closure and Nihilism in ''Only Angels Have Wings''}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fetherling |first1=Doug |title=The Five Lives of Ben Hecht |date=1977 |publisher=Lester and Orpen Ltd |location=Toronto |isbn=978-0919630857}}
* {{cite book |last1=Grindon |first1=Leger |title=The Hollywood romantic comedy: Conventions, history, controversies |date=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Oxford |isbn=9781405182669 |doi=10.1002/9781444395969 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Haskell |first1=Molly |title=From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies |date=1974 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0226318844}}
* {{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Jeffrey Brown |title=Ben Hecht: Hollywood Screenwriter |date=1985 |publisher=UMI Research Press |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |isbn=978-0835715713}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mast |first1=Gerald |title=Howard Hawks, Storyteller |url=https://archive.org/details/howardhawksstory0000mast |url-access=registration |date=1982 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195030914}}
* {{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Todd |title=Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood |date=1997 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0802115980}}
* {{cite book |last1=McElhaney |first1=Joe |editor1-last=Brookes |editor1-first=Ian |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |location=London |isbn=9781844575411 |page=199 |chapter=Red Line 7000: Fatal Disharmonies}}
* {{cite journal |last1=McElhaney |first1=Joe |title=Howard Hawks: American Gesture |journal=Journal of Film and Video |date=Spring–Summer 2006 |volume=58 |issue=1–2 |pages=31–45 |id={{ProQuest|2170419}} }}
* {{cite book |last1=Neale |first1=Steve |editor1-last=Brookes |editor1-first=Ian |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |location=London |isbn=9781844575411 |page=110 |chapter=Gestures, Movements and Actions in Rio Bravo}}
* {{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Gene |title=Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder |date=2010 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=9780813125701 |page=308 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5uohNoRFkwIC&pg=PT355|access-date=August 7, 2018}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schlotterbeck |first1=Jesse |title=Howard Hawks: New Perspective |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave |location=London |isbn=9781844575411 |page=68 |chapter=Hawks's 'UnHawksian' Biopic: Sergeant York}}
{{Refend}}

'''Further reading'''
* {{cite journal |last1=Walters |first1=James |title=Making Light of the Dark: Understanding the World of His Girl Friday |journal=Journal of Film and Video |date=2008 |volume=60 |issue=3/4 |pages=90–102 |jstor=20688604 |doi=10.1353/jfv.0.0014 |s2cid=143677999 |url=http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/103250447/waltersj2008making.pdf }}
* {{cite web |title=Collection on His Girl Friday, 1940|url=http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/archival_objects/123795 |website=BYU Library Special Collections}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes}}
*{{Internet Archive film | HisGirlFriday-1940 }}

{{Howard Hawks}}
{{Charles Lederer}}
{{Ben Hecht}}
{{The Front Page}}

[[Category:1940 films]]
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[[Category:1940s screwball comedy films]]
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[[Category:Comedy of remarriage films]]
[[Category:Films about capital punishment]]
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[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:Films directed by Howard Hawks]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Charles Lederer]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
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