101 Things You Didn't Know about the Film

Marilyn Monroe required 47 takes to get "It's me, Sugar" correct, instead saying either "Sugar, it's me" or "It's Sugar, me". After take 30, Billy Wilder had the line written on a blackboard. Another scene required Monroe to rummage through some drawers and say "Where's the bourbon?" After 40 takes of her saying "Where's the whiskey?", 'Where's the bottle?", or "Where's the bonbon?", Wilder pasted the correct line in one of the drawers. After Monroe became confused about which drawer contained the line, Wilder had it pasted in every drawer. Fifty-nine takes were required for this scene and when she finally does say it, she has her back to the camera, leading some to wonder if Wilder finally gave up and had it dubbed.

When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon first put on the female make-up and costumes, they walked around the Goldwyn Studios lot to see if they could "pass" as women. Then they tried using mirrors in public ladies rooms to fix their makeup, and when none of the women using it complained, they knew they could be convincing as women. There is a scene on the train recreating this moment.

Marilyn Monroe wanted the film to be shot in color (her contract stipulated that all her films were to be in color), but Billy Wilder convinced her to let it be shot in black and white when costume tests revealed that the makeup that Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon wore gave their faces a green tinge.

Jack Lemmon wrote that the first sneak preview had a bad reaction with many audience walkouts. Many studio personnel and agents offered advice to Billy Wilder on what scenes to reshoot, add and cut. Lemmon asked Wilder what he was going to do. Wilder responded: "Why, nothing. This is a very funny movie and I believe in it just as it is. Maybe this is the wrong neighborhood in which to have shown it. At any rate, I don't panic over one preview. It's a hell of a movie." Wilder held the next preview in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, and the audience stood up and cheered.

Tony Curtis has said that he asked Billy Wilder if he could imitate Cary Grant for his stint as the millionaire in the movie. Wilder liked it and they shot it that way. Apparently, Grant saw the parody of himself and stated, "I don't talk like that."

Stories of the difficulty that cast and crew had with Marilyn Monroe during the making of this film have grown to almost mythical proportions. In the "farewell" telephone conversation between Monroe and Tony Curtis, her side-to-side eye movements clearly reveal that she was reading her lines directly from an off-screen blackboard. According to Curtis, Monroe was routinely 2 to 3 hours late to the set, and occasionally refused to leave her dressing room.

Upon its original release, Kansas banned the film from being shown in the state, explaining that cross-dressing was "too disturbing for Kansans".

A cabaret dancer (a man who played women on stage) tried to teach Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to walk in heels. After about a week, Lemmon declined his help, saying he didn't want to walk like a woman, but ‘a man trying to walk like a woman’.

In 2008, a Californian man who found a little black dress in his closet was stunned when appraisers for U.S. TV series Antiques Roadshow (1997) determined it once belonged to Marilyn Monroe. The frock - which Monroe was sewn into for Some Like It Hot (1959) - was estimated to be worth $250,000
A preview audience laughed so hard after Daphne's announcement of the engagement to Osgood, that a lot of the dialogue was missed. It was re-shot with pauses (and the maraca gimmick) added to allow for this.

Marilyn Monroe was pregnant during the filming, as a result she looked considerably heavier. She had several miscarriages in her life. Due to her pregnancy, most of the publicity still photos were posed for by both Sandra Warner (who had an uncredited role as one of the band members) and Monroe's frequent stand-in Evelyn Moriarty with Monroe's head superimposed later.

According to Jack Lemmon, George Raft spent hours teaching him and Joe E. Brown how to tango.

Billy Wilder referring to Marilyn Monroe while making the movie: "We were in mid-flight, and there was a nut on the plane." Indeed, Wilder publicly blasted Monroe for her behaviour, and she was not invited to the wrap party.

Jerry Lewis was offered the role of Jerry/Daphne but declined because he didn't want to dress in drag. When Jack Lemmon received an Oscar nomination for the role that Lewis gave up, Lewis claims he sent him chocolates every year to thank him and now regrets not taking the part.

Director Billy Wilder originally wanted Frank Sinatra as Jerry/Daphne.

The resort scenes were filmed entirely at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California. One reason why Billy Wilder chose this location was Marilyn Monroe's ongoing personal problems. He wanted a location where she could live on site and not have to be transported to another hotel or the studio.

Tony Curtis's voice as Josephine was dubbed by Paul Frees (according to co-writer I.A.L. Diamond). Curtis confirmed it by stating the voice you hear as Josephine is a combination of his voice and Frees'. Curtis says he had trouble maintaining a high-pitched voice for an entire take.

Porgy and Bess (1959) was being filmed right next to where the indoor scenes for this film were being shot. Sammy Davis Jr., Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge frequently visited the set.

The film's working title was "Not Tonight Josephine".

George Raft passes a young hood who is flipping a coin in his hand and he asked him where he learned a "cheap trick" like that. That trick was one that Raft used in Scarface (1932).

Anthony Perkins auditioned for the Jack Lemmon role.

Danny Kaye and Bob Hope were considered for the roles that went to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

Director Billy Wilder had originally planned to cast Mitzi Gaynor in the role of "Sugar Kane Kowalczyk", but when Marilyn Monroe became available, he used her instead.

Marilyn Monroe recorded a vocal version for the theme to the film. It was to be played over the opening credits, but an instrumental overture took its place in the final version. The title track later appeared on an LP in the mid-'70s, with Marilyn's three other songs from the film.

The character of Spats Colombo is in several ways reminiscent to the notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone. Capone was responsible for the Saint Valentine's Day massacre in 1929, in which his rival gang members were gunned down in a nearly identical fashion as shown in the film. The massacre occurred in a Chicago warehouse on Clark Street, which is also mentioned in the film.

The railroad passenger car that was used in this movie (Clover Colony) is now at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it can be used in excursion/local service.

In Russia, the film is titled "V dzhaze tolko devushki," literally "In Jazz, There Are Only Girls," or poetically and figuratively "Only Girls Are Allowed In Jazz", thought by some to be a much more appropriate title.

Marilyn Monroe originally didn't want to play Sugar. She said "I don't want to play someone who can't tell Daphne and Josephine are really men dressed in drag".

Original 1959 cinema poster

Original 1959 cinema poster

Original 1959 cinema poster

Reception

Some Like it Hot received widespread critical acclaim. It was voted as the top film on AFI's "100 Years.....100 Laughs" poll in 2000.

Roger Ebert wrote about the film:"Wilder's 1959 comedy is one of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft."

New Yorker's John McCarten referred to the film as "a jolly, carefree enterprise".

The Guardian's Richard Roud claims that Wilder comes "close to perfection" with the film.

Filmsite Review

The all-time outrageous, satirical, comedy farce favourite, Some Like It Hot (1959) is one of the most hilarious, raucous films ever made.

The ribald film is a clever combination of many elements: a spoof of 1920-30's gangster film with period costumes and speakeasies, and romance in a quasi-screwball comedy with one central joke - entangled and deceptive identities, reversed sex roles and cross-dressing. In fact, one of the film's major themes is disguise and masquerade, for example the drag costumes of the two male musicians, Joe's disguise as a Cary Grant-like impotent millionaire, and Jerry's happiness with a real wealthy, yacht-owning retiree.

It's also a black and white film, reminiscent of the early film era, filled with non-stop action, slapstick, and one-liners reminiscent of Marx Brothers and Mack Sennett comedies.

The exceptional film was the all-time highest-grossing comedy of its time, one of the most successful films of 1959, and Wilder's funniest comedy in his career.

Only a few other cross-dressing comedies have come close to approximating the film's daring hilarity: Tootsie (1982), La Cage Aux Folles (1978) and Victor/Victoria (1982). Some Like It Hot also inspired the Broadway musical Sugar that opened in 1972.