Howard Hawks hoped to capture the screwball comic fervor of his 1938 film Bringing Up Baby with his 1952 comedy Monkey Business. As in the earlier film, Cary Grant stars as an absent-minded professor involved in a research project. This time he's a chemist seeking a "fountain of youth" formula that will revitalize middle-agers both mentally and physically. Though Grant's own laboratory experiments yield little fruit, a lab monkey, let loose from its cage, mixes a few random chemicals and comes up with just the formula Grant is looking for. This mixture is inadvertently dumped in the lab's water supply; the fun begins when staid, uptight Grant drinks some of the "bitter" water, then begins cutting up like a teenager. A harmless afternoon on the town with luscious secretary Marilyn Monroe rouses the ire of Grant's wife Ginger Rogers, but her behavior is even more infantile when she falls under the spell of the youth formula. Everyone remembers the best line in Monkey Business: foxy-grandpa research supervisor Charles Coburn hands the curvacious Monroe a letter and says "Get someone to type this". Even better is his next line: after Monroe sashays out of the room, Coburn turns to Grant and, with eyes atwinkle, murmurs "Anyone can type." Likewise amusing is Monkey Business's pre-credits gag, wherein Cary Grant opens a door and is about to step forward when director Hawks, off-camera, admonishes "Not yet, Cary." Among the co-conspirators on Monkey Business's carefree script are Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer and I.A.L. Diamond, with an original story by Harry Segall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan) as their source.
Belinda Keller | |
Jr. Harry Carey | |
Marc Matney | |
Cary Grant | Dr. Barnaby Fulton |
Shannon Settlemyre | |
Steve Rassin | |
Ginger Rogers | Mrs. Edwina Fulton |
Charles Coburn | Mr. Oliver Oxley |
Milton Krasner | Cinematographer |
Marilyn Monroe | Miss Lois Laurel |
Hugh Marlowe | Hank Entwhistle |
Henri Letondal | Dr. Jerome Kitzel |
Robert Cornthwaite | Dr. Zoldeck |
Charlotte Austin | Student (uncredited) |
Larry Keating | G.J. Culverly |
Harry Bartell | Scientist (uncredited) |
Faire Binney | Dowager (uncredited) |
Douglas Spencer | Dr. Brunner |
Harry Carey Jr. | Reporter (uncredited) |
Kathleen Freeman | Mrs. Brannigan, Neighbor (uncredited) |
Olive Carey | Johnny's Mother (uncredited) |
Esther Dale | Mrs. Rhinelander |
George Winslow | Little Indian |
Harry Carter | Scientist (uncredited) |
Ronnie Clark | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Milton R. Krasner | Cinematographer |
Russ Clark | Policeman (uncredited) |
William B. Murphy | Editor |
Heinie Conklin | The House Painter (uncredited) |
Leigh Harline | Composer |
George Eldredge | Mr. Peabody, Auto Salesman (uncredited) |
George Patrick | Art Director |
Lyle R. Wheeler | Art Director |
Terry Goodman | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Dabbs Greer | Cab Driver (uncredited) |
Howard Hawks | Man In Opening Credits (voice) (uncredited) |
Marjorie Holliday | Oxley Receptionist (uncredited) |
Rudy Lee | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Louis Lettieri | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Mickey Little | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Emmett Lynn | Gus, the Janitor (uncredited) |
Paul Maxey | Board Member (uncredited) |
John McKee | Photographer (uncredited) |
Bill McLean | Bellboy (uncredited) |
Joseph Mell | The Barber (uncredited) |
Nico Minardos | Good-looking guy at pool (uncredited) |
Ray Montgomery | Policeman (uncredited) |
Roger Moore | Bit Man (uncredited) |
Brad Morrow | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Forbes Murray | Board Member (uncredited) |
Robert Nichols | Garage Man (uncredited) |
Marjorie Holiday | Oxley Receptionist |
Jerry Paris | Scientist (uncredited) |
Melinda Plowman | Bit Girl (uncredited) |
Maudie Prickett | Clerk (uncredited) |
Jimmy Roebuck | Bit Boy (uncredited) |
Harry Seymour | Clothing Store Salesman (uncredited) |
Jerry Sheldon | Joe, the Guard (uncredited) |
Olan Soule | Pickwick Arms Desk Clerk (uncredited) |
Gil Stratton | Yale Man (uncredited) |
Mary Field | Clerk |
Ruth Warren | Laundress (uncredited) |
Mack Williams | Board Member (uncredited) |
Isabel Withers | Laundress (uncredited) |
W.D. Flick | Sound Department |
Roger Heman Sr. | Sound Department |
Thomas Little | Set Decorator |
Walter M. Scott | Set Decorator |
Travilla | Custome Designer |
Ben Nye | Makeup Artist |
Esperanza Corona | hair stylist |
Louise Miehle | hair stylist |
Bill Riddle | Makeup Artist |
Allan Snyder | makeup artist: Miss Monroe |
Helen Turpin | hair stylist |
Paul Helmick | Assistant Director |
Don Torpin | Assistant Director |
Ralph G. Hansen | props |
Fred R. Simpson | props |