Baby Doll
Encyclopedia
Baby Doll is a 1956 black comedy
/drama film
directed by Elia Kazan
. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams
, and adapted by Williams from his own one-act play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. It stars Karl Malden
, Carroll Baker
and Eli Wallach
, in his feature-film debut, and features Mildred Dunnock
and Rip Torn
.
The film was controversial when it was released, provoking a response from the National Legion of Decency
, which attempted to have the film banned. Nevertheless, the film received nominations for major awards. Elia Kazan won the Golden Globe Award
for Best Director and the film was nominated for four other Golden Globe awards, as well as four Academy awards and four BAFTA Awards awards, with Eli Wallach taking the BAFTA prize for "Most Promising Newcomer to Film."
The film is credited with originating the name and popularity of the babydoll
nightgown
, which derives from the costume worn by Baker's character.
, failing, bigoted, middle-aged cotton gin
-owner Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden
) has been married to pretty, empty-headed 19-year old virgin Baby Doll Meighan (Carroll Baker
) for two years. Archie impatiently waits for Baby Doll's 20th birthday just a few days away when, by prior agreement with Baby Doll's dying father, the marriage can finally be consummated. In the meantime, Baby Doll still sleeps in a crib, wearing childish shorty-nightgowns and sucking her thumb, while Archie spies on her through a hole in a wall of their decrepit antebellum mansion, "Tiger Tail".
Archie's competitor, Sicilian Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach
), who owns a newer and more modern cotton gin, has taken away all of Archie's business, and Archie retaliates by burning down Vacarro's gin. Suspecting Archie as the arsonist, Vacarro plans his revenge: he will pursue and seduce Baby Doll and terrorize her into signing an affidavit admitting her husband's guilt.
Cast notes
in the J.C. Burrus house, built in 1848, the only antebellum house in Bolivar County. Other locations were Greenville, Mississippi
and New York City
. According to Kazan, Williams did not stay long while the film was shooting in Benoit, because of the way people looked at him. Some locals were used for minor roles, and one, "Boll Weevil" not only acted but was the production unit's utility man as well.
The working titles for the film included the name of the play and "Mississippi Woman"; actress Carroll Baker claims that Kazan changed the title to Baby Doll as a present to her. Although Baker was Kazan's first choice for the role, Williams would have preferred to see Marilyn Monroe
get the part.
noted that it was the first time in years that the Legion had condemned a major American film which had received the approval of the Code.
Other religious figures became involved in the controversy surrounding the film, including Francis J. Spellman, the Catholic Archbishop of New York, who called it "sinful" and forbade Catholics in the archdiocese to see the film and James A. Pike of the Episcopal
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, who countered Spellman by pointing out that there was more "sensuality" in the film The Ten Commandments
than there was in Baby Doll, and argued that "the church's duty is not to prevent adults from having the experience of this picture, but to give them a wholesome basis for interpretation and serious answers to questions that were asked with seriousness." Others agreed with Pike, including the Catholic Archbishop of Paris
and the head of the Catholic film Institute in the U.K., while the Catholic Bishop of Albany, New York
also forbade Catholics to see the film, which the American Civil Liberties Union
objected to as a violation of the First Amendment
.
The movie was banned in many countries, such as Sweden
, due to what was called exaggerated sexual content. The film was also condemned by Time
magazine, which called it the "dirtiest American-made motion picture that had ever been legally exhibited". Due in part to the attempts to have it banned or suppressed, the film was not a commercial success. Kazan reported that it never made a profit.
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
/drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, and adapted by Williams from his own one-act play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. It stars Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
, Carroll Baker
Carroll Baker
Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...
and Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
, in his feature-film debut, and features Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...
and Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
.
The film was controversial when it was released, provoking a response from the National Legion of Decency
National Legion of Decency
The National Legion of Decency was an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, in motion pictures...
, which attempted to have the film banned. Nevertheless, the film received nominations for major awards. Elia Kazan won the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Director and the film was nominated for four other Golden Globe awards, as well as four Academy awards and four BAFTA Awards awards, with Eli Wallach taking the BAFTA prize for "Most Promising Newcomer to Film."
The film is credited with originating the name and popularity of the babydoll
Babydoll
A babydoll is a short, sometimes sleeveless, loose fitting nightgown or negligee intended as nightwear for women. It sometimes has formed cups called a bralette for cleavage with an attached loose fitting skirt falling in length usually between the upper thigh and the belly button...
nightgown
Nightgown
A nightgown is a loosely hanging item of nightwear. Nowadays the term is almost exclusively applied to women's nightwear. A nightgown is typically made from cotton, silk, satin, or nylon...
, which derives from the costume worn by Baker's character.
Plot
In the Mississippi DeltaMississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
, failing, bigoted, middle-aged cotton gin
Cotton gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...
-owner Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
) has been married to pretty, empty-headed 19-year old virgin Baby Doll Meighan (Carroll Baker
Carroll Baker
Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...
) for two years. Archie impatiently waits for Baby Doll's 20th birthday just a few days away when, by prior agreement with Baby Doll's dying father, the marriage can finally be consummated. In the meantime, Baby Doll still sleeps in a crib, wearing childish shorty-nightgowns and sucking her thumb, while Archie spies on her through a hole in a wall of their decrepit antebellum mansion, "Tiger Tail".
Archie's competitor, Sicilian Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
), who owns a newer and more modern cotton gin, has taken away all of Archie's business, and Archie retaliates by burning down Vacarro's gin. Suspecting Archie as the arsonist, Vacarro plans his revenge: he will pursue and seduce Baby Doll and terrorize her into signing an affidavit admitting her husband's guilt.
Cast
- Karl MaldenKarl MaldenKarl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
as Archie Lee Meighan - Carroll BakerCarroll BakerCarroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...
as Baby Doll Meighan - Eli WallachEli WallachEli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
as Silva Vacarro - Mildred DunnockMildred DunnockMildred Dunnock was an American theater, film and television actress.- Early life :Born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Western Senior High School, Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties...
as Aunt Rose Comfort - Lonny ChapmanLonny ChapmanLonny Chapman was an American television actor best known for his numerous guest star appearances on detective dramas, including Quincy, M.E., The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and NYPD Blue...
as Rock - Eades Hogue as Town Marshal
- Noah Williamson as Deputy
- R.G. Armstrong as Townsman Sid (voice only, uncredited)
- Madeleine SherwoodMadeleine SherwoodMadeleine Sherwood is a Canadian actress of stage, film and television. She is widely known for her portrayals of Mae/Sister Woman and Miss Lucy in both the Broadway and film versions of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth...
as Nurse in Doctor's Office (uncredited) - Rip TornRip TornElmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
as Dentist (uncredited)
Cast notes
- Both Eli Wallach and Rip Torn made their film debuts in Baby Doll. It was Carroll Baker's second film, having previously appeared in Giant.
Production
Although the film's title card says "Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll", and the film is based on Williams' one-act play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, in his autobiography director Elia Kazan claimed that Williams was only "half-heartedly" involved in writing the screenplay, of which Kazan himself actually wrote the majority. The film was shot in Benoit, MississippiBenoit, Mississippi
Benoit is a town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 611 at the 2000 census. The 1956 movie Baby Doll was shot on location in Benoit; many local residents played in minor roles.-Geography:...
in the J.C. Burrus house, built in 1848, the only antebellum house in Bolivar County. Other locations were Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 48,633 at the 2000 census, but according to the 2009 census bureau estimates, it has since declined to 42,764, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the county seat of Washington...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. According to Kazan, Williams did not stay long while the film was shooting in Benoit, because of the way people looked at him. Some locals were used for minor roles, and one, "Boll Weevil" not only acted but was the production unit's utility man as well.
The working titles for the film included the name of the play and "Mississippi Woman"; actress Carroll Baker claims that Kazan changed the title to Baby Doll as a present to her. Although Baker was Kazan's first choice for the role, Williams would have preferred to see Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
get the part.
Response
The film received a seal from the Motion Picture Code, but the Catholic Legion of Decency gave it a "C" ("Condemned") rating and called it "grievously offensive to Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency." They succeeded in having the film withdrawn from release in most U.S. theaters because of their objections over its sexual themes. VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
noted that it was the first time in years that the Legion had condemned a major American film which had received the approval of the Code.
Other religious figures became involved in the controversy surrounding the film, including Francis J. Spellman, the Catholic Archbishop of New York, who called it "sinful" and forbade Catholics in the archdiocese to see the film and James A. Pike of the Episcopal
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, who countered Spellman by pointing out that there was more "sensuality" in the film The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
than there was in Baby Doll, and argued that "the church's duty is not to prevent adults from having the experience of this picture, but to give them a wholesome basis for interpretation and serious answers to questions that were asked with seriousness." Others agreed with Pike, including the Catholic Archbishop of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the head of the Catholic film Institute in the U.K., while the Catholic Bishop of Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
also forbade Catholics to see the film, which the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
objected to as a violation of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
.
The movie was banned in many countries, such as Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, due to what was called exaggerated sexual content. The film was also condemned by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, which called it the "dirtiest American-made motion picture that had ever been legally exhibited". Due in part to the attempts to have it banned or suppressed, the film was not a commercial success. Kazan reported that it never made a profit.
Awards and honors
- Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominations (1956)- Best Actress – Carroll Baker
- Best Adapted Screenplay – Tennessee Williams
- Best Black and White Cinematography – Boris Kaufman
- Best Supporting Actress – Mildred Dunnock
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards nominations (1957)
- Most Promising Newcomer – Eli Wallach – winner
- Best Film from any Source
- Best Foreign Actor – Karl Malden
- Best Foreign Actress – Carroll Baker
- Hollywood Foreign Press AssociationHollywood Foreign Press AssociationThe Hollywood Foreign Press Association is an organization composed of working journalists who cover the United States film industry for a variety of outlets, including newspapers and magazines in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Today, the 90 members of the HFPA represent at least 55...
Golden Globe Awards nominations (1957)- Best Director – Elia Kazan – winner
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Karl Malden
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Eli Wallach
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Carroll Baker
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Mildred Dunnock
- Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
WGA Awards nominations (1957)- Best Written American Drama (Screen) – Tennessee Williams