I Can Get It for You Wholesale (film)
Encyclopedia
I Can Get It for You Wholesale is a 1951
American
romantic
drama film
directed by Michael Gordon
. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky
is based on Vera Caspary
's loose adaptation of the 1937 novel of the same title by Jerome Weidman
.
's garment district
, the story focuses on ambitious model and fashion design
er Harriet Boyd, production manager Sam Cooper, and salesman Teddy Sherman, who leave their firm to start their own business that specializes in $10.95 dresses. Their plans temporarily are derailed when Harriet's mother refuses to give her the insurance payment the family received when her father died, having promised it to Harriet's younger sister Marge for her wedding. Harriet dupes Marge and her fiance Ray into giving her the money, and Sherboyco Dresses opens for business.
Teddy, who has fallen in love with Harriet, is dismayed when she flirts with lecherous buyer Mr. Savage during a business dinner, so he proposes marriage. She declines his offer, telling him she enjoys her freedom. Her refusal prompts Teddy to try to back out of their partnership, but he discovers their contract is ironclad.
Harriet begins dating J.F. Noble, the owner of a chain of upscale department stores, who wants her to quit and work exclusively for him. Her uncertainty puts her on edge, and when Teddy discusses her change in attitude, she claims she is stressed by overwork and wants to quit. Teddy repeats his offer of marriage and this time Harriet considers accepting. She visits Noble to decline his offer, but Teddy interrupts their meeting, misunderstands her motives, and mistakenly believes her behavior was a ploy designed to lead the way to her departure from Sherboyco. Heartbroken and angry, Teddy departs, and soon after leaves town for a sales trip. During his absence, Harriet shifts money from Sherboyco to a new company she is founding, stops production on Sherboyco's dresses, and begins designing for Noble's department stores.
Unaware what has happened, Teddy continues to take orders for Sherboyco's popular low-cost women's wear while on the road. Not until buyer Hermione Griggs contacts him about an order she has not received does he learn about Harriet's deception. She tries to convince her Sherboyco partners it is in their best interest to align with her at Noble's company, but Sam and Teddy prefer to declare bankruptcy
rather than join forces with the competition. Harriet prepares to sail to Paris with Noble, but at the last moment she realizes her commitment to Sam and Teddy is too important to ignore. She returns to Sherboyco, where she admits she loves Teddy and asks him and Sam to forgive her.
of Weidman's novel had been an ambitious businessman, but his gender was changed to accommodate Twentieth Century Fox contract player Susan Hayward
. She and co-star Dan Dailey
reprised their film roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on March 31, 1952.
Shortly after the film was released, screenwriter Abraham Polonsky was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee
. Although he refused to deny or confirm affiliation with the Communist Party
, he found himself blacklisted
. He continued to write under pseudonym
s, but it was not until Madigan
in 1968 that he received screen credit under his own name.
The film was released in the United Kingdom as This Is My Affair. When it was broadcast on American television in 1962, its title was changed to Only the Best to avoid confusion with the stage musical
based on Weidman's novel that was running on Broadway
at the time.
of the New York Times observed, "In adapting Jerome Weidman's sizzling novel of 1937 to the screen, Vera Caspary has changed practically everything except the title of Mr. Weidman's book. An ambitious model now is the center of attraction, but she does not compare with Harry Bogen, the breezy, unscrupulous Bronxite who left a trail of broken promises in his sweep up Seventh Avenue in the novel. However, give Susan Hayward some quick recognition for bringing to life a hard-shelled dame, who travels just as fast and loose as the screenplay written by Abraham Polonsky permits her to. Within the story framework laid out by Miss Caspary, Mr. Polonsky has written some crisp, double-edged dialogue, but the flavor of the garment industry never is really exploited. This is regrettable because the chief distinction in the way of freshness the picture has to offer are the scenes which reflect the pulse beat of the dress industry — the crowds scurrying along Seventh Avenue amid the traffic of dress carts and the frenetic atmosphere of the showrooms where the buyers are not only baited with dresses but blandishments as well. The camera roves excitingly through this fabulous, hurly-burly in the pictures' opening sequences, but too soon Director Michael Gordon has to face the business of telling the story of a pert young-lady who is determined to climb to the top of the heap . . . With less whitewash and more honesty, I Can Get It for You Wholesale could have been an exciting, instead of just an average good, entertainment."
TV Guide
rated it three out of four stars, calling it a "smooth but not stellar adaptation of Weidman's novel" and "about as accurate an image as one can get of the 'Rag Trade'
circa 1951."
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
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 Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon (film director)
Michael Gordon was an American stage actor and stage and film director.-Life and career:Gordon was born in Baltimore and raised in a middle class Jewish community. He was a member of the Group Theatre , and was blacklisted as a Communist in the days of McCarthyism...
. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Polonsky
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky was an American film director, Academy-Award-nominated screenwriter, essayist, and novelist blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s, in the midst of the McCarthy era.-Early life:...
is based on Vera Caspary
Vera Caspary
Vera Caspary was an American writer of novels, plays, screenplays, and short stories. Her best-known novel Laura was made into a highly successful movie. Though she claimed she was not a "real" mystery writer, her novels effectively merged women's quest for identity and love with murder plots...
's loose adaptation of the 1937 novel of the same title by Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman
Jerome Weidman was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical Fiorello! with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick...
.
Plot
Set in New York CityNew 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...
's garment district
Garment District
Garment District has several uses including:*Garment District, Manhattan - in New York City*Garment District - in Cambridge, Massachusetts*Los Angeles Garment District, also known as the Fashion District*Garment District...
, the story focuses on ambitious model and fashion design
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
er Harriet Boyd, production manager Sam Cooper, and salesman Teddy Sherman, who leave their firm to start their own business that specializes in $10.95 dresses. Their plans temporarily are derailed when Harriet's mother refuses to give her the insurance payment the family received when her father died, having promised it to Harriet's younger sister Marge for her wedding. Harriet dupes Marge and her fiance Ray into giving her the money, and Sherboyco Dresses opens for business.
Teddy, who has fallen in love with Harriet, is dismayed when she flirts with lecherous buyer Mr. Savage during a business dinner, so he proposes marriage. She declines his offer, telling him she enjoys her freedom. Her refusal prompts Teddy to try to back out of their partnership, but he discovers their contract is ironclad.
Harriet begins dating J.F. Noble, the owner of a chain of upscale department stores, who wants her to quit and work exclusively for him. Her uncertainty puts her on edge, and when Teddy discusses her change in attitude, she claims she is stressed by overwork and wants to quit. Teddy repeats his offer of marriage and this time Harriet considers accepting. She visits Noble to decline his offer, but Teddy interrupts their meeting, misunderstands her motives, and mistakenly believes her behavior was a ploy designed to lead the way to her departure from Sherboyco. Heartbroken and angry, Teddy departs, and soon after leaves town for a sales trip. During his absence, Harriet shifts money from Sherboyco to a new company she is founding, stops production on Sherboyco's dresses, and begins designing for Noble's department stores.
Unaware what has happened, Teddy continues to take orders for Sherboyco's popular low-cost women's wear while on the road. Not until buyer Hermione Griggs contacts him about an order she has not received does he learn about Harriet's deception. She tries to convince her Sherboyco partners it is in their best interest to align with her at Noble's company, but Sam and Teddy prefer to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
rather than join forces with the competition. Harriet prepares to sail to Paris with Noble, but at the last moment she realizes her commitment to Sam and Teddy is too important to ignore. She returns to Sherboyco, where she admits she loves Teddy and asks him and Sam to forgive her.
Production
The protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of Weidman's novel had been an ambitious businessman, but his gender was changed to accommodate Twentieth Century Fox contract player Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
. She and co-star Dan Dailey
Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...
reprised their film roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on March 31, 1952.
Shortly after the film was released, screenwriter Abraham Polonsky was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. Although he refused to deny or confirm affiliation with the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, he found himself blacklisted
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
. He continued to write under pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s, but it was not until Madigan
Madigan
Madigan is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Don Siegel and starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda.The screenplay, originally titled Friday, Saturday, Sunday, was adapted by two writers who had been blacklisted in the 1950s, Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodman , based on a novel titled The...
in 1968 that he received screen credit under his own name.
The film was released in the United Kingdom as This Is My Affair. When it was broadcast on American television in 1962, its title was changed to Only the Best to avoid confusion with the stage musical
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I Can Get It for You Wholesale is a musical with music and lyrics by Harold Rome and a book by Jerome Weidman based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand, who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in...
based on Weidman's novel that was running on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the time.
Cast
- Susan HaywardSusan HaywardSusan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
..... Harriet Boyd - Dan DaileyDan DaileyDaniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...
..... Teddy Sherman - George SandersGeorge SandersGeorge Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
..... J.F. Noble - Sam JaffeSam Jaffe (actor)Sam Jaffe was an American actor, teacher, musician and engineer. In 1951, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Asphalt Jungle and appeared in other classic films such as Ben-Hur and The Day the Earth Stood Still...
..... Sam Cooper - Harry von ZellHarry von ZellHarry von Zell , born in Indianapolis, made his mark as an announcer of radio programs and an actor in films and television shows....
..... Mr. Savage - Vicki Cummings ..... Hermione Griggs
- Randy Stuart ..... Marge Boyd
- Ross ElliottRoss ElliottRoss Elliott was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career with Orson Welles in Mercury Theatre, where he performed in Welles' famed radio program The War of the Worlds....
..... Ray - Mary PhilipsMary PhilipsMary Philips was an American stage and film actress.-Biography:Born in New London, Connecticut, she was the only child of Anna Hurley and Charles Philips of New Haven. She was educated in New Haven at what was then St. Mary's Academy. In 1920 she made her stage debut as a chorus girl...
..... Mrs. Boyd
Critical reception
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of the New York Times observed, "In adapting Jerome Weidman's sizzling novel of 1937 to the screen, Vera Caspary has changed practically everything except the title of Mr. Weidman's book. An ambitious model now is the center of attraction, but she does not compare with Harry Bogen, the breezy, unscrupulous Bronxite who left a trail of broken promises in his sweep up Seventh Avenue in the novel. However, give Susan Hayward some quick recognition for bringing to life a hard-shelled dame, who travels just as fast and loose as the screenplay written by Abraham Polonsky permits her to. Within the story framework laid out by Miss Caspary, Mr. Polonsky has written some crisp, double-edged dialogue, but the flavor of the garment industry never is really exploited. This is regrettable because the chief distinction in the way of freshness the picture has to offer are the scenes which reflect the pulse beat of the dress industry — the crowds scurrying along Seventh Avenue amid the traffic of dress carts and the frenetic atmosphere of the showrooms where the buyers are not only baited with dresses but blandishments as well. The camera roves excitingly through this fabulous, hurly-burly in the pictures' opening sequences, but too soon Director Michael Gordon has to face the business of telling the story of a pert young-lady who is determined to climb to the top of the heap . . . With less whitewash and more honesty, I Can Get It for You Wholesale could have been an exciting, instead of just an average good, entertainment."
TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
rated it three out of four stars, calling it a "smooth but not stellar adaptation of Weidman's novel" and "about as accurate an image as one can get of the 'Rag Trade'
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
circa 1951."