Misplaced Pages

#927072

45-593: This was Lehman's first produced screenplay, and its plot deviates substantially from the novel. He went on to write Sabrina , North by Northwest , West Side Story , and other films. The film is one of few in Hollywood history without a musical score. While in New York City to meet with investment bankers, 56-year-old Avery Bullard, president and driving force of the Tredway Corporation,

90-514: A Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of menacing spies (led by James Mason and Martin Landau ). Lehman later said he intended North by Northwest to be "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures." The writing process took Lehman a year, including several periods of writer's block, as well as a trip to Mount Rushmore to do research for

135-496: A dark and vacant indoor tennis court. Distraught, she leaves her father a suicide note and then starts all eight cars in the closed garage in order to kill herself. She is passing out from the fumes when Linus, David's older brother, opens the door, discovers her, and carries her back to her quarters above the garage when she does pass out. After two years in Paris, Sabrina returns home an attractive, sophisticated woman. When her father

180-464: A freelance writer. Lehman felt that freelancing was a "very nervous way to make a living", so he began writing copy for a publicity firm that focused on plays and celebrities. He drew from this experience for the screenplay of the film Sweet Smell of Success (1957), which he co-wrote with playwright Clifford Odets . Lehman also published many short stories and novellas in magazines such as Colliers , Redbook and Cosmopolitan . These attracted

225-494: A major furniture manufacturing company in the town of Millburgh, Pennsylvania, drops dead in the street. As he collapses, he drops his wallet. A bystander picks it up, steals the cash, and shoves the wallet into a wastebasket. As a result, there is no way to immediately identify the body. George Caswell, a member of the Tredway board of directors and one of the investment bankers with whom Bullard had just met, sees what he believes

270-420: A newspaper that the man had the initials "A.B." on his clothes and cufflinks, he calls the police to tip them off to the identity of the deceased. Bullard had never named his successor nor had he appointed an executive vice-president since the previous one died. Over the next 28 hours, Tredway's executives vie for the position of president. Company controller Loren Shaw arranges Bullard's funeral and coordinates

315-404: A profitable opportunity for a great corporate merger between Larrabee Industries and Elizabeth's very wealthy father's business. Instead of confronting David about his irresponsibility, Linus pretends to sympathize with him. Linus manipulates David to sit down on champagne glasses he has placed in his pockets, and David is incapacitated for a few days. Linus now takes David's place with Sabrina, on

360-452: A sample of 80 reviews. The critical consensus reads "With its humorous script and its stars' immense charm, Sabrina remains a resonant romantic gem." There have been Indian adaptations of the film. Manapanthal (1961) was a Tamil version, followed in the same year by a Telugu version, Intiki Deepam Illale . In addition Sabrina was the inspiration for the successful Hindi film Yeh Dillagi (1994), although with some changes to

405-529: A screenplay for the Noël Coward classic Hay Fever , and one for a musical version of Zorba the Greek . The latter was intended for direction by Robert Wise and starring actors Anthony Quinn and John Travolta . In 1977, Lehman published the bestselling novel The French Atlantic Affair , about a group of unemployed, middle-class Americans who hijack a French cruise ship for a $ 35 million ransom. It

450-463: A smile on their lips and a warm glow in their hearts". Variety noted that "the Script is long on glibly quipping dialog, dropped with a seemingly casual air, and broadly played situations. The splendid trouping delivers them style. Leavening the chuckles are tugs at the heart." On film aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average of 7.8/10 and

495-613: A three-times-married, non-working playboy, has never paid romantic attention to Sabrina. Since she has lived for years on the Larrabee estate in Long Island New York with her father, to him, she is still a child. Eavesdropping on a party at the mansion the night before she is to leave to attend the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, Sabrina watches, follows, and listens as David entices yet another woman into

SECTION 10

#1732793231928

540-431: Is Bullard's body in the street below their offices. He tells his broker to make a short sale of as much Tredway stock as he can before the end of trading that Friday afternoon. Caswell plans to make an easy profit and cover the sale by buying Tredway stock at "a 10-point discount" on Monday, when news of Bullard's death will push the stock price down. Caswell begins to doubt that it was Bullard who died, but when he reads in

585-436: Is concerned more with short-term accounting gains and satisfying the stockholders than the quality of the company's actual products and long-term growth. He gains the proxy of Julia Tredway, the daughter of the company's founder, who is a major shareholder and board member. She had been considering selling her stock after realizing the futility of her difficult romantic relationship with and love for Bullard after many years. She

630-453: Is delayed from picking her up at the station, flirtatious David, passing by, offers her a lift without recognizing her. She accepts. Once David realizes who she is, he is quickly drawn to Sabrina and invites her to join him at a party at the mansion, and then later invites her to the indoor tennis court. When Linus sees this, he fears that David's imminent marriage to Elizabeth Tyson may be endangered. If that engagement were broken it would ruin

675-498: Is having an affair with his secretary, Eva Bardeman, which Shaw uses to blackmail him. Vice President of Manufacturing Jesse Grimm decides to retire instead of seeking the top job. But while he is no fan of Shaw's, he has serious reservations about the relative youth of the only other potential contender, Don Walling, the idealistic Vice President for Design and Development. All these machinations result in Shaw having enough votes to get

720-541: The 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his achievements and his influential works for the screen. He was the first screenwriter to receive that honor. He received two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America for screenplays of suspense films he wrote for director Alfred Hitchcock : North by Northwest (1959), his only original screenplay, and Family Plot (1976), one of numerous adaptations. Lehman

765-663: The Long Island Rail Road . The building at 30 Broad Street in Manhattan's financial district was used as the location for the headquarters of the Larrabee company. The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on September 23, 1954 and was number one at the US box office for two weeks. Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times on its original release, lauded the film, thinking it, "in our wistful estimation,

810-510: The Monday morning: a new executive vice-president is to be elected. Cast notes: Dore Schary , MGM's head of production, originally intended to produce the film himself, but turned it over to John Houseman because he was too busy. Schary intended for the film to have no musical score, using sounds such as "church bells, sirens, the roar of traffic, crowd noises, horns, the squeal of tires, faraway screams of brakes." Executive Suite

855-1018: The U.S. and Canada, and $ 903,000 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $ 3,585,000 and a profit of $ 772,000. More than two decades later, the film and novel were adapted into a weekly television series with the same title. Airing on CBS in 1976–1977, the TV version changed the fictional corporate setting to the Cardway Corporation in Los Angeles. Mitchell Ryan starred as company chairman Dan Walling, with Sharon Acker as his wife Helen and Leigh McCloskey and Wendy Phillips as his children, Brian and Stacey. Other series regulars included Stephen Elliott , Byron Morrow , Madlyn Rhue , William Smithers , Paul Lambert , Richard Cox , Trisha Noble , Carl Weintraub , Maxine Stuart , and Ricardo Montalbán . Scheduling opposite Monday Night Football on ABC, and then The Rockford Files on NBC, doomed

900-415: The attention of Hollywood managers, and in the mid-1950s Paramount Pictures signed him to a writing contract. His first film, Executive Suite (1954), was a success. Lehman was asked to collaborate on the romantic comedy Sabrina (1954), which was released the same year and also became a hit. Some of his most notable works are the screenplay adaptations of the musical West Side Story (1961) and

945-439: The company's public reaction. In so doing, he undercuts treasurer Frederick Alderson, one of Bullard's close friends, and this effectively diminishes Alderson in his own eyes so that he does not seek the presidency. Shaw also releases the upcoming quarterly report so that the news of big profits can counter the effect of Bullard's death and perhaps even raise the stock price when the market opens. Ambitious, but narrowly focused, Shaw

SECTION 20

#1732793231928

990-424: The conflicts and collisions that give business its true drama." The film has received critical acclaim from modern day critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 100% based on 9 reviews, with an average score of 8/10. The film was number one at the U.S. box office for four consecutive weeks during May 1954, grossing $ 1,845,000. According to MGM records, the film eventually earned theatrical rentals of $ 2,682,000 in

1035-454: The face. Then, having already arranged a car and a tugboat to wait for Linus, David assists him to rush off and join Sabrina's ship before it leaves the harbor. Once this is accomplished, Linus seeks out Sabrina on board after providing an inside-joke hint that he is there, and they sail away together. Initially, Cary Grant was considered for the role of Linus, but he declined, and the role

1080-463: The few people who initially favored a film adaptation of Edward Albee 's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? . He persuaded studio executive Jack L. Warner to allow him to take on the project, and the film was a critical sensation, garnering many Academy Award nominations. Lehman was also nominated for an Academy Award for producing Hello, Dolly! (1969), starring Barbra Streisand . In 1972, Lehman directed Portnoy's Complaint , based on

1125-403: The film's climax. North by Northwest was one of Lehman's greatest triumphs in Hollywood and a huge hit for Hitchcock. For his efforts, Lehman received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay , as well as a 1960 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. In addition to screenwriting, Lehman tried his hand at producing. He was among

1170-661: The first time in Paris, he assumed that it was Katharine Hepburn in his salon . The location used to portray the Larrabee family's mansion in Glen Cove, New York was 'Hill Grove', the home of George Lewis in Beverly Hills , California. This mansion was later demolished during the 1960s. The location used to portray the Glen Cove train station was the Glen Cove train station on the Oyster Bay Branch of

1215-437: The ideal of stouter furniture and a happier furniture corporation doesn't cause the blood to run hot." Crowther does praise the "quality production and general quality acting of the film", and calls it "a fair endeavor" but notes that "dramatically, it doesn't add up." In its January 1995 issue Fortune magazine published a four-page article, "The Executive as Hero", which praised the film, commenting that it "has set in motion

1260-406: The job even before the board meets. Treasurer Alderson and Walling, however, are determined to thwart Shaw. Walling convinces Alderson to back him. Walling is a strong believer in developing new, higher quality products and more efficient manufacturing methods, although his wife, Mary, is against his giving up his dream of being a full-time designer. At an emergency board meeting on Saturday evening,

1305-464: The machinations, bargaining, and maneuvering culminate in Walling's enthusiasm, vision, and his stirring boardroom speech eventually swaying Grimm, Dudley and Julia Tredway to his side. He is elected unanimously after Shaw accepts his defeat. Shaw then tears up a letter endorsing Caswell's share purchase, much to Caswell's dismay. Walling and his wife embrace. Before leaving, he orders a board meeting for

1350-511: The mega-hit film version of The Sound of Music (1965), another musical. In 1958, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had hired Hitchcock to make a film called The Wreck of the Mary Deare , based on Hammond Innes ' novel of the same name . Collaborating with Lehman, Hitchcock produced North by Northwest (1959) instead. This was one of Lehman's few original screenplays (rather than adaptations). The film starred Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill,

1395-451: The most delightful comedy-romance in years". Crowther also offered praise to Audrey Hepburn's performance, declaring "she is wonderful in it — a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame". Critical reception to Sabrina has been uniformly positive. James Berardinelli gave it 3 out of 4 stars and thought that it "will leave almost all viewers, even those as cold as Linus, with

Executive Suite - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-549: The next day to live in Paris, but without Linus's offered money and other inducements. The following morning Linus has second thoughts and decides to send David to Paris with Sabrina. This means calling off David's wedding with Elizabeth and the big Tyson deal, and Linus schedules a meeting of the Larrabee board to announce this. Instead, David enters the meeting room at the last minute and shows that he will marry Elizabeth after all. He also helps Linus recognize his own feelings for Sabrina by insulting her and letting Linus punch him in

1485-517: The novel by Philip Roth ; this was his only directorial work. Later, he earned another Edgar Award for his screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's final movie, Family Plot (1976). By 1979, Lehman had stopped writing screenplays, aside from some television projects. He turned down offers to write for Jonathan Demme 's The Silence of the Lambs and Brian De Palma 's Mission: Impossible . Lehman completed adaptations for two films that were never made:

1530-457: The plot. Sabrina was remade in Turkish as Şoförün Kızı in 1965. In 1995 there was a Hollywood remake from Paramount Pictures . Further reading Ernest Lehman Ernest Paul Lehman (December 8, 1915 – July 2, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win. At

1575-421: The pretext that "it’s all in the family", and both fall in love, though neither will admit it. Linus's plan is to pretend that he will accompany Sabrina back to Paris on an ocean liner but then not join her, getting her away from David, the family, and the now-threatened merger. However, when Linus instead confesses these intentions to Sabrina, she is hurt but understands the logic of the tactic. She agrees to sail

1620-416: The script was finished, and Lehman was writing all day to complete it. Eventually he would finish a scene in the morning, deliver it during lunch, and filming of it would begin in the afternoon. Although Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes , most of Hepburn's outfits are rumored to have been created by Hubert de Givenchy and chosen personally by the star. In a 1974 interview, Head stated that she

1665-513: The show to poor ratings, and it was canceled after one season. Sabrina (1954 film) Sabrina ( Sabrina Fair / La Vie en Rose in the United Kingdom) is a 1954 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder , from a screenplay he co-wrote with Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman , based on Taylor's 1953 play Sabrina Fair . The picture stars Humphrey Bogart , Audrey Hepburn , and William Holden . This

1710-727: The studio had to set an "inflexible" starting date two months in advance of shooting, the first time that MGM had ever done so. The film was planned to have 145 speaking parts, a record for MGM , however only 66 actors were listed in the credits. Variety noted the overall enthusiastic reviews: “In nearly all keys [key cities] the pic has drawn enthusiastic crix [critics’] approval. This has helped considerably in smaller cities where reviews are followed faithfully.”. However, Bosley Crowther , writing in The New York Times called it "[A] pretty chilly succession of echoing rooms", and commented that "for all of Mr. Holden's fine oration

1755-624: Was Wilder's last film released by Paramount Pictures , ending a 12-year business relationship between him and the company. In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Sabrina Fairchild is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur , Thomas Fairchild, and has been in love with David Larrabee all her life. David,

1800-550: Was adapted as a TV miniseries in 1979. Lehman married Jacqueline Shapiro in 1942. They had two sons, Roger and Alan. Jacqueline died in 1994. In 1997, Lehman married Laurie Sherman. They had one son, Jonathan Maxwell (* 2002), and were married until his death. Lehman held amateur radio callsign K6DXK. He was an active member of the Bel Air Repeater Association. Lehman died on July 2, 2005, at UCLA Medical Center after an apparent heart attack. He

1845-600: Was born in 1915 to Gertrude (Thorn) and Paul E. Lehman. Their Jewish family was based on Long Island . Lehman attended the College of the City of New York (The City College of New York), from which he earned a bachelor's degree. During World War II he was trained at the New England Radio Institute, then worked as a radio operator for the aviation industry. After graduation, Lehman started working as

Executive Suite - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-462: Was finally heartbroken after coming second behind the company for both her father and Bullard. Shaw buys Caswell's vote in exchange for allowing Caswell to purchase 4,000 shares of company stock at the Friday closing price to cover his unscrupulous short sale. If Caswell does not get those shares, he will be in serious financial trouble. Meanwhile, Walt Dudley, the back-slapping Vice President of Sales,

1935-475: Was responsible for creating the dresses, with inspiration from some Givenchy designs that Hepburn liked, but that she made important changes, and the dresses were not by Givenchy. After Head's death, Givenchy stated that Sabrina's iconic black cocktail dress was produced at Paramount under Head's supervision but claimed it was his design. The film began a lifelong association between Givenchy and Hepburn. It has been reported that when Hepburn called on Givenchy for

1980-512: Was taken by Bogart. Best known for playing tough detectives and adventurers, Bogart was cast against type as a smart businessman gradually transformed into a romantic lead. During production of the film, Hepburn and Holden entered into a brief but passionate and much-publicized love affair. Bogart had originally wanted his wife Lauren Bacall to be cast as Sabrina. He complained that Hepburn required too many takes to get her dialogue right and pointed out her inexperience. Wilder began shooting before

2025-418: Was the first film written by Ernest Lehman , who was a journalist, although he had shared an original story credit for Republic Pictures ' 1948 film The Inside Story . The film was also the first film that director Robert Wise made for MGM. The all-star cast created problems in scheduling, since only a handful of the lead actors had any commitment to MGM. The logistics of scheduling were so complex that

#927072