Some Like it Hot (1959)
Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis dress in drag, and find themselves in some queer situations, in the classic 1959 comedy SOME LIKE IT HOT; the film was adapted from a 1935 French film titled FANFARE OF LOVE (Fanfare d'amour), and its 1951 German remake (Fanfaren der Liebe), by iconic writer/director Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond.
SOME LIKE IT HOT
1959. USA.
Director: Billy Wilder
Screenwriter: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Joe E. Brown, and Pat O'Brien
SOME LIKE IT HOT is set in Prohibition-era Chicago and follows two jazz musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), who witness a mob hit and go into hiding as women. They change their names to Josephine and Daphne and join an all-female band in Florida.
Curtis and Lemmon spend the majority of their time on screen in drag and occasionally find themselves in some pretty queer situations; Curtis codes himself as gay at one point to woo Marilyn Monroe (much like Rock Hudson did in several films), while Lemmon begins to fall for the charms (or the money) of a wealthy man and is soon considering marriage.
Joe: Why would a guy want to marry a guy?
Jerry: Security.
Before the film began shooting, Curtis and Lemmon discovered that the studio wanted to reuse old unflattering dresses for their drag disguises. After learning Marilyn’s dresses were being created by gay designer Orry Kelly, the men decided they wanted Kelly to make their dresses as well. They wanted to look good on screen. Kelly went on to win an Academy Award for his costume designs in the film.
Orry Kelly and Marilyn Monroe.
To help Curtis and Lemmon get into character a female impersonator was brought on set. Barbette (also known as Vander Clyde), famous for his popular drag act in 1920s/30s Paris, attempted to teach the actors how to be more feminine.
“Always cross one foot in front of the other,” Barbette taught them, “That makes your hips do something special.” Curtis mentioned this in his book, “Some Like it Hot: Me, Marilyn and the Movie,” and also that he took to the lessons rather well. Lemon apparently had some difficulty and, according to Curtis, was so resistant to the training that Barbette eventually gave up on him and flew back to Paris.
Barbette.
SOME LIKE IT HOT is actually quite an important film in the timeline of queer representation in mainstream Hollywood productions. All studio films of the time were supposed to be screened by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (the Hays censorship office) and receive a seal of approval, but this particular comedy was too gay for them to approve.
In his book “Screened Out,” historian Richard Barrios quotes a letter from The Catholic Legion of Decency to the MPPDA regarding the queer subject matter of SOME LIKE IT HOT:
“This film, though it purports to be a comedy, contains screen material elements that are judged to be seriously offensive to Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency … The subject matter of ‘transvestism’ naturally leads to complications; in this film there seemed to us to be clear inferences of homosexuality and lesbianism. The dialogue was not only ‘double entendre’ but outright smut.”
Despite not attaining the Hays office’s seal of approval, the studio released the film anyway and Some Like it Hot was a huge hit. This act of defiance helped to further loosen queer censorship in Hollywood and allowed future films to more openly explore homosexuality on screen. Though, it would be some time before this new queer imagery would become more nuanced and healthy.
You can find SOME LIKE IT HOT streaming through Tubi (Canada/USA), MGM+ (Canada/UK/USA) and TCM (USA), for rent/purchase through AppleTV & Amazon, and available on DVD/Blu-ray.
