Outtakes

What I would not give to see the following outtakes:

Howard Hawks tells this story about filming Bringing Up Baby. They had such a good time filming it. Hawks and Grant were great friends, Hepburn and Grant were great friends … everyone had a blast.

In the scene out at the house in Connecticut – after she has stolen his clothes and he is reduced to putting on that jodhpur uniform with the ridiculous Japanese sandals – they come into the bedroom – only to find that the box (which had held the bone) is now empty.

Of course – the script is full of double entendres around the words “box” and “bone”. And – well – the first line of the entire film is: Cary Grant sits on the scaffolding, contemplating an enormous bone, with a perplexed look on his face. Then he calls down to his secretary/fiance, “Alice! I think this one belongs in the tail!” She calls back up in a tired voice: “You tried it in the tail this morning.”

So all of the double entendres naturally put people in a giddy mood. Cary Grant was supposed to come rushing into the bedroom, see the empty box, and say, “Where’s my bone?” Hepburn, innocently, says, “It’s in the box.”

Apparently – they could not get through these 2 lines without cracking up. They spent an entire day (Hawks was notorious for taking his time filming) TRYING to say the lines. But Grant would start roaring with laughter – or Hepburn would crack up – they would get themselves together and then try again. But the longer it went, the funnier it seemed – until the two of them were apparently completely incapacitated. They were staggering around, weeping, slapping one another – Grant shouting at Hepburn, “WHERE’S MY BONE?” Hepburn shouting back, “IT’S IN MY BOX.”

Of course they eventually got it right… but I laugh every time I’ve read a description of that one hilarious day and SO wish that I could see the footage.

Oh, for a DVD extra!!