Some Like It Hot Archives -

Published October 26, 2023

REMEMBERING SANDRA WARNER

Sandra Warner, “Some Like It Hot’ Cast Member passed away

Tonight, my heart is broken I have just found out that Sandra Warner passed away. Not only that, but she passed away 13th March 2022 age 87.

Looking through the archives, it wasn’t posted here at the time and I’m just so sorry for her friends and family that this news didn’t reach the Marilyn community sooner, as I’m sure we would have all showered her memory with love.

Sandra Warner was one of the last remaining “Sweet Sue And Her Society Syncopators” from “Some Like It Hot.” She played Emily and most famously chirps “Toodle-ooh!” to Jack Lemmon’s character Daphne in the train sequence of the film… “How about that “Toodle-Oooh?!” Jerry/Daphne excitedly responds!

Not only that, but she was Marilyn’s body double for all the promotional shots made for the movie after filming wrapped.

Speaking in 2001, Warner said:

“Marilyn and I were very round. I was a little taller than her, but I fit into her wardrobe.. and because she was pregnant, I was asked to do her publicity stills. Most of the albums, or wherever you see marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, they would use my body and Marilyn’s face… and it worked out perfectly, it couldn’t have been better and I enjoyed doing it.

Sandra Warner stands in for actress Marilyn Monroe in a publicity shot for ‘Some Like It Hot’, directed by Billy Wilder, 1959. With her are co-stars Jack Lemmon (1925 – 2001) and Tony Curtis. (Photo via John Kobal Foundation/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

And of course, spending the whole day with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis doing stills like this one…. a laugh a minute!… it’s a wonder we got anything accomplished!

We kept listening to the playback while we did these photographs… to keep in the mood…”

Sandra Warner also said of the iconic 1959 Billy Wilder comedy:

“Some Like It Hot” was like the greatest souffle ever made. It had the perfect ingredients, it had the greatest script, a great director, a great cast… of course the greatest Chef was Billy Wilder, but it really was like the greatest souffle ever made in history…… I was very happy to be a part of it.”

I am genuinely heartbroken tonight, as the “Some Like It Hot” star twinkles that little less brightly tonight.

Rest in Peace Sandra.

Words: Lorraine Nicol

Published August 7, 2023

Some Like It NOT Dress on display in London

Our Esteemed Club President Greg Schreiner has asked if members would be willing to contact the Victoria & Albert Museum (more commonly known as the V&A) in London to express your concerns over their current “DIVA” Exhibition.

The Museum is displaying a dress that they believe to have been worn by Marilyn in the 1959 comedy “Some Like It Hot,” but as you can clearly see by the photos taken by Lorraine Nicol having just visited the exhibition and the great side by side comparison photos by April VeVea this is NOT the case. This dress is inathentic and WASN’T worn by Marilyn on screen.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.. so displaying a fake dress such as this is damaging to their reputation.

Not only that, but the DIVA Exhibition is to run in London until next April (and Greg has since informed us that the Dress will potentially be touring for a futher 4 years after this) so just think about the thousands of Marilyn fans who will see this dress and not even realise it’s not the real deal.

We have already been in contact with the V and A to express our concerns, but sadly have had no official response as to what they intend to do.

We are inviting you to share your concerns over the authenticity of the dress by contacting the V&A directly (please keep any communication respectful, it is believed the Museum acquired the Dress under good faith that it was the original.)

You can use this e-mail address here: hello@vam.ac.uk

Or contact them on their Social Media Channels:

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/vamuseum/

Twitter/X
https://twitter.com/V_and_A

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/victoriaandalbertmuseum

Let’s see if we can do Justice for Some Like It Hot and Marilyn!

Thank you.

Published January 25, 2022

NOBODY’S PERFECT – NOT SUCH A THROWAWAY LINE

Barbara Diamond, the wife of I.A.L Diamond (Billy Wilder’s writing partner for ‘Some Like It Hot’ and other Hollywood classics) said this about THAT famous last line in the iconic 1950’s comedy:

“One of the results of the way they worked is that it was impossible for them to seperate one person’s work from the other. They honestly didn’t know who had written particular scenes or individual lines, and truthfully, they didn’t much care.

The one line that they did know about turned out to be the one that everyone asks about, “Nobody’s perfect.” When asked, Billy always said that it was a throwaway line of Mr Diamond’s and they had hoped overnight they would think of something better, and Iz never contradicted him. However, I have a different version of it. I wrote the scene the day before it was shot and left a copy here with me while he took it over to Billy. When he came back and asked me what I thought, I told him it was a great scene but the last line was weak. He said, “That’s what Billy thinks and you’re both wrong,’ and proceeded to tell me why.

First of all, audiences love being able to anticipate a joke. The dimmest members of the audience know that Jack’s last line is going to be “I’m a man,” and they are bracing themselves for the explosive reaction. Therefore the only way to surprise them is to have no explosion, and the flatter the line the better.

The laugh comes from the structure of the scene, not the particular line. Would ‘never mind’ have gotten as big a laugh as ‘nobody’s perfect?’ quite possibly.

One reason why Billy called it a throwaway line was because it had briefly been in the scene where Tony is explaining to Jack why he can’t marry Osgood and was taken out because it stepped on another joke. I don’t imagine it gets as big a laugh now as it used to, the element of surprise is gone.

Iz loved that scene. When we were all on a European publicity tour for the picture he used to sneak into the theatre to watch the last few minutes, just so that he could hear that roar of sheer delight as Daphne and Osgood sail into the sunset.

I don’t think he ever really thought of it as a throwaway.”

Published November 24, 2020

REMEMBERING GEORGE RAFT

Mulligan: “You shave with your Spats on?”

Spats: “I SLEEP with my Spats on!”

Remembering George Raft on the 40th anniversary of his passing. George Raft was an was an American film actor identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

With a career spanning almost 6 decades, some of Raft’s biggest on screen hits were: “Scarface,” “Black Widow” and “Ocean’s Eleven.” But he will always be remembered by most as the iconic Spats Colombo, the murderous gangster out to get Joe and Jerry in the comedy classic: “Some Like It Hot.”