“His Girl Friday” and “Ball of Fire” Screening at Aero Theatre

Howard Hawks Double Feature: HIS GIRL FRIDAY, 1940, Sony Repertory, 92 min. Dir. Howard Hawks. This frenzied remake of Hecht and MacArthur’s THE FRONT PAGE switches ace newsman Hildy Johnson to a woman (Rosalind Russell at her peak), while Cary Grant does a complete 180 from BRINGING UP BABY as cynical editor Walter Burns. The unparalleled cast includes Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Roscoe Karns, Cliff Edwards, John Qualen, Billy Gilbert and tons more. Featuring some of the most rapid-fire dialogue ever, by screenwriters Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
BALL OF FIRE, 1941, Park Circus, 111 min. Dir. Howard Hawks. Barbara Stanwyck is sassy, saucy Sugarpuss O’Shea, a wisecracking nightclub singer on the run from mob kingpins. Gary Cooper is good egg Professor Bertram Potts, a naive scholar who meets the crooner while researching slang. Two worlds collide as Sugarpuss hides out with Potts and his nerdy crew of lexicographers in Howard Hawks’ wonderfully hilarious romantic comedy, which garnered four Oscar nominations, including Stanwyck for Best Actress and Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe for Best Original Screenplay.