Picnic*

OSCAR WINNER - 1955
• Best Film Editing
• Best Production Design - Color

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE:
• 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002): #59

William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell and Susan Strasberg star in this powerful, Academy Award-winning drama about the impact of a virile, egotistical drifter on the lives of five women in a small midwestern town.

Based on William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, PICNIC was vividly brought to the screen by director Joshua Logan (who also directed the original Broadway play) and screenwriter Daniel Taradash. A revealing look into the hearts and minds of a select group of Kansas townsfolk on Labor Day, this simple, yet poignant story, stars William Holden as an itinerant drifter who swings into town, stirring up trouble and awakening the dormant libido of Kim Novak. At first, Holden refused the role - considering himself too old for the part at 37. However, his outstanding performance proved critical to the film’s success, and his love scenes with Novak (particularly the ”slow dance” scene), are considered to be some of the most sensual in cinema history. Calling himself ”a lousy dancer,” the hot-headed Holden initially refused to perform the crucial dance sequence. But with some quick roadhouse instruction from choreographer Miriam Nelson, an $8,000 ”stunt fee” and a few martinis, Holden finally agreed - and pulled it off with style. The sensual love scene (which was captured in one take), even made the rather ordinary song, ”Moonglow,” a national hit. PICNIC was Novak’s first leading role and, terrified of failure, she attended church regularly praying she would be a success. With exquisite photography by James Wong Howe, PICNIC earned two 1955 Academy Awards for Production Design and Film Editing - and garnered four additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director for Joshua Logan, Best Music Scoring and Best Supporting Actor for Arthur O’Connell.


TRIVIA:

• William Holden had to have his chest waxed for this role, so that he appeared much younger than his 37 years. Cliff Robertson, although not as hirsute as Holden, also got buffed for his part as well.

• William Holden didn’t want to do the dance sequence with Kim Novak, fearing it would make him look foolish. He told co-star Cliff Robertson, ”I just don’t know how to dance.” Hoping to persuade the studio to cut the dance scene, Holden insisted on being paid an $8,000 ”stuntman premium.” To his surprise, the studio paid up and Holden was forced to do the dance scene, although he was allowed to do it under the influence of alcohol. In that scene, he is actually somewhat intoxicated, and it still remains one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

• William Holden almost turned down the film because he thought he was too old at 37 to play Hal.

• Rosalind Russell remarked, ”Bill Inge has sisters who were schoolteachers. That helped him in writing Rosemary so perceptively.” In fact, Inge’s mother ran a boarding house that at one time occupied by three women schoolteachers. In his own words: ”I saw their attempts and, even as a child, I sensed every woman’s failure. I began to sense the sorrow and the emptiness in their lives and it touched me.”

• The need for extras of all ages to appear in the Picnic celebration sequences filmed at Riverside Park in Halstead, Kansas caused many local schoolchildren to miss school days in order to stand in line at the small City Hall to obtain their social security cards required for extra work.

• The play PICNIC takes place entirely on Mrs Potts’ and the Owens’ front porches and front lawns. No action at the picnic or anywhere else is seen.

• The climactic dance scene had to be shot on a soundstage due to rainstorms.

• This is one of only four films where William Holden dances onscreen. The other three are DEAR RUTH, SUNSET BLVD, and SABRINA (the latter two both directed by the legendary Billy Wilder).

• The town of Udall, Kansas renamed a local promenade Rosalind Russell Avenue. The actress campaigned for the Kansas Disaster Relief fund after Udall was devastated by a tornado which killed 77 people during the principal production of this film.

• William Holden was so nervous about having to dance in the Moonglow scene that Joshua Logan took him to Kansas roadhouses to practice his dance steps, along with choreographer Miriam Nelson. When the scene came to be shot, Holden, an alcoholic, was intoxicated to calm his nerves.

• Columbia Pictures wanted to promote Rosalind Russell for an Academy Award nomination, but the actress refused to be placed in the best supporting actress category. Many felt she would have won by a landslide had she only cooperated.

• The original Broadway production of PICNIC by William Inge opened on February 19, 1953 at the Music Box Theater, ran for 477 performances (closing just over a year later on April 10, 1954) and won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1953. Having directed William Inge’s play in the original Broadway production, Joshua Logan brought some radical cast changes to the film production. Only Arthur O’Connell, Reta Shaw and Elizabeth Wilson recreated their stage characterizations for the film. Holden was cast as Hal Carter over Ralph Meeker who had originally played him onstage. His college roommate in the Broadway production had been played by Paul Newman with Cliff Robertson replacing him for the film; Kim Stanley lost the role of Millie Owens to the much younger up-and-coming Susan Strasberg (daughter of Lee Strasberg) and Janice Rule was replaced in the role of Madge Owens for young contract player Kim Novak. Rosalind Russell actively campaigned for the role of Rosemary Sydney, the role Eileen Heckart had played onstage.

• This film marked the big screen debut of character actress Reta Shaw, repeating her stage role of Irma, one of Rosemary Sydney and Flo Owens’ friends.

• In the original Broadway production, Paul Newman met his future wife Joanne Woodward. Newman was playing Alan Seymour (the surname was changed to Benson for the film) while Woodward was playing Janice Rule’s understudy in the role of Madge.

• Marlon Brando turned down the role of Hal, as he thought the film was too similar to A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.

• Named by critic David Ansen as his all-time favorite film.

• The overture included in the Pioneer Special Edition laserdisc release (now out-of-print) of PICNIC, prepared from a compilation of segments of the film’s score, was specially produced for the laserdisc release. Theatrical showings of PICNIC did not open with an overture.

• William Inge was obliged to continually rewrite the ending of his original stage play, even while it was in rehearsals, with Joshua Logan rejecting each ending as being more depressing than the last. Inge’s original idea was that Madge would stay in town, her shoulders slumped as she dragged herself to a dead-end job at a dime store, tainted by local boys who knew she’d thrown away her reputation to a drifter. The director insisted Madge had to chase after Hal and leave town, even though most of the audience would realize it would be a doomed affair. ”All right, I’ll write it,” Inge told him. ”But I want you to know I don’t approve.” Logan later wrote in his memoirs: ”It’s as though he [Inge] killed his favorite child.”

• As of September 2018, Kim Novak (Madge Owens) and Phyllis Newman (Juanita Badger) are the film’s only surviving principle cast members.

- Verna Felton (Mrs Potts; d. Dec 14, 1966)
- Nick Adams (Bomber; d. Feb 7, 1968)
- Betty Field (Flo Owens; d. Sept 13, 1973)
- Rosalind Russell (Rosemary Sidney; d. Nov 28, 1976)
- Raymond Bailey (Mr Benson; d. Apr 15, 1980)
- Arthur O’Connell (Howard Bevans; d. May 18, 1981)
- William Holden (Hal Carter; d. Nov 16, 1981)
- Reta Shaw (Irma Kronkite; d. Jan 8, 1982)
- Susan Strasberg (Millie Owens; d. Jan 21, 1999)
- Cliff Robertson (Alan Benson; d. Sept 10, 2011)
- Elizabeth Wilson (Christine Schoenwalder; d. May 9, 2015)

1955

NR

9317731083273

Movie

2018-02-07 21:41:37

2.55:1

113

2017-11-04

720p

2.35:1

1

1

Snap Case

~$15.06

2025-12-18

2018-02-07 21:41:37