page_title: Bringing Up Baby
section_title: Casting
hierarchical_section_title: Bringing Up Baby / Production / Casting
caption_attribution_description: Cropped film still from the 1938 film Bringing Up Baby, featuring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Such images were taken on set during filming, or as part of an organized photo-shoot, by a studio photographer. They were then disseminated to the media and the public to promote the film. (see Film still) This is definitely a production still rather than a screenshot as the quailty is too high (compare, for instance, with this image, taken from the film's trailer). Public domain explanation The full image (seen here) does not contain the copyright symbol ©, the word "Copyright", or the abbreviation "Copr.", as then required for copyright. Although it is possible that the above scan does not show the entire image, other Bringing Up Baby films stills where a stock number can be seen do not contain the copyright symbol ©, the word "Copyright", or the abbreviation "Copr.": [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. This suggests that no such images were issued with a copyright notice. By publishing a photograph without such a notice, under the terms of the 1909 Copyright Act (which was law until 1978) the image went into the public domain. If there is any chance that the photograph was copyrighted, under the terms of the 1909 Copyright Act it would have had to be renewed 28 years after publication. A search for copyright renewal records of 1965 and 1966 ([7], [8], [9], [10]) reveals no evidence that the then corporate heir to the corporate author of the work--RKO General--renewed copyrights to this photograph, as would have been required to maintain copyright protection, if any. Film industry author Gerald Mast has written: "According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills ... Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible." (Film Study and the Copyright Law (1989) p. 87.)
context_page_description: Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.
  The script was written specifically for Hepburn, and was tailored to her personality. Filming began in September 1937 and wrapped in January 1938; it was over schedule and over budget. Production was frequently delayed due to uncontrollable laughing fits between Hepburn and Grant. Hepburn struggled with her comedic performance and was coached by another cast member, vaudeville veteran Walter Catlett. A tame leopard was used during the shooting; its trainer was off-screen with a whip for all of its scenes.
  Bringing up Baby was a commercial flop upon its release, although it eventually made a small profit after its re-release in the early 1940s.
context_section_description: After briefly considering Hawks' cousin Carole Lombard for the role of Susan Vance, producers chose Katharine Hepburn to play the wealthy New Englander because of her background and similarities to the character. RKO agreed to the casting, but had reservations because of Hepburn's salary and lack of box-office success for several years. Producer Lou Lusty said, "You couldn't even break even if a Hepburn show cost eight hundred grand." At first, Hawks and producer Pandro S. Berman could not agree on whom to cast in the role of David Huxley. Hawks initially wanted silent-film comedian Harold Lloyd; Berman rejected Lloyd and Ronald Colman, offering the role to Robert Montgomery, Fredric March and Ray Milland (all of whom turned it down).
  Hawks' friend Howard Hughes finally suggested Cary Grant for the role. Grant had just finished shooting his breakthrough romantic comedy The Awful Truth (1937), and Hawks may have seen a rough cut of the unreleased film. Grant then had a non-exclusive, four-picture deal with RKO for $50,000 per film, and Grant's manager used his casting in the film to renegotiate his contract, earning him $75,000 plus the bonuses Hepburn was receiving. Grant was initially concerned about being able to play an intellectual character and took two weeks to accept the role, despite the new contract. Hawks built Grant's confidence by promising to coach him throughout the film, instructing him to watch Harold Lloyd films for inspiration. Grant met with Howard Hughes throughout the film to discuss his character, which he said helped his performance.
  Hawks obtained character actors Charlie Ruggles on loan from Paramount Pictures for Major Horace Applegate and Barry Fitzgerald on loan from The Mary Pickford Corporation to play gardener Aloysius Gogarty. Hawks cast Virginia Walker as Alice Swallow, David's fiancée; Walker was under contract to him and later married his brother William Hawks. As Hawks could not find a panther that would work for the film, Baby was changed to a leopard so they could cast the trained leopard Nissa, who had worked in films for eight years, making several B-movies.
caption: Hepburn and Grant in their second of four film collaborations
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