THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH

'''The Seven Year Itch''' is a three-act play, written by George Axelrod. Billed as a romantic comedy, the play was first presented by Courtney Burr and Elliot Nugent at the Fulton Theatre, New York City, on November 20, 1952. The cast included Tom Ewell (Richard Sherman), Neva Patterson (Helen Sherman), Vanessa Brown (The Girl), Robert Emhardt (Dr. Brubaker) and George Keane (Tom Mackenzie). The production was directed by John Gerstad, with set and lighting by Frederick Fox.
In 1955, 20th Century Fox released a film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. It was directed by Billy Wilder and presented in DeLuxe Color CinemaScope. Often cited as one of the great comedies of its time, the film version won critical acclaim and became the biggest US box office hit in the summer of 1955. It contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th Century in which Marilyn Monroe's dress is blown up above her waist by a passing train underneath a subway grate she is standing on. A famous quote, "Isn't it delicious?" has originated from this scene and was even posed as a question on the game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''

Contents

Plot

Making the Movie

Trivia

External links

Plot

After sending his wife and son to Maine to escape the sweltering summer, 'Richard Sherman' meets a nameless 22-year-old blonde television model, who is renting the apartment upstairs. Despite recent paranoia about becoming unfaithful (he is reading a book his company is going to publish about a "7-Year Itch"; which claims a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs after seven years of marriage) Richard invites the girl downstairs for a drink. However, his over-active imagination works overtime, to the point where he imagines his wife carrying on in Maine with their hunky neighbor, Tom McKenzie. He is torn between silly fantasies of seduction, and horrible thoughts of his wife catching (and, in one fantasy sequence, shooting) him.

Making the Movie

The movie was filmed between 1st September 1954 and November 4th 1954, and was the only Wilder film released by 20th Century Fox.
Many lines and scenes from the play had to be cut and/or re-written because they were deemed to be unsuitable by the Hays office. A frustrated Wilder complained that the film was being made under straight-jacketed conditions. This also led to a major plot change: in the play, Sherman and The Girl become intimate, but in the movie, their romance is all in his head.
Another change: footage showing Monroe's dress clearly blowing above her waist was removed from the final movie because authorities considered it inappropriate, even though stills from this footage were used in print ads for the film. That particular footage was shot twice: The first take was shot at Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street and the second on a sound stage. The sound stage footage is what made its way into the final film, as the original on-location footage's sound had been rendered useless by the over excited crowd present during filming.
Walter Matthau also screen-tested for the lead role. The test footage is featured in the DVD of the film.

Trivia

★ A remake was intended to be released in 1983, starring Al Pacino as Richard Sherman, but he turned down the role in order to play Tony Montana in ''Scarface''. As a result, the 1983 remake was never made.

★ Nicolas Roeg's 1985 film ''Insignificance'' features a character based on Monroe and a re-enactment of the shooting of the subway/dress scene.

External links

★

★ Review of the play as produced by The American Century Theater.