Teacher's Pet (1958)

A hard-nosed newspaper editor poses as a night school student in order to woo a journalism teacher who cannot stand him.

Director:

George Seaton

Writers:

Fay Kanin, Michael Kanin

Stars:

Clark Gable, Doris Day, Gig Young

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Clark Gable	...	James Gannon
Doris Day	...	Erica Stone
Gig Young	...	Dr. Hugo Pine
Mamie Van Doren	...	Peggy DeFore
Nick Adams	...	Barney Kovac
Peter Baldwin	...	Harold Miller
Marion Ross	...	Katy Fuller
Charles Lane	...	Roy
Jack Albertson	...	Guide
Florenz Ames	...	J.R. Ballantyne
Harry Antrim	...	Lloyd Crowley
Vivian Nathan	...	Edna Kovac

Storyline

James Gannon, the hardboiled city editor of a newspaper, believes that the only way to learn the business is by way of the School of Hard Knocks, and has a very low regard for college-taught journalism, so he's not pleased when his managing editor orders him to help Erica Stone, a college professor, with her journalism class. Finding himself attracted to her, he pretends to be a student in her class, not revealing he's Gannon, whom she despises. As they bob and weave around their mutual growing attraction, they both begin to gain respect for each other's approaches to reporting news, but how will Erica react when she finds out who he really is?

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Plot Keywords:

journalism | editor | night school | professor | class | 

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Taglines:

Physics: No two people can occupy the same space at the same time (but they can try!)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enséñame a querer

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Perlberg-Seaton Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final film of Florenz Ames.

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Goofs

In the scene where Pine corrects Gannon about the year of Bill Wambsganss' unassisted triple play in the World Series (1920), he says that was the first year the Series was a best-of-9 format. Actually, the infamous 1919 Series (Cincinnati over White Sox) was best-of-9, as was the first Series of modern times in 1903.

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Quotes

Gartner: [after being paged to Gannon's desk] Yup?
James Gannon: Almost forgot: press conference. Got some visiting firemen from Russia. Grab a cameraman, I told them we'd be right over.
[hands Gartner slip of paper]
Gartner: Okay.
[turns to walk away, notices paper is not the intended address, but a flattering sketch of Erica Stone]
James Gannon: What's the matter?
Gartner: [chuckling, hands back sketch] Well, that's one way to end the Cold War.
[Gannon sees his error, snatches sketch back in embarrassment]

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Connections

Featured in The O'Reilly Factor: Episode dated 22 February 2008 (2008)

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Soundtracks

Teacher's Pet Mambo
Words and Music by Joe Lubin

User Reviews

Probably the first of the sixties 'SEX' comedies.

Doris Day was a breath of fresh air. Not only was she an extremely beautiful woman, she was a versatile actress and performer, and as for her singing, I can safely say that I would sooner hear Doris Day sing, than any other female vocalist before or since.

But apart from her singing she was just as well known for her talents as a comedienne, in a series of 'sex' comedies in which she always played the virginal unsuspecting prey to the rich, handsome sex maniacs, played by the likes of Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and James Garner.

This film however is probably the first in which this formula was tried, and although not the big smash anyone had hoped for, it nonetheless paved the way for her future success throughout the sixties. In fact with musicals coming to an end in popularity, it was this kind of film which prolonged Miss Day's movie career by a further ten years.

Her love interest in this vehicle is the wonderful if not aged, Clark Gable, and although it was to be one of his final films, he proves that he is still no stranger to a decent script, and is able to perform his comic turn effortlessly.

It is a story of a hardened reporter of the old school, and a beautiful journalism teacher from the night school, and how the two come together despite conflicting ideals.

An advocate of the school of hard knocks, Gable pretends to be an up and coming journalist student so he can attend Professor Day's classes, in order to cause his own brand of trouble and bring the prim and proper know-it-all professor down a peg or two. However things obviously turn a bit difficult when he realises that he is in love etc etc blah blah blah. Routine stuff.

Already we have the typical sex comedy scenario of how the guy pretends to be somebody else to get his own back. We saw it again with greater comic effect in the following years Pillow Talk and again in 1962's Lover Come Back and quite surprisingly again in 2003's Down With Love with Ewan McGregor and Rene Zellwegger. Again it's routine stuff, but routine stuff that works.

Although the two leads handle their roles well, in my opinion only one actor shines through this entire film and that is Gig Young. From the moment Young is given screen-time, the other actors have no choice but to sit back and cool off in his shade.

Young plays a handsome and dashing psychologist who is an expert on nearly every subject you care to press him on. He is also a potential beau to Doris Day's professor and therefore a love rival for Gable. The nightclub scenes and the subsequent hangover scenes are a joy to behold and will have you chuckling throughout. His lines are witty and delivered impeccably in Gig Young's usual boyish manner. This film is a treat for this reason alone.

If you're a fan of Doris Day/Rock Hudson style sixties sauce, then give this one some time and see where it all began.