Tony Maietta:
 Hello, I'm film historian Tony Maeda.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And I'm Brad Shreve, who's just a guy who likes movies.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's golden age. We go behind the scenes and share our opinions too. And of course being the average guy, my opinions are the ones that matter, as does your self-delusion. Welcome to Going Hollywood. Well, welcome everybody to our latest episode in what is becoming a bit of an unofficial summer movie series. Don't you think so, brad?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Well, I'm glad we got a little lighthearted. It is a fun summer, so why not have a fun summer series?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah Well, I need a summer series because I don't know about how things are where you are, brad, but here in Hollywood I'm esta feeling lousy with this summer to borrow a phrase from Tessie Arnaz Because you know what? It has been a pretty lousy summer here in Los Angeles. We are way past June gloom now, and we've got. It's overcast until early afternoon, and then the sun finally comes out and it's gone. So I'm thinking of moving to Seattle just for the better weather.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Well, come on up here to the desert. We are actually very happy. It's only going to get up to 90 today.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Oh, is that all.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 So that's a nice cool day for us, and the wildfires have not been that bad this year Yet.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yet.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 No yet. So they've been going on, but they've been smaller. And for those in the s world, yes, uh, wildfires are a normal part of our summer here in california.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, I am not experiencing that, obviously. I'm experiencing a miserable summer here, so that's why I'm really glad I to have a real summer. I think I I like have to go back in my mind to those great days of of summer and when I was living in the city, you know. And so that's why I'm so happy that we're doing this movie today, because this movie is about summer in the city, you know. It's about the heat, the sweat, the humidity, the lack of clothing. I love it. So that's what I love about this movie, and I'm glad I get to remember that, because our movie for today is the Seven-Year Itch from 20th Century Fox in 1955, starring the one and only Marilyn Monroe, mm. The one and only.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And, as always, I'm looking forward to talking about this film. But I'm going to transition to something else real, real quick, because your video on wired came out oh several weeks ago and I finally got around to watching it I apologize, it took this long finally, it was. You were really good and you had some good questions thanks.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, you know that's thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's for a wired magazine, a series. They do a series called tech support about classic ho, and we are almost at 800,000 views, which is my biggest audience to date. It's just really amazing, so I'm excited about that. We're hoping to close in on a million by the end of the summer, so oh, I think you'll make that based on I've seen the numbers going up.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So if anybody is listening to this podcast and they haven't seen it, we'll put the link in the show notes. But I'm glad you mentioned that because, yes, the question is really interesting. The way the show works is that people submit questions on the internet and then an expert air quotes, answers them. So, aside from this shameless plug of this interview I did, another reason why I wanted to do this episode on the seven-year itch is because one of the questions from the internet was someone who asked me what is it about marilyn monroe? Not even a good actress. And I tell you, brad, I almost had a coronary when I read it. I I was like are you? I'm going to say it, are you fucking kidding me? I couldn't say that on the wire, but my thought was are you fucking kidding me? Marilyn Monroe, you know an icon, marilyn Monroe. It's crazy. So it's funny because we haven't done a Marilyn Monroe movie yet. Do you realize?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 That is crazy. We've talked about some, but we've never gotten around to it.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 We have never. We have never. And you know there are so many other Marilyn movies I love. I love the Prince and the Showgirl, I love Gentlemen, prefer Blondes. But you know this because it's summer and because it's iconic Marilyn. You can't get more iconic Marilyn than the seven-year itch.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I would agree. Before we get into the movie, I got a couple things I want to say. First of all, based on our numbers, we think quite a few of you saw Tony in the Wired video in Wired magazine and have decided to check us out. So if that is the case with you, welcome.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, thank you.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 The second thing I want to mention is Tony. Last night, maurice and I went to see the Fantastic Four and I enjoyed it, but on the way home we were talking about it and I was
 
 Brad Shreve:
 doing these critiques and Maurice goes. You know what, ever since you started that podcast, I don't even want to talk to you about movies after we see them, because you're so critical and you tear them apart. And I thought, yes, because from a writing standpoint and certain things, I do analyze them too much. And I said but you know, tony said the same thing I will try not to have too critical of eye when I watch these. I can't guarantee it, but I will try.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Oh, it's all about differences, right, it's all about that's what makes the world go round, despite what anyone else might think. It's about our differences. But thank you, maurice, I appreciate you putting it in there, because I'm like Jesus after foul play. I was like come on, give me a break, but you know what I don't, and but, but I think that you probably. I love the fact that you're honest, brad, I love the fact that this is your take on these movies, because I I come at them from a different way than you do. I come at them from their historic importance, how they make me feel I don't. I don't come at them the way you do. So that's what makes this interesting. 
 
 Brad Shreve:
 That's what makes this an interesting conversation, is what we're having a conversation, and the good thing is that we disagree, which it would be boring if we agreed on every movie and we aren't even faking it.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It's just like yeah, yeah, we don't agree on it on.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I don't think we agree on most of these movies, at least not part. There's always movies we disagree in aspects of it, yeah, yeah.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 well, it'd be interesting to see if we disagree about the seven-year itch, because Because, yeah, I was wondering about that when I was watching. I'm like I wonder how this is going to go, because you really really have to put your mind into 1955. You really do. Otherwise this movie can be difficult to watch. But I think it's important because, as I said before, it's really the ultimate. If you're going to do a Marilyn Monroe movie, this is it. She is fully, completely crystallized as Marilyn Monroe in this film. You know there are movies I like better, but what this film does, it gives us the iconic, mythic Marilyn at her peak. You know, I mean you can't. Can you get more iconic than the subway grading scene? You can't. It's movies. That is the history of movies and it's the history of sex in movies, basically, as is Marilyn.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And I think some people think that she can't act because of things like this movie where she is playing the bubble-headed blonde. But that is the role and she actually does it really well.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 That's the thing she's, she, she is. That's showing she's a great actress. She's a great actress. This was not who she was in real life. She's also an incredibly. Another thing that that got my back up about that question was she's an incredibly gifted comedian. She's such a good comedian that we don't realize she's a comedian because she's so subtle. She's so in the character. It's funny because it's coming from her. All the aspects of her personality are on display and that's what makes it funny. The character is funny and I just yeah, I do think you need to put yourself in the 1955 mindset to watch this film, but I also think there's a lot of things about this film that you can enjoy in 2025 as well.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And I'm going to give a modern day example, and this is going to be a bad example because she's not nearly as talented, but I think it's an example where people have a skewed vision of an individual, and that is Pamela Anderson. Oh no, I agree, pamela Anderson is a great businesswoman. She knows Hollywood, she's well-respected in Hollywood, but she has a brand and she knows how to play that brand.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, yeah.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And she does it well and she makes a fortune playing that brand.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 She does, she does and she's a good actress. The Last Showgirl yeah, she's a very good actress. She's a very good actress.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 She's a very good actress. I mean, that's the thing about Marilyn is Marilyn. Unfortunately, because Marilyn died at 36, and we'll get to that later when we're done with the movie we didn't get to see that great talent come to fruition. We began the beginnings of it after this film. Another reason why this film is so important in the Marilyn Monroe mythos is because this was her last film under her original contract.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 After she did this film, she left Hollywood for almost a year over a year, I apologize. She left Hollywood for a year to study acting in New York with Lee Strasberg at the actor's studio because she wanted to become a better actress. Who does that, yeah, who leaves a career at its peak because she want to be? Because, she said, because I want to get better. And she did that. And so when she came back, uh, with bus stop, which is a wonderful movie, her movies after that kind of fluctuated in box office because she was really stretching herself. She was really trying to to to be the best actor she could and, as I said, unfortunately we never got to see, ultimately, the great actress she could have become because she left us at age 36 in 1962.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So what, seven years after this movie, marilyn was gone, um. So that's another reason why this film is so amazing, because this really is the last gasp of the old Marilyn, the one the sex goddess, if you will. That this is the sex goddess. She's so much of a sex goddess she doesn't have a name in this movie. Yeah, she's just the girl yes.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 And let me just lay. Let me lay it out there, cause we're we're going to talk about. It was extremely difficult to watch this movie. It laid out there because we're going to talk about. It was extremely difficult to watch this movie. It was so cringy, but I'm I like, okay, I'm going to put my 1950s hat on and I did the best I could.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 You have to but we are going to talk about that cringy shit, oh yeah, but there I there definitely some. I will say it was really hard for me to look past that. I really had to sit and think about it, um. So we're going to discuss all that I think we have to, but I'm open to. I will talk about some of the what I saw as the positive as well.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, here's something that might shock you. So did I. I mean, so do I? When I watch the Seven-Year Itch, I watch Marilyn. I get caught up in this confection, this wonderful technicolor confection that is Marilyn Monroe, this otherworldly. She's so alive in this movie. That's the thing I love about Marilyn in this movie. It was funny In her contract after she left 20th Century Fox and then came back and did the rest of her movies, it was in her contracts that her films were to be in color.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 That was part of it, because she's like candy, she's alive most in color and gorgeous, widescreen technicolor, uh. And there was a real battle when they made some like it hot because because of the fact that they it needed to be in black and white, because of tony curtis and jack lemon, because it just would have been too much if it was in color. It would be too obvious they were men. She didn't like that but she did it, she did it. So anyway, I don't want to talk about those. She's so alive and she's so alive in color and I just watch Marilyn and I hone in on Marilyn, what Marilyn's doing and the rest of the movie.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I'm like, okay, we'll go with this we'll go with this, but I had problems with marilyn and it's not because of her it's because the script she was given right.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Right, she did a great job on what she was given given. But she's a prop in this film and some people may argue that, but she's a prop designed to make this man feel interesting to us and uh that you know we'll get more into that, uh, but given what she was given, I thought she did a great job. Yeah, well, I think she did exactly what she was supposed to do?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 I think so too. I think that too. But what? Here's what I find fascinating about this movie, and I I need to go a little, I need to be a little historian here, because in order, and we're putting ourselves in the middle of the 50s, in 1955. I think it's really important to point out another thing that puts this movie in its time is the production code.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Now, we've discussed the production code earlier. It's also known as the Hays Code. If you want to find out more about the code, I did a great Code 101 way back last year when we talked about Babyface. But here's the thing, though. This is what's really interesting.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 And so we talked about the code and the stranglehold that the production code administration had on movie content beginning in 1934. They could do this because motion pictures were not protected by the first amendment. There was this decision in 1918 that motion pictures were not free speech, no-transcript on movies. So when this happened, this is really huge. This is really huge. This is the first big crack in the production code since 1934. So that's why, when we're talking about films from the 50s and we're talking about this film, the production code was still very much in effect. However, the cracks were beginning to show, and this film is a prime example of those cracks starting to happen Because, as we said before, the Seven-Year Itch is based on a play also called the Seven-Year Itch, and in the play the Seven-Year Itch, which is about should we say what the Seven-Year Itch is about before I start talking about the play and everything like?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Do you want to give a brief synopsis on what it's about?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 This film is about Richard Sherman, played by Tom Ewell. He is a middle-aged man who lives in Manhattan. He sends his wife and son away for the summer, which apparently, according to this movie, every man in New York does.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It's just the beginning of time With that cute little prologue Left alone in New.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 York does Since the beginning of time. Yeah, with that cute little prologue. Yeah, left alone, he is left to his imagination and his libido goes wild. Just like the rest of this movie implies, men just cannot control themselves. They want to have an affair, and this is especially true when he meets the gorgeous neighbor upstairs, marilyn Monroe, who, as Tony said, is known only as the girl, and he fantasizes about an affair with her and struggles between his temptation and his guilt Right and I think that sums it up.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Right, that does, that does. And do you know something? Here's something kind of interesting, kind of like the term high anxiety. The term the seven-year itch has actually become somewhat of a medical term, a medical condition. People refer to it as the point in a relationship when things become routine and people start to. Usually men are likely to look outside the relationship for satisfaction. So because of this film, george Axelrod, who wrote the play the Seven-Year Itch and also co-wrote the screenplay with Billy Wilder, created that term for this play and for the film, and now it's become part of the lexicon the Seven-Year Itch. So yes, so it was based on this play, and in the play the Seven-Year Itch, the character Richard sherman does indeed sleep with his upstairs neighbor.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Now, when we're talking about the production code, we were saying there were cracks because of that supreme court decision, but it was still in place well, and I think it's important to remember, even though the supreme court made their decision, studios had to make their decisions on our do you know, are we going to get? Do we want to put this out there to the public? Theaters had to make their decision, you know, are people going to protest outside, or so? Even though the the veil had been lifted right, it doesn't mean that it was anything goes exactly, exactly.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It was the first crack. It was a crack and what eventually brought down the production code was all these cracks, crack after crack. Movies kept pushing the envelope. So the seven-year itch was considered unfilmable because of its subject matter and the pca, warner brothers, wanted to option it. But they turned it down. They said we can't film this 20th century fox took up the gauntlet and said we're going to give this a shot. Okay, and it was billy wilder's first film after he left his long contract with paramount. Now, just like, just like we haven't talked about Marilyn. It's kind of odd we've never talked about Billy Wilder. I mean, billy Wilder is one of the I think the top five directors of classic Hollywood. Sunset Boulevard Some Like it Hot. No, we've talked about Billy. We've talked about Billy, but we haven't talked about one of his films. We've never talked about one of his films the Apartment, some Like it Hot? Sunset Boulevard.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 So yeah, so this was Billy's we did talk about Sunset Boulevard.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, but we didn't. It wasn't one of our topics for-.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Okay, I'll leave that Okay.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So anyway, so yeah, so this is. Billy Wilder was assigned to it and George Axelrod, who wrote the play, came on board and they're like how are we going to make a sex comedy in which we can't show the protagonist having sex? And I've said this before too. So what Billy Wilder in his essence did was make a sex comedy where nobody has sex. In the film the Seven-Year Itch, it all happens in Richard Sherman's head. It all happens in Richard Sherman's head, which is one of the biggest problems I have with this movie, because it just doesn't give the import, as if he had really slept with the girl. There's no catharsis at the end of this film. That happens because he actually slept with the girl. We are supposed
 
 Tony Maietta:
 to believe that he's had this catharsis through his imagination, and that's number one of the problems I have with this film.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I actually totally disagree. I've seen Billy Wilder's comments on this film Later years. He said he wished he had every copy so he could pull it, because he was so unhappy with the fact that they didn't have sex Right. That would have ruined it for me more, because then it would have just I would have hated his character even more. I cared about his wife, even though she was only on the well, she was on the screen a little more than the first few seconds at the beginning, but I would have really disliked him and I liked the conflict he was going through. You know, should I, shouldn't I? And I like it.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Maybe the ending could have been better how he made the decision, but I like that he didn't. Okay, despite you know we all have those. I mean, you know you're walking down the street and you see somebody that's hot and it goes through your head, even if you're in a relationship, but you keep going Right. And here the temptation was really good. His family was gone and what an incredibly beautiful woman. And he had to fight it. And I liked the fact that he had to fight it and I liked the fact they had to struggle with it and I like his decision at the end.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, his decision in the end is the same as it is in the play.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It's just that you have to kind of in my opinion, you kind of have to here's a term again suspend your disbelief that he came to this decision without actually having slept with her.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 You know that this, this was the just what was going on in his head, and her beautiful speech to him at the end, which we'll get to was enough to make him realize what he has and to he doesn't need to scratch that seven year itch that he's got everything he needs. But going back to the whole fifties concept of this movie and the fact that you have to kind of put yourself into those attitudes, you know it's all the misogynistic and Purian attitudes about sex, about life in the fifties, that you kind of have to go wow, this is really really difficult to understand, understand in 2025, and that's a bit of a task, I think, to put your mind back there to neither one of us was alive but to kind of understand how women were so objectified, how sex was some dirty joke and and people celebrated that this film was a celebration of a dirty joke.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 basically, um, that's my opinion I searched through reviews on this trying to find critiques, and I know feminism I can't, for lack of a better word. It wasn't a thing in the 50s. Obviously it was, but it wasn't like it became in the late 60s, 70s, etc. And the earliest criticisms I could find about the sexism and misogyny in this film were in the 70s. There was absolutely nothing that I could find, at least that I could find during that era when this came out. That any woman or man said this is icky. It's kind of amazing, isn't it? And I was stunned that nobody said this is wrong. It just really shows it's a totally different time.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It is. It's really amazing. It's incredible. Here's something amazing too.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So the play, the Seven-Year Itch, opened in 1952 and ran for 1,141 performances. Okay, that's almost three years. This play was a huge and it was not a musical. It was very rare for a play to run that long, very rare for a play to run that long, and I have no doubt that one of the reasons this play ran so long other than the fact that it is, it is funny, uh is the sex.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Is the smut in this, in the, in this play, this whole attitude about sex being a dirty, just the double standard about it. You know it's, it's, it's a dirty joke. You can't you get in trouble for being honest about it, Get your hand slapped for it, but we're still going to wink, wink, nudge, nudge, talk about this dirty joke. I find it so incredibly distasteful that you're like okay, why are we watching this movie? Well, we're watching this movie because, for me personally, I watch this movie because of Marilyn. I watch this movie because Marilyn gives it so much more than that. Should I talk a little bit about the history of the film and how it all came about?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 No Backstory, nobody cares.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Of course you can. So the rights to the Seven-Year Itch were purchased by Marilyn Monroe and Billy Wilder's agent, charles Feldman, who's a producer in this film. So we already had packaging happening here at this time, and they eventually sold it to Fox for $500,000. And some of the first choices to play Richard Sherman, who was eventually
 
 Tony Maietta:
 played by Tom Mule, were Gary Cooper, william Holden, jimmy Stewart who was very close to doing it, and I'm so glad he didn't Wow and the one who came closest, though, was this unknown actor named walter mathau. Oh, there's actually a screen test, mathau screen test still in existence, you can see it of this, of him auditioning for this role, and he is wonderful this film would have been so different with Walter Matthau.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It probably would have been just as prurient, it would have been just as misogynistic. But it's Walter Matthau, he has a charm. That I'm sorry. No well, I guess this is shade to Tom Yule. Tom Yule doesn't have I'm sorry he doesn't. Why they went with. They already had Marilyn, so they didn't need a star. Why they didn't go with Matthau, I don't know. They decided to go with Tom Ewell. Tom Ewell had played it over 700 times on Broadway, he won a Tony Award. And I don't know, I don't get that as a film fan, as a film historian. I don't get it because I do not. I find Tom Mule incredibly annoying in this movie and I think Mathau would have lessened that so much.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I didn't feel like he had that much charisma in general. But one of the complaints I've seen regularly is that he and Marilyn did not have chemistry and I actually think that was a good thing because they seemed awkward together. He wanted this woman and it was very awkward and I think that actually was better for the film. So I actually I have no problem that they didn't have chemistry. I just as an actor, I was like, yeah, he's all right well, see, here's the thing, though, that's it, he's all right.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, he's okay. You know it's. It's just, he is the. He's like a shadow of walter mathau. We know, and now we have hindsight is 2020, we have the memory of what walter walter mathau became, and we have the knowledge of what.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Walter.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Mathau became. So it's very easy to do Monday Night Quarterbacking and say wouldn't Mathau have been great in this? He would have given him so much charm, so much. You know they would have had chemistry, okay. Tom Yule did it fine. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for this film. That's fine, okay, but I would have loved to have seen Mathau in it. I think Matthau would have been wonderful, but we got Tom Ewell.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Yeah, and actually we've talked about doing a what if episode sometime, so we'll put this aside for when we eventually get around to doing that one.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So. A lot of this film. Once this film was, once they got together, marilyn agreed to do it. And the only reason Marilyn agreed to do it, and the only reason Marilyn agreed to do it. Well, first of all she was under contract, so she kind of had to do it, but she had a lot of power at this point. She had just done Gentlemen Prefer Blonde. She was the biggest star in the world. She could have said no and put a foot down, but she agreed to do it because she wanted to be directed by Billy Wilder. And this is one of two times that she was directed by Billy Wilder. The second time, of course, was for Some Like it Hot. So this was their first meeting and she wasn't quite as how do you say this? She wasn't as big a pain in the ass in this as she would be. She was a mythic pain in the ass during Some Like it Hot.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 You know there's that famous line about Tony Curtis comparing her to kissing Hitler. He said he was saying it one way. You know he was it's, she was. It was just very, very problematic. She was not that bad at this point she started to act up just a little bit, but it was nowhere as bad as it got. And um one day, however, she was late for her call. She was hours late for her call and she said it was because she couldn't find the studio. Now she'd been working at the studio for over five years. So you've got to wonder about that. But Billy Wilder always said famously about Marilyn Monroe yes, she's late, yes, sometimes it takes up to 40 or 50 takes to get a scene, but when she got it right it was the best it could be. I have an aunt in Vienna who was always on time, but you wouldn't want to see her in a movie.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 There, you go.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So that's it. And despite these problems with her, he did something like a hot with her four years later. That's it. And despite these problems with her, he did something like a hot with her four years later. So you have to kind of understand that. That was the power, that was the magic of Marilyn, was that? Yes, it was an ordeal for almost everybody involved to work with this woman, but when she got it right, there was nobody better. And that's how I feel about her in this movie.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Yeah, Like I said, I felt like she was given almost nothing to work with this film and she made it memorable. She did. She did she's dreamy in this film.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 She is From her first entrance.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 The script didn't treat her that way and she took a script what I think was a bad script for a character because of its misogyny and she blew it out of the water. She did great. Despite my feelings about the film, she did great.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 No, she is treated as the goddess. I mean from that very first entrance, when he buzzes her in the apartment and you can see her figure behind the door, and that is a movie star entrance. When she comes in and she literally takes your breath away because she's so beautiful. She's just otherworldly and I really think that's what's wonderful about her in this film. The character is annoying. The character is a nebbish, that's a Yiddish word. He's an unfortunate man. He's a whiner. He goes off on these flights of fancies. It is funny. He works for this paperback book company and what they did was and this happened a lot in the 50s they would publish versions of classics, and did you see the Little Women version by any chance?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yes, yes, the subtitle was.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Life in a Girl's Dormitory. Yes, there was some great stuff on there.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 There was, but it's all this kind of cheesy 50s, sexy things that are just kind of cringey. They're cringey. So should we talk about the movie and some of the things that happen in this movie and maybe you can approach some of your cringey moments? Do you want to talk about them? Sure, all right, all right. So what happens is it's very hot, obviously we're in the summer, it's summer in the city and Marilyn does not have air conditioning. She is house-sitting for some people who live in the same building as Tom Mule. For some people who live in the same building as Tom Mule, tom has air conditioning and that is the catalyst for bringing them together, and she finds herself in his apartment with air conditioning. His wife is gone for the summer. And what happens, brad? What develops between them?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Well, he stumbles on her because she almost dropped something from the apartment above. She's subletting or using her friends. She drops a pot that would have hit him.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Tomato plant A tomato plant.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Had he not been sitting where he was, he got up from where he was sitting and had he not done so, it would have probably killed him. So that's how they meet. And of course he looks up angry and he's like, oh, wait a minute, I can't be angry at this beauty. And so he becomes weak, despite his best intentions, and invites her down for a drink and she accepts, and from that point on we have this very I don't want to say cat-mouse, because it really wasn't a cat-mouse, but this very push-pull. Do I want to, do I not?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 want to. Should I go for it? Should I not go for it? And that really is the film. Yeah, well, it's a 90-minute dirty joke, basically, yeah, it is a 90-minute dirty joke and it's. Are they going to sleep together or are they not going to sleep together?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Now, in the play they't, because tom yule goes off and all these richard sherman I should call him by the character's name goes off on all these flights of fancy and there are some very funny fantasy sequences. Um, there's a very funny scene with uh where he's playing the piano. He's playing rock mononoff. Rock mononoff's second piano concerto is a running theme throughout this, throughout this movie, and there's a very funny scene than that. And it's all of Tom Yule's fantasies. But none of these things are really happening. He's imagining his wife is cheating on him. He's imagining that Marilyn is telling people she's an actress, she does commercials. He's imagining that Marilyn is telling people at the commercial about this wolf who lives above her, who takes advantage of her. He tries to kiss her. It's a whole series of these kind of Three's Company-like scenes.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 So you can kind of see where oh, that's an excellent example. I never thought about that. Well it's exactly it.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 It's the 50s version of Good analogy, the 50s version of Three's Company, which could be why I have so many problems with it. But it's true, it's true, but. But what's interesting is
 
 Tony Maietta:
 that, despite all this, there is real charm to this movie. There's a real yeah, there's a charm to this movie because of Marilyn, because Marilyn even though Marilyn is the air quotes dirty joke of this movie, she doesn't see it that way and that's Marilyn Monroe's appeal. She doesn't take any of this personally. She's totally unaware of the effect she has on men. There's an innocence about her which is what made people love Marilyn so much. It's what made men love her and women love her. It's this innocent, childlike quality.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 When he had a fantasy that he was playing the piano and she comes in and she does a wonderful comic bit, she's sitting on the piano bench with her and he leans in and kisses her and they make out in the fantasy. He tries to do that in real life. As he leans in to kiss her, she goes, wait a minute, and they fall off the piano bench. This is problematic. He's making untoward advances to this woman. Now we all know in the Me Too era this is problematic. Okay, he's making untoward advances to this woman. Now, we all know, in the me era this is a problem. This is 1955. And he apologizes and she's like what? What happened? I kind of got lost there and he said you know, this sort of thing doesn't happen to me at all. And she says really, happens to me all the time. And that's the way she says it, and not with any rancor, not with any. Oh my God, you know, don't come near me. She's like happens to me all the time, let's go. I mean, it's this naivety, it's this wonderful quality of hers that makes this, that gives this film its appeal.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Same thing happens in that scene, uh, that scene with the plumber, you remember. It's a fantasy of his. But marilyn has told him that she was trying to. She was so hot in the apartment that she tried to sleep in the bathtub but the faucet kept dripping. So she to stop it. She stuck her toe in the faucet of the bathtub and it got stuck. She's just telling him this story. So she had to call the plumber and what's amazing is that he has a fantasy of that same scene in which he's fantasizing what happens when the plumber arrives. And she's so innocent about it the fact that she's naked in the bathtub and the plumber's there and she doesn't really, it doesn't occur to her that she should be worried, or it's the innocence which makes it so very appealing? There was a cut in that scene too. Um, I don't know if you knew this, but so when the plumber's there and she's going off in the fantasy about, about this wolf who is making advances on her downstairs, the plumber drops his wrench in the tub, um, and he reaches it and gets it, and the production, the production code administration, was like uh-uh, cut, that is out of there, that is out of there. But it's what's wonderful, it's.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 She doesn't have this. She doesn't have her awareness of the effect she has on men when they first meet. She's obviously, and she's up above. She drops the tomato plant and she's looking over the balcony. She's obviously, and she's up above. She drops the tomato plant and she's looking over the balcony. She's obviously naked, right, I mean that's implied that she's naked, because where does she keep her underwear, brad, when it's hot?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 One of my favorites she keeps her underwear in the freezer next to the champagne Well, wait a minute. Was it in the fridge or freezer?
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Because it was next to the champagne Well both, and neither Was it in the fridge or freezer Because it was next to the champagne.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Well, both and neither, Because this is the 50s, remember. So it's icebox. Oh, yes, icebox. Of course it's ice. I used to have an icebox, but that's a different story. Moving on.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yes, because if you remember, when Richard Sherman invites her down for a drink, she says I have to go in the kitchen and change. And he says why? And she says because I keep my underwear in the icebox. You know, it's this kind of dirty stuff but Marilyn has such a light touch with it. Marilyn is so it's so simple with Marilyn so beautiful that somehow it seems okay. Now that could be problematic, but to me as a viewer, I understand why this works. Because of that, because of Marilyn's attitude about it.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 That's my feeling about it. Well, I want to go back to the fact that his thing had to be the fantasies of her, rather than acting them out. Like I said, I feel that that was a positive. Where I feel it was a negative is it made everything. Okay, it made her character existing solely in his fantasy? Okay, that she was just an object and I. That was a negative, okay.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Right, that was a negative.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Right, but again, for a man that just wants to make an object, it makes sense at the same time. Yeah, we objectify people all the time. You just aren't supposed to talk about it this kind of shit still exists.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 You know that very first scene, and that happens on manhattan island back in the 1600s, where they're talking about all the natives sending their wives out upstate during the summer. So they're all by themselves, but there's one lone woman behind and she walks by and they all follow her and I'm like this is akin to gang rape. What the fuck are you filmmakers doing here? I mean, yes, so there are objectionable things about this that obviously would not fly today. So the challenge is to put yourself in that mindset and see if you can still enjoy this movie. There's all kinds of another thing that you can tell that this is such a it's such a male oriented, misogynistic world.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Here. The movie's full of phallic symbols, you know. Uh, it's just, it's like this wash your mouth out with soap attitude of the 50s, these dirty jokes. Uh, richard's son leaves. He, they he and his wife went off to maine for the summer and he left his paddle behind, and richard basically walks around the entire movie holding this paddle, and I don't think I have to spell out what that paddle symbolizes through the entire movie.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 No, I think, I think people will get it I think people will get it too.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So I want to talk about a couple of the scenes um that that happened. But I do want to talk about a couple of the scenes that happened. But I do want to talk about some of the things that the production code administration said no, this ain't going to fly. We talked about the bathtub scene. That wasn't going to happen. We talked about the main plot and the fact that these two are not going to have sex. I think one of the most interesting things is the girl. Marilyn's character is a model and an actress and she does a modeling layout and the way it's presented is we. She doesn't come out right and say it, but we get the idea that this was most likely a nude modeling photo.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 That was something that disappointed me. When she shows him the magazine that she was in, I would have rather them not shown the magazine and showed him bug-eyed so that we knew she was married. We knew that she was in. I would have rather them not shown the magazine and showed him bug-eyed so that we knew that she was naked. Instead, they showed us the picture and she's in a bathing suit and like that ruins it. It was just silly.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Interesting. You mentioned that, brad. Okay, because Billy Wilder and George Axelrod's intent was exactly. What you just said Was exactly. We don't see the photo. It's intimated
 
 Tony Maietta:
 that she's naked in this photo. However, the production code administration made them put the insert in later on in the scene. If you notice, when she shows him the picture in the apartment, we don't see it. It's only when he's in the office and he has the book and he shows it to one of his clients. Who, by the way, did you recognize oscar homoka? Uh, uncle chris from. I remember mama, he played the, the doctor who was writing the book about the seven-year-old oh, yes, yes, yes yes, it's only when he shows it to oscar homoka.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, that's right. It's only when it shows it to the doctor thatka yeah, that's right. It's only when it shows it to the doctor that we get a shot of that photo, because the Production Code Administration demanded that they put a photo of Marilyn in a bathing suit in there. That's just crazy.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 It's stupid, right? They wouldn't have shown anything, just him looking at it with look.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, I know.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 It was a different era, but that's just nuts. I've seen a lot more stuff that is scandalous than that.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, here's one of the reasons too, because by this time, by 1955, everybody was aware of Marilyn Monroe's nude pinup. Playboy had premiered a couple years before.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, I was just going to say Playboy was new on the scene, Marilyn was the first centerfold in Playboy and it was that famous calendar shot she did when she was a struggling actress, which is so it's just the side of her. It's so ridiculous that this caused a furor. So that was really kind of a meta moment, the fact that she was talking about this shot. The girl was talking about the modeling job she did and everybody in the audience who's watching it thinks, oh, it's new, just like marilyn monroe did. Oh, this is. You know, this was meta before meta existed. So to take that away and then put in this stupid photo of it's not even marilyn, if you noticed, it's not marilyn, it's another girl oh, I didn't even notice that.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Her face is covered, because Marilyn was probably like I'm not doing that In the bathing suit. It just takes all the teeth out of the joke and it just makes it. You know, it's like that paddle suddenly becomes limp with that joke. I mean it loses all of its import, it loses all of the punch. It's kind of crazy. It's kind of crazy.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Well, it's especially crazy because she talks about nudity a lot in this film. In fact, one of the lines she said when she's talking about nudity being a great thing, she said can you imagine two great armies on the battlefield no uniforms, completely nude, no way of telling friend from foe, all brothers together? That was one of the many lines she said promoting nudism. So the fact that they changed that just I've already made it clear I don't understand that and it's not Marilyn who says that, it's the waitress in the restaurant.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Are you sure? Yeah, it's the waitress in the restaurant before Marilyn's even in it. It's at the very, very beginning.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Oh, at the vegetarian restaurant.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Vegetarian restaurant. She's a nudist and I'm like, okay, we have nudism in here, but yet the idea that Maryland's the character that Maryland's playing would have a nude layout in an you know, and not in pornography in a photography magazine, this is what? But this is what they did. They would throw these things out there. They would frequently put things in films because they knew the PCA was going to be up in arms. It's kind of like MacGuffins, you know, to borrow a phrase from her last week. It's kind of like distractions so they could get the things in there.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 They really wanted to get in there, and what Billy Wilder wanted to get in there was probably the most, one of the most famous scenes in movie history, which is the subway grading scene. So we got to talk about that, because you can't talk about the seven-year itch and you really can't even talk about Marilyn Monroe without talking about that scene. My question for you is not knowing anything about it. What did you think of that? It's so iconic, it's in every single history of film documentary. Seeing it in the context of the movie Brad. What did you think of that? It's so iconic, it's in every single you know history of film documentary. Seeing it in the context of the movie brad. What did you think of that scene?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 well, and first I want to say the uh. As you know, there's that statue of maryland in palm springs which unfortunately had to move because some people didn't like it in front of, uh, the art museum, which it's art, but anyway, moving on, uh, of her. Naturally it's a picture of her with her skirt blowing up right, and I've seen this picture a million times and this is actually the first time I've seen this film. I thought I had seen it before and I'm like no, I haven't. Actually it was much tamer than I expected it to be. They didn't show, I'm like because I'm like, did I just miss something? Because it didn't show her? I've always seen the pictures of her from a distance, where you see her, her dress welling up way up, and I didn't see that in the film and I almost wondered if it was cut.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, you know why. That is why? Because it was shot twice. Ah, okay, it was shot once on location and once at the studio. So what happened was this the first filming was really just a big publicity stunt. So it happened on the night of September 15th 1954, on the corner of Lexington and 52nd Street in New York City. That's where the subway grading and the movie theater is. I've been there a couple times. I've been there a couple times, and that night over 2,000 fans and photographers showed up to watch them film this scene One of the people who was there witnessing it was Marilyn's husband, Joe DiMaggio.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I heard that this was supposedly the beginning of the downfall of their marriage. He did not like this film.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, yeah, they'd only been married eight months, seven months, and yeah. So what happened was was that, according to the legend of this, when they were filming it, the fans, the crowd even though Wilder was trying his best to control them, they, he couldn't quiet the crowd the whistles, the hoots, all of the noise, all the cacophony of this Of, of course, what do you expect? You're filming the world's biggest sex, goddess. You're filming your skirt being blown up. I mean, of course it's going to cause a ruckus.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yes, so that's why you're thinking might have been a little bit more of a publicity stunt than anything else. So they couldn't do it. There was too much noise, so they had to go back 20th century fox. The film, the scene that's in the film, was filmed at 20th Century Fox, and you're absolutely right, in New York City her skirt went up much higher, much, much higher than it does in the film. In the film it's nothing. You don't see anything. You see her calves. No, you know, I was like wait, I was really confused.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So in New York City, though, not only did her skirt blow up much higher than in the finished film, the lights tended to make her underwear diaphanous, so that wasn't going to fly either size and released, you know. And they had a four story poster basically cut out at Lowe's Theater of Maryland with her skirt going up. It's from that night in New York City. So everything that you see of the seven year age in that scene, all the, all the shots that you see, the famous ones where her skirts way up high, are from that night in New York, but it was never used. It was reshot. Her skirts skirt's much, much, you know, much lower, and it's nothing. It's a nothing scene. It's a charming scene. Marilyn's wonderful in it. She's fantastic in it because she has that air of innocence that we talk about, which makes it so appealing. But the scene itself, in the context of the film, it's no big deal.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 It of the film. It's no big deal. It's no big deal. Yeah, I can't. I imagine there were a lot of people really disappointed because I really was scratching my head.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 I'm like wait a minute, I was really confused yeah, it turned out to be an incredible publicity boon for this movie, because whenever anybody asks thinks of the seven-year itch, they think of that shot of her skirt blowing up wearing that travilla dress which I think we talked about this once which in 2011, sold for 4.6 million dollars. That is unbelievable for that little white halter dress.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Incredible, incredible stuff, incredible stuff okay we're gonna take a break because I have more to say about this film, but I don't want to forget to give the stats on this film. As you said, it was made in 1955. The play was in 1952. Director Billy Walder Rotten Tomatoes. The critics give it an 84% and the audience gives it a 76%. And, as I said with other films, I think if this was an audience score back in the 50s, before Rotten Tomatoes even existed, that audience score would probably be a lot higher and maybe even the critics score. So I think there's a dip because of the time era. Right as far as the box office goes, I've got a couple different numbers. I think I know why they're different.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 The movie was made for $1.2 million and I have one source saying that it made $6 million and another source saying it made $1.8 billion. I'm going to guess the $6 million was the year it came out and the $1.8 billion is today.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah Well, it was in the top 10 box office hits of 1955.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Definitely. Well, of course yeah, because it was a huge, huge hit. Now I really, of course yeah, because it was a huge, huge hit. Now I really really struggled with this film. But some things I want to say. First of all, the good parts of this film. Visually, it was beautiful.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Absolutely beautiful, stunning.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 It was one of those films that you could tell was a play because the set was so limited.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 You could tell in the play it was just his apartment yes, yes there were, and 99 of this movie is still that, and, my god, I wanted to move into that place. That's great. Uh, you know, a lot of times I watch these older films I'm like I don't like that furniture. But you know, it's the era. I loved almost everything about that place and I thought, good god, can you imagine that place with the terrace out back, and how much that would cost yeah, yeah, nobody could afford it.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Um, visually it was stunning. I thought she looked fabulous, of course, as, as I said, it did not. Even though it was all in that one space, it didn't feel claustrophobic at all, because it was actually a pretty big set. You know, you had the the patio, you had the the patio, you had the living room where most of the story took place, but you also had that extra room I can't remember was it a bedroom yes, yeah I think it was a bedroom with a desk in it, um, because I was trying to debate if it was an office or not.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Yeah, I could be wrong about that. Her timing was so good and that's where I think she really shined in this film. Some of the lines that we talked about were so good and we mentioned her some of the quotes she said, and I gotta give some of them because they were really, really cute, and one of them I loved was she says when he puts Rachmaninoff on, she says this is what they call classical music, isn't it? I could tell, because there's no vocal and I think in the wrong hands that would not have been a very funny joke, but it was wonderful with her. And regarding the champagne, the exact quote she says is I've got a wonderful idea. Why don't I go upstairs and get it? It's just sitting in the ice box with
 
 Brad Shreve:
 the potato chips and my underwear yeah, it's so wonderful, but it just rolled out like of course it is.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 It made it hysterical. She took the bubble-headed blonde and made her not bubble-headed blonde, if that makes sense.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, yes, no, absolutely. She gives depth, she gives vulnerability. That's what Marilyn Monroe does. You know it's interesting. The year after this, tom Ewell appeared in a movie with another blonde sex symbol, jane Mansfield, in the Girl Can't Help it, which is one of Jane Mansfield's probably her biggest film. Now, no shade to Jane Mansfield. The Girl Can't Help it, which is one of Jane Mansfield's probably her biggest film. Now, no shade to Jane Mansfield. She was a really interesting, interesting woman, but she was no Marilyn Monroe. You know everybody else is a pale copy of Marilyn Monroe. 20th Century Fox was always trying to make the next Marilyn Monroe. You can't, because god made the first one. He made her incredibly flawed. She was a very unstable woman, but as an actress she was. She was perfection at what she did and how she could do it. That's why when people say who's marilyn rowe not even a good actress, I'm like she's such a good actress. You don't think she's an actress because you don't think she's acting, and that's what a good actress does.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 That is what she is such a good actress. And you know, unfortunately, as we said, we did not get to experience that great actress because of her turbulent personal life, her demons, her life ended much, much too soon, in 1962, at the age of 36, which is so unfortunate. You know, billy Wilder, here's something I think is really, really interesting. Billy Wilder worked with I just want to talk to people here Barbara Stanwyck, jack Lemon, walter Matthau, audrey Hepburn, gary Cooper, marlena Dietrich, bing Crosby, gloria Swanson. I mean, we're talking about Sunset Boulevard, double Indemnity, the Apartment Sabrina Some Like it Hot the Last Weekend. And he said at the end of his life, the question he was asked more than any other about his entire career was what was Marilyn Monroe really like? Now, think about that for a minute. This is the effect this woman, this gifted, gifted woman, had on moviegoers. Hello, 1962, 60 years ago. We're still talking about her, despite the fact that this person online didn't know who Marilyn Monroe was.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 I think most people are going to know who Marilyn Monroe is, who Marilyn Monroe was. I think most people are going to know who Marilyn Monroe is, and that quote from Billy Wilder beautifully illustrates that. She was a rare thing, she was an unearthly creature and like all rare unearthly creatures, she wasn't with us too long. But how wonderful that we can look back on. We can just pull it out. Take a look at this film, take a look at the Prince and the Showgirl, which I truly recommend. She wipes Laurence Olivier off the screen in the Prince and the Showgirl. Bus stop, gentlemen prefer blondes. And you won't be sorry, you'll, you won't be sorry. You give Marilyn a try, because I guarantee you you will come away from a Marilyn Monroe film with a whole new appreciation of what truly a truly incredible entity she was. I agree.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 This kind of misogynistic sexism could be funny if it was played right, just like mel brooks did with racism in Blazing Saddles. But this was a different era. You know this guy it's like his wife is to blame for him wanting to go out on the prowl, even though we're made to believe that was a normal thing in New York, where everybody you know the wives and children all go and leave the men horny, running around trying to have sex with women. So no, I don't like this film. But it is an important time capsule and I understand why it's historical and part of canon it does have, as I said, the imagery is iconic. It was a real introduction to Marilyn who just shined and it does show, if not, what male psyche was actually like. It was how male psyche was portrayed in that era. So as a time capsule, I appreciate it and I can respect it in that sense, but I just it's next to impossible for me to set the cringiness of 2025 aside.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, I get it. I get it. You have to do that, though, if you want to watch a movie. I mean because you can't just live in a vacuum and say, okay, I'm only going to watch movies that have the same values, the same ideas that I have in 2025. Same thing with Gone with the Wind. You can't cancel Gone with the Wind. With gone with the wind you can't cancel gone with the wind. It's history. You can't cancel boys in the band it's history. You can't cancel this movie. It's history. This is the way things were, you know, you can't be ignorant to that, so hopefully it won't go back to this hopefully, yeah, and I'll say I think it's horrible that disney does not release Song of the South.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 I think people have made a good statement that you have a Song of the South and there should be a little clip at the beginning that parents can use to teach their kids why this movie is no longer shown. There's a lot of good stuff in Song of the South and the same
 
 Brad Shreve:
 thing with Birth of a Nation. I don't remember. I don't know if you remember, I don't even know. I don't know if you remember there's a I don't even know if it's still there. There used to be a silent theater, I think, on Coanga, that was going to show Birth of a Nation and people protested and they pulled it and I think that was wrong.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Because you can't hide history.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 You just need to put it in the perspective that belongs here.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Right, exactly, that's exactly it. That's exactly it. And you know, because of the issues this movie brings up, you know there are some revisionists out there who are trying to put a different spin on it and some of their theories are that perhaps they really did sleep together, because we never really see her go into the bedroom and him fall asleep on the couch. So maybe it's all a dream and maybe he really did sleep with the girl. Or maybe this whole thing was a dream because, if you notice, one of the biggest meta moments of all is when his wife's friend comes in at the very end and he confesses he has a girl in the kitchen. He says and this is from the movie, maybe it's Marilyn Monroe. So there you go. So you're not really sure. Everybody's always trying to put their spin on this.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 My spin is and that, actually, when he said that I expected his friend to go in the kitchen and she wouldn't be there, well yeah, which would have made it much easier for me, I would like oh, okay, I get it, it was all a fantasy and I think that would have been awesome.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Well, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. You got to take this movie at its face value Love it, hate it. It's part of our history. It is an important film in the career of Marilyn Monroe to get an idea of what Marilyn Monroe was like at her peak and also to get a sense of what it was that made her the biggest star in the world in 1955. So, yes, and I.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 That made her the biggest star in the world in 1955. Yes, and I will say I loved it as a historical piece. I hated the story, so I did enjoy watching it at the same time that I hated it, and I think that makes sense.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 So, brad, is there anything else you want to say about the film or the podcast, or anything at all?
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Before we end, I'm just going to say my usual. If you're listening to this podcast for the first, second, maybe third time, please subscribe so you can get all the future episodes and go back and watch some of the past or listen to some of the past episodes. We had some good ones, more than a few and if you've been listening to us, we would love if you would rate and review. About 70% of you listen to us on Apple and Spotify, so those are the easiest to leave a review, especially Apple. But there are other ones. My favorite is Podcast Addict. They have you can leave reviews. Pocket Cast. You can leave reviews. So leave a review or at least rate us, depending on the app you use.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, do it. I mean, what are you waiting for A nameless blonde to come into your apartment and want to use your air conditioning? Give me a break. Well, brad, I guess then, in that case, there's only one thing left to say, but I don't want to say it. So let's not say goodbye, let's just say au revoir.
 
 Brad Shreve:
 No, I'm going to go dip some potato chips in my champagne, and before that I'm going to say goodbye.
 
 Tony Maietta:
 I got to go get my underwear out of the icebox. Goodbye everybody.

Tony Maietta:  
 …that perhaps they really did sleep together, because we never really see her go into the bedroom and him fall asleep on the couch. So maybe it's all a dream and maybe he really did sleep with the girl. Or maybe this whole thing was a dream because, if you notice, one of the biggest meta moments of all is when his wife's friend comes in at the very end and he confesses he has a girl in the kitchen. He says—and this is from the movie—maybe it's Marilyn Monroe. So there you go. So you're not really sure. Everybody's always trying to put their spin on this.
 
 Brad Shreve:  
 My spin is—and that, actually, when he said that I expected his friend to go in the kitchen and she wouldn't be there—well yeah, which would have made it much easier for me. I would like, oh, okay, I get it, it was all a fantasy. And I think that would have been awesome.
 
 Tony Maietta:  
 Well, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. You got to take this movie at its face value. Love it, hate it—it’s part of our history. It is an important film in the career of Marilyn Monroe to get an idea of what Marilyn Monroe was like at her peak and also to get a sense of what it was that made her the biggest star in the world in 1955. 
 
 Brad Shreve:
 Let me give my total synopsis of this film. I hate it. And I don't hate it that it's dated, it was just smug about it's it? We're supposed to laugh at bad behavior. Which movies are great when they do that? You know, we watch movies where people are the criminals.

Brad Shreve:
 This kind of misogynistic sexism could be funny if it was played right, just like mel brooks did with racism in Blazing Saddles. But this was a different era. You know this guy it's like his wife is to blame for him wanting to go out on the prowl, even though we're made to believe that was a normal thing in New York, where everybody you know the wives and children all go and leave the men horny, running around trying to have sex with women. So no, I don't like this film. But it is an important time capsule and I understand why it's historical and part of canon it does have, as I said, the imagery is iconic. It was a real introduction to Marilyn who just shined and it does show, if not, what male psyche was actually like. It was how male psyche was portrayed in that era. So as a time capsule, I appreciate it and I can respect it in that sense, but I just it's next to impossible for me to set the cringiness of 2025 aside.

Tony Maietta:
 Yeah, I get it. I get it. You have to do that, though, if you want to watch a movie. I mean because you can't just live in a vacuum and say, okay, I'm only going to watch movies that have the same values, the same ideas that I have in 2025. Same thing with Gone with the Wind. You can't cancel Gone with the Wind. With gone with the wind you can't cancel gone with the wind. It's history. You can't cancel boys in the band it's history. You can't cancel this movie. It's history. This is the way things were, you know, you can't be ignorant to that, so hopefully it won't go back to this hopefully, yeah, and I'll say I think it's horrible that disney does not release Song of the South.

Brad Shreve:
 I think people have made a good statement that you have a Song of the South and there should be a little clip at the beginning that parents can use to teach their kids why this movie is no longer shown. There's a lot of good stuff in Song of the South and the same thing with Birth of a Nation. I don't remember. I don't know if you remember, I don't even know. I don't know if you remember there's a I don't even know if it's still there. There used to be a silent theater, I think, on Coanga, that was going to show Birth of a Nation and people protested and they pulled it and I think that was wrong.

Tony Maietta:
 Because you can't hide history.

Brad Shreve:
 You just need to put it in the perspective that belongs here.

Tony Maietta:
 Right, exactly, that's exactly it. That's exactly it. And you know, because of the issues this movie brings up, you know there are some revisionists out there who are trying to put a different spin on it and some of their theories are that perhaps they really did sleep together, because we never really see her go into the bedroom and him fall asleep on the couch. So maybe it's all a dream and maybe he really did sleep with the girl. Or maybe this whole thing was a dream because, if you notice, one of the biggest meta moments of all is when his wife's friend comes in at the very end and he confesses he has a girl in the kitchen. He says and this is from the movie, maybe it's Marilyn Monroe. So there you go. So you're not really sure. Everybody's always trying to put their spin on this.

Brad Shreve:
 My spin is and that, actually, when he said that I expected his friend to go in the kitchen and she wouldn't be there, well yeah, which would have made it much easier for me, I would like oh, okay, I get it, it was all a fantasy and I think that would have been awesome.

Tony Maietta:
 Well, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. You got to take this movie at its face value Love it, hate it. It's part of our history. It is an important film in the career of Marilyn Monroe to get an idea of what Marilyn Monroe was like at her peak and also to get a sense of what it was that made her the biggest star in the world in 1955. So, yes, ad I.

Tony Maietta:
 So, brad, is there anything else you want to say about the film or the podcast, or anything at all?

Brad Shreve:
 Before we end, I'm just going to say my usual. If you're listening to this podcast for the first, second, maybe third time, please subscribe so you can get all the future episodes and go back and watch some of the past or listen to some of the past episodes. We had some good ones, more than a few and if you've been listening to us, we would love if you would rate and review. About 70% of you listen to us on Apple and Spotify, so those are the easiest to leave a review, especially Apple. But there are other ones. My favorite is Podcast Addict. They have you can leave reviews. Pocket Cast. You can leave reviews. So leave a review or at least rate us, depending on the app you use.

Tony Maietta:  
 Yeah, do it. I mean, what are you waiting for? A nameless blonde to come into your apartment and want to use your air conditioning? Give me a break. Well, Brad, I guess then, in that case, there's only one thing left to say, but I don't want to say it. So let's not say goodbye, let's just say au revoir.
 
 Brad Shreve:  
 No, I'm going to go dip some potato chips in my champagne, and before that I'm going to say goodbye.
 
 Tony Maietta:  
 I got to go get my underwear out of the icebox. Goodbye everybody.