You Can't Take It With You - 1938

Columbia paid $200,000 for the film rights to the play.

Frank Capra first became aware of the play when he caught a performance of it when he was in New York in 1937 for the premiere of Lost Horizon (1937). He tried to persuade Columbia boss Harry Cohn to buy the rights but Cohn refused, partly because he baulked at the prospect of shelling out what he considered to be the exorbitant sum of $200,000 for the rights, but mainly because he was still smarting from the lost battles he'd had with Capra over the final edit of Lost Horizon (1937). Capra too was out of sorts with Cohn as he objected strongly to the Columbia boss trying to market the Jean Arthur film If You Could Only Cook (1935) in Britain as one of his own. A court case ensued, only being resolved in November 1937, with the proviso that Columbia buy the rights to the play and assign the project to Capra.

The first James Stewart and Frank Capra collaboration.

A 1938 feature film usually ran to 8,000 feet of film. Frank Capra shot 329,000 feet for this one.
Whereas the play had only 19 characters, there are 153 parts in the film.

Lionel Barrymore would receive injections every hour to help relieve the pain of his arthritis.

Shooting began in late April 1938 and took just under 2 months. The cost came in at one and a half million dollars.

The original play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was still running on Broadway when the film opened.

Frank Capra was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1938 and was at the forefront of a union dispute amongst producers and directors that was threatening to disrupt that year's Oscar ceremony. Fortunately it was resolved in time for the President to walk off with 2 more Oscars to add to his collection.

Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a broken leg, and Barrymore did the film on crutches.

Debut of Dub Taylor.

Frank Capra cast James Stewart based on his performance in Navy Blue and Gold (1937).
The Broadway play "You Can't Take It With You" opened at the Booth Theater in New York on December 14, 1936 and ran for 838 performances. The original cast included Jess Barker as Tony Kirby, Margot Stevenson as Alice Sycamore and Henry Travers as Grandpa. Donald, played so memorably in this film by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, was originally portrayed by Oscar Polk, who later played house servant "Pork" in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Lionel Barrymore plays Jean Arthur's grandfather in the film. In reality, he was only 22 years her senior.

The song "Polly Wolly Doodle" was prominently featured in both this film and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). Dub Taylor also appeared in both films. In this film he plays the song (several times) on a xylophone. Taylor appears as Rev. Wainscoat in The Wild Bunch (1969) 31 years after this film (near the end of his film career). Peckinpah's "Polly Wolly Doodle", presented in it's sinister context, contrasts sharply with the carefree Capra rendition.

Ann Miller was only 15 years old when this movie was filmed. Her character is called on to perform numerous (amateur) ballet positions, including the toe pointe, which was very painful for her. She hid this from the cast and crew, but would cry (out of sight) off stage.

The song "Polly Wolly Doodle" is played on the harmonica by Lionel Barrymore (and Edward Arnold) several times in this film. A variation of the same song is sung by Bette Davis' (Apple Annie) crew towards the end of Pocketful of Miracles (1961) as they are riding in a cab to see Ann-Margret off on her honeymoon.

Ann Miller once said that doing the ballet moves for this movie were extremely painful and she would often be crying in between takes. She never told anybody the reason why and James Stewart, assuming she was upset about something, would have boxes of candy sent to her to make her feel better.

The first of only two Best Picture Academy Award winners to have been adapted for the screen from plays which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Cast of You Can't Take It With You

Jean Arthur as Alice Sycamore
Lionel Barrymore as Grandpa Martin Vanderhof
James Stewart as Tony Kirby
Edward Arnold as Anthony P. Kirby
Mischa Auer as Boris Kolenkhov
Ann Miller as Essie Carmichael
Spring Byington as Penny Sycamore
Samuel S. Hinds as Paul Sycamore
Donald Meek as Poppins
H. B. Warner as Ramsey
Halliwell Hobbes as DePinna
Dub Taylor as Ed Carmichael
Mary Forbes as Mrs. Anthony P. Kirby
Lillian Yarbo as Rheba
Eddie Anderson as Donald
Charles Lane as Wilbur G. Henderson, IRS agent
Ian Wolfe as A.P. Kirby's secretary (unbilled)
Ward Bond as detective (unbilled)
Arthur Murray had an uncredited bit part