The Desk Set
by Phoebe & Henry Ephron
Twentieth Century Fox
Sarah: Desk Set! BRING IT ON.
Amanda: I’m in my bathrobe and eating dry Captain Crunch out of the box. Let’s do this.
Sarah: It was mostly lovely and hilarious and a perfect movie to watch when I was awake but too hopped up on cold medicine to do anything. Katharine Hepburn can get me through any and all colds from now on.
Carrie: There are some ways in which this movie has aged horribly (“Chinamen, Mexican bus, Eskimo Kisses”) but thankfully those references are pretty brief and overall I thought the movie was still very relevant and amazingly sexually progressive.
Redheadedgirl: Hey, they tried to ask The Center for The Preservation of Eskimo Culture about it! One might hope that actually involves talking to actual native Alaskans.
I realize that might be a faint hope.
Carrie: Not back then it wouldn’t.
Sarah: I think you could make casual 50s racism bingo out of this film and despite that I still loved it.
Redheadedgirl: Hepburn is a delight at all times, and her chemistry with Tracey is off the fucking charts.
Amanda: I honestly enjoyed the movie, though I don’t think I quite buy the romance aspect. I get that with older movies, some of the romance happens off camera. But Cutler was a douche and Sumner, I did not think, was a good fit for Bunny. On screen, they shared some mild flirtation. Not enough for a marriage proposal, IMO. Besides Bunny is so damn awesome. She’d honestly be settling if she went with either one of her romance options.
Carrie: Behold, I am an English Lit major with an analogy: In musicals, dance numbers represent different emotions, often sexual longing or even the sexual act. In romantic comedies of the witty banter variety, we know who belongs together by the quality of the banter. Every one of Hepburn’s lines to Mike is like a tennis ball that lobs his direction, but he’s not attuned to her (cause he’s a douchebag) so they fly right over his head.
“The whole office has had us married for 7 years.” “They succeeded where I failed.”
Whizzz! Over his head.
“I’ve been thinking.” “Did you enjoy it?”
Whizz again!
We know Hepburn and Tracy are the OTP (even though frankly Tracy is a bit of a douchebag himself) because every single time she throws a tennis ball at him, he catches it and sends it back. That’s what love is in these kinds of films – a game of catch, and the right partner is the one who can always catch and return the ball, just like in dance movies the OTP is the partners who learn to dance from each other and achieve perfect synchronicity with their bodies.
Elyse: I really, really like that this is a romance between a couple who aren’t in their 20’s. I think Hepburn was 49-50 and Tracy was near 60. When they made it.
Sarah: I also wonder how much of the romance is built on the fact that it’s Tracy and Hepburn and not just their characters
Redheadedgirl: Oh, lots. It’s shorthand casting.
Carrie: Absolutely – they did 9 movies together and this was #8. I think it shows most in that they are so much at ease together even when they aren’t, if that makes sense – their characters are often mystified by each other yet there’s and underlying sense of relaxation in their body language.
Elyse: Hepburn is just mesmerizing. I was watching even the way she’d eat her sandwich or button her coat. She does so much acting through body language
Sarah: My two favorite things: the conversation about how the two women who feel passed by and on the shelf will move in together and keep cats.
“I don’t like cats. I like men!”
Amanda: Costello: “I don’t keep cats. I like men and so do you.” Miss Costello, you are the thief of my heart!
Sarah: And I loved the conversation on the roof where Hepburn easily outwits Tracy’s questions, and he’s completely floored by her. I loved that.
Amanda: “That’s correct.”
“Yes, I know.”
Sarah: I made Adam watch it. It was delightful, all her pedantic patience with him while she’s freezing her ears off.
Carrie: It’s the body language and tone of voice that sells the “I like men” so well – their friendship and their self-confidence shines through. And Tracy being floored and and totally dazzled is the best. “They were rare tropical fish! Like you!”
Sarah: Yes! And he recognizes her brilliance, too – telling the CEO, “oh, don’t bother with her boss. I want to talk to her.” He’s already figured out who runs what.
It was charming and smart and I loved it and thank you for recommending it.
Carrie: I was amazed that it held up so well.
Sarah: It had some very contemporary issues in it, too – feeling replaced by machines, that maybe humans were “outmoded.”
Carrie: The fear of being dependent on machines that are subject to “human error,” sexism in the work place, the pros and cons of a casual relationship…
Being at the mercy of a bureaucracy.
Sarah: Knowing that your contributions and intelligence will never be fully recognized – and then they are, and how intoxicating that is.
Carrie: Smart is sexy!
Redheadedgirl: I would listen to La Hepburn reciting poetry all day.
Amanda: Bunny’s boss (Mike) is gross. I do not like him.
Elyse: “Everyone knows you haven’t got a brain in your head. You just keep this job by being nice to me.”
Carrie: I honestly thought he was kidding but by the end of the movie I’m thinking maybe he really is that moronic and awful.
I hate Mike so much whenever he talks my teeth feel all wrinkly.
Elyse: So this movie came out in 1957 and it wasn’t a huge deal that Mike and Bunny were unwed and spending a weekend together?
That surprises me.
Carrie: It’s amazingly sexually progressive.
I love that Hepburn’s character isn’t pissed off because Mike thinks she’s sleeping with another man – she’s pissed because he assumed that she wouldn’t be, even though it’s entirely through his choice that she is a free agent. I loved her attitude that of course she’s free to have sex with other men (not to mention her line, (“You can tell those five other guys to come out from under the bed!”)
Elyse: I could watch a movie just of Hepburn telling people “Oh, shut up.”
Carrie: From this day forward I demand that my husband refer to me as a “rare tropical fish.”
I hate the bullying of the computer lady. I think the treatment of the computer lady is the movie’s way of allowing an emotional catharsis/revenge while leaving Spencer Tracy totally off the hook. It’s the only thing about this movie that bugs the shit out of me other than the casual dropping of cringeworthy words here and there.
Elyse: The computer lady did show up on Christmas to tell everyone they lost their jobs which is a pretty dick move.
Carrie: Oh she’s super snobby, for sure.
Amanda: “Be careful, you’re in the major leagues here.”
Sarah: I love that the computer that is installed makes space machine noises and is controlled by a typewriter.
I bet that’s what’s inside Google, no lie. Every query is a woman at a typewriter asking the beep-boop machine.
Amanda: I also expected more interaction with the computer, though that didn’t happen until the last fifteen or so minutes of the movie. Then again, I tried to go into it as blind as possible.
Sarah: Things that charmed the hell out of me:
Katharine Hepburn looked like she was a 50 year old lady and I loved every piece of that.
There were elevator attendants! And a computer so big it took up the whole room, and the computer I’m writing this on weighs 2 pounds.
I loved that the CEO’s office has to be bigger than reference so that the sponsors are impressed (Oh, don’t ever change, Corporate Network America. CNA: We won’t!) and I love that the CEO said with a straight face, “I don’t understand one word you’re saying but it sounds good to me!”
I loved that the women run the company in many little ways, and that they phone each other to warn of impending douche arrival or “boyfriend” arrival, and that they CALL TO ASK WHAT TIME IT IS OH MY NOSTALGIC DOG.
Elyse: Yes, the women were the source of knowledge for the whole company
And I loved that they genuinely seemed to love working together. Female friendships FTW
Amanda: Bunny and the rest of the reference department should have just had their own movie, because they were all wonderful and intelligent and kicked all sorts of ass.
Sarah: Bunny revised the report that made Mike (who I named “Blah” in my head) a VP, she and the other assistants ran the place through their internal phone network. And yes – they took care of each other!
Amanda: I feel like Bunny dumbs herself down around Mike AND HE IS SO GROSS.
Elyse: He’s a wankpuffin.
Sarah: I loved that Hepburn could act facing away from the camera using the tilt of her head to show how unimpressed she was with Mike and his presumption in her apartment. I also like that her getting angry made my dog upset and he had to come put his head on my lap so I could comfort him. “The Lady, the Movie Lady is mad. I am scared of the Movie Lady mad. She’s Mad!”
Amanda: Hepburn is too good for everyone she comes in contact with.
Sarah: Bunny’s coworkers grab her when she comes in to cover for her, they make sure everyone has a drink AND a gift at the holidays. My former holiday parties at work never had that NOR champagne NOR gorgeous dresses and NO PIANO ON WHEELS EITHER.
Carrie: I am insanely jealous of the office party.
Redheadedgirl: One of the things that I…. dislike is a strong word for how I feel, but I don’t have a better one right now… about older movie is how stagey they are.
Like, I get that’s the conventions of the time, and that’s how lots of movies in that era were made – sound stages with mainly one point of view from the camera- but if I wanted to watch a thing on an obvious stage, I’d see a play.
THAT SAID, this movie had…what, basically three, four major sets? Beautifully done and everything.
Amanda: Yeah, there are rarely outside locations because it’s all on a soundstage.
Carrie: We need to talk about clothes. Specifically, Sylvia’s purple dress. I need it. And it’s not every woman who can wear that silver dress without looking like a wad of gift wrapping gone mad but damn if Hepburn doesn’t look ravishing in it, and it’s so lovely that the romance goes to a older side of middle aged couple.
Amanda: WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO THESE WOMEN LIVE IN TO BUY AND USE GORGEOUS GREEN DRESSES?
Redheadedgirl: Right? I need that dress.
Amanda: I want the entire wardrobe. Though I’m very disappointed we don’t get to see Bunny in that green dress at least once.
Elyse: I think Redheadedgirl needs to tackle the floating island dessert
Carrie: YES!
Redheadedgirl: I missed the floating dessert entirely.
Carrie: Spencer and Katharine eat it in their bathrobes. Katharine eats it VERY ANGRILY.
Redheadedgirl: My friend Abigail does mid century food, so we might be able to tackle that dessert in the future.
Amanda: I can’t tell if Sumner is oblivious or if he’s being shady as fuck over dinner.
Elyse: Shady as fuck, I think
Sarah: Once Cutler comes in?
Amanda: Yes. FUCK CUTLER.
Carrie: Oh yeah, he trolls the shit out of Cutler, it’s awesome.
Sarah: Grade?
I’d give it a B+ with caution for casual racism.
Carrie: I agree.
Amanda: Same, though it’s light on romance and SUPER LIGHT ON COMPUTER VS HEPBURN ACTION, which is what I was expecting.
Redheadedgirl: Agreed.
Elyse: Agreed.
Carrie: My computer is named Emmy now.
What about you? Did you watch Desk Set? What did you think? Do you have designs on Grace’s purple dress, or were you after the green one? We want to hear your opinions!
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but I don’t really see myself rewatching it. (Mostly, that’s because I’m not really a rom com fan.)
I enjoyed watching the reference department interact more than I cared about the romance. I did appreciate the ages of the leads and that nobody was treating the idea that a woman Hepburn’s age would still be a catch as weird.
I’m also ashamed to realize I’ve never seen Katherine Hepburn in anything until this week. I’m going to have to correct that. She was fantastic!
Oh man. This is one of my most favorite movies of all time. It’s a Christmas tradition around here. I’m endlessly fascinated at the glimpse into 1950s office politics and culture, and live and die by the banter between Hepburn and Tracy.
Lostshadows: Watch The Philadelphia Story next. Thank me later. 🙂
Desk Set and Party Girl (Parker Posey) were pretty much required viewing to complete library school.
My favorite thing about this movie is how smart Hepburn’s character is, and how open she is about it, and how much everyone else admires her for it. That “rare tropical fish” line made me start to root for Sumner, because he appreciated Bunny as she was rather than for what she could do for him (looking at you, Mike–blergh). Best scene is the shivery rooftop quiz. Though I wouldn’t mind turning up at a Christmas party like theirs either.
This is one of my top movies of all time. I wanted to work in the reference department.
Beyond the terrific clothes and the 50’s office life details, I like that the movie appreciates smart women. I always had the feeling that the computer lady thought that all women who worked in offices were “just secretaries”, with little or no understanding of how the administrative teams run so much in every office.
The actor who played Mike, Gig Young, just about always played the spurned man in the 50-60’s romantic comedies he was in much like Ralph Bellamy in the 30-40’s.
I too liked this movie for the female friendships and that Sumner and Miss Costello saw right through Mike from the get go.
I must be in the minority here, because I actually found this movie a little boring. I loved the interaction between the ladies in the reference department, but I thought the “romance” between Hepburn and Tracy was unconvincing. However, I do agree about that office party! Why don’t we still have office parties like that??
I have made Floating Islands before – totally worth the trouble! Julia Child’s recipe is probably the best.
Katherine Hepburn was my all-time favorite actress and when she died, I wept. Another side of her? The ditzy blonde [yes, really] in Bringing Up Baby with Cary Grant.
On the other side of the gender thing, my favorite actor was Peter O’Toole, and I still gnash my teeth that he never won an Oscar.
So I wish you’d watch The Lion in Winter, starring Hepburn and O’Toole, for which Kate and Barbra (in Funny Girl) TIED for Best Actress that year.
And was Anthony Hopkins’ first movie role, even though he was in his 30s.
And also starred a very young Timothy Dalton.
AND–this is the money shot–
Was historically an older woman/younger man love story, and they cast it that way, with O’Toole 31, playing a 50-year-old King Henry II, and Hepburn 56, playing an early-60s Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
He was 31. She was 56.
And the chemistry between them is explosive.
There were no rules for Kate. No rules. Because SHE ruled.
OMG I have to go watch it again right now.
I accidentally didn’t close the italics and I don’t care because it all deserves italics, so there.
@Jo Hahne–I’m relieved you feel that way. I just came over to comment that I must not “get” classic rom-coms because I really wasn’t that into this movie. I liked some of the witty banter, the peek into the office culture of the 50s, and the smart women but the “romance” just left me cold. I don’t regret watching it but I can’t see myself recommending it to anyone.
I’m watching it now. 🙂
I love the friendship between all the women.
Desk Set is one of my very favorite movies ever. The most romantic line in the movie, in my opinion, is: “I’ll bet you write beautiful letters.”
*swoon*
I first watched this movie with my parents when I was about twelve. The progressive portrayal of women was completely lost on me. To my twelve-year-old self, it made perfect sense that the women were the smartest people at the network (and that they had careers). My dad and I still watch this movie every Christmas. “Santa’s reindeer? Let’s see – there’s Dopey, Sneezy, Grouchy . . . “
As a librarian and longtime Katharine Hepburn fan, I love nearly everything about this movie: the banter! the clothes! the female friendship! That office Christmas party! Not the casual racism, obviously.
Also seconding everything Patricia Burroughs aka Pooks said about The Lion in Winter. Katharine Hepburn was a goddess.
I suddenly feel compelled to add that to best appreciate the beginning of The Lion in Winter, you have to know that Henry has had his wife and queen, Eleanor, imprisoned for many, many years, when he decides to let her out to come be part of a ‘family Christmas.’ All she’d done to deserve being locked up was raise an army against him.
That, my dears, is Eleanor. And that, my dears, is the great Kate.
I didn’t like Bunny when she was with Mike, but I loved her with Sumner. She dumbed herself down for Mike, IMO, but she celebrated her knowledge with Sumner because she didn’t care about his opinion of her.
The clothes! The party! The sexual progressiveness! The female friendships! All a win.
I discovered Desk Set a while back (sorry, m’dear Bitches) on TCM and added it to my favorites. I love the interplay between Bunny and the girls of the reference department. The dresses were magnificent, the blatant sexual overtones to Bunny’s weekend visit with Blah-Blah were shockingly progressive, and the zinging back-and-forths with her and Sumner… you really can’t get any better for a 1950’s rom-com! I’ve never been a Tracy-and-Hepburn fan, though I’ve always been a Hepburn fan (make sense of that), so it was a pleasant surprise watching Desk Set and seeing what all the hoopla was aobut.
Oh, and I must enthusiastically second what Patricia Burroughs aka Pooks wrote about Eleanor of Aquitaine and The Lion in Winter. Again, thanks to TCM, I was introduced to the power and majesty of Katherine the Great in her role as Eleanor, and was completely blown away by the chemistry between her and O’Toole (who was mesmerizingly bombastic as Henry). Even though you can see the beginnings of the tremor which plagued her in her later years, it never detracted from her acting skills or her aristocratic beauty. She and Peter thoroughly embodied Henry and Eleanor, and the venom along with the abiding love they felt for each other as those characters shone through in every scene they were in. Such a marvelous film!
It has been a while since I watched this movie but I remember enjoying it. Hepburn in any romantic comedy, and yes especially with Tracy, is something to behold.
I’m with the people who didn’t find this convincing as a romance. Hepburn and Tracy may have dated in real life but all I saw between Bunny and Sumner was mutual admiration and light flirtation that MIGHT have believably progressed into romance if given another half hour’s development. As it is, they meet, he’s astounded by her intelligence and ability to banter, they have funny misunderstandings at her apartment with Mike, and then she agrees to marry him because….? It feels like I missed the part where they actually fell for each other.
This ended up being more night viewing than matinee for me, but I definitely enjoyed it. The romance was much lighter than I was used to and I’ve seen a lot of 50’s and 60’s fare with my mom, but it was still a ton of fun. I live tweeted as I watched and I can’t wait to see what my family has to say about me watching this. I don’t think I’m the intended audience for a Tracy/Hepburn movie. I have to say those two had the best chemistry. The way he looked at her. It was like he was constantly wondering how such a person could exist in real life.
I’m with everyone else regarding Mike. He was an ass. He took Bunny for granted, figuring she would always be there. He saw her as his, but never did anything to make it so. He wanted no strings and that’s what he got. I was really hoping that he’d be done for after the confrontation at her apartment. The one big flaw in Bunny’s character was that she didn’t have enough confidence in herself to go looking for someone better than that smarmy jackass. Did she think that no one else would want her? It was obvious that Sumner did.
Other than Mike, I really did not like Miss Warner. I tweeted out that I wanted to drop kick her into the East River, which probably wasn’t too polluted in 1957. She was so condescending to all of the women and was so busy kissing Sumner’s ass that I wanted to slap her. She thought that computer was the be all and end all and that she was so much smarter than the other women because she supposedly knew how to operate it. I was not sad to see her go.
Last, I seriously want Bunny’s green dress. I’m going to my cousin’s graduation party in July and I’ve been looking for a dress that shade of green for weeks.
One of my favorites — pretty much any film with Hepburn and Tracy had awesome dialogue. Adam’s Rib for example. I suggest you do the 1939 version of The Women next. My most favorite film. Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Paulette Goddard, Joan Crawford and Marjorie Main. There were NO men in the film, and according to something I read on TCM.com even the animals in the film were female. However, pretty much the entire film is ABOUT men. Fun movie.
I’m with Melanie. Most reference librarians WORSHIP this film cause its one of the few that actually gets what we do–help people answer their questions!
Also, I have an answer as to where they get their terrific clothes. There’s a scene, I believe, where one of the women runs out to a sale. Picture women working downtown near a number of fantastic department stores so they can nip out at lunch and buy something terrific at a super sale.
Also, love how the women all cover for each other and support them over the “bosses” who don’t deserve to have such competent women running things for them.
Didn’t actually get around to watching this film in time, but I hope to so I can add to this great discussion. I just wanted to say that I second Diane’s recommendation of The Women from 1939, a movie which I have seen several times. I’m interested to see what y’all would have to say about that movie.
I think that Ina Garten makes that Floating Island dessert on her show at some point, but calls it by the french name… ile flottante.
Yes! I am correct. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/ile-flottante-recipe.html
I’ve loved Desk Set for years; it is in fact a family favorite. Also loved Lion in Winter. I have to second Diane’s rec of Adam’s Rib though. Great dialog, great chemistry, serious issues.
My husband and I both have watched “Desk Set” multiple times, and keep it in our list of favorite classic movies – mostly for the witty dialogue! And the fact that it is an homage to academic geekiness. My list of classic movies has lots of films with Kate in them! Among the others already listed, for an early pre-code film with some serious themes and Kate playing an amazing character try “Christopher Strong”. Not the best of films, but despite being a film about the early 1900’s it has a very modern sensibility.
It’s probably been twenty years since I saw this movie. Enjoyed it a lot, although I was a little surprised how little time the movie spent on the Tracy/Hepburn scenes vs. the workplace. They did a lot with what they had, though. The marriage proposal came a little quickly for me (although I guess we’re supposed to assume that a month of spending all day every day together at work meant they got to know each other pretty well?) but I get the movie was trying to signal the difference between DoucheMike who strung Bunny along for seven years, and Sumner, who apparently knew what he wanted right away. I also liked the fact that in the end there was a good reason for keeping a secret about what was going on, and it wasn’t just the heartless corporate overlords letting everyone suffer.
Also, I just noticed that the writers were Henry and Phoebe Ephron, parents of Nora (and three other authorial daughters.) Romantic banter evidently runs in the family!
I love this movie! I’ve watched it so many times over my professional career (it’s required viewing for all MLIS students dontcha know; this and Party Girl) that I could practically recite the scenes you were referring to.
I always loved that Bunny had specific credentials for her job. It wasn’t a grad program at the time (a certificate at Columbia, I think?) but since there are still people who think librarians are doing community service, this was awesome to see.
I also liked that the Joan Blondell character was so open about her sexiness. She’s like “Damn straight I like sex, don’t you?” And the community/network of women.
And yes, Mike is The Worst. I honestly never knew why Bunny was with him for so long. He’s such a douchecraft carrier, he can’t have been that good in bed.
My computer ate my first comment, and in my second attempt I forgot to mention the very best part which was how relevant the underlying tech vs people still is. We still have people going, “Ahahaha we don’t need librarians/libraries, it’s all about computers now” except then they get a look at what’s out there and come running to information professionals going, “We don’t know how to computer, please help us librarians.” It struck a chord when I was in library school ten (!) years ago, and it still does today.
In my top 10! Love this movie, own it, watch it all the time.
OMG! I love this movie! I wish I had known about this blog back when you’d watched it!
It’s one of my absolute old movie favourites! (And I LOOOVE old movies!) I love the older couple romance, I adore Hepburn and Tracy, the “pre-historic Google” that is Reference department is tons of fun, and yeah! Those ladies kick ass. Wish there were more movies about them. Actually that would be a movie franchise I’d totally dig!