02 January 2024

"Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House"


And Mrs. Blandings (Myrna Loy) tries to get her ideal color scheme incorporated into the house.  In the screencap embedded above, she is showing the "boss painter" a thread, which she can't loan to him because it is rare and hard to find...

INT. THE FOYER - LATE AFTERNOON

               A general flurry of activity; Gussie and several workmen 
               carrying furniture upstairs, unpacking barrels, etc. Muriel, 
               list and samples in hand, is explaining her color scheme to 
               Mr. PeDelford, a polite, cigar-smoking, noncommittal boss 
               painter. In the b.g., casually leaning on the bannister is 
               PeDelford's taciturn and somewhat skeptical-looking assistant.

                                     MURIEL
                         Now I want the living room to be a 
                         soft green.
                              (PeDelford nods)
                         Not quite as bluish as a robin's 
                         egg, but yet not as yellow as daffodil 
                         buds.

                                     PEDELFORD
                         Mm.

                                     MURIEL
                              (handing him a sample)
                         The best sample I could get is a 
                         little too yellow, but don't let 
                         whoever mixes it go to the other 
                         extreme and get it too blue. It should 
                         just be sort of a grayish yellow 
                         green.

                                     PEDELFORD
                              (making a note)
                         Mm-hmm.

               They turn to the dining room.

                                     MURIEL
                         Now the dining room I'd like yellow. 
                         Not just yellow, a very gay yellow.

                                     PEDELFORD
                         Mm-hmm.

                                     MURIEL
                         Something bright and sunshiny.
                              (sudden inspiration)
                         I tell you, Mr. PeDelford, if you'll 
                         just send one of your workmen to the 
                         A&P for a pound of their best butter 
                         and match it exactly, you can't go 
                         wrong.

                                     PEDELFORD
                              (making a note)
                         Mm.

                                     MURIEL
                         This is the paper we're going to use 
                         here in the foyer.
                              (hands sample to him)
                         It's flowered but I don't want the 
                         ceiling to match any of the colors 
                         of the flowers. There are some little 
                         dots in the background, and it's 
                         these dots I want you to match. Not 
                         the little greenish dots near the 
                         hollyhock leaf, but the little bluish 
                         dot between the rosebud and the 
                         delphinium blossom. Is that clear?

               PeDelford looks carefully at the sample, then:

                                     PEDELFORD
                              (making note)
                         Mm-hmm.

                                     MURIEL
                         The kitchen's to be white. Not a 
                         cold, antiseptic hospital white -- a 
                         little warmer but not to suggest any 
                         other color but white.

                                     PEDELFORD
                              (note)
                         Mm.

                                     MURIEL
                         Now for the powder room, I want you 
                         to match this thread.
                              (hands him thread)
                         You can see it's practically an apple 
                         red. Somewhere between a healthy 
                         Winesap and an unripened Jonathan.

                                     PEDELFORD
                              (making note)
                         Mm.

               There is a crash from the kitchen.

                                     MURIEL
                         Will you excuse me?

               Muriel hastily exits toward the kitchen. PeDelford turns to 
               his assistant.

                                     PEDELFORD
                         Got it, Charlie?

                                     CHARLIE
                              (deadpan; indicating 
                              rooms with his thumb)
                         Green, yellow, blue, white, red.

                                     PEDELFORD
                         Check.

                                                                   DISSOLVE

I have always loved that scene, and every time I see it I appreciate it more.

Text from DailyScript.

11 comments:

  1. One of my all-time favorite movies! TFS!
    bobbie

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  2. I love this film, and I especially love that scene. Blandings Forever!

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  3. Anyone wanting to remodel or build should see that movie before doing anything else. It'll give them a good laugh and show them how it's NOT done. :-D

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  4. One of our favorite quotes is:
    Carpenter Foreman: On them second floor lintels between the lally columns, do you want we should rabbet them or not?

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  5. This is my ALL TIME favorite scene in a movie and top ten favorite movies. Thanks for the reminder I should watch it again.

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  6. Thanks for mentioning this film. Yup, it's great. They don't write scripts like this anymore. Witty banter on steroids--one of the highly entertaining daughters calls it "bickering." 24k gold. (This is a film that'll never be shown in a women's studies class. The male lead character is pretty well whipped and it's 1948!)

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    Replies
    1. For more "witty banter on steroids", try His Girl Friday (Cary Grant/Rosalind Russell) 1940.

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    2. Thanks! Yes! So long since I've seen it it'll be like the first time. One of the many perks in an "elderly" and increasingly daft existence.

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  7. We were moving into our home 35 years ago when I ran this film for my wife, who'd never seen it. It's still one of our favorites.

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  8. Read the books, they're even better!

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  9. Knew a woman who wanted her window shutters painted black with a little purple ... exactly the color of an eggplant

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