In 1959, a man and a woman loathed each other. Though they never met and didn’t even have a face to place with their foe, they were sworn enemies. That is, until he saw her, realized she was gorgeous, and devised a plan to win over his beautiful adversary, all the while she was unaware of his true identity. Knowing that if she knew who he actually was, he would never have a chance of pursuing her, he embarked on a course of action that seemed the most logical to him: he would assume a fake persona in order to date this stunning woman. He didn’t know how long it’d last but for this notorious womanizer, she was worth all the work that he’d have to do to keep up the allusion. In 1961, a man and a woman loathed each other. Though they never met and didn’t even have a face to place with their foe, they were sworn enemies. That is until he saw her, realized she was gorgeous, and devised a plan to win over his beautiful adversary, all the while she was unaware of his true identity. Knowing that if she knew who he actually was he would never have a chance of pursuing her, he embarked on a course of action that seemed the most logical to him: he would assume a fake persona in order to date this stunning woman. He didn’t know how long it’d last but for this notorious womanizer, she was worth all the work that he’d have to do to keep up the allusion.
Sound familiar? That’s because, in 1959 and 1961,Universal Picturesreleased movies starringRock Hudson,Doris Day, andTony Randallwith the same exact plot:Pillow Talk(1959) andLover Come Back(1961). In both movies, Hudson is a smooth-talking womanizer, Day is an uptight, hard-working professional, and Randall is a wealthy scion dependent on a psychiatrist. Both films are set in New York City. And while each film has different surface-level details, the plots are still the same: Hudson’s character wants Day’s character, but he can’t let her discover who he actually is.
What Is ‘Pillow Talk’ About?
InPillow Talk, Hudson’s Brad Allen and Day’s Jan Morrow share a party line. Before private phone lines, people would have to share a phone line, which meant you could overhear each other’s conversations, and you couldn’t make or receive a call if your party line partner was already using the line. Jan is a successful interior decorator who enjoys being a career woman at a time when the concept was still relatively new. Her party line partner, Brad, is a playboy songwriter who constantly keeps the phone busy with his wanton calls to various lovers, serenading each of them with a song that he wrotejust for them. Because of his unceasing phone activity, Jan is unable to make or receive work calls when she needs to. This results in a turbulent relationship between the two.
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But the two have a shared affiliation: Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall). To Jan, Jonathan is a client who makes no secret about his infatuation with her, trying to gift her a car, and proposing to her despite her insistence that she’s not in love with him. To Brad, Jonathan is a long-time friend who he has seen through three failed marriages. When Jonathan tells Brad about being enamored by his beautiful interior decorator, Jan, it catches his attention. The only information Brad and Jan know about each other is their names. Jonathan proceeds to tell Brad about Jan’s issues with her party line partner, unaware that Brad is the man she’s been having the problems with. Brad now knows that Jan is gorgeous, and tries to convince Jan to go on a date with him, which Jan sees through and promptly rejects. Later, Brad is at a bar with another woman when he overhears Jan’s name in the booth next to him. Jan, who attended a wealthy client’s party, was driven home by her client’s son who had intentions other than getting back to her place safely. After trying to force himself on her, he relents if Jan agrees to a drink with him.
When Brad hears Jan’s full name, he knows it’s her. After his date leaves, he devises a plan to pursue Jan. He knows that he doesn’t have the slightest chance with her if she knows who he is, so Brad Allen, prurient music man, becomes Rex Stetson, wealthy Texas rancher. After Brad pretends to be “Rex” and takes Jan home he knows he wants to keep pursuing her, however dishonest the situation is. Jan is smitten with who she thinks is the unassuming, handsome Texan. They spend more and more time together. Eventually, Jonathan becomes jealous when Jan breaks a date with him to spend more time with Rex. Jonathan, pretending to be supportive of Jan’s new relationship, hires a private detective to find out who this mysterious man is that Jan is head-over-heels for.
When Jonathan discovers that Rex is actually Brad, he demands that Brad leaves the city and breaks things off with Jan. Brad leaves the city, alright. But he takes one Jan Morrow with him, claiming that his sudden trip to Connecticut is to look into potentially buying a house there. But a secret, especially the enormity of Brad’s, can stay a secret for only so long. One minor slip-up and Brad’s house of cards comes crumbling down. Even though Jan rightfully hates him when she discovers his duplicity, Brad is determined to get her back. In trying to rectify his betrayal, he learns a lesson. In the end, the two end up together, but not before Jan gets her own revenge.
How Is ‘Lover Come Back’ Similar?
InLover Come Back, an intense feud between Hudson’s and Day’s characters exists once again. Hudson is a licentious advertising executive, Jerry Webster. Day is Carol Templeton, also an advertising executive at a rival agency. While Jerry behaves like Don Draper (Jon Hamm) ofMad Men, Carol is serious and hard-working. After Carol loses a potential account because of Jerry’s debaucherous methods of winning over potential clients, despite putting far more work into her pitch, Carol reports Jerry to the Advertising Council because of his lewd tactics. Carol manages to contact Rebel Davis (Edie Adams), a showgirl that attended the wild party Jerry threw, to attest to how he used liquor and women to convince someone to sign with his agency. Rebel, who was infuriated with Jerry for not following through on his promises to put her in commercials, initially agrees to speak about Jerry’s misconduct to the Advertising Council.
When Jerry learns about Rebel’s intention to testify against him, he tells her that he wants to make her the “VIP Girl,” a new product that Jerry’s agency is trying to secure. Rebel agrees to not say anything disparaging about him to the Council. She films the VIP commercials and then goes to the hearing at the Ad Council to dispute Carol’s claims about Jerry’s unprofessional methods. But there’s just one problem: VIP doesn’t exist. Jerry made it up on the spot in order to placate Rebel.
Carol is furious during the hearing. She realizes that Jerry, who found an excuse not to attend the hearing, has coached Rebel on how to respond. After the hearing, Carol approaches Rebel, and she confesses that Jerry offered the opportunity to be the VIP Girl, but Rebel, not realizing VIP is a farce, tells Carol that Jerry’s agency hasn’t managed to sign the account yet. Carol decides that she’s going to pursue the VIP account. Against Jerry’s intentions, the VIP commercials air, and he and his boss, Pete Ramsey (Tony Randall), have to find a way to circumvent their dilemma.
Jerry decides to hire an eccentric chemist, Linus Tyler (Jack Kruschen). Carol hires a private detective and learns that Linus is the chemist behind VIP. She goes to Linus’s lab, but instead of seeing Linus, she sees Jerry, although, since they’ve never seen each other in person, she doesn’t realize it’s him. But as she introduces herself, Jerry is immediately attracted to her and pretends to be Linus. As Linus, Jerry spends time with Carol, going dancing, swimming at the beach, and dining. The mutual attraction is palpable. But, as withPillow Talk, a secret can only be a secret for so long. When Carol discovers that the man who she thought was a Nobel Prize-winning scientist is actually her nemesis, she gets her revenge and calls for another hearing of the Ad Council. Jerry is able to produce a VIP product, but it’s not without side effects…As with any romcom, they end up together, but that doesn’t mean there’s not any madness before “I do.”
The Trio Unites Again For ‘Send Me No Flowers’
WhilePillow TalkandLover Come Backare essentially the same movie, the trio reunited to make the 1964 filmSend Me No Flowers, which is a completely different change of pace. InSend Me No Flowers, Hudson and Day are no longer enemies but are instead a married couple, George and Judy Kimball, living in suburbia. Randall is a neighbor and friend of the Kimballs, Arnold Nash. George is a hypochondriac and mistakenly believes he’s dying. This creates a whirlwind for the Kimballs, resulting in Judy thinking George is having an affair and wanting a divorce. But as with the other two movies, the ending ofSend Me No Flowersis a bed of roses.
What makes the films even more remarkable is that the three were friends in real life. Hudson and Day met while filmingPillow Talk.Upon meeting him, she asked him if his name was really Rock. He had a nickname for her, which was Eunice. Theyremained friends for the rest of his life. The last time they saw each other Hudson was dying of AIDS.
Hudson and Day both had to embody their public perceptions inPillow TalkandLover Come Back. Hudson, who was a closeted gay man, was the all-American stud. He was a dream for millions of women and gay men around the world. His roles as Brad and Jerry allowed him to be the woman charmer the world wanted him to be. But ironically, in both films, Hudson’s characters had their sexuality questioned — forPillow Talk, it’s while he, pretending to be Rex, and Jan are at a bar, and he sticks his pinky up and mentions his mother, his fondness for colors and recipes; forLover Come Back, it’s when Jerry wears nothing but a fur coat after Carol gets her revenge.
Day was considered to be “Ms. Virginity,” a persona she denied and resented. Her roles as Jan and Carol display her both being virginal and sexual. Day had sex appeal, but it couldn’t be overt. Even though she was an attractive woman who didn’t shy away from having sexual elements in her films, Jan and Carol are both seen as being an extension of Day’sgoody-goody personadespite, like Day herself, having more to them than what people initially perceive. Jan and Carol weren’t opposed to sex, as many would assume, they were opposed to strange bedfellows; neither of the women were going to give it to just any man. She, like Hudson, was limited by a persona, an idea that Hollywood wanted her to fit into. Ironically, both of the films were considered risqué for their times, so much so thatPillow Talkalmost wasn’t made because the studio was worried that it was too bawdy.
If there’s anything to learn from Hudson as Brad pretending to be Rex and Jerry pretending to be Linus and Hudson pretending to be heterosexual in order to fit into society’s idea of the perfect man, it’s that there’s always more behind one’s persona.
