June Allyson: Her Life and Career by Peter Shelley

Author:Peter Shelley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2023-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

6

You Can’t Run Away from It

Allyson’s next film was Columbia’s Technicolor musical comedy You Can’t Run Away from It (1956), produced and directed by Powell and shot from November 8 to December 30. The working titles were It Happened One Night and Night Bus. It was a remake of the Columbia romantic comedy It Happened One Night (1934) which had already been reworked as the musical comedy Eve Knew Her Apples (1945). The screenplay was by Claude Binyon and Robert Riskin, based on the short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams. In September 1954, it was announced that Constance Towers would star, then in November 1954 the Los Angeles Times reported that Allyson would ­co-star with Robert Mitchum. Heiress Ellie Andrews (Allyson) flees from San Diego to get back to her husband, a man her father does not approve of. The actress is ­top-billed above the title and plays the leading role that was enacted by Claudette Colbert in the original. Her hair by Helen Hunt is done in the standard MGM style and costumes by Jean Louis include sunglasses, a pair of men’s pajamas, and a wedding gown. She performs three musical numbers all with music by Gene de Paul and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The actress sings part of “Howdy Friends and Neighbors” with Jack Lemmon, Stubby Kaye and the chorus, which is reprised and danced by her; “Temporarily” with Lemmon after the lyrics are first recited; and “Thumbin’ a Ride,” also with Lemmon. Vocal arrangements are by Norman Luboff. In addition, she dances in a new scene with a scarecrow (choreographed by Robert Sidney) and in front of a bull. The “Thumbin’ a Ride” number is notable for the hitchhiker hailing and a shot of Ellie’s legs, which may be that of a body double since the coverage is only of a woman’s lower body. The role also sees the actress play a lot of slapstick that is in the original including turning over a tray of food, jumping into the sea and swimming (it’s apparent that she is being doubled), being squished by Peter in a bus double seat, and Fred sleeping on her in another bus seat. The new screenplay adds to the scene where Peter carries Ellie across a river over his shoulder by including her swatting a bee and then falling into the water; Ellie’s clothes being wet leads to her wearing the scarecrow clothes. Allyson uses a Texas accent in one scene and does some screaming when Ellie and Peter try to conceal her identity from detectives. While the actress is not the society woman that Colbert presented, she is funny. She gets a funny line when Peter offers her a carrot: “Don’t point that thing at me,” which is also something taken from the original film. Jack Lemmon plays the role of Peter.

The film was released on October 31, 1956. It was praised by Clive Hirschhorn in The Columbia Story. Allyson reported that Time magazine’s review was titled “The film was tilted You Can’t Run Away from It, but I tried.

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