January 11, 1940 –
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.
During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of The Front Page to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a woman reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of The Front Page) approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production.
The Haus of Dcaligari 