Brigitte Bardot was the sex symbol of 1950s France. Her appeal was still strong in 1965 when 20th Century-Fox released Dear Brigitte . The film starred James Stewart as Robert Leaf, a college arts professor and poet with a hatred of science, who lives on a 19th Century ferryboat in San Francisco with his family, including an eight-year-old son named Erasmus (Billy Mumy) who is a mathematical genius with a gift for handicapping horses, and an obsession with Brigitte Bardot, to whom he writes letters. When the money from the horses begins piling up and word gets out, a con man (John Williams) convinces Robert to use the money to create a foundation to fund scholarships for humanities students. Erasmus realizes how important his skills are and declares that he won't continue with it unless he can go to Paris and meet Bardot. Also in the cast were Glynis Johns as Stewart's wife, Cindy Carol as daughter Pandora, Fabian as Pandora's boyfriend, and 1960s reliable character actors Jack Kruschen, Alice Pearce, and Jesse White, along with legendary comedian Ed Wynn and future star James Brolin.

The film was directed by Henry Koster from a script by Hal Kanter, based on John Haase's 1963 novel, Erasmus With Freckles , which was the original working title. However, Bardot's name was thought to be better box office, despite the fact that she her contract demanded that her name not be listed in the credits or used for publicity. According to writer Dick Klein, this resistance didn't extend to her co-workers. Klein reported that Bardot's relationship with her co-stars "was great. And apparently the feeling was mutual. She liked working with American techniques and American crews." Bardot had originally demanded that Henry Koster use her own personal cameraman for her brief cameo, but was persuaded to let Hollywood veteran Lucian Ballard try for a day. When she saw the rushes, she was so delighted with how she photographed that she immediately tried to sign Ballard to shoot her next film.

Dear Brigitte was shot on location in Sausalito, California, Paris, France, and at the Fox lot in Los Angeles, where journalist Lawrence J. Quirk had lunch with the cast and crew. He later wrote that "Stewart was warm, amusing, quizzical, kidding with Fabian, and keeping young Billy Mumy in stitches with his wisecracks. I ventured to ask Mumy his eight-year-old's impression of Bardot, and his four-letter rejoined was 'keen!'"

When the film was released in January, 1965, Variety called the film "an entertaining comedy with something for everyone [...] James Stewart is perfect."

SOURCES:

The Internet Movie Database
Kleiner, Dick "Show Beat: Guess Who is 'Dear Brigitte'?" Park City Daily News 23 Sept 64
Quirk, Lawrence J. James Stewart: Behind the Scenes of a Wonderful Life
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72598/Dear-Brigitte/
Thomas, Tony A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart
Variety "Dear Brigitte" 31 Dec 64

By Lorraine LoBianco