Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is a dedicated paleontologist who just wants to get funding for his museum, marry his assistant, Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker), and complete work on a fossilized brontosaurus skeleton. Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) is an eccentric and flighty heiress who quickly throws a wrench into his plans with a series of increasingly outrageous situations involving two escaped leopards, a dog named George, a missing dinosaur bone and a police lock-up. It all leads up to David's realization that he never had more fun in his life than when he was with Susan, and romance wins the day.

Bringing Up Baby has become a classic, often considered one of the greatest screwball comedies ever created and a major high point in the careers of Hepburn and Grant, and director Howard Hawks. The film marked the second time that Grant and Hepburn had appeared together on film (following , 1935) and was soon followed by Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). However, at the time of its release, the film was largely ignored by audiences and ended up becoming a major flop for RKO.

In fact, the film was already in trouble by the time it was released to the public: toward the end of filming, the Independent Theatre Owners Association placed a trade ad listing Hepburn at the top of a list of performers they considered "box-office poison." Joining Hepburn on the list were such stars as Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich--yet Hepburn's career would suffer most for the appearance. Given that the film was already going over budget and RKO executives started to worry. Their solution was to shelve the project until the cloud of bad publicity surrounding Hepburn was gone. In the end, the film got to theaters when Howard Hughes, an admirer of Hepburn's, bought the print and booked it in the Loew Theater Circuit--ultimately, it ended up losing $350,000 at the box office.

After the film failed to catch-on at the box office, RKO, in a move to force Hepburn out, tried to put her in the low-budget programmer Mother Carey's Chickens (1938). Hepburn decided to buy out her contract for $220,000 and move on to the film Holiday at Columbia, which was a success (though her real triumphant return to the screen would come in 1940 with The Philadelphia Story effectively eliminating the term Box Office Poison for the rest of her career). Bringing Up Baby would itself make a triumphant return of sorts, eventually become a classic due to its frequent re-airings on television in the '50s (like Casablanca (1942) and Wizard of Oz, 1939). In fact, in 1990 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Cast and Crew:

Director: Howard Hawks
Producer: Howard Hawks
Screenplay: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde (based on the short story by Hagar Wilde)
le) Cinematography: Russell Metty
Editor: George Hively
Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase, Perry Ferguson
Music: Roy Webb
Cast: Katharine Hepburn (Susan Vance), Cary Grant (Dr. David Huxley), Charlie Ruggles (Maj. Horace Applegate), May Robson (Aunt Elizabeth), Barry Fitzgerald (Mr. Gogarty), Walter Catlett (Constable Slocum)