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Billie and Harry = Dan & Kitty Packard from Dinner At Eight

posted 9 years ago by HarlowMGM
2 replies | jump to latest

I can't believe no one has ever commented on how brazenly similar Billie and Harry are to Kitty and Dan Packard in DINNER AT EIGHT (1933)!! Harry even quotes Dan nearly verbatim at one point saying he picked her up in the gutter and can put her back there!! And Dan, like Harry is tied to crooked politics and Kitty, like Billie, foils his plans . Amazing how many people refer to THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT as a copy of BORN YESTERDAY when BY is itself more than a little inspired by DINNER AT EIGHT. Kitty isn't quite as "dumb" as Billie, and if anything Dan is meaner than Harry but surely these iconic characters influenced Kanin in his play.

[–] daryl42 8 years ago

I watched Dinner At Eight tonight for the first time in many years and was struck by a lot of things. It is a much deeper film than I realized before but I noticed the same thing as you, there is a striking similarity between the characters in the 2 films, even physically. You can call it homage or influence but really it is closer to rip-off for me.

[–] nocomputer1962 8 years ago

George Cukor directed both films, so I'm not surprised that he was eager to take on this play.