The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
| The Lieutenant Wore Skirts | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
| Produced by | Buddy Adler |
| Written by | Albert Beich Frank Tashlin |
| Starring |
Tom Ewell Sheree North Rita Moreno |
| Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
| Cinematography | Leo Tover |
| Edited by | James B. Clark |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
|
Release date
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January 11, 1956 |
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Running time
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99 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $970,000 |
| Box office | $2,250,000 (US) |
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts is a 1956 film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Tom Ewell, Sheree North, and Rita Moreno. It is a comedy about a man whose marriage begins to fail when his wife gets drafted.
TV writer Greg Whitcomb did his military service heroically but now has settled into everyday life with a young wife, Katy. A letter from the war department arrives that Katy believes is calling Greg back to active duty from the Air Force reserve, but she hides it during a party celebrating their wedding anniversary.
A captain attending the party, Barney Sloan, casually calls Greg an "old-timer," offending him. Greg gets drunk and passes out. His pride stung, Greg is willing to return to duty once he learns of the letter, so Katy, a former Air Force officer herself, decides to re-enlist so they can stay together.
Trouble is, Greg flunks his physical exam due to a bad knee. Katy is shipped to a base in Hawaii without him. Female neighbors keep suggesting Katy will be lonely and surrounded by handsome servicemen, so Greg flies to Honolulu to join her. He ends up spending hours with the wives, a situation their husbands don't appreciate.
Greg decides to sabotage Katy's career so she can get a discharge. His stunt backfires, but because Greg's knee has healed, he is now recalled up to duty. Which would be fine, except Katy now needs to be honorably discharged and sent home because she is pregnant.
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts was conceived as a leading vehicle for actress Sheree North, who was being promoted by 20th Century-Fox as an alternative to the increasingly difficult Marilyn Monroe. The project originated in the fall of 1955, soon after North's breakthrough in How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), a role intended for Monroe, but one she turned down. The studio attached popular director Frank Tashlin and comedian Tom Ewell (Monroe's leading man in The Seven Year Itch) to work alongside North, in an effort to ensure the film would be successful. Tashlin had the film's script tailored to fit North's talents, and molded his story along the lines of the popular romantic comedies of the era. The film was Buddy Adler's first film under his Fox contract.
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