Pillow Talk

The film's script was turned down and bought back by RKO a few times in the late 1940s and early 1950s until Martin Melcher (the husband of Doris Day at the time) and his Arwin Productions label bought the script and took it to Universal.[1][9][10] According to Day in A.E. Hotchner's biography Doris Day: Her Own Story, the film was titled Pillow Talk, but the title displeased the Production Code Administration (PCA). Melcher tried to get co-producer Ross Hunter to change the name to Any Way the Wind Blows, the name of a song he was about to publish, but Hunter stuck with the original name.[11][10] The original ending planned for the film was to have Jan, after using the trick switch to lock the door and then smiling at Brad, shut off the light and say "All apartments look alike in the dark." This open-ending was changed in the final film to show that Jan and Brad got married and are now expecting a baby.[12]

The film is noted for reinventing the screen images of Rock Hudson and, particularly, Doris Day. Hunter identified Day's potential to be sexy, and recruited legendary costume designer Jean Louis, who designed 18 or 24 costumes for Day to wear.[1][9] Hunter said to Day, "You are sexy, Doris, and it's about time you dealt with it...if you allow me to get Jean Louis to do your clothes, I mean a really sensational wardrobe that will show off that wild fanny of yours, and get some wonderful makeup on you, and chic you up and get a great hairdo that lifts you, why, every secretary and every housewife will say, 'Look at that—look what Doris has done to herself. Maybe I can do the same thing'".[13] Day acknowledged that the film transformed her image from "the girl next door" to classy sex symbol, describing that the plot, for the time, was very sexy, involving a climactic scene in which the leading man carries her out of bed in her pajamas and out into the streets.[14] In addition, Laykin et Cie lent $500,000 worth of jewels for Day to wear.[1][9]

This is Hudson's first comedy film, after a slew of dramas that he made throughout the 1950s including All That Heaven Allows (1956) and A Farewell to Arms (1957). It was Hunter who saw Hudson's potential to do comedy. The advice he received from director Michael Gordon was "Comedy is the most serious tragedy in the world. Play it that way and you can't go wrong. If you ever think of yourself as funny, you haven't got a chance." On February 2, 1959, Thelma Ritter was cast as Alma, Jan's housekeeper, while Lee Patrick was cast as Mrs. Walters the following month.[15][10] Hope Emerson was recruited by Hunter to play an Indian princess called "Dessert Flower" in the film.[1][9][10] She does not appear in the final cut. A cameo appearance by Day's friend and actress Miriam Nelson occurs in the scene where Brad ducks into Dr. Maxwell's (the obstetrician) office to avoid running into Jan.[1][9] Nelson was given the walk-on part as a patient in the waiting room so she could have lunch with Day in the commissary.[16]

According to Hudson, the final scene, in which Brad storms into Jan's apartment and yanks her out of bed, and carries her through the streets of Manhattan, back to his re-decorated apartment, was actually shot first. Due to back problems, Hudson carried Day on a shelf with her sheets and blankets over her to get through the many takes. According to Hudson, "I could have managed if only one take had been involved, but we went on endlessly, primarily because there was a bit actor who played a cop on the street, and as we passed him Doris' line was 'Officer, arrest this man,' and the cop was supposed to say to me, 'How you doing, Brad?' but that stupid actor kept calling me Rock (01:39:36). So back to our marks we went for another take and another and another. I'll bet we did that scene twenty times. That's why the shelf for Doris to sit on." Also, Hudson related that when he pulled Doris Day out of bed, he forgot to let go of her ankles "…with the result that my leading lady crashed to the floor."[17]

Day and Hudson developed chemistry during filming and the cast and crew acted as if they were family. Hudson recalled that, as per a Modern Screen article, "they had to add a week on to the shooting schedule because we could not stop laughing".[18] Day clarified this during interviews she had with Merv Griffin on The Merv Griffin Show and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show (1976), during her 1976 press tour to promote her biography Doris Day: Her Own Story by A.E. Hotchner. "Every day on the set was a picnic—sometimes too much of a picnic, in that we took turns at breaking each other up."[11] According to an article in the October 1959 issue of Saturday Review, Jean Louis designed 24 costumes for Doris Day and Laykin et Cie loaned the production $500,000 worth of jewels.[1][9] The film is notable for its usage of split-screens during which Jan and Brad/Rex have telephone conversations. Triple split-screens are featured at the beginning of the film when Brad is using the party line to flirt with Eileen and Yvette.

Universal's efforts to promote the film were significant. The studio sponsored press tours by the cast, director and producers in cities across the United States throughout the late summer and early fall of 1959. Promotional materials included original production photos and press material (a copy of which is available at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center), print advertisements and recordings sent to radio stations with Day and Hudson narrating introductions to audio clips from the film.[19] Also, Hudson recorded a voice message that would play when people called a number given by K-B's Ontario Theatre in local newspaper and magazine ads for the film. Even though the number was only expected to receive about 60,000 calls daily, it was so successful it wound up receiving twice that many, or 120,000 calls a day.[20] The posters for the film differed in content in the United States and international markets. In the United States, the posters were clean and non-explicit, with no trace of the film's verbal and visual innuendo. Consistent with the European Foreign-Language films being introduced in the states, the ads running in Europe were more explicit. For example, the Danish release poster features an illustration of Doris Day in the bathtub from a high-angle, showing the water inside and giving a sexy appearance.

Producer Ross Hunter convinced Sol Schwartz, owner of the Palace Theatre on Broadway, to book Pillow Talk for a two-week run following its premiere on October 6, 1959.[21][22] Cast members Hudson and Day attended the event with celebrities, including Gloria Swanson and Tallulah Bankhead. A second premiere also took place at the same time at the re-opened Murray Hill Theatre on 34th Street as a way to benefit the United Nations International School, where Tony Randall was present.[22][23] An international premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood also took place on October 13, with Hudson, Day, Esther Williams and Jeff Chandler in attendance.[24][25]

The film was a box office hit, grossing $18,750,000 domestically. It was number one at the U.S. box office for seven consecutive weeks.[26] This made Hunter's vision of pairing Day and Hudson together so successful, that they earned Allied's "male and female star of the year" awards for 1959.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics upon its release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "A nice, old-fashioned device of the theatre, the telephone party line, serves as a quaint convenience to bring together Rock Hudson and Doris Day in what must be cheerfully acknowledged one of the most lively and up-to-date comedy-romances of the year."[4] Variety described the film as "dripping with the trappings of glamor. The premise is dubious, but an attractive cast, headed by Rock Hudson and Doris Day, give the good lines the strength to overcome this deficiency. It plays."[27] Harrison's Reports agreed, writing: "Although the basic premise of the plot is slightly incredulous, and the plot itself wafer thin, the entire production is endowed with superb production values that more than compensate for the script deficiencies."[28] Paul V. Beckley of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "Pillow Talk is a melange of legs, pillows, slips, gowns and decor and is about as light as it could get without floating away, but it has a smart, glossy texture and that part of the population likely to be entranced at the sight of a well groomed Rock Hudson being irresistible to a silver-haired Doris Day will probably enjoy it."[29] John McCarten of The New Yorker was dismissive, calling the film "an attempt at farce that is hardly what I would call farcical."[30] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that director Michael Gordon "maintains a lively pace and handles his players with an expert feeling for timing and emphasis. Doris Day gives possibly her best comedy performance to date; Tony Randall works several more variations on his tired dilettante act; and Rock Hudson's beefcake charmer has all the necessary physical ingredients for success."[31]

The film holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10.[32]

• 1959: The New York Times 10 Best Films of 1959
• 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #99[37]