It Should Happen to You - 16MM

The great Judy Holliday stars as Gladys Glover, a one-of-a-kind New York City girl who leaves her mark in the form of her name displayed on a giant billboard in Columbus Circle. Soon everyone in the city is enamored with the mysterious Gladys and wants to know who she is. The only one who is sour on her ingenious idea to make a name for herself is her boyfriend Pete Sheppard, a 16mm documentary filmmaker she meets in Central Park a few days before embarking on her billboard project. Most commonly described as a cautionary tale about fame, IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO you could just as easily be seen as a warning about dating insecure, judgemental, poor male artists. Behind its supposed happy (and predictable) ending lies a typically unanswered question about how exactly the wildly creative, full of life woman will fare after sacrificing herself (her career, her name, her city) for a dude. Shot on location in New York City in the 1950s, the true romance in Cukor’s film doesn’t happen between any two people but in the city itself, as it routinely delights in sharing the singular magic that exists here.

Introduction by Gina Telaroli, in celebration of the premiere of her latest feature, In Search of Gladys Glover.