| abstract
| - Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a nerdy, faithful, middle-aged publishing executive with an overactive imagination and a mid-life crisis, whose wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and son Ricky (Butch Bernard) are summering in Maine. When he returns home with the kayak paddle Ricky accidentally left behind, he meets a woman (Marilyn Monroe), a commercial actress and former model who rents the apartment upstairs while in town to make television spots for a brand of toothpaste. That evening, he works on proofing a book in which psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker (Oskar Homolka) claims that a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage. He has an imaginary conversation with Helen, trying to convince her, in three fantasy sequences, that he is irresistible to women, including his secretary, a nurse and her bridesmaid, but she laughs it off. A tomato plant then crashes into his lounge chair; the woman upstairs apologizes for accidentally knocking it over, and Richard invites her down for a drink. He waits for her to get dressed, including in underwear she says she keeps cool in her icebox. When she arrives, a vision in pink, they have a drink and he lies about being married. When she sees his wedding ring, he backtracks but she is unconcerned, having no designs on him, only on his air-conditioning. He has a fantasy that she is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. In reality, she prefers Chopsticks, which they play together. Richard, overcome by his fantasies, awkwardly grabs at her, causing them to fall off the piano bench. He apologizes for his indiscretion but she says it happens to her all the time. Guilt-ridden, however, he asks her to leave. [1][2]An iconic image entered popular culture.Over the next few days, they spend more time together and Richard imagines that they are growing closer, although she is immune to his imagined charms. Helen continually calls her husband, asking him to send the paddle so Ricky can use the kayak, but Richard is repeatedly distracted. His waning resolve to resist temptation fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the "Seven Year Itch". He seeks help from Dr. Brubaker, but to no avail. His imagination then runs even wilder: the young woman tells a plumber (Victor Moore) how Richard is "just like The Creature from the Black Lagoon"; the plumber repeats her story to neighbor McKenzie, whom Helen had asked to drop by to pick up Ricky's paddle. Richard imagines his wife with McKenzie on a hayride which actually takes place but into which he injects his paranoia, guilt and jealousy. After seeing The Creature from the Black Lagoon, the young woman stands over the subway grate to experience the breeze – Monroe in the iconic scene in the pleated white halter dress. Eventually coming to his senses, and fearing his wife's retribution, which he imagines in a fantasy scene, Richard, paddle in hand, tells the young woman she can stay in his apartment; then he runs off to catch the next train to Maine to be with Helen and Ricky.
- The Seven Year Itch is a romantic comedy 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role. It contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century – Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dressis blown by a passing train. The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists.
- The 1955 Billy Wilder-directed film that marked the arguable high point of Marilyn Monroe's popularity - and a fair contender for the title of the most famous American film you've probably never seen. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a wealthy book publisher who lives with his wife and young son in a large apartment in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of New York City. It gets so hot one summer that the wife and kid decide to take a vacation up to Maine, with Richard staying behind to hold down the fort. Richard has been having disagreements with his wife lately, and feels repressed. Even so, he agrees (at first) not to smoke, drink alcohol, or eat meat for the duration of his time alone. But one evening, as he is returning home from dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, he slips on one of his son's roller skates, hits his head....and, in the form of the blonde, curvy Girl (guess who), Hilarity Ensues. Actually based on a 1952 stage comedy in which Ewell also appeared - and which included an actual extramarital affair between Richard Sherman and The Girl, which was censored out in the film version. Also is famous for popularizing the Marilyn Maneuver, which is discussed in more detail below.
* All Psychology Is Freudian: Played to the hilt. There's even a stereotypically Germanic professor on the subject - and, yes, he has Richard lie on a couch as he questions him.
* All There in the Manual: The publicity shots of Marilyn's "subway scene" are a lot more revealing (and famous) than those in the film itself (which were edited heavily to appease the censors).
* Amusing Injuries: Richard keeps getting a crick in his neck.
* Ask a Stupid Question: Richard's wife always asks him what happened at the office when he comes home. When he's alone, he considers answering this: "I shot Mr. Brady in the head, made violent love to Miss Morris and set fire to 300,000 copies of Little Women. That's what happened. What can happen at the office?"
* Bare Your Midriff: The Girl lifting her blouse as she enjoys the Shermans' air conditioner (no navel, though).
* Beach Kiss: Appears in one of Richard's Imagine Spots, spoofing From Here to Eternity.
* Blond Guys Are Evil: At least, that's how Richard views Tom MacKenzie.
* Celebrity Paradox:
* Cloudcuckoolander: The waitress at the vegetarian restaurant Richard visits.
* Contemptible Cover: Richard's job is to publish books with such covers — even classic literature, such as Little Women (retitled as The Secrets of a GIRLS DORMITORY).
* Interestingly, the famous poster image for the film (and yes, you know which one I'm talking about) could itself be considered an example.
* Costume Porn: It's a real shame this movie didn't even get nominated for an Academy Award for costumes. Among William Travilla's many creations for Marilyn, particular standouts include an absurdly famous billowing off-white dress (see Marilyn Maneuver below) and a spangled gown with zigzagging tiger stripes. Meow. (See also Hot Chick in a Snazzy Suit below.)
* Crazy Prepared: Tom Mackenzie's hayride with Helen Sherman. ("Even the horses are wearing blinkers.")
* Cutting the Knot: There's a boarded-up trapdoor between Richard and the Girl's apartments. The Girl just uses the claw of a hammer to pull out the nails, and the trapdoor falls away.
* Dumb Blonde: The Girl is arguably the Trope Codifier here, although even she shows some cleverness - particularly in her final line of the film.
* Fake-Out Opening: The film opens with this narration:
* The Fifties: Choose just about any frame of this film, and you're looking at it undiluted. Interestingly, being made almost smack in the middle of the decade, The Seven Year Itch appears to strike an aesthetic and ideological balance between the more "traditional" early years of the decade and the "hipness" of its later years.
* Follow the Leader: At the time, very few movies opened with gimmicky main title sequences. Saul Bass supplied the zany credits sequence here, and its success with audiences pretty much made his career. And in the 1960s and '70s, it seemed like every movie comedy opened with a cartoonish sequence of some sort.
* Foot Focus: The Girl uses her toes to retrieve her shoes at one point. She also mentions getting her big toe stuck in the faucet while taking a bath. She says she felt embarrassed when the plumber arrived not because her toe was stuck, but because she didn't have her toenails painted.
* Getting Crap Past the Radar: A number of examples, including some where the radar apparently wasn't working at all!
* Goofy Print Underwear: Richard is seen undressing, and we get a good look at his polka-dotted boxer shorts.
* Henpecked Husband: Richard sees himself as one (even though he really isn't), and uses this characterization as a persecution complex to justify all his (mostly imagined) indiscretions.
* Hot Chick in a Snazzy Suit: The Girl is briefly seen wearing a light pink blouse and slacks with a matching belt, and some white high-heeled sandals.
* Hypocritical Humor: Near constantly.
* Imagine Spot: Richard conjures up several.
* Lipstick Mark: The Girl deliberately leaves one on Richard's collar at the end, all for the purpose of making Helen jealous. Apparently, we're supposed to feel happy that Richard is finally "standing up for himself" to his "mean, bitchy wife."
* Manic Pixie Dream Girl: The Girl proves to be one for Richard (although unintentionally, and without the "manic" part).
* Marilyn Maneuver: With the subway grate on the corner of Lexington and 52nd Streets. (It's not quite as revealing as it could have been, though; see All There in the Manual above.)
* Monster Sob Story: In-story example: Richard and the Girl watch Creature from the Black Lagoon together, and she says she felt sorry for the Creature: "He was kinda scary-looking, but he wasn't really all bad. I think he just craved a little affection - you know, a sense of being loved and needed and wanted."
* And the genius of this seemingly throwaway speech is that we have no way of knowing whether the Girl is speaking metaphorically about Richard or herself! Who is "the Creature" here? Is it Richard, who feels self-conscious about growing old and no longer being appealing to women (like a "creature")? Or is it the Girl, whom one can imagine often feeling like a freak (that is, a "monster") due to being ogled as a sex object. Or perhaps we could Take a Third Option here, and maintain that both characters feel themselves part of this analogy and therefore - despite literally being strangers - are drawn to each other.
* Moral Guardians: The Legion of Decency (a Roman Catholic pressure group) demanded the removal of a large cutout of The Girl pushing down her blowing skirt that was used to promote the premiere.
* Mr. Imagination: Richard has an overactive imagination - he once imagines his wife telling him this.
* Naughty Nurse Outfit: Miss Finch is both a literal and a figurative example (at least in Richard's imagination).
* No Name Given: The Girl's name is never revealed.
* Not So Above It All: Richard, after the first half-hour of the movie.
* Oh Crap: Richard many times, especially when he imagines his wife coming home to literally murder him. Even culminates in a Heroic BSOD as Richard drops the toast he is buttering and inadvertently butters his own hand!
* Opera Gloves: Richard imagines the Girl in glittery black Opera Gloves with a strapless tiger-stripe gown.
* Saying Too Much:
* Shout-Out: One of Richard's Imagine Spots spoofs the famous beach scene from From Here to Eternity.
* Sexy Secretary: Miss Morris.
* Smoking Is Cool: Subverted at first, when Richard mentions that one of his doctors has ordered him not to smoke during periods of hot weather, and he locks his cigarettes away in a table drawer. But after the Girl shows up and (inadvertently) encourages him to rebel, he unlocks the drawer and helps himself to a cigarette - and suffers no ill effects from it.
* Spiritual Successors: Somewhat surprisingly, this film has yet to be remade for modern-day cinematic audiences. (An attempted remake in the 1980s came to nothing after Al Pacino turned down the Richard Sherman role; meanwhile, it was remade as a TV movie in Germany no less than twice, and an unidentified project called Seven Year Switch is supposedly in development.) However, its basic themes have inspired quite a few films in its wake, including 1984's The Woman In Red (which even paid tribute to the Marilyn Maneuver scene) and 1999's Best Picture Oscar winner American Beauty (which took the basic theme, made it even kinkier, and wrapped it up with a Downer Ending).
* This Loser Is You: Richard, arguably.
* What You Are in the Dark: Comedic variant, as Richard, in one of his awkward monologues, muses that "Something happens to this town in the summer...." and then elaborates a bit by describing all the mischief that "summer bachelors" in New York get into when their families are gone and nobody knows what they're up to.
* Woman in White: Well, who do you think?
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