The Palm Beach Story
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Starring: Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, Rudy Vallée
Director: Preston Sturges
Writer: Preston Sturges
Producer: Buddy DeSylva
The Palm Beach Story is a 1942 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the musical score, including a fast-paced variation of the William Tell Overture for the opening scenes. Typical of a Sturges production, the pacing and dialogue of The Palm Beach Story are very fast.
Trivia
- At least part of the initial inspiration for The Palm Beach Story may have come to Preston Sturges from close to home.
- Not only had he shuttled back and forth to Europe as a young man, his ex-wife Eleanor Hutton was an heiress who moved among the European aristocracy, and had once been wooed by Prince Jerome Rospigliosi-Gioeni.
- One scene in the film is based upon an incident that had happened to Sturges and his mother while traveling by train to Paris, where the car with their compartment and baggage was uncoupled while they were in the dining car.
Filming Locations
- The second unit did background shooting at Penn Station in Manhattan for the exteriors (interiors were shot at standing set of Penn Station that Paramount owned).
Previous Showings
16 Runs • 9 Festivals
17,175 tickets sold
Original Billings: 1 run (February 1, 1943)
Original Run: February 1, 1943 (Sunday - Wednesday)
All runs on record (16):
- February 1, 1943 (Sunday - Wednesday)Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea
- September 14 - 18, 1991 · 2,485 ticketsw/ The Lady Eve
- September 2 - 3, 1993 · 651 ticketsw/ The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
- May 21 - 24, 1994 · 1,497 ticketsw/ It Happened One Night
- November 15 - 17, 1996 · 1,447 ticketsw/ Holiday
- September 2 - 4, 1998 · 895 ticketsDear Old Hollywoodw/ Cleopatra
- July 22 - 25, 2000 · 1,236 ticketsSummer 2000w/ Sullivan's Travels
- August 14 - 15, 2003 · 987 ticketsSummer 2003w/ Alexander's Ragtime Band
- February 25 - 27, 2005 · 1,278 ticketsw/ Horse Feathers
- September 29 - October 2, 2007 · 850 ticketsSummer 2007 63 films in 12 weeks, including 22 films starring Fred Astairew/ The Prisoner of Zenda
- April 17 - 20, 2010 · 1,270 ticketsSpring 2010w/ Unfaithfully Yours
- December 19 - 22, 2013 · 1,220 ticketsPreston Sturges and The Marx Brosw/ A Night at the Opera
- August 27 - 30, 2016 · 1,290 ticketsSummer 2016w/ The Philadelphia Story
- July 6 - 8, 2018 · 1,083 ticketsw/ It Happened One Night
- August 21 - 22, 2025 · 607 ticketsSummer 2025w/ Midnight
- July 8 - 9, 2026 · 379 ticketsSummer 2026 including the Films of Marilyn Monroew/ Let's Make It Legal