Ball Of Fire

Ball Of Fire

"Ball Of Fire"

		Year: 1941 Running Time: 111 minutes Other: B/W Category: Comedy Directed by: Howard Hawks Produced by: Samuel Goldwyn Screenplay by: Charles Brackett / Billy Wilder
		Cast: Dana Andrews - Joe Lilac Gary Cooper - Prof. Bertram Potts Dan Duryea - Duke Pastrami Richard Haydn - Prof. Oddly Oscar Homolka - Prof. Gurkakoff Allen Jenkins - Garbage Man Gene Krupa and his Orchestra - Themselves Tully Marshall - Prof. Robinson S.Z. Sakall - Prof. Magenbruch Barbara Stanwyck - Sugarpuss O'Shea Henry Travers - Prof. Jerome Charles Arnt - McNeary George Barton - Garbage Man Aldrich Bowker - Justice of the Peace Doria Caron - Girl in Subway Eddy Chandler - Cop Ken Christy - Cop Edward Clark - Motor Court Proprietor Elisha cook, Jr. - Waiter Mary Field - Miss Totten Pat Flaherty - Deputy Eddie Foster - Pinstripe Geraldine - Fissette Otto Hoffman - Stage Doorman June Horne - Nursemaid at Park Kathleen Howard - Miss Bragg Ken Howell - College Boy Leonid Kinskey - Prof. Quintana Charles Lane - Larsen, the Lawer Will Lee - Benny the Creep Ethelreda Leopold - Nursemaid at Park Aubrey Mather - Prof. Peagram Lorraine Miller - Girl in Cafe Johnnie Morris Ed Mundy - Spieler Jack Perry - Fighting Bum Ralph Peters - Asthma Anderson Lee Phelps - Cop Gerald Pierce - Delivery Boy Al Rhein - Horseface Addison Richards - District Attorney Dick Rush - Cop Tommy Ryan - Newsboy Tim Ryan - Motor Cop Francis Sayles - Taxi Driver Helen Seamon George Sherwood - Deputy Walter Shumway - Garbage Man Pat West - Bum

"Ball Of Fire" opens with a group of eight mild-mannered professors who are hard at work compiling an encyclopedia. Work is dull but progressing well until language expert Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper) realizes his section on slang is outdated. For research he ventures into the outside world, where he encounters nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), who, thanks to her mobster boyfriend, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews), needs a place to hide out. The professors are only too happy to have a woman living among them, and the brassy singer teaches them more than slang, in the process livening up their academic lives with nylons and conga lines. Potts becomes infatuated with Sugarpuss, but when Joe wants her back, things get complicated. A lively romantic comedy with top performances from Cooper, an Oscar-nominated Stanwyck, and a terrific cast of supporting actors, the film also features Gene Krupa and His Orchestra. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story. Hawks went on to remake the film in 1948 as the musical "A Song Is Born", starring Danny Kaye. Of note, the release of "Ball of Fire" on DVD in August 1998 marked Gene's first appearance on the new media.

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