The 7th Golden Boy Blogathon, A William Holden Celebration: The Moon is Blue (1953)

Director Otto Preminger’s The Moon is Blue (1953) is memorable for being featured in a 1982 episode of M*A*S*H, “The Moon is Not Blue.” M*A*S*H took place during the Korean War (1950-1953) and during this particular episode, Hawkeye and BJ try to obtain a copy of the newly released film, The Moon is Blue, having heard about its scandalous content. Upon finally viewing the film, the two men are dismayed about how innocent and non-salacious it was. One of the other characters states that a character did say “virgin,” and Hawkeye replies with “that’s because everyone was!”

The Moon is Blue, debuted on my birthday June 22, 1953, albeit 31 years before I was born. It was memorable for being the first film to be released into theaters nationwide, without PCA (Production Code Administration) approval. This was a landmark decision by United Artists (who distributed The Moon is Blue) and was the beginning of the end for the production code. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) starring Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak would follow suit a couple years later and also be released without PCA approval. The modern ratings system would come into play in 1968 and put an end to the production code once and for all.

Now why was The Moon is Blue so controversial? This film, based on the 1951 play of the same name, depicted the modern and progressive attitudes about sex exhibited by 22-year old Patty O’Neill (Maggie McNamara in her film debut). The Moon is Blue starts with a kicky (and corny) theme song and opening credits and then segues into a scene taking place inside the Empire State Building. We spot Patty, then we spot architect Don Gresham (William Holden) spotting Patty too. Immediately smitten, Don follows Patty up to the fabeled observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building.

It’s immediately obvious to the audience that Don is putting on the charm and trying to pick up Patty and she allows him to try and pick her up. She’s not oblivious. He tells her that he paid for her ticket, he gets her to try and sew a button on his jacket, he gives her a dime for the telescope so she can get a closer look at New York… Don does everything. Eventually, he lowers the boom and invites Patty over to his apartment for dinner and drinks. This seems wildly dangerous to meet a stranger at his home, but it’s 1953, and Patty takes him up on it.

Throughout their conversation, Patty shares that she’s a virgin, but not because she’s pious or self-righteous or anything. She just hasn’t made the choice to have sex yet. Patty asks Don point blank if he’s trying to seduce her, to which he’s taken aback. However, it’s obvious that that was his intent. Patty’s frank talk about sex intrigues Don. When she discovers a photo of Cynthia (Dawn Addams), Don’s ex-fiancee, Patty asks him if Cynthia is his mistress. In 1953, a mistress was a sexual partner, not “the other woman.” Again, Don is somewhat shocked by Patty’s frankness and apparent lack of decorum when it comes to asking personal questions. Despite this however, Don finds Patty charming and interesting, and continues trying to seduce her.

Adding to the tension in the film is Don’s neighbor, David Slater (David Niven), who also happens to be Cynthia’s father. I do have to say that Niven’s casting is odd. In the film, he states that he’s 41, but Cynthia is stated to be older than Patty, who is 22. This means that David I guess was a teen father. This is the only weakness in the film, imo, I think Niven’s character should have been made older, or perhaps Cynthia maybe should have been another neighbor in the building. But I digress. David is presented as a bit of a playboy, who is always on the prowl. David discovers Patty’s attitudes re: sex and also makes it a mission to try and seduce her.

Don eventually becomes frustrated with Patty. He more or less finds her a tease, and that she seems to have made her virginity her entire personality—it’s all she talks about. Patty tells Don that she won’t lose her virginity without marriage. She tells Don that men find virgins boring and prefer a life without monogamy. Patty expends a lot of effort informing Don that women are also sexual beings, to the point that Don asks her why she’s preoccupied with sex. Patty responds with a glib, “Don’t you think it’s better for a girl to be preoccupied with sex, than occupied?” Finally, Don has had enough and accuses Patty of being a “professional virgin.” This criticism is on the nose, maybe too on the nose, and Patty is offended. Don rubs salt in the wound by stating that someone who talks about their experience all the time probably doesn’t have any. This scene reminded me of Where the Boys Are (1960) where Merritt spends much of the film expelling various progressive philosophies about sex, only for us to discover that she’s all talk.

David Niven’s character, David, is an odd one. He’s not a particularly good character. He’s always trying to get Patty to “sin” by drinking or smoking–behaviors that she likens to high school, saying that it’s immature to do these things without having a craving. David is also always trying to seduce Patty, in fact, he proposes marriage to her within hours of meeting. Obviously, this was his desperate attempt to bed her by appealing to her virgin status. He is a lech throughout the film, and tells this horrible story about his ex-wife and hitting her with a hot muffin pan. However, he’s weirdly entertaining as well.

William Holden plays his usual type, however, he is very good and it’s easy to see why Patty would be so smitten. His character, Don, is handsome, has a good job, a nice apartment, and is charming. Don would obviously be a much better partner than David, since he’d probably be loyal. David would drop Patty the second someone else came along. Don also finds Patty’s attitudes about sex somewhat funny, even if he’s somewhat taken aback and shocked by them. There is also a funny scene where Don is watching TV and sees the “sophisticated actress” Patty, appearing in a “Chloro-foam Beer” commercial. Terrible beer title. “Chloro-foam, more like Boro-foam!” (to paraphrase Billy Madison).

Patty McNamara was United Artists’ attempt at finding their own Audrey Hepburn. McNamara had the pixie, gamine type quality of Hepburn, but she lacks the European sophistication, stature, and glamour of Hepburn. McNamara’s Patty was very young and sweet, but also naive despite her progressive views on sex. Patty reminded me very much of Debbie Reynolds’ character, Julie, in The Tender Trap (1955). In the film, Julie is also old-fashioned (or seems old-fashioned) and informs Frank Sinatra, David Wayne, and Celeste Holm, of her exact plan for her life–marriage, 3 children, life in the country, kids attending school in Scarsdale, NY. Both Patty and Julie seem to believe they’re mature when it comes to sex and marriage; but when conversing with older adults who have lived more life than they have, it’s obvious how immature they are.

The Moon is Blue is tame by today’s standards, even tame by 1982 standards when Hawkeye and BJ watched it in M*A*S*H. But it caused quite the scandal in 1953. Nice society just didn’t talk about seduction, mistresses, or virginity. Even in 1952, I Love Lucy was not allowed to say the word “pregnant,” despite Lucy Ricardo (and Lucille Ball!) being a married, pregnant, woman. Instead, she was ‘spectin. However, The Moon is Blue is an interesting time capsule of the early-to-mid 1950s and shows just how much the world was changing after World War II. Stars like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Elvis Presley burst onto the scene in the 1950s and all of them shocked the country with their blatant shows of sexuality and sensuality–things that wouldn’t have been on the screen even just ten years prior. While The Moon is Blue is not a household name in the movie world, it is an important film as it was the first film to challenge the puritanical production code, and weaken its interference in filmmaking.