I loved this movie (Bringing up baby is better), but I thought one thing was never explained: What was Jerry doing in California after all? Why did he lie and said he was going to Florida? If I missed something, please let me know.
shareOn the cheating angle:
The filmmakers really couldn't have told the audience that he was cheating, without significantly changing the plot and tone of the movie. Under the Hayes Code:
"Adultery and illicit sex, although recognized as sometimes necessary to the plot, could not be explicit or justified and were not supposed to be presented as an attractive option."
Basically, if he were cheating, in order to make that not "an attractive option," he would've had to be punished for it, or at least ther would need to be some scene or story element showing it was clearly unenjoyable. That would've been inconsistent with the comedic tone of the movie, and wouldn't really have made any plot sense.
Does that mean he was? I don't know. It's somewhat implied, and I suspect they anticipated that some viewers would think so (but not enough to violate the code). Bottom line is: it's fiction, so any detail that the writers don't supply doesn't exist. He might have been and he might not have been. There's no answer (just like there's no answer to questions like: what day of the week was he born on?). If the writers had been free to say he was cheating, they might have said that, but that would've been a different movie. In this one, it's unspecified.
As to the earlier post about contemporary mores: really? You believe that?
Though you generally couldn't show various sorts of moral misbehavior in movies in the '30s, people certainly did them in real life. If anything, I suspect the incidence of marital infidelity among the Jerry-situated (male, sophisticated, well-to-do) was probably higher in the '30s than it is now. Certainly, if you go back a bit further (to a time half-again as remoted from the present), in the 1890s having a regular mistress (or sequence of them, typically compensated) was somewhat standard practice among men in the wealthier class of New Yorkers.
I did not read all the posts and I have not seen this film in a while, but Cary told his wife he was going to Florida to relax; however he stayed at the Club and did manly stuff (like working out, drinking and playing cards). He then had to manufacture a tan (heat lamps I believe) and bought a basket of fruit (I think oranges) as a present from Florida. If I remember correctly he did not even know the weather (I think it was raining) in Florida and his wife spots that the fruit had a California seal.
You have to remember that our parents and grandparents never had sex or even thought about it (okay possibly our dirty old uncles).
I am of the opinion that he definitely was cheating on her. At the end of the film when they are having their hilarious conversation about going back and things being the same but different. He apologizes to Lucy and says he wants things the same but "differenter". Then Lucy asks "Are you sure?". I feel like he was apologizing for his infidelities and she was willing to accept them.
shareI love this movie too. Jerry definitely did not go to California. You can buy California oranges anywhere. He also did not go to Florida. As someone pointed out, if he had been in Florida, he would have known it was raining there. Someone thought he stayed at his club in New York. If he did, his friend (that he talks to while he is trying to get a fake tan) would have known he was there. And he was keeping his whereabouts a secret from his friend.
All we know is that Jerry went somewhere that he keeps secret. And he did something that he keeps secret.
I don't think he was having an affair. I think he was bored with his marriage. He was gone for 2 weeks (we never find out where he was) and then he tells his friend in the club he wants to play golf with him that day. He is trying to avoid seeing his wife. I don't think she was having an affair with her singing teacher, although it is suspect when she says no one could ever accuse him of being a great lover!! I think almost losing each other renews their interest in their marriage.
shareI agree. Neither was having an affair - but they were getting as close to having an affair as you could get without HAVING an affair. They were acting as if they were single people instead of a married couple - without giving it a label (today, it would be 'open marriage') or even discussing it. So they had to lie about it to each other.
A visitor to the home in the beginning points out that the mail to Lucy is on the table and it is a few days old and unopened. She was anywhere but home - and came home dressed to the nines, in a good mood, with her handsome escort in tow and a good cover-up story. They could have been out on the town, not at a prom.They could have been driving and stopping at roadhouses. They could have been on a little romantic trip. Later in the film, she asks the singing teacher to back her up with her lie about the prom (the teachers asks if Jerry carries a gun!)
Cary Grant's character, on the other hand, could have been anywhere. The races, gambling, drinking, staying in hotels, dancing, wining and dining women and claiming to be single. Enjoying flirting and having women enjoy his company.
That's the way single people can live - and it's a good life, but you have to lie about it if you are married. Both of them might have been afraid to have affairs, afraid to risk the fallout from actual intimate relationships. I agree that Lucy's remark about the singing teacher not being (likely) a great lover insinuates there may have been some serious foreplay!