A Letter to Three Wives
Preparing to embark on a children’s picnic three friends wonder why Addie has stood them up on this beautiful spring morning. Addie, who possesses more than a little chutzpah, is often the topic of conversation for Deborah, Lora Mae and Rita.
Lora Mae has learned that Addie has given up her apartment and left town. Just then a messenger arrives with a letter addressed to the three of them. Calling them her 'dear, dear friends' she tells them that she has gone away and has taken one of their husbands with her. She doesn’t say which husband.
All three women have reason to pause at the news. Brad usually plays golf on Saturday, but this morning the butler packed his suitcase. When Deborah asked Brad about it he answered that he may need to stay overnight in the city after his conference and that she should go to the first dinner dance of the season without him.
Deborah doesn’t want to attend the dance tonight without Brad. She most definitely doesn’t want to go alone wearing the dress he requested. Obviously perturbed she reminded him that the dress is exactly like the one wore to a concert recently by Addie Ross.
Lora Mae’s husband, Porter, is also in the city on business today. Lora Mae and Porter started bickering before they were married and haven’t stopped.
Rita and her husband, George, are having a little tiff and aren’t speaking this morning. On this first day of fishing season he left the house in his blue suit - without his fishing tackle.
In this romantic drama, released in 1949, Addie begins the story with a voiceover. At times it’s as if she were listening to the others’ conversations and adding comments, sometimes snide comments. The viewers never see Addie although a reference to her pops up from time to time. Flashbacks give us some background information about the three couples.
Brad Bishop (Jeffery Lynn) had been engaged to Addie before joining the navy. But while away from home he met Deborah (Jeanne Crain). Although she was from a rural, farming family and he from a suburban, upscale family their common duties and activities the navy placed them in on equal social footing.
Brad is eager to present his new bride to his friends; Deborah is anxious about the meeting. Deborah feels that her old dress is inadequate for the dance at the country club, and she’s having a bad hair day.
He doesn’t understand why she’s making a fuss. She compensates by drinking too many martinis. Rita does her best to bolster Deborah’s confidence, but it doesn’t help that Brad spends time on the terrace talking - to Addie Ross.
George Phipps (Kirk Douglas) and Rita (Ann Sothern) have been married for seven years. George is a school teacher and appears to be happy with his career and lot in life. Rita writes scripts for radio sitcoms and wants to move up in the neighborhood. She invites her boss to dinner in hopes that Mrs. Manleigh will be impressed with George and offer him a more lucrative job at the radio station.
George arrives home on the evening of the big dinner with exciting news to share. Rita is so engrossed in making the evening just right that she doesn’t have time to listen. George doesn’t see the need for all the fuss but tries to appease Rita. With all the excitement she has forgotten that today is George’s birthday. But someone else hasn’t forgotten. A birthday gift with a cryptic note is delivered - from Addie Ross.
Porter Hollingsway (Paul Douglas) is a successful businessman who owns seven department stores. Lora Mae (Linda Darnell) worked as a secretary in his office before they were married. Porter hadn’t been searching for a wife, but when he took Lora Mae to lover’s lane he soon learned that she wasn’t interested in being his playmate.
She had bigger plans and was forced to play hard-to-get. Ms. Darnell convincingly plays these creative and amusing scenes with just the correct amount of innocence and deviousness, leaving Porter frustrated and longing. Finally he says, 'OK, you win. We’ll get married.' It’s an inauspicious beginning for two people who fail to pick up on each other’s romantic signals.
Porter isn’t convinced that Lora Mae truly loves him and never lets her forget that he was trapped. Meanwhile, Lora Mae, never having heard a true proposal or a declaration of love, is not convinced that Porter loves her. But she is sure that he loved the woman whose photograph he framed in silver - Addie Ross.
The comic relief moments appear often in this drama, a drama that with a slightly different slant could have easily become a comedy. Thelma Ritter plays Sadie, the cook for the Phipps’s dinner party.
Sadie isn’t pleased about wearing the new formal outfit that Rita bought for the occasion and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind in front of the guests. This film is the second in Ms. Ritter’s career but already she has perfected the wise-cracking manner we have come to enjoy and admire in her work.
Sadie, friend of Ruby, Lora Mae’s mother, is present in the first scene at Lora Mae’s house located in the working class neighborhood. When the train rumbles by the house the cans on the shelves jump and the refrigerator door flies opens.
Lora Mae bought the refrigerator on time from Porter’s store. It’s a useful prop that lets us know that Lora Mae is keeping their relationship cool until they are married. If it had been a washing machine in this scene we would have expected her to 'take him to the cleaners.'
When the action returns to the present we learn that one of the husbands is indeed missing from the dance. However, the news of the missing husband gives one of the other husbands an idea. He makes a confession that brightens the evening for two wives.
A Letter To Three Wives successfully captures a slice of life in the middle-class suburbs during the late 40s and 50s in the USA. It was a time of prosperity, career gains for women and technological advances. The individuals in this film find themselves attracted to and/or challenged by different lifestyles and social/economic environments.
These challenges foster insecurity, inconsideration, ambition, and downright stubbornness. However, over time values are defended, kindness is extended and goodwill is restored.
The original story of A Letter to Three Wives was written by John Klempner and published in a women’s magazine. Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar in the category of Best Writing, Screenplay. Mankiewicz also won the Oscar for Best Director. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.
As the characters struggle to find their places within their new environments we viewers find ourselves drawn to them with varying degrees of sympathy and admiration - except perhaps for two, the run away husband and Addie Ross.