RICK'S REAL/REEL LIFE: Sitting Pretty

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Clifton Webb’s Mr. Belvedere Still ‘Sitting Pretty’ 1948

Clifton Webb as Mr. Belvedere teaches his new employers' child an important lesson
on table manners in 1948's comedy "Sitting Pretty."

Sitting Pretty was the type of good-hearted comedy that 20th Century Fox did so well in the 1940s and '50s. Sitting Pretty was a satire of post-war American suburbia, with the acidic genius Mr. Belvedere providing the comic sting.

Hummingbird Hill is the suburban setting of Sitting Pretty, which looks innocuous on the outside. A young couple can’t keep a housekeeper to cope with their hectic offspring, much less get a babysitter for date nights. Exasperated, the wife takes out an ad, and gets a response from a Lynn Belvedere. She seems to have all of the qualifications, but the couple is surprised when she turns out to be Mr. Belvedere, and a self-proclaimed genius at that! What follows is a still-funny spoof of post-WW II social mores, all of which is duly noted by the mysterious Belvedere. The prickly “manny”/housekeeper marches to his own drummer, but whips the frazzled family into shape, while working his own mystery project.

Mr. Belvedere is not intimidated in the least by the busybodies of Hummingbird Hill,
in 1948's suburbia satire, "Sitting Pretty."

Mr. Belvedere is played by Clifton Webb, at his most acerbic. The young couple, Harry and Tacey King, is played by Robert Young and Maureen O’Hara. Though Young seems a bit mature as the junior lawyer, Father Knows Best was just around the corner, and his wry humor works well here as the film’s straight man. O'Hara is lovely and spirited as the young homemaker, who could use a hand on the home front. Their young boys are basically adorable, but rascals.

Maureen O'Hara & Robert Young are the happy but harried couple of 1948's comedy,
"Sitting Pretty."

The nosy neighbors are an old biddy and her sissy son, a movie and TV staple. The latter is Clarence Appleton, played by Richard Haydn, who made a career of such fusspots, with his clothes pin on the nose voice. Haydn appeared in everything from Ball of Fire to The Sound of Music to Young Frankenstein, an expert comedy actor. Ed Begley, Sr. is the alpha male boss of Young’s lawyer, complete with cigars and barked orders. The bobbysoxer babysitter, Ginger, who reminded me of an amped up Shirley Temple, is played by Betty Lynn. She later found TV fame as Barney Fife’s girlfriend Thelma Lou, on The Andy Griffith Show. John Russell and Louise Allbritton are pleasant as the King’s best friends, Bill and Edna Philby. Russell, who looked like a caricature of Clark Gable, later became a western star.

Clifton Webb as Mr. Belvedere, with John Russell & Robert Young as young lawyers,
in 1948's social satire, "Sitting Pretty."

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Clifton Webb got an Oscar nomination for his performance as Mr. Belvedere. Comedy performances aren't always recognized by the Academy, but Webb’s razor sharp performance is the core of this film. Webb lobs zingers at the reactionary husband and nosy neighbors with comedic precision, but also rations out the right amount of warmth as he grows closer to the family. Webb’s Belvedere is gleeful to watch because he says and does exactly what he thinks. And the last act, when Mr. Belvedere’s project is revealed, wraps everything up in a neat comedic package.

What's fascinating about Clifton Webb is that he became a film star straight away with Laura in 1944. There was great concern at Fox that Webb's flamboyant personality would not go over with mainstream movie audiences. Well, Laura was an instant classic and Webb should have won his first Oscar as Waldo Lydecker. But sentimental fave Barry Fitzgerald won Best Supporting Oscar for Going My Way for that year. Webb scored another nod for The Razor's Edge as socialite Elliot Templeton, another great performance. And his third and final nom was for Sitting Pretty. He scored a huge hit in 1950 as the patriarch in Cheaper by the Dozen and might have scored another nom if the Best Actor category didn’t already have classic comedy performances by James Stewart for Harvey and Spencer Tracy as Father of the Bride. The star character actor also appeared in some big hits through most of the '50s, like Three Coins in a Fountain and Titanic. Like the later Paul Lynde, Webb was hiding in plain sight as a gay performer, but he was so funny and likable, audiences didn't either catch on or seem to mind. And especially rare for the homophobic era, Webb's characters were smart and had the upper hand, and not the butt of jokes.

Clifton Webb, as Mr. Belvedere, who adds author to his laurels at the finale of 1948's
"Sitting Pretty." Note the statue on the right, courtesy of O'Hara's character.

Sitting Pretty is still pretty darn funny, with the stars at their most charming. The story is so clever that I'm surprised that nobody's done a remake. I could see Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon on the beloved sitcom The Big Bang Theory, as Mr. Belevedere, but I think the original is just fine.