Nina and Robert Tracey (Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon), married for eight years, suffer marital problems and divorce.

Robert shares the home of his womanizing Navy buddy Charlie Nelson (Jack Carson) while Nina looks to her interfering mother for guidance.

On the day this was announced, Harry Cohn, head of Columbia, called to say it would make a great movie for Judy Holliday.

"[6] The original intention was to borrow Sheree North from 20th Century Fox to play the role of Janis but Harry Cohn decided to use Kim Novak after seeing her in Pushover.

[8] He told Garson Kanin, "I figured workin' alongside of Judy some of the talent, some of the magic might rub off, right?

"[10] According to Kenneth Tynan "The prospect of making" the movie sent Judy Holliday "into a fit (or phffftl) of terror, because for nearly ten years every word she had uttered on the screen had been written by the Kanins and directed by [George] Cukor.

But George Axelrod and Mark Robson turned out to be admirable replacements, and her first solo flight was a reassuring success.

"[11] George Axelrod later reflected: I had a sweet, dear, darling man, Mark Robson, who hadn't a clue how to do comedy.