Kiss Me, Kate (1953)

Lilli Vanessi: You louse!

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Lilli Vanessi: Do you really think *I* could play the shrew?
Fred Graham: You'd make a perfect shrew!

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Deanna Durbin had been MGM's first choice for the role of Lilli Vanessi, but despite a visit by producer Jack Cummings to Deanna's home near Paris, she could not be persuaded to emerge from retirement. Miss Durbin already had rejected the chance to portray Lili in London's West End, where the British production played 400 performances at the Coliseum Theatre, running from March 8, 1951 until February 23, 1952. Patricia Morison, Broadway's original Lilli, re-created the part in London.
Several of the Broadway lyrics were considered too "spicy" for a film. For instance, "according to the Kinsey Report" (Alfred Kinsey) was changed to "according to the weather report" in the song, "Too Darn Hot", and a verse containing bawdy puns was omitted from "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (William Shakespeare).
For the famous spanking scene, Kathryn Grayson and costume designer Helen Rose played a joke on Howard Keel - Rose put a wooden board under Grayson's costume.
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