The film dramatizes 24 hours in the life of a small Kansas town in the mid-20th century during the Labor Day holiday. It is the story of an outsider whose appearance disrupts and rearranges the lives of those whom he encounters.
Plot
On the morning of Labor Day 1955, a freight train brings vagrant Hal Carter to the fictional town of Salinason, Kansas to visit his old fraternity friend Alan Benson from college. Hal meanders through the town until he gets to the backyard of kind, elderly Helen Potts, who offers him breakfast after he offers to do some backyard work for her.
Mrs. Potts tells Hal that Alan is seeing Madge Owens, the young teenage girl next door known as the town beauty queen. Hal meets her, her book-smart, tomboyish sister Millie, and their stern single mother Florence ("Flo"). Florence loves her girls, but had a hard time raising them alone after their father walked out. She wishes for nothing more than for Madge to marry into Alan's wealthy family, as his father is very successful in the grain business. Hal also briefly meets Rosemary, a spinster schoolteacher living in a rented room next door, and "Bomber" the newspaper boy, an immature flirt who chats up Madge (to no avail).
Madge meets Hal and tells him where to find Alan. As their eyes lock, Madge and Hal are instantly attracted to each other.
Alan is happy to see the "same old Hal" and shows him his family's sprawling grain-elevator operations. He promises Hal a steady job as a "wheat scooper" (though Hal was hoping to start off as an executive) and invites him to attend the town's Labor Day picnic.
Meanwhile, Madge is preparing for the picnic and having a talk with her mother, who urges her daughter to marry Alan; they have been dating all summer and Florence wants to see her daughter have a financially stable life. Millie and Madge fight, as Millie is jealous of her sister's looks and Madge is jealous of Millie's intelligence.
Madge and Millie accompany Alan and Hal to the local swimming spot and then prepare for the picnic. Millie tells the boys she believes Madge will be crowned the town beauty queen, the Queen of Neewollah ("Halloween" backwards).
At the picnic, Hal divides his attention among Madge, Millie, Flo, Alan, Mrs. Potts and Rosemary, accompanied by her boyfriend Howard Bevans who owns a novelty shop. The gang competes in various picnic games; later, they relax by the river with their picnic basket and get to know Hal better. Hal seems content with everyone and is interested in settling down. Later that night, as expected, Madge is crowned Queen of Neewollah, with the formal ceremony to be held on Halloween. As she sails down the river during her celebratory coronation, the crowd cheers and Hal gazes at her admiringly.
As the night progresses, there is dancing at the pavilion. Hal tries some dance steps; at his invitation, Millie tries dancing with him but is clearly self-conscious and can't quite get the rhythm. Howard, who had hidden a flask of liquor in his jacket, is rather intoxicated and jokingly dances with Hal, irking Rosemary (who is also intoxicated).
Madge, noticing her sister's attempts to match Hal's dance rhythm, walks up to Hal and the two begin to dance gracefully, barely touching. Rosemary, clearly attracted to Hal and quite tipsy, is insanely jealous. She pulls Hal away from Madge and attempts to dance with him, then rips his shirt. Rosemary angrily berates a startled Hal and cries out that she can keep up with the younger folks in the group.
Meanwhile, Millie (feeling left out) finds Howard's flask, has several gulps and gets up, claiming to be sick. As Madge tries to help her, an upset Millie pushes her away, saying "Madge is the pretty one." Millie runs off and Flo inadvertently sees the flask. When Flo asks who gave alcohol to her underage daughter, Rosemary blames Hal. Embarrassed by Hal's rejection, Rosemary continues to berate and blame him, accusing him of being a fake and afraid of ending up in the gutter "where (he) belongs."
While the others tend to Millie, Madge follows Hal to Alan's car and gets in with him, trying to cheer him up. They drive off with Hal in a bad mood from Rosemary's remarks. They park by the river, and Hal tells Madge he was sent to reform school as a boy for stealing a motorcycle and that his whole life is a failure. Madge feels for Hal and they kiss, realizing they have fallen for each other. Outside Madge's house, the two promise to meet after Madge finishes work the next evening.
Meanwhile, Howard drives a tearful Rosemary home. Rosemary is tired of being single and begs Howard to marry her; a reluctant Howard says he will come over the next morning to discuss it.
Hal drives back to Alan's to return his car, but Alan has called the police and wants him arrested. Alan is upset about the car, but is more upset about Hal and Madge. Hal flees in the car with the police following close behind. He shows up at Howard's apartment and asks to spend the night so he can evade the police. An understanding Howard confesses his own worries to Hal; he cares for Rosemary but is single and set in his ways.
Back at the Owens house, Madge and Millie cry themselves to sleep in their shared room, with Millie swearing she will never drink again and Madge uncertain about her future with Hal.
The next morning, Howard comes to the Owens' intending to tell Rosemary he wants to wait, but she is overjoyed and assumes he has come to elope with her. Howard goes along with the misunderstanding; before he knows it, Rosemary is preparing to get married while Flo, Millie, Helen and her fellow teachers congratulate the pair on their upcoming wedding. As Howard passes Madge on the stairs, he tells her Hal is hiding in his car. Hal slips away before the women gleefully decorate Howard's car, and Howard and Rosemary drive off to the Ozarks for their honeymoon.
Hal and Madge meet by a shed behind the house. Hal says he loves her and asks her to meet him in Tulsa, Oklahoma where they can marry and he can get a job at a hotel as a bellhop and elevator operator. Mrs. Owens finds them by the shed and threatens to call the police, but Hal tells her he's leaving town. Madge and Hal embrace and kiss.
Hal runs to catch a passing freight train, crying out to Madge, "You love me! You love me!" He hops on the train as it speeds off. Flo tries to run after her crying daughter and turns to Helen for advice. Kindly, Helen indicates she likes Hal for Madge and tries to tell Flo to let her daughter grow up and learn about Hal herself. Upstairs in their room, Millie tells her sister to "do something bright" for once in her life and go to Hal.
Madge packs a small suitcase and, despite her mother's begging and tears, bids goodbye to Helen, Millie and her mother and boards a bus for Tulsa.
Columbia acquired the rights to the play for $350,000 in September 1953.[6]
Harry Cohn offered the job of directing to Joshua Logan, who had directed the stage version. Logan was grateful as he had just had a manic breakdown.
Casting
The then 37-year old William Holden was already cast when Logan came on board. Holden was "happy to finish his Columbia Picturescontract with such a prestigious project" despite the film paying him $30,000 instead of the $250,000 he would have otherwise earned.[5] In the film, Holden keeps his hair combed in an untidy fringe over his forehead and has the sleeves of his shirt rolled up throughout. He shaved his chest for the shirtless shots and was reportedly nervous about his dancing for the "Moonglow" scene. Logan took him to Kansas roadhouses where he practiced steps in front of jukeboxes with choreographer Miriam Nelson.
Logan said Cohn suggested that Columbia contract star Kim Novak be cast, but did not insist on it. Logan felt Novak was very close to the character she played. The "blonde bombshell" Novak screen tested twice and was given the part, playing it as a redhead. Picnic was one of Kim Novak's early film roles, and this movie made her a star.
Janice Rule, who played the part on Broadway, did a screen test, but Logan said that it went poorly. Writer Daniel Taradash pushed for Carroll Baker, and who tested, but Logan felt that she was too young.
Eileen Heckart played the school teacher on Broadway, but Harry Cohn wanted a bigger name, so Rosalind Russell was cast. This was her first Hollywood movie after a big success on Broadway with her Tony Award-winning performance in Wonderful Town (1953). The film credits her with "co-star" status.
Paul Newman was under contract to Warner Bros and was unable to reprise his role as Alan, so Logan cast Cliff Robertson, who had been in a touring company of Mister Roberts.[7]
Millie, the independently minded girl who memorizes Shakespeare sonnets and rebels against her older sister, was an early role for Susan Strasberg, the daughter of prominent Method drama teacher Lee Strasberg. Kim Stanley played the younger sister on stage, but Logan thought she was too old on film and cast Strasberg.
Elizabeth Wilson had a bit part as one of the smirking schoolteachers. Verna Felton, a longtime radio and TV character actor who was well known to audiences in the 1950s, had a strong supporting role as neighbor Helen Potts.
Reta Shaw, Elizabeth Wilson and Arthur O'Connell recreated their roles from the original Broadway production.[8]
Locations
The extensive use of Kansas locations highlighted the naturalistic, small-town drama. Picnic was shot mostly around the Hutchinson, Kansas region.[5] Other Kansas locations include:
Halstead - Riverside Park is where the Labor Day picnic scenes were filmed.[9][10][11]:10 The merry-go-round and cable suspension footbridge, which spans the Little Arkansas River, still exist in the park on the north side of Halstead.[12]
Nickerson - the location of the two adjacent houses for the Owens family home and Mrs. Potts. It is where Hal (William Holden) "jumps a freight" to go to Tulsa and where Madge boards a bus in the last scene.[11]:11 211 and 207 South Nickerson Street are the locations of the two houses, Avenue H was used for the final bus scene. In the years since the filming, the rail spur was removed and replaced by Avenue G street, and the school was replaced with a modern school.[13]
Salina - the opening scene where Hal jumps off a train, then meets Alan (Cliff Robertson) at Alan's father's large house. This location is also used for the Saline River (where Madge kisses Hal) and the scene where Hal escapes from the police by running under a waterfall.[11]:8–9 The train and river scene is located northeast of the intersection of Iron Avenue and 4th Street.[12] The Benson home is located at 417 East Country Club Road.
Sterling - where the pre-picnic swim in the lake was filmed.[11]:11 It was filmed at the Sterling Lake near Van Buren Street.
Hutchinson - where the roof top of grain elevator scene was filmed. It is located on top of the elevator on the northwest corner of 4th Avenue and Halstead Street.
During filming of the picnic scenes in Halstead, Kansas, a tornado swept through the area, forcing the cast and crew to take cover. While the storm spared the set, it destroyed the city of Udall, Kansas, and the film crew drove their trucks and equipment there to help clean up the damage.[11]:10
Heavy thunderstorms with tornado warnings repeatedly interrupted shooting of the scene on location, and it was completed on a backlot in Burbank, where Holden (according to some sources)[specify] was "dead drunk" to calm his nerves.
In a contemporary review, critic Mae Tinee of the Chicago Tribune wrote:
It is a taut two hours of masterful movie making ... The story presents a cross-section of many lives, but the telling is never hurried, the detail is impressive, and the performances are some of the finest of the year. ... The film tells a moving and human tale, and does it in superb fashion. It is one of the finest examples of superior motion picture production."[17]
[I]t should be noted that William Inge's distinguished comedy-drama is slightly travelworn here and there. The hearts and minds of the commonplace Kansas townsfolk that were so beautifully revealed on stage still leave a sharp, poignant and lasting impression on a moviegoer. But the new CinemaScope surroundings appear too vast an occasion for these basically intimate stories. Lebensraum apparently is not what these Plains people need. And, while the titular picnic of this sprawling dramatization is inventive, eye-catching and eye-filling, it is not particularly germane to the dramas at hand. ... In returning to film making after a long absence, Joshua Logan, who has lived with the play from the beginning, has made its characters come alive again through his directorial artistry. Although he is occasionally overwhelmed by the CinemaScope process, Mr. Inge's principals are not. They still make Picnic a memorable and moving drama.[18]
The film was restored in the mid-1990s[19] and brought many art-house bookings.[20]
"Moonglow and Theme from 'Picnic'" by Morris Stoloff and the Columbia Pictures Orchestra reached #1 on the Billboard Top 100 and remained on the chart for 27 weeks.
"Moonglow and Theme from 'Picnic'" by George Cates and His Orchestra reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 and remained on the chart for 22 weeks.
"Picnic", a vocal version by the McGuire Sisters, reached #13 on the Billboard Top 100 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks. The single was a double A-side with "Delilah Jones", a #37 hit.
At one point, the three singles were in the Top 40 simultaneously, and the Stoloff and Cates versions ranked consecutively at #3 and #4 in the Top 100 chart of June 2, 1956.
The soundtrack album reached #2 on the Billboard album chart, where it remained for 56 weeks beginning in February 1956.[29]
Subliminal marketing hoax
In 1957, marketing researcher James Vicary said he had included subliminal messages such as "eat popcorn" and "drink Coca-Cola" in public screenings of Picnic for six weeks, claiming sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn increased 18.1% and 57.8% respectively. However, after being unable to replicate the results, Vicary later admitted that he had falsified the data.[30]
12345Shaffer, Bill (Spring 2005). "The Summer of Picnic"(PDF). Kansas Heritage. 13 (1). Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-10. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
↑"Picnic". SwapaDVD.com. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2014-02-15. The DVD greatly benefits from a mid-1990s film restoration project that saw Picnic back on the big screen in art houses across the country.
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