We are less than a week away from the official start of the baseball season. Over the next seven days, we are planning on having several posts celebrating America’s pastime. To kick things off, let’s take a look at It Happens Every Spring.
The 1949 crowdpleaser stars Ray Milland as a hapless college chemistry professor who is scheming for a way to raise enough money to be able to propose to his girlfriend (Jean Peters). After inventing a brilliant formula that repels wood — something he discovers quite by chance — he uses his creation to become a pitching phenomenon, striking out scores of batters with his unhittable “screwball.” Big league laughs quickly follow.
This boisterous baseball comedy was a, forgive me, home run at the box office, further paving the way for other fun flicks based on the sport. Let’s take a look at the film’s original trailer:
This picture had viewers root-root-rooting for the home team (and Milland), and it is still a perennial favorite this time of year — proving that baseball laughs happen every spring — or anytime really — that viewers watch this 1940s classic.