Ann Wilson catches her strait-laced husband, Columbia University Assistant Professor of ChemistryDavid Wilson, kissing another woman. From David's perspective, he was the one being kissed innocently, the woman in question being a grateful transfer student. However, Ann wants a divorce. On the advice of David's friend, TV writer Michael Haney, David tries to convince Ann that he is really an FBI agent, the kiss all in the name of national security. Ann falls for it, but is so impressed with what her husband does for a living that she can't keep quiet about it. Michael is so impressed with Ann's gullibility and patriotic urging of her husband Dave to do more "secret missions" that Michael sets up a date with two blondes with the promise of spending a weekend together with them. The indiscretions cause a number of complications, including some with the real FBI, the CIA and hostile foreign secret agents.
In August 1957 Krasna announced his play My Wife and I would be produced on Broadway with David Merrick. This became Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?. The play ended up being produced by Leland Hayward. In December 1957 Alex Segal signed to direct. The play opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on March 3, 1958.
called it "an elaborate and extremely funny doodle." Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times said "the actors are more entertaining than the script... the fun gets progressively thinner." The play ran for 208 performances. It only had three positive reviews but managed to run three months. Hayward elected not to take the play out touring because he felt as the play involved multiple sets it was too expensive to mount. The play was often revived. A 1965 Los Angeles production starred Dick Miller.
Lawsuit
Krasna was sued for $500,000 in a breach of trust claim by writer Valentine Davies, who contended that Krasna incorporated material from Davies' work Love Must Go On. Davies died in 1961 but his widow continued the suit asking for $1.5 million. The case went to trial in 1962. Groucho Marx gave evidence where he said and Krasna worked on the themes of the play in their script The King and the Chorus Girl. The first trial ended in a deadlocked jury which was discharged after three days. The second trial found for Krasna saying there was no oral agreement between him and Davies. There was a third trial that ended in Krasna's favor. A judge ordered a fourth trial in 1972 which was dismissed when judge ruled that Davies should have filed a complaint within two years of discovering that Krasna used his material.
Production
Development
In July 1958 Columbia bought the film rights to the play, and hired Krasna to write the script. Hedda Hopper wrote that she hoped the three leads of the play were used instead of stars as "they took a play that wasn't that good and turned it into a great hit". However the stars Dean Martin and Tony Curtis were clients of Lew Wasserman of MCA, as was Krasna - Wasserman had packaged the project with his clients and sold it to Columbia for $350,000. In September 1958 George Sidney announced he would make the film as part of a three picture deal with Columbia, along with Pepe and Here Come the Brides. The production company, Ansark-Sidney, combines the names of producer Krasna and director Sidney. In March 1959 Debbie Reynolds signed to star alongside Dean Martin and Tony Curtis. Martin's fee at this stage was $200,000 per film. By May Reynolds had dropped out and been replaced by Janet Leigh.
Shooting
Filming started 20 July 1959. Shortly after filming Leigh called it "the best role I've ever had. The girl is really important in the comedy. Quite a few important changes were made from the stage play because of the expanded movie medium... We had a real ball making the picture; we played practical jokes on each other between scenes that kept everyone in good humor. That George Sidney's a doll too." Leigh confirmed in her memoirs that making the film "was a romp from start to finish... we really rolled with this one. The personal familiarity of the three of us allowed absolute freedom and the interplay was wild and woolly and inventive." George Sidney was so taken with Leigh's performance he signed her to appear in Pepe and Diamond Bikini.
Reception
The film was popular and earned over $3 million at the North American box office.
