
“Artists & Models” is on at 2, followed at 4 by Mitchell Leisen’s delightful “Take a Letter Darling” (1942) arguably the best of Rosalind Russell’s “Boss Lady” comedies. Fred MacMurray is the struggling artist who takes a job as her secretary. Claude Binyon’s smart script was originally written for Katharine Hepburn, who turned it down, and the cast includes MacDonald Carey, Robert Benchley and Dooley Wilson. Poor Frances Farmer was also cast, but she didn’t show up, was sacked by the studio, shipped off to a mental institution by her family and was replaced in the movie by Constance Moore. There were Oscar nominations for the cinematography, art direction and musical score. Edith Head’s costumes for Russell are nothing to sneeze at, either.



