Classics and Cocktails: Some Like It Hot

“Some Like It Hot,” is one of the great screen comedies of all time. The essential plot is this: two musicians, Lemmon and Curtis, having been spotted as witnesses to the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, must don dresses and join an all-girl band to flee the mob. Wilder not only directed, but he also wrote the script with his longtime screenwriting partner I.A.L. Diamond. Originally conceived as a vehicle for the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When they fell through, Wilder had the good fortune of casting Lemmon and Curtis. “Chemistry only comes naturally. It cannot be manufactured. Like Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, for instance. I knew it was there,” as Wilder said, “They were like brothers.”