Manhattan is full of them.
Walston's character has a hot date when Baxter is tired and medicated. Couldn't Walston just go to a hotel? And the guy who had to take his girl to a VW at a drive in theater when Baxter's apartment was occupied? I realize that this is a fictional comedy and that the film loses its raison d'etre if it were that simple. Was that option ever mentioned at all in the film?
I think they were probably afraid of being recognized by someone they know, had they gone to get a room from a hotel.
shareClassy New York hotels are expensive, and the men probably would not be able to explain where the money went to their wives.
shareOh yes, true. That's a more likely explanation.
shareNot at all.
The explanation is that is simply was against hotel rules (maybe even against the law), in theses times, to go to a hotel room with a woman that isn't your wife.
Sound crazy I know, but it was like that. I saw this in a lot of old movies.
Because they were looking for a more reserved place to be with their girls. There are too many people coming and going in a hotel in New York, do you agree?
shareAt that time, hotel detectives may have thwarted their plans.
shareThe movie explains that in 1960, hotels had house detectives so that the hotels wouldn't get reputations as brothels.
But even in 1960, some critics asked the same question.
I still love the movie.
I particularly love Shirley MacLaine. When Elizabeth Taylor won her first Academy Award for "Butterfield 8" -- among the most undeserved Oscar wins of all time, because Elizabeth had almost died around the time of the voting -- Shirley MacLaine was the likeliest second-place finisher.
Private detectives often hung around in hotels just to catch people out in those circumstances (in The Big Sleep Lauren Bacall's character at the start taunts Bogart's character with just such an assumption).
Standards in hotels vary. In an interview with a British film magazine, Keanu Reaves said that fairly early in his career he was staying in a fairly expensive hotel in Europe and he had some trouble getting back into the hotel after going out for a drink because he was wearing jeans. When he got back in, a woman in the lift or elevator propositioned him. She was a prostitute but she had had no trouble getting into the hotel.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
1. They're cheap.
2. They have to sign in at a hotel and maybe present I.D.
3. They could be seen.
4. It was homier, more comfortable. Fridge, ice, food. Without having to call room service.
This apt was nearby, no one would see 'em, and it was free except for favors they gave Baxter.
There's another movie where a group of men rent an apt together to romp with floozies. James Garner's in it. Kim Novak. I forget the name.
Here's an employee waiting to be fleeced and taken advantage of. Also No receipts to explain to the wives.
shareThere were hotel detectives. You could get charged with vagrancy.
share