My Sister Eileen (1942)

The first screen version of Ruth McKenney's stories of two sisters who move from Ohio to New York: Ruth is the smart one who dreams of a career in journalism; Eileen is the blonde bombshell who wants to be an actress. Rosalind Russell is perfectly cast as Ruth, as is Janet Blair as her wide-eyed sibling, along with such veteran character actors as Brian Aherne, George Tobias, Richard Quine, June Havoc, and a certain comedy trio in a gag cameo.  Ensconced in a basement apartment in Greenwich Village, they encounter a wide array of colorful characters as they struggle to survive in the concrete jungle. It first breathed life as a smash Broadway play in 1940, with Shirley Booth as the wise-cracking Ruth. For this first film version, Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov adapted their play to the screen, and Alexander Hall smartly directed it. In 1953, it was turned into a Broadway musical, WONDERFUL TOWN, with Russell as Ruth and Edie Adams as Eileen. Two years later, Columbia did its own musical remake. Finally, it became a one-season CBS sitcom in 1960, with Elaine Stritch as Ruth.