Picnic Overview:

Picnic (1955) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Joshua Logan and produced by Fred Kohlmar.

Academy Awards 1955 --- Ceremony Number 28 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorArthur O'ConnellNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: William Flannery, Jo Mielziner; Set Decoration: Robert PriestleyWon
Best DirectorJoshua LoganNominated
Best Film EditingCharles Nelson, William A. LyonWon
Best Music - ScoringGeorge DuningNominated
Best PictureFred Kohlmar, ProducerNominated
.

BlogHub Articles:

Picnic and Written on the Wind

By Rick29 on Aug 12, 2024 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Kim Novak and William Holden.Picnic (1955). Joshua Logan, who directed the stage version William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, also directed this screen adaptation. Set in a small Kansas town, the story revolves around Hal Carter (William Holden), a charming drifter who arrives in town seeking... Read full article


William Holden romances Kim Novak in “Picnic”

By Stephen Reginald on Sep 12, 2023 From Classic Movie Man

William Holden romances Kim Novak in “Picnic” Picnic (1955) is an American drama film directed by Joshua Logan and starring William Holden, Kim Novak, and Rosalind Russell. The film is based on the Broadway play of the same name by William Inge. The movie features Susan Strasberg, C... Read full article


“Ain’t she sweet?” Kim Novak in Picnic (Joshua Logan, 1955)

By Virginie Pronovost on Feb 27, 2022 From The Wonderful World of Cinema

We sometimes forget that Kim Novak is one of those classic actresses still with us today. I’m not sure why that is, except maybe that she’s not so much in the public eye anymore. Et pourtant… She was pretty much an icon of her time, maybe not like Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly were... Read full article


COMEDY GOLD #18: The picnic from To Catch a Thief (1955)

By Carol Martinheira on Aug 16, 2019 From The Old Hollywood Garden

COMEDY GOLD #18: The picnic from To Catch a Thief (1955) On August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 By CarolIn Uncategorized To Catch a Thief (1955, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) boasts not only two of the most beautiful people who have ever lived as its leads, but also some of the mo... Read full article


Picnic (1956, Joshua Logan)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 4, 2019 From The Stop Button

Picnic is all about sex. It can never talk about being all about sex because it?s from 1956 and it?s set in small-town Kansas anyway and no one in small-town Kansas was going to be talking about sex. Not when schoolteachers like Rosalind Russell are trying to ban books for even hinting at sex. But i... Read full article


See all Picnic articles

Quotes from

Millie Owens: The ones we love are always pretty, but the ones who are pretty to begin with... everyone loves them.


Rosemary Sidney: [Giddily to her schoolteacher friends just prior to eloping] So long, girls! You know what you can tell the principal for me!


Flo Owens: Where is everybody?
Helen Potts: At a picnic everybody disappears. Don't you remember, Flo?


read more quotes from Picnic...

Facts about

Filming began in Salina, Kansas, May 16, 1955. Night-time crowds watched along the Smoky Hill River near an old mill dam as William Holden whipped a "borrowed" convertible with Kim Novak in the passenger seat to a stop along the river. Director Logan, a perfectionist, filmed the scene over and over. A number of spectatoring small boys often got in the way of the filming. A production member was designated assistant-in-charge-of-chasing-small-boys-out-of-camera-range. Other scenes filmed were Holden being chased by police around the mill and between railroad box cars. Suddenly, the loud-speaker blared: "There's a small boy underneath the box car! Get him out of there!" When the big Holden/Novak love scene was filmed, most of the crowd had gone home. "Those who stayed said it was a dilly of a romance." Filming wrapped shortly after five in the morning. By week's end, filming moved to Hutchinson.
William Holden had to shave his chest for this role, so that he appeared much younger than his true 37 years.
Shirley Knight's film debut.
read more facts about Picnic...
Share this page:
Visit the Classic Movie Hub Blog CMH
Best Art Direction Oscar 1955











See more Academy Awards>>
Also directed by Joshua Logan




More about Joshua Logan >>
Also produced by Fred Kohlmar




More about Fred Kohlmar >>
Related Lists
Create a list




See All Related Lists >>
Also released in 1955




See All 1955 films >>