Bringing Up Baby
Mild mannered zoology professor Dr. David Huxley is excited by the news that an intercostal clavicle bone has been found to complete his brontosaurus skeleton, a project four years in the construction. He is equally excited about his imminent marriage to his assistant, the officious Alice Swallow, who is interested in him more for his work than for him as a person. David needs the $1 million endowment of wealthy dowager Mrs. Carleton Random to complete the project. Her lawyer, Alexander Peabody, will make the decision on her behalf, so David needs to get in his favor. However, whenever David tries to make a good impression on Peabody, the same young woman always seems to do something to make him look bad. She is the flighty heiress Susan Vance. The more David wants Susan to go away, the more Susan seems not to want or be able to. But David eventually learns that Alexander Peabody is her good friend, who she calls Boopy, and Susan's Aunt Elizabeth, with whom David has also made a bad impression without her knowing who he is, is Mrs. Carleton Random. However getting in Aunt Elizabeth and Boopy's good graces is not as easy as Susan smoothing the waters with them. Throw into the mix a tame pet leopard named Baby that Susan's brother Mark inexplicably sends her from Brazil, Aunt Elizabeth's big game hunting friend Major Horace Applegate, Aunt Elizabeth's pet terrier George who has a penchant for burying bones and other things, and a traveling circus passing through town and David may never be able to finish his project or make it to his wedding. But David may come to the realization that there is something more important in his life.
Produced on a tight budget of $1.1M, the film represents a independent production.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Bringing Up Baby (1938) demonstrates meticulously timed narrative design, characteristic of Howard Hawks's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 12-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 42 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.1, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Characters
Cast & narrative archetypes
Susan Vance
David Huxley
Alice Swallow
Major Horace Applegate
Aunt Elizabeth
Main Cast & Characters
Susan Vance
Played by Katharine Hepburn
A free-spirited, chaotic heiress who relentlessly pursues paleontologist David Huxley while causing mayhem with her pet leopard.
David Huxley
Played by Cary Grant
A mild-mannered, methodical paleontologist whose orderly life is completely upended by Susan's whirlwind interference.
Alice Swallow
Played by Virginia Walker
David's prim, no-nonsense fiancée who represents order, routine, and a passionless future.
Major Horace Applegate
Played by Charles Ruggles
A wealthy big-game hunter and potential donor to David's museum whom David desperately tries to impress.
Aunt Elizabeth
Played by May Robson
Susan's wealthy aunt who controls her fortune and is the actual target of David's fundraising efforts.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes David Huxley, paleontologist, works on completing a brontosaurus skeleton at the museum, absorbed in his orderly, controlled academic life. He is engaged to his assistant Alice, planning a loveless marriage of convenience the next day.. The analysis reveals that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Susan Vance steals David's golf ball and then his car on the golf course, derailing his important meeting with Peabody. She is chaos incarnate, refusing to acknowledge mistakes and turning his ordered world upside down.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 26 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This shows the protagonist's commitment to David agrees to help Susan take her brother's tame leopard "Baby" to her aunt's farm in Connecticut, abandoning his wedding day and professional obligations. He actively chooses chaos over order., moving from reaction to action.
At 52 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 51% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Baby escapes into the wild, raising the stakes enormously. A dangerous circus leopard is also reported loose in the area. The playful chaos becomes genuinely dangerous, and David realizes he's lost control of everything: the bone, the leopard, his dignity, and his mission., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 77 minutes (76% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, David, Susan, Mrs. Random, and Major Applegate are all arrested and taken to jail. David's reputation is destroyed, his engagement broken, the donation lost, and the bone still missing. He furiously tells Susan she's caused nothing but chaos and he never wants to see her again., shows the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Synthesis at 82 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 81% of the runtime. Back at the museum, David completes the skeleton with the recovered bone. Susan appears to apologize and confess her love, explaining she acted out of love. As she climbs the scaffolding to reach him, she accidentally destroys the brontosaurus skeleton - and David realizes he doesn't care., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Bringing Up Baby's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 12 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs structural analysis methodology used to understand storytelling architecture. By mapping Bringing Up Baby against these established plot points, we can identify how Howard Hawks utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Bringing Up Baby within the comedy genre.
Howard Hawks's Structural Approach
Among the 7 Howard Hawks films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.0, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Bringing Up Baby represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Howard Hawks filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional comedy films include The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Bad Guys and Lake Placid. For more Howard Hawks analyses, see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Big Sleep and Red River.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
David Huxley, paleontologist, works on completing a brontosaurus skeleton at the museum, absorbed in his orderly, controlled academic life. He is engaged to his assistant Alice, planning a loveless marriage of convenience the next day.
Theme
Alice tells David their marriage will be purely professional with "no domestic entanglements" - stating the theme of control versus spontaneity, logic versus love, work versus life.
Worldbuilding
David's rigid world is established: he needs one final bone (the intercostal clavicle) to complete his life's work, and must secure a million-dollar donation from Mrs. Random. He plays golf with her lawyer, Mr. Peabody, while Alice guards the crucial bone delivery.
Disruption
Susan Vance steals David's golf ball and then his car on the golf course, derailing his important meeting with Peabody. She is chaos incarnate, refusing to acknowledge mistakes and turning his ordered world upside down.
Resistance
David tries to escape Susan but gets repeatedly entangled: she ruins his clothes at the restaurant, he ends up in her apartment, she calls claiming to need help with a leopard. He debates whether to help her or focus on securing the donation from Mrs. Random.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
David agrees to help Susan take her brother's tame leopard "Baby" to her aunt's farm in Connecticut, abandoning his wedding day and professional obligations. He actively chooses chaos over order.
Premise
The "fun and games" of screwball chaos: David and Susan chase Baby through Connecticut, David pretends to be various people including "Mr. Bone" the big-game hunter, clothes are torn and switched, the dog George steals the irreplaceable bone and buries it, and escalating mayhem ensues.
Midpoint
Baby escapes into the wild, raising the stakes enormously. A dangerous circus leopard is also reported loose in the area. The playful chaos becomes genuinely dangerous, and David realizes he's lost control of everything: the bone, the leopard, his dignity, and his mission.
Opposition
Everything tightens: David and Susan hunt for both leopards in the woods while trying to avoid constable Slocum. Mrs. Random grows suspicious. The intercostal clavicle remains buried and lost. David's frustration with Susan peaks as his entire life unravels.
Collapse
David, Susan, Mrs. Random, and Major Applegate are all arrested and taken to jail. David's reputation is destroyed, his engagement broken, the donation lost, and the bone still missing. He furiously tells Susan she's caused nothing but chaos and he never wants to see her again.
Crisis
In jail, David confronts the wreckage of his controlled life. Susan is heartbroken by his rejection. The emotional low point as David must face that his old life is gone but hasn't yet accepted what might replace it.
Act III
ResolutionSynthesis
Back at the museum, David completes the skeleton with the recovered bone. Susan appears to apologize and confess her love, explaining she acted out of love. As she climbs the scaffolding to reach him, she accidentally destroys the brontosaurus skeleton - and David realizes he doesn't care.