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Inside the Apartment Susan Slept In (Susan Slept Here)

Happy Holidays!


via gifer

I'm not sure if anything qualifies Susan Slept Here to be a Christmas movie other than it takes place over the Christmas holidays (but was released in July 1954, go figure), but I'm covering it because it's a mid-century Christmas—and general apartment-living—lovefest, questionable love story aside... 

Susan Slept Here is an unfortunate movie that does not hold up (though did it hold up at the time?) about a teenage girl (played by Debbie Reynolds) who runs away and is going to be charged with vagrancy, but rather than send her to a juvenile facility overnight, they, for some reason, stick her with 30-year-old (I mean...ha) Dick Powell for the night. Because reasons. Those reasons being, I'm assuming, "We have a film in Debbie's contract and we have a film in Dick's contracts so why not kill two birds with one stone?" 


If you've hung around here, you might know that I loathe Dick Powell ever since reading June Allyson's autobiography, so watching this again with that knowledge in the back of my head was an experience. Just about every time he opened his mouth I thought to myself, "Yeah, okay Dick." 


I'm going to try and set the animosity aside for the purposes of this post, but if you could just keep it in your head that I loathe this guy while you're reading, it'll save me the unnecessary word count. 

Mark is an Oscar-winning screenwriter who lives in a nice bachelor pad in Los Angeles. Jury's out on who's Oscar this is because neither Debbie nor Dick won Oscars in their lifetimes. Maybe the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences lent it out? 


Here's an exterior of the pale pink apartment building Mark calls home. 


Lest you forget that this is a Christmas movie, let the cards on the mantle set the scene. 


Mark's a collector of gold art, but I'm more interested in that shelving. Want!


An art that isn't art, because art is paintings of horses according to 30 Rock and when has 30 Rock ever steered me wrong? 


I'm basically a teetotaler but I love this bar and would love to have one in my dream house. 


Gosh, that tree! I would love to have an aluminum Christmas tree. Someone on Facebook Marketplace near me had one listed for $350 and was like "I'm in no rush to sell so this price is firm" but it's a little too rich for my blood. Someday when I own a house based on Lana Turner's from Bachelor in Paradise I'll have an aluminum Christmas tree.


Just to show off the mid-century wrapping paper. This is where our design peaked. 


Another angle of the bar set-up to show the aquarium behind Maude Snograss—what a name!—as played by Glenda Farrell. 


From inside the bar. 


A very tasteful bathroom. 


The master bedroom with its teak furniture and non-horse art. 


More Christmas cards in the background, behind the tastefully beige furniture. 


The comedy and drama masks behind them.


I love that he owns a water cooler. It's not something I've clocked in a lot of home settings in these old movies.


Another view of the master bedroom.


Somehow Mark seems like the type who'd own a piano for the ambience despite not knowing how to play.


Rotary phone!


Another glimpse of the bar.


A different vantage point of the living room area.


And here's a glimpse of the minimalist kitchen.


I love the Christmas tree, that is all.


Another shot of the tree.


This radio honestly sold me on this movie, and it's because it popped up as a result when searching for a Debbie Reynolds gif and ever since I saw it I knew I wanted to see this movie just for the set design.


I'm honestly just bummed the plot is so bad because this really is a nice apartment.


Here's a glimpse of the refrigerator and the oven in the wall.


Here's the stovetop set-up.


I love the shelving unit in the kitchen.


Those curtains are a choice.


I love the curtains in the kitchen.


Once more for the teal radio in the background!

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