The term, if not the exact concept, was given national attention with the release of the Hollywood movie comedy Christmas in July in 1940, written and directed by Preston Sturges.
Preston | Preston, Lancashire | Billy Preston | Preston North End F.C. | Preston Sturges | Robert Preston (actor) | Robert Preston | Stephen Preston (flautist) | Stephen Preston | Preston Manning | Kelly Preston | Wayde Preston | Preston Park, Brighton | John Sturges | George Preston Marshall | Douglas Preston | William Preston | Preston railway station | Preston Park | Francis Preston Blair | Battle of Preston | Preston Tucker | Preston Parker | Margaret Preston | John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover | Antony Preston | Alan Preston | William Preston Lane, Jr. | Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara | St John the Evangelist's Church, Preston Village, Brighton |
Many of the directors and producers Farber championed in Negative Space are favored by Shepherd as well, including Val Lewton (Curse of the Cat People, a 5-star rated film), Preston Sturges, Jean-Luc Godard (Alphaville, Contempt), Luis Buñuel (The Exterminating Angel) and Nicolas Roeg (Cold Heaven).
Hoffe was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story for the Preston Sturges comedy The Lady Eve.
It was written by Melville Baker with Preston Sturges and Doris Anderson, who were both uncredited, based on Ursula Parrott's 1935 novel Next Time We Live, which was serialized before publication as Say Goodbye Again.
The screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman, H.M. Walker, and an uncredited Preston Sturges, based on the Broadway play A Pair of Silk Stockings (1914) by Cyril Harcourt.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times repeated some of Roger Ebert's sentiments stating that "Preston Sturges might have made a movie like Trading Places - if he'd had a little less inspiration and a lot more money."