Mr. Blandings' yearly salary of $15,000 would be (adjusted for inflation) approximately $193,000 in 2024. The screenwriters had originally given him a salary of $10,000, but postwar inflation forced them to give him a raise before shooting began.
As a promotional stunt, the studio had 73 replicas of the Blandings house built around the country. Many opened for house tours, with the proceeds going to charity, and some were raffled off. The stunt obviously worked, because the film was a box office hit.
The house "Blandings' Way" really exists on Indian Hill Road in New Milford, Connecticut. It's a beautiful huge white art deco/colonial house that has many of the actual rooms discussed in the movie - such as a room to cut flowers. Also less than a mile away on Long Mountain Road is executive producer of the movie and MGM head Dore Schary's old country home.
In the movie, a flooded excavation plagues the Blandings and their builders, requiring pumps to empty it. In reality, Eric Hodgins revealed in an article in LIFE magazine that the movie set excavation leaked so badly that large pumps were needed to keep it filled for shooting.
The house built for the movie still exists in Malibu, California, at coordinates: 34 degrees 5' 41"N 118 degrees 42'43"W on the old 20th Century Fox Ranch.
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What is the French language plot outline for Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)?
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