Christmas in July (film) Christmas in July (film) Christmas in July is a 1940 comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges based on his 1931 play "A Cup of Coffee". It was Sturges' second film as writer-director, after "The Great McGinty", and stars Dick Powell and Ellen Drew. Dr. Maxford (Raymond Walburn) is thoroughly exasperated. He is supposed to announce on national radio the winners of a slogan contest for his Maxford House Coffee; the first prize is $25,000. Maxford's jury is deadlocked by the stubborn Mr. Bildocker (William Demarest). As a result, the program ends without an announcement. One of millions of
Preston Sturges time. It attracted interest from Hollywood, and Sturges was writing for Paramount by the end of the year. Three other Sturges stage plays were produced from 1930 to 1932, one of them a musical, but none of them were hits. By the end of the year, he was working more in Hollywood as a writer-for-hire, operating on short contracts, for Universal, MGM, and Columbia studios. He also sold his original screenplay for "The Power and the Glory" (1933) to Fox, where it was filmed as a vehicle for Spencer Tracy. The film told the story of a self-involved financier via