How a submarine painted pink became the most profitable film of Cary Grant's career

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1959, the comedy Operation Petticoat turned a bizarre wartime mishap into a box office juggernaut. Starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis, the film followed a ramshackle, pink-painted submarine through the Pacific. While critics found the plot light, audiences flocked to the screen, securing the movie's place in cinematic history.

The premise of Operation Petticoat centers on the USS Sea Tiger, a vessel forced to operate in a makeshift pink hue after the crew runs out of standard gray paint. While the sight of a pink submarine seems like pure Hollywood invention, it was inspired by genuine naval history. During the war, the USS Seadragon was scorched by fire, leaving her exposed in a red lead undercoat that prompted Tokyo Rose to mock the American fleet. Additionally, the USS Harder experimented with pinkish tints in its camouflage to blend into the horizon at dawn and dusk.

Beyond the paint, the film drew from various real-life submarine incidents, including the evacuation of nurses from Corregidor and a famous letter written by a commander regarding a severe shortage of toilet paper. Despite these factual seeds, the film took significant liberties. The Sea Tiger was portrayed by three different Balao-class submarines, even though the class did not launch until 1942, making the vessel anachronistic for the film's 1941 setting.

The production was a massive financial success, earning over $9.3 million in domestic rentals. This performance made it the third highest-grossing film of 1959 and the most successful comedy in American history at that time. For Cary Grant, the project was a personal and professional triumph; his contract residuals exceeded $3 million, cementing the film as the most lucrative of his long career. The movie's legacy eventually extended to television, spawning a short-lived ABC series in 1977 that featured Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of the film's co-star, Tony Curtis.

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