In show biz, when you’re hot, you’re hot – and in 1936, director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin teamed up for a box-office streak that blazed like a three-alarm fire. Born two months apart in 1897, this dynamic duo had recently swept the Oscars for It Happened One Night, the rom-com that made history as the first film to score the “Big Five” Academy Awards for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. For an encore, Capra and Riskin struck big-screen

In 1942, Jean Arthur’s career stalled out. She refused the roles her studio offered, which put her on the guano list with her boss,...