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WEDNESDAY

Remember when you took that crappy cubicle job until you could find something better? Remember when you were still there a year later, wondering how in the hell your life became a living, breathing Dilbert panel? Too bad you didn’t have a copy of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which sends our hero, J. Pierpont Finch, from the mailroom to the boardroom in a matter of days in David Swift’s 1967 musical film of the same name. Robert Morse reprises his Tony Award–winning role as Finch, and his lack of matinee-idol good looks (think an unholy union between Pat Sajak and Jerry Lewis’ nutty professor) makes you root for him that much more. Helping him out along the way are the beautiful secretary Rosemary (Michele Lee, who would later rule the ’80s as one of Knots Landing’s desperate housewives) and the company prez, J.B. Biggley (megaphone crooner Rudy Vallee), who remind him never to underestimate the powers of nepotism, Ivy League fight songs, and a three-button suit. Dress for success when the film screens at 8:15 p.m. at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Free. (202) 272-2448. (Jason Powell)