A life on the ocean wave,
A-home on the rolling deep!
Where the scater’d waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep.
Like an eagle caged I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore.
Oh give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest’s roar.
In a nutshell, The Fuller Brush Man is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Red Skelton is at his finest, both in verbal comedy as well as in physical slapstick galore. The basic plot has Red Skelton playing the part of Red Jones, a well-meaning young man … Who keeps getting fired from every job he’s ever held within three weeks. The girl he loves, Ann Elliot (played by Janet Blair) refuses his marriage proposal. Until he matures enough to be able to provide for a family. Red decides to emulate his rival for Ann’s love by becoming a door-to-door salesman for the Fuller Brush company. Unfortunately, this leads him to be the witness to a murder, with the police and gangsters following
The movie I Dood It! is a musical comedy, dealing with a romance between two unlikely people – stage star Constance Connie Show (played by Eleanor Powell), and pants presser at a hotel Joe Renolds (played by Red Skelton), with lots of comedy and musical numbers in-between.
Read More »I Dood It [Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell]
Three Little Words is a long-time favorite movie of mine, for several reasons. First, I’m a large fan of the comedy of Red Skelton, and he’s given plenty of room to work his comedy, both physical and verbal. Likewise, I’m a fan of Fred Astaire, and I love to watch him dance. And he has his own very good sense of humor, that plays against Red’s very well. And thirdly, I’m a fan of well-done musicals, and Three Little Words definitely counts in that regard.
Lovely to Look At is a combination romance, musical, comedy, and fashion show — no, really. It’s the story of three Americans (Al Marsh played by Red Skelton, Tony Naylor played by Howard Keel, Jerry Ralby played by Gower Champion). They are looking for financial backers for the Broadway show they want to put on … unsuccessfully. They are out of options, when Al’s Aunt Roberta dies. She left him with partial ownership of a fashionable Paris dress shop.
Read More »Lovely to Look At, starring Red Skelton, Howard Keel