Artists and Models (1955)

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writers:

Herbert Baker (writer)
Michael Davidson (story)
(more)

Release Date:

7 November 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Rick Todd uses the dreams of his roommate Eugene as the basis fir a successful comic book.

Plot Keywords:

Comic Book | Dream | Artist | Roommate | Nightmare

Cast

Dean Martin	...	Rick Todd
Jerry Lewis	...	Eugene Fullstack
Shirley MacLaine	...	Bessie Sparrowbrush
Dorothy Malone	...	Abigail 'Abby' Parker
Eddie Mayehoff	...	Mr. Murdock
Eva Gabor	...	Sonia / Mrs. Curtis
Anita Ekberg	...	Anita
George Winslow	...	Richard Stilton (as George 'Foghorn' Winslow')
Jack Elam	...	Ivan
Herbert Rudley	...	Secret Service Chief Samuels
Richard Shannon	...	Secret Service Agent Rogers
Richard Webb	...	Secret Service Agent Peters
Alan Lee	...	Otto
Otto Waldis	...	Kurt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nancy Abbate	...	Little Girl (uncredited)
Rosemarie Ace	...	(uncredited)
Gertrude Astor	...	(uncredited)
Babette Bain	...	Little Girl (uncredited)
Sharon Baird	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Art Baker	...	Himself - TV Commentator (uncredited)
Margaret Barstow	...	Murdock's Eating Blonde Daughter (uncredited)
Marcella Becker	...	(uncredited)
Sara Berner	...	Mrs. John Stilton (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks	...	Headwaiter at Fashion Show (uncredited)
Dolores Brown	...	(uncredited)
Susan Brown	...	(uncredited)
Sue Carlton	...	Office Clerk (uncredited)
Frank Carter	...	Stage Manager (uncredited)
Nick Castle	...	Specialty dancer (uncredited)
Evelyn Ceder	...	(uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Police officer (uncredited)
Don Corey	...	Man Behind Telescope (uncredited)
Diana Deane	...	(uncredited)
Julie Dorsey	...	(uncredited)
Ralph Dumke	...	Mr. Trimm (Kelly's associate) (uncredited)
Minta Durfee	...	(uncredited)
Mortie Dutra	...	Major General's Aide (uncredited)
Heidi Duval	...	(uncredited)
Charles Evans	...	Gen. Traynor (uncredited)
Shirley Falls	...	(uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Man on TV Panel Show (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Stork Club Extra (uncredited)
Kathleen Freeman	...	Mrs. Muldoon (landlady) (uncredited)
Esther Furst	...	(uncredited)
Steven Geray	...	Kurt's associate (uncredited)
Dorothy Gordon	...	Girl (uncredited)
Valeri Gratton	...	(uncredited)
Dale Hartleben	...	Vulture Boy (uncredited)
Heather Hopper	...	(uncredited)
Marjorie Jackson	...	(uncredited)
Frank Jenks	...	Piano Mover (uncredited)
Joan Kelly	...	(uncredited)
Charlotte Lander	...	(uncredited)
Frances Lansing	...	Cigarette Girl (uncredited)
Mickey Little	...	Vulture Boy (uncredited)
Mara Lynn	...	(uncredited)
Rudy Makoul	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Jack Mattis	...	(uncredited)
Ann McCrea	...	Janet (uncredited)
Eve Meyer	...	Model (uncredited)
Eve Miller	...	(uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Extra at Fashion Show (uncredited)
Jeanette Miller	...	Girl (uncredited)
Evelyn Moriarty	...	(uncredited)
Patricia Morrow	...	Zuba Girl (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Mr. Kelly (uncredited)
Georgia Pelham	...	(uncredited)
Joan Petrone	...	Model (uncredited)
Max Power	...	Taxicab Driver (uncredited)
Michael Ross	...	Piano Mover (uncredited)
Patti Ross	...	Masseuse (uncredited)
Edith Russell	...	(uncredited)
Edna Ryan	...	(uncredited)
Audrey Saunders	...	(uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	The Bartender (uncredited)
Rita Stetson	...	(uncredited)
Tommy Summers	...	Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Larri Thomas	...	Masseuse (uncredited)
Glen Walters	...	Masseuse (uncredited)
Martha Wentworth	...	Fat Lady (uncredited)
Carleton Young	...	Col. Drury (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Tashlin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Herbert Baker		writer
Michael Davidson		story "Rock-A-Bye Baby"
Hal Kanter		writer
Norman Lessing		story "Rock-A-Bye Baby"
Don McGuire		writer
Frank Tashlin		writer

Produced by
Paul Nathan	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	producer

Cinematography by
Daniel L. Fapp

Art Direction by
Tambi Larsen
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Sam Comer
Arthur Krams

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Caffey	....	second assistant director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (as C.C. Coleman Jr.)
James Engle	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Gene Garvin	....	sound recordist
Hugo Grenzbach	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects

Editorial Department
Warren Low	....	editorial supervisor

Music Department
Norman Luboff	....	music arranger: vocals
Charles O'Curran	....	musical numbers creator and stager
Walter Scharf	....	conductor
Walter Scharf	....	music arranger

Other crew
Rudy Makoul	....	dialogue coach
Richard Mueller	....	technicolor color consultant

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1974) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Paramount Home Video (1991) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Unrated | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The song "Innamorata", written for this film, went on to be a major record hit for Dean Martin and several other singers.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rick is painting the lips on the billboard, he looks down to answer his boss, and when he looks back the lips are fully painted.

Quotes:

Rick Todd: Well, what's the rush? I never met a lady cartoonist before.
Abigail 'Abby' Parker: [Sarcastically] All lady cartoonists are extremely grateful.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Colgate Comedy Hour: (#6.11)" (1955)

Soundtrack:

The Lucky Song

Very funny, if you can stand Jerry Lewis

I had never seen a Jerry Lewis vehicle before this one (not counting Scorsese's King of Comedy), and I was annoyed as hell for the first fifteen minutes. I even considered walking out, that's how irate I was getting at Lewis' mugging. But then there was a scene in which he was hilarious, so I hung onto it a bit. And it got funnier and funnier. Jerry Lewis isn't getting a clean bill of health from me; he still annoyed me once in a while. But in at least an equal amount of scenes, and probably a bit more, he was very funny. He and Dean Martin play "roommates" who met each other way back when they were Boy Scouts, sleep in separate twin beds in the same room, take baths with the door open, and at one point talk about getting a divorce. At one point the semi-retarded Lewis (and he admits as much himself) says to Martin: "I can't keep my dickie down, Ricky." Um, he's putting on a tuxedo I think. Similarly, Dorothy Malone lives in the apartment directly above them, unmarried with thick, black glasses and earning a good living on her own. She spends her time dressing the barely adult Shirley MacLaine, who has a cute little butch cut, up as the Bat Lady. The homosexual content seems to me almost too obvious to be meant. It's usually much subtler in Hollywood movies of the era. Then again, it's impossible to miss it, even you're a 1950s housewife. Eventually, the two gay couples meet and change partners, Martin getting Malone and Lewis MacLaine. MacLaine, in her second (or maybe third) role, is probably the film's standout, but Eddie Mayehoff, playing a comic book publisher who wants ever more violent comic books to sell, lands the highest percentage of the laughs. Eva Gabor has a decent part as a Soviet spy (a Cold War plotline appears out of thin air in the latter half of the film), and Anita Ekberg, later to co-star in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, also has a tiny role as a model. The non-Lewis related comedy is frivolous but excellent. The film also contains several great musical numbers. Dean Martin at one point starts dancing with a little girl on the street in a scene stolen from An American in Paris. The girl, though, is an excellent back-up singer and the song itself - I believe it's called "The Lucky Song" - is quite entertaining. 8/10.