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The Ladies Man (1961)
In co-writer/director Jerry Lewis' anarchic, absurdist
and entertaining comedy - his second directorial effort, and known
for Lewis' famous quote - "Hey, lady!":
- the creative opening title credits sequence -- the
turning pages of LOOK Magazine
- the spastic, baby-talking, infantile and neebish character
of Milltown (NJ) Junior College student Herbert H. (Herbert) Heebert
(a reference to the character in Kubrick's Lolita
(1962) from Nabokov's recently-published 1955 novel), who
had just graduated; he was surprised when he saw his childhood sweetheart
Faith (Shary Layne) at a red bus-stop bench - she was kissing a letterman
jock; he fell down and grabbed his chest, and then commiserated with
his parents, including his sobbing mother Marna (also Lewis); he
adopted a female-hating attitude, and vowed to leave town: ("My
life is shattered! The girl I waited for all my life didn't wait
for me. I'm goin' away from here - from her and from girls. I hate
girls. I'm gonna be a bachelor and be alone all my life")
- the scene of Herbert sitting on a red Hollywood (CA)
park bench in an ill-fitting gray suit and white saddle-shoes, when
a jerky camera zoom zeroed in on a 'For Hire' sign reading: "YOUNG
BACHELOR WANTED: INQUIRE WITHIN" - it led the socially-broken
Herbert, unbeknownst to him, to an all-girls' boarding house for
30 shapely, aspiring and striving actresses - from his POV at the
front door, he scanned the figure (from her feet to her face) of
the talkative housekeeper and matronly cook Katie (Kathleen Freeman)
who answered the door; he jumped into her arms: ("I'm safe")
and was subsequently hired as the handyman after an interview in
which he recounted his traumatic experience with his fiancee
- the next morning, there was an extended series of
gliding crane-shot views - of the surreal, visually-colorful world
in the interior of the four-story split-level home with multiple
rooms (open-walled in the front - it was a full-scale 'doll house'
set with only a palette of comic-strip colors) - the visually-inventive
camera tracked from room-to-room, inhabited by females engaged in
various morning activities and pursuits (a sole student practicing
the trombone, others rising from bed, preening, hair-brushing and
applying make-up and hair-spray, harp-playing, record-sorting, exercising,
taking a bath, dressing, pulling on stockings, and descending the
various floors to the ground floor in a parade to assemble for breakfast
in the dining room)
The 4-Story Split Level Boarding House
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- the scene of Herbert sleeping with his butt in the
air because of his collapsed bunk bed; after being awakened by
his alarm clock, he headed downstairs, and thinking that he was
alone; he stumbled into the breakfast room - where he suddenly
found himself in the presence of the thirty staring females; retired,
former opera diva Miss Helen M. Wellenmellon (Helen Traubel), the
matronly owner of the boarding house, rose and announced his presence
in song: "Good morrrrrrrrrrrr-ning!!!"
- and the females repeated the melodious greeting, adding his name;
Miss Wellenmellon asked: "Herbert, don't just stand there. Haven't
you anything to say?" - he grimaced and shouted out: "Ma!" -
and fled for the stairs, where he literally 'split' into four Herberts
that frantically ran up to his room
- afterwards, Herbert was retrieved from his room by
Miss Wellenmellon and persuaded to stay for the time being, and as
he descended the stairs with her, amidst the flow of females, he
spoke of being overwhelmed by the femininity in the house, and how
he was stunned by gender anxiety and panic: ("I never saw so
many girls. There's a whole bunch of 'em")
- the sequence of Herbert being spoon-fed breakfast
by Katie, while he was sitting in a high-chair
- the gag of Herbert opening a glass-framed butterfly
collection - and the five butterflies fluttered away; he whistled
and they returned to their places
- the hilarious sequences with two houseguests - the
incompetent Herbert caused tough guy Willard C. Gainsborough (Buddy
Lester) to do a slow-burn after sitting on his hat; the second houseguest
was George Raft (a cameo parody of his own gangster character), another
of the boarders' dates; to prove his identity, Raft flipped a coin,
but missed, and he complained to Herbert: ("Whatsa matter, wise
guy? Anybody can miss. I'm not infallible...Look, I'm George Raft.
Please believe me. Aside from playin' robbers on the screen, I used
to do a lot of dancing in my pictures, right?...All right, then,
give me your hand. You be the girl...Please dance with me, would
you?"); Herbert and Raft danced together, in a following spotlight
after the lights dimmed
Herbert and Two Houseguests
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Tough Guy Willard C. Gainsborough
(Buddy Lester)
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George Raft Dropping Flipped Coin
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Herbert and George Raft Ballroom Dancing in Spotlight
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- the sequence of Herbert's heart-to-heart talk with
sad-faced and depressed Fay (Pat Stanley), who had just failed
an audition: Fay: "I always feel that there isn't anyone in
the world but me. Everyone else has gone to a happier place, and
it just isn't my turn yet"
- he sympathized with her sadness: "As long as there are those
that care for you, you shouldn't feel that way...Well, I care for
you, Fay, and I'm an 'anyone'"
- the chaotic TV interview show - UP YOUR STREET (a
spoof of Edward R. Murrow's TV interview show 'Person to Person'),
when Miss Wellenmellon was interviewed by Westbrook Van Voorhis (as
Himself) in the living room of the boarding house - in preparation,
it was filled with lots of heavy equipment, lighting, wires, and
KTLA-TV cameras; when Herbert was asked to help with a sound check
involving the boom microphone, he yelled "GERONIMO!" and
nearly deafened the sound technician, and propelled him into the
sofa (under the cushions); the technician got even by putting the
headphones on Herbert and yelling: "I'm OK!", causing him
to pass out; during the actual interview, there were constant interruptions,
disasters and problems involving Herbert who continually showed up
in front of the camera
- the scene of Herbert's entrance into the Forbidden
Room, where in an all-white set, he encountered a slinky, long-legged,
black-clad, bat-lady femme fatale named Sylvia (Sylvia Lewis),
aka Ms. Cartilage, who was hanging upside-down - she was lowered
by her black whip-rope and then danced with Herbert, to the sounds
of the Harry James band (dressed in white tuxedoes) on her outside
bedroom terrace; when the dance finished, the band vanished - and
Herbert wondered if he was dreaming
- the concluding scene - the defense of Herbert by a
tearful Fay in the dining room, professing that he was 'smart', nice,
and helpful, in front of the other self-centered females, who only
considered him as a useful errand go-to boy that could be fooled
into remaining as their servant:
"Are you all finished? Does anyone need Herbert for anything else?
I wonder if any of you have ever really needed Herbert, just to sit
down and talk to. Well, I did. He's really very smart, and very nice,
too. He'd make a wonderful guy for some girl, if she really needed
him. I think we should all be very ashamed of having deceived him.
I'll admit it's nice to be needed, really needed, but to tell somebody
you need them just so they'll stay around and run errands for you,
that's not so nice"; she claimed that they should let Herbert
go and do something for himself if he wanted to: ("Maybe he's
tired of being a handyman for a bunch of girls. Let him go if he wants
to"); with a suitcase in his hand, Herbert raced into the dining
room and announced his imminent departure for good: ("I'm goin',
when the door slams, my life is out of yours...there's no stopping
me now") - but was shocked that no one responded or begged him
to stay; Fay finally spoke up for everyone: "Herbert, we really
want you to stay. We'd be the happiest girls in the world if you'd
never leave. We didn't want to tell you we needed you just to keep
you here. Actually, we need you very much, but not just doing errands
for us. We need you because you're a nice person, and nice persons
are needed everywhere! We just figured that you were tired of working
with a bunch of girls, and maybe you'd like to go someplace else, where
you can think of yourself more"; Herbert responded: "Well,
that's all very nice what you said, and, uh, and, to tell you the truth
and be very honest with ya, I don't really know why I was leaving.
I mean, I like it here very much, and I like everybody a lot. And I
like to be needed. But honestly needed. And well, after what you just
said, I wouldn't leave here for anything or anyone"; she hugged
him: "Oh!, Herbert!"; he corrected her: "It's Herby,
H-E-R-B-Y, Herby. Yeah!"
- in the curtain closing seconds, there was a loud roar,
and female screams as the dining room was cleared, leaving Herbert
standing there alone - he tried to be calm and reassuring:
"It's just Baby....Baby, where are you, sweetheart? Baby, sweetheart?
Little Baby" [Note: Earlier in the film, Baby was seen to be a
small beagle with a huge collar and chain]; suddenly, a full-sized
male lion strolled by him; Herbert walked toward the camera and in
close-up with his mouth wide-open, yelled out: "Ma! Ma! Did you
see that pussycat?"
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Little Baby
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Baby
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"Ma! Ma!"
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Opening Title Credits Sequence
Herbert's Shock at Bus-Stop
Herbert's Mother
Herbert on Park Bench Looking for Work
At Boarding House in Arms of Housekeeper ("I'm safe")
Herbert Awakening
Thirty Females in House
Miss Helen M. Wellenmellon
(Helen Traubel)
An Overwhelmed Herbert with Miss Wellenmellon
Herbert Being Spoon-Fed in High Chair
With Butterfly Case
Herbert's Sympathizing With Fay
TV Show Prep: "GERONIMO"
Interview Scene
Bat Lady Lowered Upside Down
Dream Sequence: Herbert With Bat Lady Sylvia (aka Ms. Cartilage)
Fay's Defense of Herbert in Dining Room
Herbert - Packed and Ready to Leave
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