Artists and Models (1955)
(See below review of “Artists and Models,” 1937)
This satirical musical comedy, directed by Frank Tashlin in VistaVision, was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ 14th feature together and their most popular project.
Grade: B+ (**** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Production values are high, especially the costumes designed by Edith Head.
Tashlin, then best known for the Looney Tunes, also helmed the team’s last film, Hollywood or Bust, and later collaborated on half a dozen pictures in which Lewis starred solo.
The tale revolves around the concept of the Odd Couple: A struggling Greenwich Village artist and his goofy roommate unwittingly get involved in a spy intrigue.
After Rick Todd gets a job drawing for a gory science fiction comic book, he desperately needs story ideas. For help, he turns to his roommate, Eugene Fullstack, a fan of lurid comics who keeps having wildly imaginative nightmares as a result of what he reads.
Rick starts stealing the plot lines from Eugene’s dreams to use in his work, but the two of them get into trouble because the stories somehow contain real national security secrets. As a result, they are pursued by both U.S. agents and spies, with typically funny, chaotic results.
Artists and Models marked the first time Lewis worked with director Tashlin, whom he admired greatly. Martin and Lewis would reunite with him on their last film, Hollywood or Bust, and Lewis would then work with Tashlin on six of his solo films.
Producer Hal B. Wallis chose Tashlin based on his background as cartoonist– the film contains many gags influenced by the director’s animation work.
When MacLaine kisses Lewis in front of a water cooler, the water steams up; in another scene, a massage therapist bends Lewis’s leg all the way towards his head.
Artists and Models is a milestone in movie satire for its mockery of 1950s pop culture. One scene satirizes the Kefauver hearings on violent comic books, Other targets include the Cold War, the space race and the publishing business.
In the final number, Rick and Eugene are painting on the backs of chorus girls, a nod to the Japanese hit film Ugetsu, which opened in the U.S. six months earlier.
Censorship Issues
Tashlin brought sexual innuendo to Artists and Models, making it more adult in content than previous Martin and Lewis movies, showing his fascination with female characters in revealing costumes.
Some of his suggestive ideas were banned by the Production Code; in Tashlin’s original script, Lewis’s character was named “Fullstick,” but the censors demanded to remove this phallic joke. The censors also asked Paramount to cut a scene where Dorothy Malone is seen wearing only a towel, but the studio did not remove it.
The finished film contains jokes that push the boundaries of what was acceptable in the 1950s, including references to women’s breasts and some double entendres.
Longtime Martin and Lewis writer Herbert Baker worked on the script, which had the original title Rock-A-Bye Baby; the title later being used for a 1958 Jerry Lewis film.
Songs, composed Harry Warren and Jack Brooks, included “When You Pretend”, “You Look So Familiar”, “Innamorata (Sweetheart),” “The Lucky Song,” and “Artists and Models.”
A sixth number, sung by MacLaine during the party, entitled “The Bat Lady,” was cut from the final edit.
MacLaine did not make another film with Lewis, but she would appear in six more films with Martin, the best of which is Some Came Running, and includes Ocean’s Eleven, Career, All in a Night’s Work, What a Way to Go! and Cannonball Run II.
The part of Abby was originally offered to Lizabeth Scott, who had played opposite the team in Scared Stiff. When she turned the part down, Martin asked for Dorothy Malone, his other love interest from Scared Stiff.
The cast is filled with cameos by Martin and Lewis regulars.
Eddie Mayehoff made his debut in That’s My Boy and co-starred in The Stooge.
Kathleen Freeman also appeared in 3 Ring Circus, along with a number of Lewis’ solo films.
Jack Elam was in the team’s second-to-last picture, Pardners.
Anita Ekberg would appear in Martin and Lewis’ final film, Hollywood or Bust.
Commercial Appeal
A commercial hiot in the U.S., the movie was a blockbuster in France, where Jerry Lewis was considered a legendary comic genius long before he got serious attention from American critics.
Credits:
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Screenplay by Tashlin, Hal Kanter, Herbert Baker, Don McGuire
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by Warren Low
Music by Walter Scharf
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date: Nov 7, 1955 (US)
Running time 102 minutes
Box office $3.8 million
1,031,433 admissions (France)
Artists and Models (1937)
In this musical comedy, directed by the versatile and prolific helmer Raoul Walsh, Jack Benny, in one of his first starring roles, plays Mac Brewster, an advertising executive who tries to land a silverware account, and then hold on to it as his biggest client.
The artists of the title include the gifted comedian-cartoonists Peter Arno and Rube Goldberg.
The silver company is run by Alan Townshend (Richard Arlen), who employs in the office Paula Sewell (Ida Lupino), a woman longing to compete in the Artists and Models Ball and win the title of Queen.
Poor Paula: professional models are frowned upon at the Ball, and all entrants must be debutantes. Among them is the snooty Cynthia Wentworth (Gail Patrick), who looks to be a shoo-in to win. But Paula has a plan of how to win the desirable crown—and more.
Among the highlights is a scene in which the brilliant jazz musician Louis Armstrong performs a tune with Martha Raye.
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Nominations: 1
Song; Whispers in the Dark, music by Frederick Hollander; lyrics by Leo Robin
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The Best Song Oscar went to Harry Owens’ “Sweet Leilani” from Waikiki Wedding.
