Meet Me at the Fair

No grand Sirkian themes, no big production values, in fact Universal appears to have spent a pittance on this amiable nostalgia trip. But it's kind of delightful, a "Music Man"-esque.journey of a 1904 con man, Dan Dailey very much in his element, and his attempts to break open a corrupt orphans' home while rescuing an orphan boy (Chet Allen, of the sappy boy soprano) and discovering true love in the form of reformer Diana Lynn, who doesn't know her politician beau, a mustachioed Hugh O'Brian not looking much like Hugh O'Brian, is behind all the graft. It takes its time, supporting cast is unstarry (best: Scatman Crothers as Dailey's sidekick, and Carole Matthews as an old flame), and the songbook is strictly public domain. But as these 1950s nostalgia wallows go, it has ample charm, and it does make one wonder why Dailey never quite reached the top ranks.

Despite being one of Dan Dailey's lesser known films, I also think "Meet Me at the Fair" is one of his better films for this song and dance man. It features much better music than normal, a sweet story and a nice supporting cast. I consider it a must-see for Dailey fans.

'Doc' Tilby (Dailey) and Enoch (Scatman Crothers) travel the country putting on shows in order to sell their patent medicine. One wet day, they see a runaway orphan and invite him to travel with them to the next town. As for the boy, he's run away from the local orphan asylum, as the place is a dump and all the money tax payers paid to improve the place has just 'disappeared'...thanks to the crook politicians responsible for the place. So, Doc cannot bring himself to send the boy back and soon the local political bosses are running about trying to find the kid because an election is coming up and they don't want word of their malfeasance to surface. But Doc is determined to help the boy...even if he seems powerless against this political machine.

As I mentioned above, the story is excellent and instead of the musical numbers being a distraction (as they often were during this era and in many of Dailey's other films), here they are just fun and well worth your time.

The second part of Sirk's "Americana" trilogy after "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" and before "Take Me To Town". Like its predecessor, there is a strong critical streak; this time its of political corruption, but the film is imbued with tremendous affection for its characters delightfully played by Dan Dailey, Scatman Crothers and child actor Chet Allen.

The musical numbers are decidedly second rate and add little to the film as a whole. Nothing in this modest, very light weight film portends the great melodramas that Sirk would make a few years on.

Its very easy and pleasant viewing but only of real interest to Sirk enthusiasts.

The second of the three musicals by Douglas Sirk ,sandwiched between " has anybody seen my girl?" and " take me to town "; this one resumes the subject of his last European movie "Boefje" for it focuses on the fate of a young boy ;in the 1939 movie, the boy (played by a woman at 45!) had a family ,but poverty led him to theft till a minister takes him under his wing.

Doc and Enoch do the same for Tad in the 1953 effort,but the treatment is lighter ,tongue -in-cheek , and enlivened by infectious songs , from the cowboy trad "Oh Susannah " to Gounod's "Ave Maria " to the title track and the irresistible "I was there" .

Dan Dailey ,Scatman Crothers et Chet Allen make an endearing threesome ; Doc has the gift of the gab and the blarney he uses to sell his potion supposed to prolong your life makes his stuff sell like hot cakes. In the prim well-to-do society ,they are outcasts , and the boy , escaped from a Detention Home , considers them his foster fathers;Doc has this sublime line : "how can one couple "detention" and "home"?".Chilton Corr (Hugh O' Brian ,cast against type)represents the establishment and he goes as far as to fool his fiancée (Diana Lynn) to "capture" the boy and to assure the elections.

But even that is not really treated in a spectacular way , and doc's counterattack is immediate and unexpected .

Compared to Sirk's masterful melodramas ,it's a minor work , but in those works,the characters are prisoners of social conventions, "(grown-up) children act as moral status-preserver forces which keep the adults in the cages which society has prepared for them" (Sirk himself talking about "all that heaven allows" and " there's always tomorrow")

In "meet me at the fair " ,on the contrary ,there's freedom in the air ; not only Doc and Enoch do not play the society's game, but the former also opens a make believe world ,in which he single-handedly fights the Indians and helps preserve the Victorian British empire : par excellence the surrogate father any child dreams of.

A lovely, modest turn-of-the-century musical featuring Dan Dailey as one of those medicine show con men that seemed to be everywhere in the cinematic wild west, with Scatman Crothers as his pal, Chet Allen as the little boy he "adopts". Douglas Sirk directs this films with a real feel for the period, and seems literally to be taking his cues on how to direct this film from Dan Dailey's acting style. Dailey was a conundrum. He never made the top cut of musical stars, yet he could sing and dance with the best of them, and was a better actor than most. There was a cynicism to everything he did that made him perfect for con man and shifty character roles, yet he never found the right one that would enable him to break through, especially in his post-musical career. Here he is in very much in his element, as he plays the character of Doc Tilbee as both a scamp and a decent guy. That the little boy idolizes him and regards him as a larger than life hero, taking Doc's tall tales for the real thing, gives a poignancy to the story. Since Doc is himself somewhat of a child, he understands the boy instinctively, and this helps him grow up a little, too.

There are some nice songs along the way, and real heartbreak as well, and both complement the story rather than detract from it, and so the movie is all of a piece. This is a perfect film for a lazy summer afternoon or evening. It brings back sweet memories of childhood, and when it's over it's hard to believe that the story maybe didn't happen to you, that it's part of your life, and that you just happened to have forgotten about it. There aren't too many movies you can this this about. The Wizard Of Oz comes to mind. Meet Me At the Fair is in its way almost as memorable.