The First Traveling Saleslady

Mild comedy starring Ginger Rogers as a corset shop owner who goes broke and becomes a traveling saleslady in 1897 Texas. But because she owes money she ends up selling barbed wire. Very strange premise but a decent cast and a few good lines here and there save this one.

Rogers' modeling assistant is none other than Carol Channing, in Hollywood after her smash success on Broadway in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. And she's not bad at all. Channing does a quickie song called A Corset Can Do a Lot for a Lady and she's hilarious, altering between her trademark Channing voice and some basso sounds that sound like Bea Arthur. Too bad the direction--as usual--cuts away from her to show the man behind the desk. Musicals always did this--cut away from the performer to show the audience.

James Arness is the rancher. Barry Nelson is the car owner. David Brian is the steel man. Clint Eastwood is the cavalry man. Robert F. Simon is a henchman.

What helps sink this is the overall cheap look and bad color. Rogers would star in 2 more films and then appear only sporadically. Channing would not appear in a film for another decade but would win an Oscar nomination for it--Thoroughly Modern Millie. And this is NOT Channing's film debut as is often stated. She had appeared in Paid in Full in 1950. But this was Eastwood's first screen kiss---with Carol Channing!

After many years of making wonderful films, RKO closed its doors and was sold to Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball...becoming Delilu Studios. Sadly, its final production was "The First Traveling Saleslady"...an inconsequential piece of fluff starring Ginger Rogers. Apart from it being the studio's last film, there really isn't much to recommend it and making bland pictures like this in the 1950s led to the studio's demise.

The film is about a lady who is trying to make a go of her corset company and later a barbed wire company. And, to help make a go of it, Rose (Rogers) goes on the road to market the products. Not surprisingly for the turn of the century, she encounters hostility from many of the men in the field as well as a bit of romance. And, along for the ride is Carol Channing who is mostly annoying in the role of Rose's friend and business partner. Oddly, Channing's love interest in the film is played by Clint Eastwood...in his first credited movie.

I am pretty sure by now you realize that I was not in love with this film. Too often, I found myself bored by it and found the story uninvolving. Additionally, while Ginger Rogers could be amazingly good in films, here she seems a bit out of her element...and perhaps it was made worse by Channing who seemed out of place in so many ways. All I know is that I found myself wanting to just turn it off after a while and cut my losses. A sad finale for RKO...and perhaps my score of 4 is a bit charitable.

By the way, this film was parodied on "Green Acres" in the episode entitled "The Old Trunk".

This film is an interesting time capsule. It was made in the late 1950s, and it shows some stars who are on their way up, and one who is on her way out. An unfair thing to say to Ginger Rogers, but this is not one of the films (like KITTY FOYLE, her movies with Fred Astaire, THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, or ROXY HART) that people remember her for. Ginger would still be making films until 1965, her last one an Italian comedy with Ray Milland, but they were all lesser efforts - although she did deliver good performances.

But three (no, make it four) of the stars actually were on their way up - or seemed to be. They are Clint Eastwood, Carol Channing, James Arness, and Barry Nelson. It was the sixth or seventh movie Eastwood had appeared in, and (I believe) the first one where he 1) had substantial dialog to give his film persona a real character, and 2) he was one of the male leads and was paired with the second female lead whom he romances, kisses, and marries. This is Ms Channing, playing "Molly", Rogers closest friend and partner in the saleslady business. Channing's character actually has better lines (at times) than Rogers did - funnier ones too. She is no budding feminist, but a rationalist (when she and Rogers are threatened for selling barbed wire in cattleman country, she suggests - reasonably - that they leave). It might strike a modern film lover as incongruous that Eastwood and Channing go off together at the end of this film, but in reality it's not so odd. Channing was always a greater Broadway star than Hollywood star (her best screen role would be in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, where she was Mary Tyler Moore's eccentric aunt who trounces Bea Lillie). She did not make more than a dozen or so films in her career. She is not more than five or six years older than Eastwood, and their pairing together is not so unlikely as it seems (the pairing of Nelson and Rogers is more unlikely). She too landed this role because her career (like Eastwood's) was on the rise - she just having won Broadway laurels in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES as "Loralie Lee". Ironically, that performance was not captured by her on film, but Marilyn Monroe performed it. Also ironic is her pairing as Rogers' friend, as one of Channing's later hit performances was as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the original HELLO DOLLY, and she was replaced in it by Rogers.

James Arness had been in films since the late 1940s, appearing in several John Ford films like WAGON MASTER, John Wayne films like ISLAND IN THE SKY as well as THEM and some other science fiction movies. But in 1956, the U.S. public was getting used to Arness in the television western hit GUNSMOKE (as Marshall Matt Dillon). That role of a lifetime (literally) made his name and career - he was on the way to super stardom. So his performance as Joel Kingdom, ostensibly the villain of the film, is balanced by his sense of humor and his interest in possibly marrying Rogers.

The fourth figure was Barry Nelson. Nelson is an interesting person. He was a capable performer, and he did have one real good comic lead part in MARY, MARY. But while respected in the industry, Nelson never made it with the public. He was good looking but not striking (Arness has a more rugged handsome appearance, which stood him well in GUNSMOKE and other western roles).

Upon some reconsideration one can add a fifth figure - David Brian. A good looking man, who always looked like he had just left a hefty Board Room conference with fellow company directors, he gave some excellent performances in his career as good guy (he ends up with Joan Crawford in FLAMINGO ROAD) or bad guy. But like Nelson, while he was always employable he never caught on with the public. Here, he too is interested in Rogers. He reluctantly agrees to her selling the barbed wire in Texas, but he does so because when she fails he plans to marry her. All this does in the end is lead to him and Arness having a fistfight, but both discovering that Nelson has outmaneuvered them with another sigh of progress - Nelson's horseless carriage.

It is a sweet little film, but no more than that. My favorite moment comes in the hotel sequences. Rogers and Channing trick Arness into giving up his use of the PRINCE OF WALES suite in a cattle town hotel. They are looking forward, after dinner, to sleeping in this fancy room. They find a bald, bearded fat man snoring in the bed. It turns out it is Prince Albert Edward (the future King Edward VII) who has come to town after all, and has a running right to the use of the room.

Back at the turn of the last century Ginger Rogers and Carol Channing strike a blow for women's equality by stepping into a man's profession. They become traveling salesladies.

Now that's not a profession truly open to women. If you remember The Music Man and that famous scene of all the salesmen talking to the rhythm of the train wheels or Elmer Gantry where Burt Lancaster hung out in all kinds of disreputable places before he started selling religion it is clear that this is a male preserve.

But if you sell things like corsets back in the days when women really wore them I guess it could be tolerated. But Rogers and Channing in The First Traveling Saleslady take on a real challenge. They're going to sell barbed wire in Texas. Rancher James Arness is going to stop them selling the wire David Brian's company makes. Both of them would like to make Rogers though. But a funny thing, Barry Nelson in that new horseless carriage contraption keeps showing up just when Rogers and Channing need help.

As for Channing she's got an admirer in newly returned Rough Rider Clint Eastwood in one of his early screen roles. As for Channing she never quite made it on the big screen so this is a rare opportunity to see a unique performer. Pity she never did do one of her noted stage roles for movies.

A pity a lot of talent gets wasted here in The First Traveling Saleslady. It's not a really bad film, but it is a mediocre one.

In this day and age of R rated movies with blood and sex and violence, isn't it nice to have a little foolishness and fun in beautiful color. Enjoyed the costuming. Loved seeing Clint Eastwood in his youth. Loved seeing Carol Channing as well. James Arness before Gunsmoke was fun. It was just a fun movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon.The movies with Doris Day, Ginger Rogers, and others at the time brought relaxation and escape. Reality movies like we see today are too real. Our lives are real enough.To go back to a time that was relaxing, funny, and not real is a good break. Nothing wrong with reality movies, but movies like this are a chance to take a breath, smile and enjoy with the whole family.