The Fuller Brush Girl

Once and a while you're lucky enough to see a film for the very first time that you never heard of before that you simply end up loving. Such is "The Fuller Brush Girl". Costarring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, this is one very funny film. It was written by the late/great Frank Tashlin and plays out like a live action cartoon. And no wonder. Tashlin is one of the all-time greats in the field of animated cartoons. While not as prolific as Tex Avery, his cartoons are among some of the best ever made. It was once said that Frank Tashlin directed cartoons like films and made films like cartoons. "The Fuller Brush Girl" is a perfect example. While directed by Lloyd Bacon, the real soul of the movie is Tashlin, who basically comes up with inventive gag after great inventive gag. And all of them are worked out in live action to perfection. Tex Avery once said that it was funnier if something was done in live action. And he was right! Had this been an actual cartoon, it wouldn't have been as satisfying. Ball is her usual hilarious self and Albert is at his best here as her fiancé'. So if you think you've seen every 1940s-50s comedy worth seeing and have yet to see "The Fuller Brush Girl" , then you really have something to look forward to! As they say, don't miss it! Enjoy!

This was one of Lucille Ball's last theatrical films prior to the debut of "I Love Lucy", and from the looks of things it was the final primer for her role as Lucy Ricardo. "The Fuller Brush Girl" was filmed in 1950 as a sequel to the very popular "The Fuller Brush Man", which starred Lucille's male counterpart, Red Skelton.

It's the story of a young couple, Sally and Humphrey, who want to get married, buy a house and live happily ever after. But just as they are able to place a down payment on their dream house, Sally causes an electrical fire at the shipping company where she and Humphrey work and loses her job. Undaunted Sally decides to try her hand at door-to-door sales as a Fuller Brush Girl (she actually sells cosmetics, not brushes). Meanwhile back at the shipping company Humphrey is promoted to shipping manager, only he doesn't realize that he is being set-up as the fall guy by a smuggling ring. Through a hilarious set of circumstances the bumbling Fuller Brush Girl and the smuggling ring get mixed-up with each other and all hell breaks loose. In the ensuing tangle, there is murder, talking parrots, police chases, a very funny striptease and some of the funniest sight-gags ever put on film.

The cast includes a very young Eddie Albert as Humphrey, Jeff Donnell as Sally's best friend and a who's Who cast of character actors.

If you are looking for a movie with Lucille Ball at her comical best, this is the one.

As a trivia note, the musical number in the film "Put The Blame On Mame" is the same recording used to dub Rita Hayworth's voice in the film "Gilda".

Ah, this is fun. I've heard that in this movie, Ms. Ball was the closest to her future TV hit persona. It still was not "Lucy unleashed" as we later experienced on TV, but the action is unleashed. They may just have unrolled some new hijinks in this movie. Haven't seen the likes of some of it. The action got so rough at times that I understand Ms. Ball sustained several injuries, with ongoing effects. That tells me she did her own stuff. It was pret-ty wild ... She did a comedy with a young William Holden, "Miss Grant Takes Richmond," before this. But it was this Fuller Brush Girl movie that was used in discussions with CBS for her own TV show, to demonstrate that she could do comedy.

I didn't see Ms. Ball's early films until several years ago, and found it a novelty seeing her in them. She was mostly in drama, only doing comedy toward the end of her early film career, and there were only a few. It was very interesting to see her in high fashion 40's clothes and hair. She was very glamorous in most of them, often a show girl, then a sophisticated, haughty type. The personality was so different - nothing like her upcoming "Lucy." She was called the "Queen of B pictures," which could be said about some others also. She did a lot of bit and small parts before moving into leads. One of the weightier ones was "Lured" with George Sanders and Cedric Hardwicke. She also co-starred with a young Henry Fonda in "The Big Street." They dated for a while. He thought she was gorgeous, and she is - a very attractive woman. It was when she started doing the comedies that she knew she had found her niche, and the Ricardos started working on the idea of a TV show.

Hers is a hard work, good luck story with a happy ending. After toiling in the trenches for so many years, she came out way on top with her own show, which was a solid success for decades. As everyone knows, her reruns are still in demand. She's a legend. What if she had quit or been unwilling to strike out into the new media (at that time)? She went on to do other films, such as "Mame" with Robert Preston. Hey, I think she broke out of B movies!! Don't cry for Lucy. She came into her dream. Can't put her down either. She just kept popping up and up and up.

I think most comedy fans will enjoy this movie. It has the wonderful Eddie Albert, who definitely plays second fiddle to Lucy, but with vigor. Ha! Try it; I think you'll like it.

The one and only big screen teaming of Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert finds them as a pair of newlyweds wondering how they're going to make the payments on their dream house. Then Lucy gets the bright idea of getting a job as a Fuller Brush Girl. Just to show how good she is, she even takes her friend Jeff Donnell's sales route.

What I'm describing is typical Lucy Ricardo behavior and it brings typical Luc Ricardo results, all kinds of complications for everyone around her and much laughs for an audience.

The Fuller Brush Girl is like a dress rehearsal for I Love Lucy, she gets to try out some material that would become familiar on the small screen very shortly. From the beginning where she blows up a telephone switchboard to a drunk act straight from the classic Vitametavegimen routine, the film pulls out all the stops.

One thing that was different is that Eddie Albert being a different type than Desi Arnaz is far more passive and far more a victim in this film than Desi ever was.

Would you believe that poor Lucy who's just trying to make a little extra money winds up being accused of the murders of Albert's boss Jerome Cowan and his wife Lee Patrick? Frank Tashlin's script glides right into that with no effort. The twenty minute or so final chase scene on a freighter is a scream from start to finish.

Special mention should go to Mel Blanc who provided the voices for a pair of South American parrots who help as well as hinder Albert and Ball and provide a wonderful commentary on the proceedings. The Fuller Brush Girl is a must for fans of Lucy.

I'm a big I Love Lucy fan, don't get me wrong. But the slightly younger, slightly prettier, slightly more energetic Lucille Ball of the Fuller Brush Girl may actually have been Lucy at an even higher peak.

In fairness, some of her fence-climbing, bad-guy-fighting, and hurdle-leaping abilities in this film were probably those of a stunt double, which I don't believe she had on the TV show. But she's really engaged, perky, and comes alive in this film in a big way, unlike some of her post-I Love Lucy films, where she appears to be in some kind of a trance.

The scene where she is pushed out onto a burlesque stage, and forced to dance like a stripper, is one of the most hysterically funny Lucy moments I've ever seen, on TV or film.

She is ably supported by Eddie Albert as her lovable but slightly dimwitted husband, and a very capable cast. The plot is not only a comedy, but is also a murder mystery with surprise twists and turns, with as much credibility as a lot of other murder mystery films I've seen. And for fans of The Fuller Brush Man, there's a nice little surprise.

It's great to see Lucy as a young, highly-talented, up-and-coming starlet who is about to make her mark in a big, big way. This film should be required watching for all aspiring actors and actresses, as it shows exactly what Hollywood and the public are looking for -- and found in Lucille Ball.