Start your engines! The invention and development of the automobile coincides with the birth and growth of the movie industry. This month we watch movies where cars play a major role.
SAMANTHA GLASSER: Tacy (Lucille Ball) and Nick (Desi Arnaz) are getting married and planning their future together. Tacy presents her dream of owning a trailer to Nicky emphasizing the amount of money they will save on expenses. The brochure depicts a happy couple in a small but comfortable space with lots of storage. Of course, when they go to a trailer show and see the model she has chosen, it is much tinier. They realize they must either abandon her dream or spend much more money on a larger, more luxurious model. She falls in love with a New Moon trailer which has two twin-sized beds, a kitchen space with lots of storage, and a sunken living room. He reluctantly agrees and signs on the dotted line, not anticipating also needing a new, stronger car to haul the trailer, as well as a hitch and accessories. The trailer works well when it is parked, and the people in the trailer park are helpful and friendly, but when they take it anywhere, visiting relatives or on vacation, it causes endless headaches, and lots of comedy.
RODNEY BOWCOCK: In many ways, the trailer is much more than just a set-piece or a prop, taking on a role just as large as Lucy and Desi. The 1953 New Moon was the model chosen for the film (the following year, it was renamed as the I Love Lucy trailer) and the film provides a showcase for the 36 foot long behemoth, which to me exhibits a pinnacle of post-war indulgence. That said, I absolutely love it and I’ve really enjoyed deep diving into the internet looking at all of the cool restorations that people have undertaken to bring these beauties back to their full potential.
SG: I am always hesitant watching a Lucille Ball film. Her character in I Love Lucy annoys me to no end, whining and complaining and causing problems for everyone. In fact, The Long Long Trailer was an attempt to cash in on the success of I Love Lucy. Since this film also starred Desi Arnaz, I was concerned it would be a chore to sit through this feature, but I enjoyed it immensely, from the various scenarios to the genuine love between the couple to the opulence of the mid-century décor, it was a pleasure from start to finish.
RB: While I do agree with you whole-heartedly about not loving Lucy, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize that as a youngster, I absolutely adored her and thought that I Love Lucy was an absolute scream. I have vivid memories of watching it every morning before kindergarten.
SG: Director Vincente Minnelli said, "Lucy is one of the few comic talents who can be broad and uniquely human at the same time. She can get away with things that less talented people wouldn't even presume to handle."
In the scene where the bridesmaids are helping Tacy stock her kitchen with all of her wedding gifts, I spotted Guardian Serviceware, a high-end brand of cookware that is still collectable today. I became interested in it when I first heard a salesman rave about it on an episode of You Bet Your Life. It was made of cast aluminum and ages well, but the factory burned down in 1956 and stopped production permanently. Tacy has a heart-shaped pot with a lid that would be really cute in my house.
RB: There is also some vintage Pyrex to be spotted (it’s basically stacked in such a way to display the assorted pieces). We have a fair collection of vintage Pyrex and a general love of midcentury kitchenware so these scenes were astounding to me. My eyes couldn’t decide what to focus on, but I can assure you that it wasn’t Tacy or her bridesmaids. It was on all of those great wedding gifts. Like you, I also noticed the Guardian Serviceware piece, and while I don’t have any, they are very durable, not too difficult to find and clean up well.
SG: I have a weakness for mid-century kitchens too. Maybe it is because they remind me of my grandma's cozy house?
Tacy’s fluffy nightgown is completely impractical but I love how pretty it is. It is a nice setup for what happens during the rainstorm.
RB: There is very little here that is practical in any sense of the word, and it’s not unnoticed that most every set piece is a prop for Lucy and Desi’s slapstick antics. Often the punchline of the scene seems to be “Look at how dirty and messy Lucy is.”
What I found interesting is just how much this really is Lucy and Desi’s show. Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn are second billed, but they’re barely in the movie at all. Radio and early TV actors like Herb Vigran, Jack Kruschen, Frank Gerstle and Howard McNear all make uncredited appearances (McNear has almost as many likes as the third billed Marjorie Main), but at no point is the focus ever on anything beyond Lucy, Desi, their trailer and their car.
SG: You're right. I remember that they were in the movie now that you mention them, but they were just background players.
The one thing that didn’t make any sense to me was that the couple was so upset that their bridal party decorated with the trailer with ribbons and a “Just Married” sign. I wish we had a sign.
The characters are not well-developed, which is somewhat surprising since it is based on a novel, written by Clinton Twiss and unfortunately out of print and difficult to find at a reasonable price online. We don’t know the couple’s backstory, but their situation as newlyweds is relatable, and I was happy to go along for the ride.
Minnelli said, "It was an inexpensive picture to make, and a painless one. All the film editor had to do was clip off the end slates of the film to make this a smoothly flowing picture."
The leading actors went on a promotional tour complete with trailer to the Radio City Music Hall with a press meet-and-greet at the Waldorf Astoria.
RB: MGM also trotted out Perry Sheehan and Kathryn Reed for personal appearances, on a cross-country trip with a New Moon trailer to promote the film. You likely don’t know who Perry Sheehan and Kathryn Reed are, and I don’t either. IMDB shows a handful of uncredited appearances for each, but that likely didn’t matter to the small towns that these “starlets” visited. MGM said they were stars and that was likely enough, nevermind that these were late-stage contract players that for one reason or another missed their shots at true stardom (over on John McElwee’s excellent Greenbriar Picture Shows, it’s proposed that Kathryn Reed may be the same Kathryn Reed that was married to Robert Altman until his death in 2006).
SG: Florence Epstein for Modern Screen said, “Sometimes the minutes surely drag, times when Lucy is rolling on the trailer floor wrapped in flour and salad greens. But in general The Long, Long Trailer will hit the spot.”
William Weaver for Motion Picture Daily compared the movie favorably to Father of the Bride and called the movie, “The funniest picture that's come along in a long long time. It's a comedy of situation, of complication, of dialogue and of characterization and performance, but it's more and better than the sum of these — it's a natural!”
RB: Local exhibitors were thrilled with this film and the opportunity to lure back some of the 50 million viewers that stayed at home nights watching Lucy and Desi in their own homes, even if the allure of the film was lost on some of them.
“Our best gross in a long, long time on the change. I can’t stand Lucy and Desi on television and wasn’t impressed with the picture either. However, our public ate it up. So I say let’s give ‘em more! MGM did an excellent job of pre-selling. My advice to fellow exhibitors: Don’t sell this picture short. Give it your best playing time,” advised Levin B Culpepper of the Carolina Theater in Elizabeth City, NC.
SG: Producer Pandro S. Berman said, "Metro wanted no part of it. They subscribed to the theory that the audience wouldn't pay to see actors they could get at home for free. But I insisted these were different parts, and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz could make the picture hilarious."
This was such a fun movie and I’d be delighted to watch it again. Four stars.
RB: This is a visually stunning movie for folks who enjoy midcentury stylings, and there is something sort of timeless about it, and I can see why it would have great appeal to casual classic movie fans and kids (it reminds me in many ways of a 60’s Disney comedy). Still, the lack of character development and the aforementioned multiple scenes where Lucy and Desi just fall around getting dirty keeps the film out of a top tier watch for me.
Three and a half stars for a film that is good fun, but a movie that I’m pretty sure would drag pretty strongly upon a second viewing.
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