The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)

The Girl Can’t Help It
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Written by Frank Tashlin and Herbert Baker
1956/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/YouTube

Barry the paperboy: [after Jerri Jordan walks by] If that’s a girl, then I don’t know what my sister is!

Tom Ewell plays the same nebbish as in The Seven Year Itch, this time opposite Jayne Mansfield as the blonde.  It’s a cartoonish comedy enlivened by many fantastic rock and roller’s of the 50’s.

Gangster Fats Murdock (Edmond O’Brien) is engaged to blonde bombshell Jerri Jordan (Mansfield).  He feels like he can’t marry a “nobody” so he wants to turn her into a star.  He hires alcoholic agent Tom Miller (Ewell) to make her one, almost solely because he has the reputation of keeping his hands off his female clients.  It turns out Jerri is with Fats only from gratitude for getting her father a lighter prison sentence.  Jerri’s big dream is being a wife and mother but she is willing to play along with aiming for stardom.

Of course, Tom and Jerri develop feelings for each other and Fats gets suspicious.  Fats also gets involved in the project  by coming up with a silly song about breaking rocks in prison.  One way or another, the film manages work in almost non-stop performances by the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, and Julie London.

I don’t ordinarily go for these leering type 50’s comedies but the music kept me riveted to the screen.

Trailer

clip – Little Richard sings “Ready Teddy” and “She’s Got It”