My Friend Irma (film)

Last updated
My Friend Irma
Myfriendirmaposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Marshall
Screenplay by Cy Howard
Parke Levy
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Starring John Lund
Marie Wilson
Diana Lynn
Don DeFore
Dean Martin
Jerry Lewis
Hans Conried
Cinematography Leo Tover
Edited by Leroy Stone
Music by Roy Webb
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • October 14, 1949 (1949-10-14)
Running time
102 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.8 million (US and Canadian rentals) [1]
10,247 admissions (France) [2]

My Friend Irma is a 1949 American comedy film starring John Lund, Diana Lynn, Don DeFore, and Marie Wilson. Directed by George Marshall, it featured the motion picture debut of the Martin and Lewis comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. [3] The film is based upon the CBS radio series My Friend Irma that first aired in 1947. Released by Paramount, it premiered in New York City on September 28,1949.

Contents

Plot

Friends Irma Peterson and Jane Stacey room together in New York. Irma is a somewhat dim-witted blonde who deep down has good intentions. Jane is an ambitious woman who dreams of marrying a rich man. She winds up as a secretary for a millionaire, Richard Rhinelander.

Meanwhile, Irma is in love with Al, a con-artist looking to get rich quick. Al visits an orange-juice stand and encounters Steve Laird singing. He convinces him to leave his job and promises to make him famous. Al then invites Steve and his partner Seymour to live at Irma and Jane's apartment. Jane is angry, but Irma convinces her to let them stay. Jane and Steve fall in love.

After a successful singing debut, Steve gets upset with Jane's determination to marry a wealthy man and returns to the juice stand. Meanwhile, Irma gets into a situation and decides to end her life. However, she finds out a radio contest is about to call her for a $50,000 question, so she rushes home to answer the phone. She wins the prize and all live happily ever after.

Cast

Production

My Friend Irma was filmed from February 22 through April 12, 1949. Although production was already underway, producer Hal B. Wallis thought it would be a low-risk introduction of the team of Martin & Lewis to the screen. They had been approached by several film studios before signing a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures.

Lewis was originally cast to play Al, but after the first day of screen tests it was obvious that he was wrong for the part. Concerned that he would be left out of the film and that they were abandoning the formula that had created the Martin & Lewis team's comedic success ("handsome guy with the monkey"), a frantic Lewis quickly came up with the idea of playing a comical sidekick to Steve, and the character Seymour was written into the script. Lewis reminisces in detail about this career turning point in his book on Martin (Dean and Me) as well as his lengthy online Archive of American Television videotaped interview.

Marie Wilson, Hans Conried, and Gloria Gordon played the same characters in the movie that they did on the radio show. Felix Bressart was originally cast in the film as Professor Kropotkin, but he died suddenly during filming. His completed scenes were reshot with Hans Conried.

Sequel

It was followed the following year by a sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West directed by Hal Walker, [4] the only sequel that Martin & Lewis ever made.

Home media

My Friend Irma has been released twice on DVD By Paramount Home Entertainment. It was originally released on a two-film collection with its sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West, on October 25, 2005. A year later, it was included on an eight-film DVD set, the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection: Volume One, released on October 31, 2006. [5]

Legacy

The 2002 film Martin and Lewis was a biopic about the comedy team starring Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam. A scene from the film depicts Lewis as wanting to play the role of Al, but Wallis suggesting that he should play a new character, Seymour, instead, to which Lewis reluctantly agrees. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Lewis</span> American comedian, actor and filmmaker (1926–2017)

Jerry Lewis was an American comedian, filmmaker, actor, humanitarian and singer, who was famously nicknamed "The King of Comedy" and appeared in more than 59 motion pictures. These included a series of sixteen Martin and Lewis films with Dean Martin as his partner during their 10-year act in radio, stage, television and film.

<i>Boeing Boeing</i> (1965 film) 1965 American film by John Rich

Boeing Boeing is a 1965 American bedroom farce comedy film based on the 1960 French play Boeing-Boeing and starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis. Released on December 22, 1965, it was the last film that Lewis made for Paramount Pictures, which had produced all of his films since My Friend Irma (1949).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Martin</span> American singer and actor (1917–1995)

Dean Martin was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century, he was nicknamed "The King of Cool". Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio and television and in films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Conried</span> American actor (1917–1982)

Hans Georg Conried Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right cartoons, Professor Waldo P. Wigglesworth in Ward's Hoppity Hooper cartoons, was host of Ward's live-action "Fractured Flickers" show and Professor Kropotkin on the radio and film versions of My Friend Irma. He also appeared as Uncle Tonoose on Danny Thomas' sitcom Make Room for Daddy, twice on I Love Lucy, and as the Mad Hatter along with Daws Butler, Dolores Starr, Stanley Adams, Francis Condie Baxter and Cheryl Callaway in The Alphabet Conspiracy (1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal B. Wallis</span> American film producer (1898-1986)

Harold B. Wallis was an American film producer. He is best known for producing Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and True Grit (1969), along with many other major films for Warner Bros. featuring such film stars as Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn. As a producer, he received 19 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Lynn</span> American actress (1926–1971)

Diana Marie Lynn was an American actress. She built her career by starring in Paramount Pictures films and various television series during the 1940s and 1950s. Two stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame are dedicated to her name.

<i>My Friend Irma</i> Radio comedy of the 1940s and 1950s

My Friend Irma is a media franchise that was spawned by a top-rated, long-running radio situation comedy created by writer-director-producer Cy Howard. The radio show was so popular in the late 1940s that its success escalated the films, television, a comic strip and a comic book that comprise the franchise. Marie Wilson portrayed the title character Irma Peterson on radio, in two films and the television series. The radio series was broadcast on CBS from April 11, 1947, to August 23, 1954.

<i>Scared Stiff</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by George Marshall

Scared Stiff is a 1953 American supernatural fiction-themed comedy horror semi-musical film, directed by George Marshall and starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. One of the 17 films made by the Martin and Lewis team, it was released on April 27, 1953 by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth screen adaptation of the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, previously filmed under that title in 1914 and 1922 and as The Ghost Breakers in 1940, also directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin and Lewis</span> American double act

Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin was a nightclub singer, while Lewis performed a comedy act lip-synching to records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lund (actor)</span> American actor (1911–1992)

John Lund was an American film, stage, and radio actor who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair (1948) and a dual role in To Each His Own (1946).

<i>Hollywood or Bust</i> 1956 film by Frank Tashlin

Hollywood or Bust is a 1956 American musical comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis alongside Pat Crowley and Anita Ekberg. The picture was filmed from April 16 to June 19, 1956, and released on December 6, 1956, by Paramount Pictures, almost five months after the Martin and Lewis partnership split up.

<i>The Caddy</i> 1953 film by Norman Taurog

The Caddy is a 1953 American semi-musical-comedy-sports film starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis. It is noteworthy for Dean Martin introducing the hit song "That's Amore".

<i>My Friend Irma Goes West</i> 1950 film by Hal Walker

My Friend Irma Goes West is a 1950 American comedy film directed by Hal Walker and based on the radio show My Friend Irma. It stars the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The film is a sequel to My Friend Irma (1949) and was released on May 31, 1950 by Paramount Pictures.

<i>At War with the Army</i> 1950 film by Hal Walker

At War with the Army is a 1950 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker, released by Paramount, starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis and introducing Polly Bergen. Filmed from July through August 1949, the film premiered in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1950, before opening nationwide on January 17, 1951. It was re-released in 1958 by OMAT Pictures.

<i>Jumping Jacks</i> 1952 film by Norman Taurog

Jumping Jacks is a 1952 American semi-musical comedy film starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis. The film was directed by Norman Taurog, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was one of the military comedies that marked the duo's early career. Brigadier General Frank Dorn, Deputy Chief of the US Army's Information Office praised Jumping Jacks as something that would "contribute to troop morale within the Army."

<i>Living It Up</i> 1954 film by Norman Taurog

Living It Up is a 1954 American comedy film starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis which was released by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Youre Never Too Young</i> 1955 American comedy film directed by Norman Taurog

You’re Never Too Young is a 1955 American semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring the team of Martin and Lewis and co-starring Diana Lynn, Nina Foch, and Raymond Burr. It was released on August 25, 1955 by Paramount Pictures.

<i>The Patsy</i> (1964 film) 1964 film

The Patsy is a 1964 American comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on August 12, 1964, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border</i> 1949 American film

How to Smuggle the Hernia Across the Border is a 1949 American short comedy film directed by Jerry Lewis and starring Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh, and Tony Curtis. The film was not released commercially. The film is based on a funny story about Dean Martin's wartime personal problems with hernia.

My Friend Irma is an American comedy television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 8, 1952, until June 25, 1954.

References

  1. ↑ "Top Grossers of 1949". Variety. 4 January 1950. p. 59.
  2. ↑ Jerry Lewis films French box office information at Box Office Story
  3. ↑ "My Friend Irma". Turner Classic Movies . Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  4. ↑ "My Friend Irma Goes West". Turner Classic Movies . Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection –Vol. 1". Paramount Pictures . Hollywood: Viacom. 2006. ASIN   B000HEWEJE . Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Lewis, Jerry; Kaplan, James (2006). Dean & Me (A Love Story) . New York City: Three Rivers Press. ISBN   978-0767920872.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.