An irreverent satire about success, masked in an outlandish comedy
One exciting aspect of art is when there’s more there than meets the eye, and such is the case with this week’s gem of a movie, “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”. What reads as a quirky and trivial comedy is actually a sardonic look at advertising, culture, identity, and what truly makes us happy. It’s a very sly film, for the laughs roll with so much causal gusto that it’s easy to miss the weight of what’s actually being said. I first saw this film years ago in film school when it was presented as a prime specimen of 1950’s comedies, and it has lingered happily in my mind ever since, continually finding its way onto watchlists. Packed with food for thought about the human condition, new insights abound whenever I watch it. It is also wonderfully strange and delightfully entertaining.
The film is the vision of a master of comedy and satire – writer and director Frank Tashlin. An innovator with a distinct style, Tashlin came from the world of cartoons and brought a unique blend of slapstick, satire, absurdity, witty visual gags, exaggerated comedic situations, and playful use of language to his feature films – all used here for maximum fun. And though “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” (which I'll simply call "Rock Hunter") can get pretty crazy and fantastical, this is no cartoon. Instead, its artificiality and surrealism drive home the film’s points without stating them, making for a deceptively sophisticated satire.
The plot revolves around “Rockwell P. Hunter”, a writer and Harvard graduate who pens TV commercials at a big New York City Madison Avenue advertising agency named La Salle Jr., Raskin, Pooley & Crocket, or simply LSJRP&C. Feeling like a failure, “Rock” dreams of getting a promotion and becoming a success, partly so he can afford to marry his secretary “Jenny Wells”. He lives with his teenage niece named “April”.
“April” happens to be president of the East 73rd Street chapter of the “Rita Marlow” fan club. The hottest star in movies, “Rita” is a voluptuous carefree blonde known as the “Goddess of Love”, who claims “I'm just a perfectly normal American girl". Accompanied by her secretary “Violet”, “Rita” has come to New York City for rest and seclusion, and to hide from her current boyfriend, muscleman TV actor "Bobo Branigansky".
The story begins as “Rock” learns that LSJRP&C’s biggest client, “Stay-Put Lipstick”, is planning on leaving the agency, which could cause LSJRP&C to close. Their only hope is that “Rock” can come up with a knockout ad campaign overnight to make sure the “Stay-Put” account stays put. He gets the brilliant idea to have “Rita”, known for her “oh-so-kissable lips” (among other assets), endorse “Stay-Put Lipstick”. She agrees, but only if “Rock” pretends to be her lover to make “Bobo” jealous. In doing so, “Rock” finds success overnight as a celebrity known as “Lover Doll”. What unfolds through outrageous gags, crude comedy, sexual mores, and exaggeration is a society that’s lost itself to consumerism and its desperate drive for success.
"Rock Hunter" began as a 1955 Broadway play by George Axelrod (who also wrote the hugely successful 1952 play "The Seven Year Itch") about a fan magazine writer who sells his soul to become a successful screenwriter. It starred Orson Bean, Walter Matthau and Jayne Mansfield in her Broadway debut, and Mansfield became the toast of the town. To help their budding new film star, 20th Century-Fox bought the film rights so Mansfield could reprise her role in the movie version, and hired Tashlin to direct it.
Tashlin decided to completely change the play for the movie version, as he explained to Peter Bogdonavich in the book “Who the Devil Made It”: “I only kept maybe one or two speeches from the play – I wrote the script in thirteen days – I hate to write. My friend Buddy Adler had brought me to Fox. He opened up a whole new world to me – he was a great producer. He told me, ‘Everyone advised me not to let you do this, but go ahead, you know what you’re doing’. So, you see, because of Adler, there was no compromise on ‘Rock Hunter’. He let me do it my own way”. Tashlin went on to say “I had just discovered – or better, come upon the thought – of the difference between living and earning a living… So this led to the word ‘success’. That’s the key word. And the picture really is saying that success is a lot of nonsense”.
The theme of success drives this film. Characters either want it (like “Rock”), feel they have to justify it (such as LSJRP&C's president, "Junior"), or spend every hour of their lives maintaining it (like “Rita”). One of the funniest and most blatant ways Tashlin exposes the absurdity of society’s obsession with success is that it (and one’s self worth) is measured by which of LSJRP&C’s bathrooms a person can use – the common one, the executive washroom (which requires an exclusive key), or the supreme triumph of being granted your own personal toilet.
Tashlin was also a virtuoso at incorporating pop culture and current events into his movies, and "Rock Hunter" is very much a product of the 1950s. A decade characterized by post-World War II recovery and prosperity, it saw the birth of many things such as consumerism, the Golden Age of Advertising, and Rock and Roll. It was also a decade of extremes. Both Lawrence Welk and Elvis Presley were huge. It saw the height and the end of McCarthyism (see my “High Noon” post) and conservatism loudly rang, yet Playboy magazine was launched, scandalous celebrity gossip magazines flourished, and big breasted, sexualized movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, and Mansfield reigned supreme. While these factors color this film, "Rock Hunter" still remains cuttingly relevant.
The most obvious element satirized is television, which had just usurped radio to become the primary source of entertainment in the home, and was keeping larger and larger audiences away from movie theaters. TV is omnipresent in "Rock Hunter", as just about every major character relies on it for information. It’s also a devious entity, illustrated by the zany, misleading TV commercials that play during the film’s opening credits, or when “Rock” thinks he’s talking to “April” but she’s actually on the TV. There are also visual jokes about the small size of TV and its poor black and white quality (as opposed to this film, which is in widescreen Cinemascope with DeLuxe color), and a famous sequence when the film’s star, Tony Randall, addresses us directly about commercial breaks.
Another clever aspect of "Rock Hunter" is how Tashlin plays with gender roles. The 1950’s saw a perceived crisis in masculinity and a push to return to traditional gender roles (which had changed during WWII). Tashlin presents “Bobo” as being “all-man” and “Rita” as “all-woman”, but “Bobo” is a mere grape picker who “Rita” built into a macho star that swings about in a fake jungle with fake chest hair, and “Rita” is more caricature than real. They are both artificial, as if to say there’s no such thing as an all-masculine or feminine person, yet women want to emulate “Rita”, and “Rock” tries to fit into “Bobo’s” clothes - literally. It’s no surprise “Rock” finds success when he’s transformed into a product.
Giving Tashlin free rein was a blessing. His astute direction creates a dynamic, brightly colored, fast-paced, zany world that can be seen as pure entertainment or wry sarcasm. And his script is playfully littered with in-jokes and direct cultural references of people like Sigmund Freud, journalist Louella Parsons, stars such as Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, and even a humorous reference to McCarthyism (see my post on “High Noon”) in a newspaper headline about a kiss between “Lover Doll” and “Rita” that reads “Congress to Investigate Subversive Kiss”. This super smart screenplay earned Tashlin a Best Written American Comedy Writers Guild of America Award nomination.
New Jersey-born Frank Tashlin dropped out of high school and began working as a cartoonist at Van Beuren animation studio. He made his way to Los Angeles working at Warner Brothers in 1933, where he worked on “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” cartoons alongside other soon-to-be animation legends like Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Bob Clampett. At the same time, Tashlin created his own comic strip called "Van Boring" (based on his time at Van Beuren), which appeared in the Los Angeles Times for about two years. It was so successful that his boss wanted part of the profits, and when Tashlin refused, he was fired. He then became a gag writer for Hal Roach Studios, writing for Laurel and Hardy and The Little Rascals before returning to animation at Warners where he developed the character of "Porky Pig" (who became the star of "Merrie Melodies"). He directed nearly two dozen cartoons at this time, nearly half of which featured "Porky Pig”. Tashlin worked at different animation studios (Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures’ Screen Gems, and back to Warners), each time picking up knowledge, leaving his innovative imprint, and pushing the boundaries of cartoons.
Tashlin was a pioneer who made at least 40 cartoons and introduced exaggerated sight gags, satirical humor, a slick modern style, innovative use of sound, surrealism, in-jokes, cultural references, and dynamic camera shots into the world of cartoons. In 1945, he brought his mastery of comedy and satire to writing live-action films beginning with the 1945 Jane Powell film "Delightfully Dangerous”, and including "The Paleface" with Bob Hope (earning Tashlin two Writers Guild of American Award nominations), "Love Happy" with the Marx Brothers, and "Miss Grant Takes Richmond" and "The Fuller Brush Girl", both with Lucille Ball.
Tashlin began directing feature films when Bob Hope asked him to finish directing his 1951 film "The Lemon Drop Kid". Tashlin directed twenty-two comedy films (writing all but three), and is best known for his eight starring Jerry Lewis (including "Artists and Models”, "Hollywood or Bust”, "Cinderfella", and “The Disorderly Orderly”), and two starring Jayne Mansfield, "The Girl Can't Help It” in 1956, and "Rock Hunter" (Tashlin's personal favorite, and widely considered his best film). Other films he directed include "The Glass Bottom Boat”, “Caprice", "Son of Paleface", "Bachelor Flat", and his final, 1968's "The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell". He also wrote and illustrated three satirical children's books, including "The Bear That Wasn't" and "The Possum That Didn’t”. He was married three times. Frank Tashlin died in 1972 at the age of 59.
Tashlin's distinct visual style and storytelling has influenced many film directors, including Jerry Lewis, Blake Edwards, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and most famously Jean-Luc Godard, who coined the phrase "Tashlinesque" in his ecstatic review of Tashlin's work and approach to comedy. Tashlin was a unique giant in the world of comedy.
Tony Randall stars in "Rock Hunter" as “Rockwell P. Hunter”, a writer of TV commercials who tries to save an ad agency from going under. “Rock” is the nervous, timid type who’s doing his best but can’t seem to get ahead, and is so nondescript he doesn’t even warrant a “hello” from the agency’s president, “Junior”. The likable and funny Randall delivers his lines with a flowing naturalness, often underplayed and always guided by a fantastic comedic flair no matter how unnatural the situations can get. We believe it when “Rock” sings his silly “Stay-Put” musical jingle to his boss “Rufus”, when he runs from mobs of screaming girls chasing “Lover Doll”, or even when hosting a commercial break. It’s an easygoing, enjoyable performance through and through, and one of Randall’s best. This film made Randall famous and earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination.
Oklahoma-born Tony Randall was drawn to acting as a child and began working professionally at the age of eighteen in radio, followed by theater, and made his Broadway debut in a 1947 production of "Antony and Cleopatra". He began appearing on television in 1950 and his first breakthrough came in 1952 with the TV series "Mister Peepers”, which earned him his first of six Emmy Award nominations. In 1953, Randall appeared on Broadway in "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!”, and was seen by film director Nunnally Johnson who wanted Randall to reprise his role in the movie version, and the 1957 film "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!” became Randall's film debut and landed him a contract with 20th Century Fox. His second film was "Rock Hunter", which made him a star. Randall spent the bulk of his nearly six decade career on television and stage, occasionally returning to the big screen, most notably in supporting roles alongside Rock Hudson and Doris Day in "Pillow Talk", "Lover Come Back", and "Send Me No Flowers”, and you can read more about the life and career of Tony Randall in my post on “Pillow Talk”. Just click on the film title to open that post.
Jayne Mansfield is sensational as “Rita Marlowe”, a glamorous, seductive, and amply endowed movie queen. In an obvious takeoff on Marilyn Monroe’s dumb blonde characters, Mansfield manages to make “Rita” her own with a brassy strength and hilarious cartoonish squeal. And as “Rita” cunningly navigates the world of fame and fortune, Mansfield uses tremendous comedic timing, such as when posing in her swimsuit and fur coat while exiting an airplane, unsure if the words “seclusion” and “endorsement” are dirty, or devising her plan with “Rock” while on the phone with "Bobo". It’s a mesmerizing performance and became Mansfield’s signature role.
“Rita” is key to the film’s satire, for more than anyone else, she rides the fine line between being real and a full-blown parody. She has the façade of a dumb blonde but is no dummy – just a savvy, ambitious movie star. Though over-the-top in every way (she even color coordinates her dog with her clothes), we completely buy her as the representation of success and a symbol of the power and superficiality of celebrity culture. There’s a quick but illuminative interaction between “Rufus” and “Rock”, when they see “Rita” on the front lawn talking to TV cameras. “Rufus” says, “What’s she saying? Turn on the TV”. “Rock” replies “What station?”, and “Rufus” responds, “Any station. It’s like when the president speaks”. Sure enough, they turn on the TV and there she is talking about “Lover Doll”. It’s a quick joke but relays the importance we’ve placed on something as trivial as celebrity.
Another fascinating aspect of “Rita” is how Tashlin blends the character with Mansfield the actress. Like “Rita”, Mansfield was a blonde bombshell movie sex symbol, won beauty pageants, and was known to do outrageous things to gain publicity to further her career. Also, “Rita” is reading the scandalous novel “Peyton Place” (whose big breasted characters were said to have been inspired by Mansfield), and there are references to several of Mansfield’s movies, such as her previous two, “The Girl Can’t Help It” and “The Wayward Bus”, and a mention of her upcoming film “Kiss Them for Me” opposite Cary Grant – all presented as if they were “Rita Marlowe” films. All of this places “Rita” in the real world.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Jayne Mansfield spent her early years in New Jersey until her father died, and then moved to Dallas with her mother and stepfather at the age of six. Wanting to be a movies star at an early age, she studied dance, played the piano, violin, and viola while in high school. When she was sixteen she thought she was pregnant and married fellow actor Paul Mansfield to save face. It turned out she wasn't, but soon became pregnant by Paul at the age of 17. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, and reportedly had an IQ of 163. The winner of several beauty contests, Mansfield told her husband her plans of becoming a movie star and began studying acting. When her husband returned from the Korean war, she convinced him to move to Los Angeles, and very soon after, dyed her brunette hair platinum blonde. Her first acting job was on a 1954 TV episode of "Lux Video Theater”. At 19 she realized her curvy body and ample bosoms could get her noticed, and in 1955 took to self promotion and posed as Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine (and continued to appear in the magazine's February issues though 1958, and again in 1963). Not long after, Mansfield crashed a press junket for the 1955 Jane Russell film “Underwater”, “accidentally” falling in the pool and losing her bathing suit top in front of the press, which garnered her a lot of attention. Mansfield made her film debut that year in a supporting role in the low-budget “Female Jungle”, and her publicity stunts helped land her a seven year contract with Warner Brothers. As Mansfield's career began to take off, her husband realized he didn't want that kind of life and they separated.
Three films later, Mansfield was unhappy at Warners and hired a lawyer to get her out of her contract and managers to help her become a star. Along with a part on the 1956 TV movie "Sunday Spectacular: The Bachelor", her team helped get her the lead on Broadway in 1955's "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?", which ran for 444 performance, made her famous, and earned her a Theatre World Award. That success led to a contract at Fox, who hoped to turn her into an insurance backup for their often unreliable top star, Marilyn Monroe. Like Monroe, Mansfield was blonde, curvy, oozed sex, and could play dumb, and she adopted Monroe's breathy vocal mannerisms. Mansfield's first Fox film was starring in Tashlin's 1956 musical comedy satire, "The Girl Can't Help It", which was a blockbuster success and earned her a Most Promising Newcomer Golden Globe Award. Being so "Monroe-esque", Mansfield was now being promoted as "Marilyn Monroe king-sized”. In an attempt to prove herself a serious actress, Mansfield's next film was the 1957 drama, "The Wayward Bus”. "Rock Hunter" followed, which put her at the height of her fame.
Mansfield was next cast opposite Cary Grant in "Kiss Them for Me", which flopped, followed by "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw", which only did well overseas. Losing their zeal in promoting Mansfield, Fox started loaning her to smaller studios for B movies, television, and films made in Europe. In 1958, she had a successful eight-week run in Las Vegas doing a striptease revue called "The Tropicana Holiday”. After 1959, Mansfield didn't star in any major films. To stay in the spotlight, she continued to stage publicity stunts, and in 1963, became the first prominent American actress to appear nude in a studio movie ("Promises! Promises!" opposite Tommy Noonan). In 1963, Playboy published nude photos of her on the set, which led to the arrest of the magazine’s owner, Hugh Hefner, on obscenity charges (he was acquitted). The film was a box-office success.
By this point, Mansfield's excessive drinking, public love affairs, and publicity (which was not always positive) took their toll, and she was considered a has-been and second-rate Marilyn Monroe. In addition to working on television and in mediocre films, Mansfield returned to the stage, worked in clubs, made personal appearances, and toured in theater, including productions of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Bus Stop" (two shows highly identified with Monroe). She also recorded two studio albums, including a live version of one of her Vegas shows ("Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas"), and six singles (including "As The Clouds Drift By" and “Suey", both in 1966, featuring Jimi Hendrix on guitar). Her other films include "Illegal", "The George Raft Story", "It Takes a Thief", and her final, 1967's "A Guide For The Married Man".
After divorcing Paul, Mansfield met her second husband, former bodybuilder and "Mr. Universe", Mickey Hargitay, when he was a chorus line muscle man in a 1956 Mae West nightclub act. It was mutual love at first sight, and they married in 1957. Mansfield got Hargitay the part of "Bobo" in "Rock Hunter", and the two worked together again in the Italian films "The Loves of Hercules" and "L'Amore Primitivo", as well as "Promises! Promises!”, and many of her nightclub acts. They had three children, including their youngest daughter, Emmy Award winning actress Mariska Hargitay. After their divorce, Mansfield married a third and final time (Italian film director Matt Cimber), and had one son before divorcing. She had reported affairs with President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, and Italian film producer Enrico Bomba, among many others. She loved the spotlight and in the end became almost a parody of herself. Away from headlines she was said to be very smart, well-liked, and a great mother.
On June 29, 1967, around midnight, after a Biloxi, Mississippi supper club engagement, Mansfield, her attorney Sam Brody (who she was dating), her three children with Hargitay, and two dogs, were being driven by a chauffeur to New Orleans for a TV appearance later that day. At 2:25 am, while driving between 60 and 80 miles an hour, their car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer truck that had slowed due to an approaching fog-spraying insecticide truck. Mansfield, Brody, their driver, and two dogs (who were all in the front seat) instantly died, and her three children (who were all asleep in the backseat) all survived with minor injuries. Jayne Mansfield was 34 years old.
Rumors circulated for decades that Mansfield was decapitated in the accident, but that was not true. As a result of the accident, what became called Mansfield bars have to be affixed to trailers and semi-trucks by law in order to prevent cars from sliding underneath large vehicles in rear-end collisions. Mansfield's crashed car was bought by a private collector, and was displayed in the Deadly Departed Tours & Artifact Museum.
Betsy Drake plays “Jenny Wells”, “Rock’s” secretary, upstairs neighbor, and fiancée. “Jenny” loves “Rock” and completely supports his endeavors until she keeps hearing on TV of his “affair” with “Rita” and reading about it in Louella Parsons’ column, for as “Jenny” says, “Louella’s never wrong”. “Jenny’s” a sweet girl who just wants to be herself but is bombarded with the “Rita’s” of the world making her feel insecure and inadequate. And thus, she takes to doing exercises to increase her breast size to be more like “Rita”. All through “Jenny’s” struggles, Drake brings a calm sincerity in wonderful contrast to the film’s larger than life personalities.
Betsy Drake was born in Paris to American parents, and her grandfather was the owner of the Drake and Blackstone Hotels. After the family lost its money in the stock market crash of 1929, they returned to the US and resided all along the East Coast, including New York City. Drake worked as model, and when bored, took to acting. Working on the stage, her agent pressured her to sign a Hollywood contract, but she hated Hollywood and finagled her way out of it. In 1947, she appeared as the lead in Elia Kazan's London production of "Deep Are the Roots", which Hollywood movie star Cary Grant saw, and became smitten with Drake. Later, both happened to be returning to the US on the Queen Mary ocean liner when Merle Oberon invited them both to lunch. They hit it off. Grant urged Drake to act in movies, introduced her to studio heads, and they began living together while he was filming "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House". He insisted Drake star opposite him in his next film, 1948's "Every Girl Should Be Married", and true to the title of their film, she and Grant married in 1949 in a small, private ceremony in which Howard Hughes served as Grant's best man.
Drake was known to be very smart, determined, not set on being a movie star, and had a wide range of interests including yoga, gourmet cooking, helping homeless children, and metaphysics. Reportedly, she successfully hypnotized Grant to get him to stop smoking. She continued appearing in films, and in 1951, co-starred with Grant in the 1951 radio series "Mr. and Mrs. Blandings" before reuniting on the screen for 1952's "Room for One More". Her next film was "Rock Hunter". Drake wrote the original screenplay for the 1958 film "Houseboat" under the pseudonym B. Winkle, hoping to star in it opposite Grant. But amid public rumors that Grant was having an affair with actress Sophia Loren while working on 1957's "The Pride and the Passion", the script for "Houseboat" was rewritten to costar Loren, not Drake, and Drake's screenwriting on the film remained uncredited. Drake and Grant separated in 1958, and after appearing in eight films and two TV shows, Drake gave up acting, returning only to appear in the 1965 family movie, "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion". She became a children's therapist, was director of psychodrama at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, had a private therapy practice, and wrote the 1971 novel "Children, You Are Very Little", among other professional endeavors. She and Grant divorced in 1962, with no children. She never married again. Drake is perhaps best remembered for being Cary Grant's third wife and longest union. She was one of the survivors of the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria when it collided with the Stockholm in 1956. Betsy Drake died in 2015 at the age of 92.
Joan Blondell plays “Violet”, “Rita’s” secretary and confidant. "Violet" is grounded, straightforward, and doesn't stand for any nonsense, even from “Rita”, and Blondell’s superb performance contains tenderness, even while being stern. Blondell is joyous to watch, as is her deadpan delivery explaining words to “Rita”, pouring herself a drink while crying, or laughing at “Rock” as he complains about being a celebrity. And she really shines bringing out the comedy in her touching speech about love and the milkman. That’s not easy to do, and she does it with immense warmth too.
1957 audiences were aware Blondell had been one of the biggest stars of the 1930s and early 1940s, known particularly for starring or appearing in racy Pre-Code movies (see my “Red Dust” post). So casting her as a big-eyed, sexy, playfully wisecracking, tough broad with a sexual life, added more depth to her role as "Violet", a sort of motherly mentor to “Rita”.
New York City-born Joan Blondell spent most of her childhood traveling with her vaudevillian family (“The Bouncing Blondell’s"), and first appeared on stage at four months old. She toured with her family throughout the world before settling in Dallas, Texas as a teenager. In 1926, she won a Miss Dallas beauty pageant, was a finalist in Miss Universe, and placed fourth in Miss America. She acted in high school plays in Los Angeles, and returned to New York in 1927 and worked as a model, in a circus, as a store clerk, and finally set her sights on becoming an actress. Her Broadway debut was in 1927's "The Trial of Mary Dugan". Her third Broadway show was "Penny Arcade", which only ran three weeks, but singer and movie star Al Jolson saw it, bought the rights, and sold them to Warner Brothers with the caveat that Blondell (and her costar James Cagney) appear in the film version. The film became 1930's "Sinners' Holiday", and it got her (and Cagney) a contract at Warners, and she quickly became one of the studio's most popular stars.
Blondell appeared in over thirty pre-Code films, often as a wisecracking, working-class girl, such as "Blonde Crazy", "Three on a Match", "Night Nurse", "The Public Enemy", and the Busby Berkeley musicals "Dames", "Footlight Parade", and "Gold Diggers of 1933" (which featured Blondell singing “Remember My Forgotten Man” – one of the most iconic musical numbers of the entire era). She made seven films with Cagney (also a top star), and was paired with actress Glenda Farrell in nine. After making nearly 50 movies, Blondell was frustrated at Warners and left the studio in 1939 to begin freelancing at other studios. By the mid-1940s, she was appearing in large supporting and character roles, and in 1951, also began to work on television. She occasionally appeared on Broadway, including 1957's "The Rope Dancers", which earned her a Best Featured Actress Tony Award nomination.
Blondell appeared in 161 films and TV shows in her five-decade screen career, and her other films include "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "Nightmare Alley", "Winchester '73", "Desk Set", "Support Your Local Gunfighter”, "Topper Returns", "Grease", and 1951's "The Blue Veil", which garnered her a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination. She also earned Best Supporting Golden Globe nominations for 1965's "The Cincinnati Kid", and 1977's "Opening Night", and was one of the stars of the 1960's TV series "Here Come the Brides", which earned her two Emmy Award nominations. She wrote the 1972 book "Center Door Fancy", a thinly veiled autobiography disguised as a novel. She was married and divorced three times – to cinematographer George Barnes, actor Dick Powell, and producer Mike Todd (who later married Elizabeth Taylor). Joan Blondell died in 1979 at the age of 73. She was one of my favorites.
Just a quick mention for classic TV fans, that Barbara Eden makes a quick, uncredited appearance in "Rock Hunter", as "Rock's" flirty new secretary "Miss Carstairs". She has two lines: "Good morning 'Mr. Hunter'; followed by "If you want anything, just call". Nearly a decade after this film, Eden would become a household name and TV icon as the title character in the classic TV series, “I Dream of Jeannie”. In a career mostly spent working on television, Eden appeared in approximately two dozen films, and this was her third. As of the writing of this post, Barbara Eden is 92 years old.
An entertaining and timeless statement about consumerism, advertising, and what really matters in life, await you in this week’s ultra fun, surprisingly deep classic. Enjoy “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”!
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For those who might not be aware, the actor who appears at the end of the film as “George Schmidlap” is the legendary Groucho Marx. He was a comedian, actor, writer, and singer who appeared in 13 films with his brothers (billed as The Marx Brothers), known for anarchic, irreverent, and quick-witted comedy. When “George” says to “Rita”, “it’s even more wonderful to be on a TV show without any commercials”, he was making a reference to Groucho’s current TV show, “You Bet Your Life”.