The Long, Long Trailer (1953)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Clinton Twiss (novel)
Albert Hackett (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 February 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

America's No. 1 Favorites Funnier than Ever on the Screen!

Plot:

Nicky and Tacy are going to be married. Nicky wants to save up money for a house, but Tacy dreams of...

Plot Keywords:

Trailer | Honeymoon | Marriage | Mountain | Colorado

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Lucille Ball	...	Tacy Bolton - Collini
Desi Arnaz	...	Nicholas 'Nicky' Collini
Marjorie Main	...	Mrs. Hittaway
Keenan Wynn	...	Policeman
Gladys Hurlbut	...	Mrs. Bolton
Moroni Olsen	...	Mr. Tewitt
Bert Freed	...	Foreman
Madge Blake	...	Aunt Anastacia
Walter Baldwin	...	Uncle Edgar
Oliver Blake	...	Mr. Ludlow
Perry Sheehan	...	Bridesmaid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Alexander	...	Bald Shopper in Bungalette Trailer (uncredited)
Jimmy Ames	...	Truck Helper (uncredited)
Robert Anderson	...	Carl Barrett (uncredited)
Margaret Bert	...	Mother (uncredited)
Dallas Boyd	...	Minister (uncredited)
John Call	...	Shorty (uncredited)
Geraldine Carr	...	Tacy's Girlfriend (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Extra at Trailer Show (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing	...	Trailer Park Manager (uncredited)
Sayre Dearing	...	Extra at Trailer Show (uncredited)
Juney Ellis	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Extra at Trailer Party (uncredited)
Frank Gerstle	...	Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
A. Cameron Grant	...	Father (uncredited)
Charles Herbert	...	Little Boy (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	Flagstone Station Attendant (uncredited)
Robert Kino	...	Japanese Gardner (uncredited)
Jack Kruschen	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Norman Leavitt	...	Driver (uncredited)
Alan Lee	...	Mr. Elliott (uncredited)
Rudy Lee	...	Barrett's Son (uncredited)
Ruth Lee	...	Mrs. Tewitt (uncredited)
Peter Leeds	...	Garage Manager (uncredited)
John Logan	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Karl Lukas	...	Inspector (uncredited)
Howard McNear	...	Joe Hittaway (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse	...	Car Salesman (uncredited)
Rollin Moriyama	...	Japanese Gardner (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Ellanora Needles	...	Tacy's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Aunt Ellen (uncredited)
Louis Nicoletti	...	2nd Inspector (uncredited)
Christopher Olsen	...	Tommy (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Phil Rich	...	Mr. Dudley (uncredited)
Dennis Ross	...	Jody (uncredited)
Janet Sackett	...	Kay (uncredited)
Judy Sackett	...	Dotty (uncredited)
Edna Skinner	...	Maude Barrett (uncredited)
Connie Van	...	Grace (uncredited)
Herb Vigran	...	Trailer Salesman (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Mr. Bolton (uncredited)
Ruth Warren	...	Mrs. Dudley (uncredited)
Wilson Wood	...	Garage Owner (uncredited)
Howard Wright	...	Uncle Bill (uncredited)

Directed by
Vincente Minnelli

Writing credits
Clinton Twiss		(novel)
Albert Hackett		(screenplay) &
Frances Goodrich		(screenplay)

Produced by
Pandro S. Berman	....	producer

Original Music by
Adolph Deutsch

Cinematography by
Robert Surtees

Film Editing by
Ferris Webster

Art Direction by
Edward C. Carfagno		(as Edward Carfagno)
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
F. Keogh Gleason
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joel Freeman	....	assistant director
Jerry Thorpe	....	assistant director
Carl 'Major' Roup	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Frank Wesselhoff	....	painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor
Michael Steinore	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special effects
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Editorial Department
Alvord Eiseman	....	color consultant

Music Department
Alexander Courage	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1954) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1965) (USA) (TV)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1955) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2009) (Canada) (DVD) (4 film collection)
• Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD) (4 film collection)

Other Companies

• Turner Entertainment  VHS package design

Also Known As:

Runtime:

103 min | 96 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16632) | West Germany:6 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Sonora, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The chorus of the song "Everything Right is Wrong Again" by the band They Might Be Giants references the scene where Lucy's character is stuck in the trailer which has become unhinged from the car. "Everything right is wrong again Just like in the long long trailer All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving And nobody would stop to save her"

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Nicky and Tacy are going from LA to Colorado. Northbound on US 101 would put the Pacific Ocean on your left. Scenes with the ocean show it on their right.

Quotes:

Nicholas Collini:[narrating] It was a matter of what would give out first: me or the money.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (#6.13)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Breezin' Along With the Breeze

Minnelli successfully tackles a thankless job and Lucy increases her comedic acting range

Back in the good IL' days, when couples didn't regularly jump into bed before marriage, newlyweds Tracy (Lucille Ball) and Nicky (Desi Arnaz) Collini are anticipating their first night of youthful, athletic lovemaking in their beautiful new home (a housetrailer). The audience anticipates the sexiness of their first night of intimacy, since they're, like, REALLY in love (both Lucy & Desi were great actors, their real-life marriage was going none too good at the time). Telling a white lie while trying to avoid entertaining their overly-helpful new neighbors, played marvelously by Alpha-Female Marjorie Main and fussy, folksy Howard McNear (later of Floyd the Barber fame on Andy Griffith), Tracy makes matters much worse. When poor Nicky nearly gets rid of the hoard of locusts that descended upon his wedding night, he finds his blushing bride is unconscious for the next several hours, thanks to a helpful dosage of sleeping pills...it's pitiful and hilarious. Regardless of what some people say, this movie is definitely not "an extended episode of I Love Lucy." Minnelli is much more gifted and inventive a director to earn that sort of put-down. He and Lucy work together stupendously to work in some fresh, sophisticated gags that would've been too much for a half-hour TV show. Lucille Ball proves that she can make you grin wide and even laugh furiously without resorting to the schemes and slap-stick devices she'd already perfected on the small screen...true, she does try to prepare a 4-course meal in the trailer while Nicky drives over rough, winding roads at 60 miles per hour, with hilarious results of the face-covered-in-salad-oil-and-flour variety. But, in TLLT, Lucy portrays a more aware, decisive and assertive character than the Mrs. Ricardo we know so well. While her edgy hubby is always fretting about what could go wrong in towing his monstrous trailer, Lucy takes the wheel 3 days into their cross-country trek and steers both car and mobile home with casual assurance and skill. Desi also extended his acting skill by jettisoning Ricky's male-dominator role in favor of almost Clousseauesque persona; he's unsure of his financial future, his auto-piloting skills, his ability to make a happy marriage and provides us with some wonderful sight-gags along the way. Nicky's shower-scene was the greatest one in movie history until Psycho came along...us men think it's funny becuz we know the infuriating apparatus is just about to conk him in the gonads, while women have enjoyed the thought that one of their favorite male celebs was doing it buck-naked. This is truly one of the best traveling comedies of all time, right up there with "Planes Trains & Automobiles". Minnelli and Keenan Wynn collaborate to give us one absolutely side-splitting scene, with Keenan playing a silent, sarcastic traffic-cop...worthy of Chaplin's praise. The story is told in flashback and near the end we recognize that the couple is going to divorce after Tracy's awful subterfuge - after all, her Nicky is an engineer and she tries to violate several of Newton's Laws of Gravity & Thermodynamics, bringing on wreck, ruin and economic disaster. There's just no hope for this marriage. Too bad, sniff, sniff. You guess the ending.