You're Never Too Young

A few years back, I watched a Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis movie, "Artists and Models." I hadn't watched any of the 16 movies they made together in ages, and I thought that was one of their best and funniest. Since then, I've watched more of their movies, including "You're Never Too Young."

I think this may be one of their best pairings on film. And it struck me that most of the movies with plots in which they were not partners or friends in the story, but strangers, turned out to be much better and certainly much funnier films. In their movies, as with other comedy teams (e.g., Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy), when the duo starts off as acquaintances in the entertainment field, the plots are ho-hum and one has the sense that we're just audiences at a stage play, waiting for the next entertaining skit. Those plots don't seem to allow for the spontaneity of the actors that these films have when the stars are strangers.

In this one, Jerry is Wilbur Hoolick, a cleaning guy in a barber shop. Dean is Bob Miles, an athletic trainer and coach at an all-girl's college. How they wind up together at that school, with Jerry then playing an overgrown kid, is as far out as any plot can get. And, that's just part of the comedy. To me, comedy doesn't have to have a plot that makes a lot of sense.

This is a wonderful, funny, movie. Some of the individual scrapes and antics that Wilbur gets into are outlandishly hilarious. Paramount must have had a special barber chair made for one scene. There are some marvelous talent scenes in here as well. One is when the college marching team gives a welcoming performance and Wilbur joins them. Before long he is doing the crazy gyrations, jumps and twists of strange dance moves that the entire group of young women imitate to a T. It's one fine job of choreography and must have taken several practice sessions for them all to copy Jerry's lead in synch.

Another very hilarious scene is Wilbur mimicking a woman on a long-distance telephone call. This change in his voice is very funny. Later he conducts a chorus with many similar laughs.

An interesting look in this film is Raymond Burr as Noonan. This is in the days before he became "the" Perry Mason on the long running Perry Mason TV series. Burr is one of the Hollywood tough and bad guys from his early films, who wound up on the right side of the law. Here he keeps a straight face but cracks a couple of very funny lines.

While the general idea for this film borrows from Paramount's 1942 smash hit, "The Major and the Minor," the story is very different. This plot has many original angles and different scenes. A remake is mostly a new cast with the same or an updated setting.

This is one fine comedy that everyone should enjoy. Here are some favorite lines from the film.

Nancy Collins, "What's the matter with you - you're trembling?" Wilbur Hoolick, "I have very loose bones."

Mrs. Brendan, "Wilber's a very remarkable boy. In this day and age, it's so difficult to rear a child properly." Noonan, posing as Wilbur's father, "Yes. I wouldn't give you 10 to 1 on a boy like Wilbur living to grow up." Mrs. Brendan, "Oh, well that's a little on the pessimistic side, Mr. Hoolick." Noonan, "All right, I'll make it 8 to 1."

Wilbur Hoolick, "I like it here. I wanna go to school here." Noonan, "This is a girl's school." Wilbur, "That's why I like it here."

With this movie, Martin & Lewis have a reunion with a couple of co-stars from their first feature-My Friend Irma: Diana Lynn, Jane Stacy in that and its sequel, is not only Dean's girl here but also a crush of Jerry's. And Hans Conried plays Jer's barber mentor, Francois. Then there's a couple of cameos from other of M & L's flicks-Nancy Kulp, from The Caddy, as a lady with a "12"-year-old son and Bobby Barber, from Money from Home, as a newsstand clerk. With that out of the way, I'll just say the plot of a jewel robber (Raymond Burr) trying to get the diamond out of Jerry's coat pocket-which the latter doesn't know about-as Jer tries to pass himself off as a minor in order to get a half-fare train ticket with him ending up at a girls school where Martin and Lynn teach is perhaps the most ridiculous story yet for the boys' movies but darned if I didn't find myself constantly laughing anyway! As usual, plenty of Lewis' mugging and doing impersonations provide plenty of fun entertainment along with Martin's smooth crooning on many romantic ballads. And seeing the latter get constantly hit and bumped into by his partner just adds to the fun. So despite the many nonsense shenanigans, I heartily recommend You're Never Too Young.

From start to finish, and based on the other pictures the boys were in, this is without a doubt the best of the Martin & Lewis series. For some bizarre reason, 'You're Never Too Young' has been buried in obscurity. Maybe it was because there was just a bit too much M & L exposure in '55, so it got lost in the shuffle. By this time, Paramount was giving M & L pictures the 'A' treatment, in full VistaVision and Technicolor, with a great score of specially-commissioned songs and big production numbers. The Sidney Sheldon script they used in this case wasn't too shabby either, and was more ambitious and wide-ranging than their previous films. There's plenty of the customary wackiness, but more sophistication as well, and the boys can handle it. Lewis is in top form. His multiple role playing is inspired, whether doing a Bogart imitation, or a French barber, or, for most of the picture, posing as an early teen in order to escape tough guy Raymond Burr. Thanks to Norman Taurog's competent direction, he is always 'under control' and consistently hilarious. Dean cruises through effortlessly, and does his usual dandy job. Highlights: crooning to Diana Lynn in his sparkling DeSoto station wagon, and helping Jerry get through 'I Like to Hike' at the girls' school concert. Great supporting roles supplied by Veda Ann Borg, Romo Vincent, Hans Conried and Mitzi McCall as Skeets, who's mad about Jerry. All in all, the best produced, the most rewarding, and the best-managed Martin & Lewis vehicle - not to mention the funniest. Now, Paramount, lift this gem up from the vaults and give us a DVD version. Please? Trust me, you'll get your investment back. UPDATE: Paramount came through: the DVD is outstanding, and the film is better than ever!

Considered the best of the Martin and Lewis comedies, this remake of "The Major and The Minor" (with Lewis in the Ginger Rogers role as an adult disguised as a child to qualify for a half-fare train ticket) improves on the original with a never ending romp of slap-stick humor, musical comedy numbers, and color. Diana Lynn, who plays a teacher, played the teenage roommate to Ginger Rogers in the original. Diana Lynn also starred in Martin and Lewis' debut films "My Friend Irma" and "My Friend Irma Goes To New York." Lewis as a boy is never really believable, but that's okay, it's meant as a spoof of anyone who has tried to pass off an older child as younger for half fare tickets. Most important, the humor is very, very fast and funny. Despite some nice musical moments between Dean and Jerry, there is no mistaking this is Jerry's tour-de-farce, and the reason for their split up obvious. Enjoy the pinnacle of their partnership.

With a bit of James Bondesque finale, climax. This is one Jerry Lewis feature with many musicals, as Esther Williams' features were, but with comedy and gags galore. I feel that Frank Tashlin's movies with Lewis were a bit different though. It is efficient, funny, with I repeat more musicals as usual for Lewis, thanks to Dean Martin. Ray Burr as the heavy is an excellent choice.