The long career of Martha Raye had just begun when she starred in this Bob Hope comedy as the homely sister of glamour girl Betty Grable. She proved that homely can be gamely as an accidental picture of her legs make her rich, and in seeing her sister take her place in getting all the attention, you see a turn in the usually perky Grable that is a delight. Of course, off screen, the beautiful Betty was anything but like the character she plays here, a nice but ultimately selfish girl who wants every beau for herself. "What goes on here, in my heart dear?", she sings to a variety of dancing partners before all of a sudden turning into Ginger Rogers with half a dozen awaiting Freds willing to spin her around. All of the other dancers stop dancing, watching this sprightly young blonde take over. Poor Martha is too busy making sandwiches and cakes in the shape of battleships to even get her shot on the dance floor.
The story starts with two brothers as unlikely siblings as Raye and Grable. Bob Hope is the wise-cracking brother of the handsome Jack Whiting, and both of them have signed photos of Betty in their naval ship bunks. Hope wants a shot with Grable and convinces his brother to take Martha out. But the fates intervene and Raye and Hope spend more time together than with the ones they think they love, and as Hollywood tries to prove, if you're funny, your partner needs to be funny, and if you're glamorous, your partner needs to be glamorous too.
The theme of course is very shallow, but the story is told with such humor and heart, especially as it is made clear that Martha is really the better catch of the two sisters. After all, she can cook, even holding a giant block of ice as both the doorbell and phone rings. Then, Hope's pesky cousin drops in and plays all sorts of pranks on Martha, causing even more confusion. Martha tries to make herself all the more beautiful with some face cream, but it seems to have been replaced by plaster of Paris and Martha ends up looking like the Phantom of the Opera as she desperately tries to get the mask off before she turns into the Countess of Monte Cristo.
Unfortunately, Martha only gets to clown here, not sing as she would in most of her other films. It is ironic to see her as Grable's sister, considering that they were back-to-back Dolly Levi's on Broadway. Hope gets in his usual share of wisecracks, but the bulk of the comic moments go to Raye. Bonnie Jean Churchill adds some delightful moments with her pranks on Raye, but Martha gets the last laugh when Churchill is confronted by Raye in her plaster of Paris mask. Nana Bryant plays her flighty mother with all the selfish unknowingness of Billie Burke. Delightful 30's fun, it is one of the few moments to see Martha in command on film, and boy, does she make the most out of it.
The story starts with two brothers as unlikely siblings as Raye and Grable. Bob Hope is the wise-cracking brother of the handsome Jack Whiting, and both of them have signed photos of Betty in their naval ship bunks. Hope wants a shot with Grable and convinces his brother to take Martha out. But the fates intervene and Raye and Hope spend more time together than with the ones they think they love, and as Hollywood tries to prove, if you're funny, your partner needs to be funny, and if you're glamorous, your partner needs to be glamorous too.
The theme of course is very shallow, but the story is told with such humor and heart, especially as it is made clear that Martha is really the better catch of the two sisters. After all, she can cook, even holding a giant block of ice as both the doorbell and phone rings. Then, Hope's pesky cousin drops in and plays all sorts of pranks on Martha, causing even more confusion. Martha tries to make herself all the more beautiful with some face cream, but it seems to have been replaced by plaster of Paris and Martha ends up looking like the Phantom of the Opera as she desperately tries to get the mask off before she turns into the Countess of Monte Cristo.
Unfortunately, Martha only gets to clown here, not sing as she would in most of her other films. It is ironic to see her as Grable's sister, considering that they were back-to-back Dolly Levi's on Broadway. Hope gets in his usual share of wisecracks, but the bulk of the comic moments go to Raye. Bonnie Jean Churchill adds some delightful moments with her pranks on Raye, but Martha gets the last laugh when Churchill is confronted by Raye in her plaster of Paris mask. Nana Bryant plays her flighty mother with all the selfish unknowingness of Billie Burke. Delightful 30's fun, it is one of the few moments to see Martha in command on film, and boy, does she make the most out of it.