The Fuller Brush Girl

This was one of Lucille Ball's last theatrical films prior to the debut of "I Love Lucy", and from the looks of things it was the final primer for her role as Lucy Ricardo. "The Fuller Brush Girl" was filmed in 1950 as a sequel to the very popular "The Fuller Brush Man", which starred Lucille's male counterpart, Red Skelton.

It's the story of a young couple, Sally and Humphrey, who want to get married, buy a house and live happily ever after. But just as they are able to place a down payment on their dream house, Sally causes an electrical fire at the shipping company where she and Humphrey work and loses her job. Undaunted Sally decides to try her hand at door-to-door sales as a Fuller Brush Girl (she actually sells cosmetics, not brushes). Meanwhile back at the shipping company Humphrey is promoted to shipping manager, only he doesn't realize that he is being set-up as the fall guy by a smuggling ring. Through a hilarious set of circumstances the bumbling Fuller Brush Girl and the smuggling ring get mixed-up with each other and all hell breaks loose. In the ensuing tangle, there is murder, talking parrots, police chases, a very funny striptease and some of the funniest sight-gags ever put on film.

The cast includes a very young Eddie Albert as Humphrey, Jeff Donnell as Sally's best friend and a who's Who cast of character actors.

If you are looking for a movie with Lucille Ball at her comical best, this is the one.

As a trivia note, the musical number in the film "Put The Blame On Mame" is the same recording used to dub Rita Hayworth's voice in the film "Gilda".

Bacon may have directed, but the sight gags are pure Tashlin. His cartoonish style is perfect for out-and-out slapstick. Note the number of physical exaggerations, right out of storyboard animation. Actually, Tashlin's the perfect spark to get Ball's comedic career in motion, which I gather this movie did.

The plot line itself is patterned after the many occupational comedies of the time—The Good Humor Man (!950), The Yellow Cab Man (1950), etc.-- as Sally (Ball) and Humphrey (Albert) get hilariously mixed up with cops and crooks. Red Skelton even puts in an amusing cameo from his Fuller Brush Man (1948).

The gags fly fast and furious maybe too much so, along with an overlong climax. Still, the set-ups are consistently inventive, while Ball gets to show a lot of sex appeal along with the clowning. Albert strives manfully to keep up, but it's Ball who gets the close-ups and the spotlight. Catch her versatility, for example, as she moves effortlessly into her amusing nightclub act.

I don't know why the pro's consistently downgrade the film—TCM giving it only two stars out of four. True, the slapstick gets a little frenetic at times, but the results remain pretty darn funny and provide a great early glimpse of TV's top comedienne in the making.

Sally Elliot (Lucille Ball) and boyfriend Humphrey Briggs (Eddie Albert) struggle to make the down payment for their dream home. Humphrey gets a surprise promotion but he's actually being setup as the fall guy by his boss. Sally's friend Jane is a Fuller brush girl selling cosmetics door-to-door. When Sally gets fired for blowing up the switchboard, she tries to join Jane as a Fuller brush girl but it leads to door-to-door misadventures.

Lucy is being the Full Lucy. She's hanging on a line, steamed like a roll, rolled like a wheel, drinking like a fish, and gets real blown up. I like babysitting and bad perms. The whole smuggling premise is convoluted and messy. It does allow her to do all crazy physical comedy. It would be funnier if it all flows directly out of her door-to-door sales. Humphrey is a side character and is almost unnecessary. This is all Lucy. She could have done this solo.

The one and only big screen teaming of Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert finds them as a pair of newlyweds wondering how they're going to make the payments on their dream house. Then Lucy gets the bright idea of getting a job as a Fuller Brush Girl. Just to show how good she is, she even takes her friend Jeff Donnell's sales route.

What I'm describing is typical Lucy Ricardo behavior and it brings typical Luc Ricardo results, all kinds of complications for everyone around her and much laughs for an audience.

The Fuller Brush Girl is like a dress rehearsal for I Love Lucy, she gets to try out some material that would become familiar on the small screen very shortly. From the beginning where she blows up a telephone switchboard to a drunk act straight from the classic Vitametavegimen routine, the film pulls out all the stops.

One thing that was different is that Eddie Albert being a different type than Desi Arnaz is far more passive and far more a victim in this film than Desi ever was.

Would you believe that poor Lucy who's just trying to make a little extra money winds up being accused of the murders of Albert's boss Jerome Cowan and his wife Lee Patrick? Frank Tashlin's script glides right into that with no effort. The twenty minute or so final chase scene on a freighter is a scream from start to finish.

Special mention should go to Mel Blanc who provided the voices for a pair of South American parrots who help as well as hinder Albert and Ball and provide a wonderful commentary on the proceedings. The Fuller Brush Girl is a must for fans of Lucy.

Once and a while you're lucky enough to see a film for the very first time that you never heard of before that you simply end up loving. Such is "The Fuller Brush Girl". Costarring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, this is one very funny film. It was written by the late/great Frank Tashlin and plays out like a live action cartoon. And no wonder. Tashlin is one of the all-time greats in the field of animated cartoons. While not as prolific as Tex Avery, his cartoons are among some of the best ever made. It was once said that Frank Tashlin directed cartoons like films and made films like cartoons. "The Fuller Brush Girl" is a perfect example. While directed by Lloyd Bacon, the real soul of the movie is Tashlin, who basically comes up with inventive gag after great inventive gag. And all of them are worked out in live action to perfection. Tex Avery once said that it was funnier if something was done in live action. And he was right! Had this been an actual cartoon, it wouldn't have been as satisfying. Ball is her usual hilarious self and Albert is at his best here as her fiancé'. So if you think you've seen every 1940s-50s comedy worth seeing and have yet to see "The Fuller Brush Girl" , then you really have something to look forward to! As they say, don't miss it! Enjoy!