''The Ladies Man'' is a 1961 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by and starring

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

. It was released on June 28, 1961 by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot

Herbert H. Heebert is a young man who loses his girlfriend, swears off romance, and then takes a job at a genteel, women-only boarding house, run by Helen Wellenmellen. Although most of the women treat him like a servant, Fay helps him with his fear of women.

Cast

as Herbert H. Heebert/Marna Heebert *

Helen Traubel Helen Francesca Traubel (June 16, 1899July 28, 1972) was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, ...

as Helen N. Wellenmellon *

Pat Stanley Patricia Stanley (born April 12, 1931, Cincinnati, Ohio) is a retired American actress, dancer and singer. Career Stanley won her Tony Award in the category of Best Featured Actress in a Musical in the 1958-1959 season, for her performances ...

as Fay *

Kathleen Freeman Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1923August 23, 2001) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost in ...

as Katie *

George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...

as Himself *

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

as Harry *

Marty Ingels Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...

as Himself *

Buddy Lester Buddy Lester (born William Goldberg, January 16, 1915 – October 4, 2002) was an American actor and comedian who portrayed dozens of character roles in films and television. Although known for his appearances in Jerry Lewis’ comedy films, he w ...

as Willard C. Gainsborough *

Gloria Jean Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover; April 14, 1926 – August 31, 2018) was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub app ...

as Gloria *

Hope Holiday Hope Holiday (born Hope Jane Zee) is an American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Mrs. Margie MacDougall, Jack Lemmon's partner in self-pity on Christmas Eve night, in the Billy Wilder film ''The Apartment'' (1960). Early years Hol ...

as Miss Anxious *

Mary LaRoche Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

as Miss Society *

Madlyn Rhue Madlyn Soloman Rhue (née Madeline Roche, October 3, 1935 – December 16, 2003) was an American film and television actress. Personal life - youth and education Rhue was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Los Angeles High School, and st ...

as Miss Intellect *

Ann McCrea Ann McCrea (born February 25, 1931) is an American film and television actress. She is known for playing Midge Kelsey in the American sitcom television series ''The Donna Reed Show''. Life and career McCrea was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania t ...

as Miss Sexy Pot In addition,

Lillian Briggs Lillian Briggs ( Biggs; June 3, 1932 April 11, 1998) was an American rock 'n roll performer and musician. Briggs was the first woman to achieve star status at the dawn of rock 'n roll in the early 1950s; soon after embarking upon her career, a ...

, the "Queen of Rock & Roll," made her Hollywood acting debut in this film and actor

appeared in a cameo role. Patty Thomas plays herself a dancer.

Production

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

worked on the screenplay. He fought with Lewis and left the production. In Brooks's biography, he stated that the final draft screenplay only featured two of his scenes and asked the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

to make sure that he did not get given any credit. Filming started in November 1960. The main set is a four-story doll house-like interior of a mansion turned boarding house with a central courtyard allowing crane shots spanning its three and a half floors. The structure was several rooms deep at each level and in total 177 feet long, 154 wide and 36 feet high. The main set alone cost $500,000 to build (equivalent to $ in ). After two weeks of filming, Lewis fired cinematographer Haskell Boggs, who had worked with him on most of his films, over a disagreement and replaced him with W. Wallace Kelley. The film features the real-life wedding of Daria Massey and David Lee Joesting.

Release

The film premiered in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on June 28, 1961. In New York City, it opened on July 12 in a

double-bill The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with ''

Love in a Goldfish Bowl ''Love in a Goldfish Bowl'' is a 1961 teen film directed by Jack Sher starring singing idols Tommy Sands and Fabian. Plot Gordon Slide and Blythe Holloway are two platonic best friends at a college, both from single-parent families. They are so ...

''.

Reception

Howard Thompson, in a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "Now, in all fairness to a frankly light-headed vehicle that dies on its feet, Mr. Lewis' latest gets off to a fresh and really funny beginning." However, after the first half-hour, "the remainder of the picture, with everyone else firmly relegated to the background, has Mr. Lewis shuffling and stumbling in full view, as if he and the movie were merely improvising." Overall, it received mixed reviews in New York. Based on a limited selection of non-contemporary reviews, on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a 100% rating based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.25/10. The film grossed $271,635 in its first week of release in New York. In 1998,

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100. Herbert H. Heebert's line "Hey, lady!" was nominated for the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

's 2005 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on October 14, 2004 and again on July 15, 2014 in a 4-film collection, ''4 Film Favorites: Jerry Lewis'', with ''

The Bellboy ''The Bellboy'' is a 1960 American comedy film written, produced, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on July 20, 1960 by Paramount Pictures and marked Lewis's directorial debut. Plot In a prologue sequence, fictitious execut ...

'', ''

The Errand Boy ''The Errand Boy'' is a 1961 American comedy film directed by, co-written by and starring Jerry Lewis. Plot Paramutual Pictures decide that they need a spy to find out the inner workings of their studio. Morty S. Tashman, (the 'S' stands for 's ...

'', and '' The Patsy''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladies Man 1961 films 1961 comedy films American comedy films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Jerry Lewis Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Jerry Lewis Films with screenplays by Bill Richmond (writer) Films produced by Jerry Lewis Films scored by Walter Scharf 1960s American films