Just Watched: "The First Traveling Saleslady"
...Made in 1956, this movie is your basic '50's Western'... not really
my favorite 'genre', but they are ok... of course, this one has our VKM
going for it, so there's your motive for watching it! (duh)... and she
IS the central character, so that's the perfect 'foundation'...speaking
of 'foundations', that's exactly what Ginger's character, Rose Gillray,
is selling...corsets, that is. Evidently, that is easier said than done,
as corsets were not 'acceptable' in the Old West...so the business is
in trouble, and she has to go to her suppliers and make 'deals'...one of
which is the steel manufacturer, where the corset 'stays' (I think that
is what they are called) come from. Anyway, this company also makes
barbed wire, which is also not accepted in the west... well, that's
about as far as I will go, but you probably see where it is going...
As usual, there are many suitors pursuing Ginger, with only one eventual winner... won't tell you that, either.
Her character basically has 'moxie', as one would expect from the first traveling saleslady, no? Although she has her share of 'setbacks', she keeps plugging away at the problem at hand... and we all know what happens when Ginger sets her mind to anything!
As for Ginger's wardrobe, it is nice, 'turn-of-the-century' stuff, but more 'business lady' style; there are only a few scenes where she is 'to the nines'... she has a dinner date, and is in a white number with gold and black flower print on it... 'off-the-shoulder' style (what I would call it, anyway)...pretty nice.
Ginger is in her mid-forties in this one, and is as fetching as ever, IMHO - I think I have written before that the 'middle-age' Ginger is quite attractive to me, being in my 'low-to-mid-forties' myself....
The fact that it is in color is an interesting feature, too... I know "Ginger in B/W" is our mantra, as it well should be, but it is neat to see Ginger in color every now and then (I wish she would have made one of her color films while she was in her 'dark-hair color' mode, just to figure out the exact color...(just let it go, dude...let it go... :-]).
There is only one 'small' thing about this one, and it is really 'nit-picking'... but Ginger basically kicks her voice up a noticeable amount 'higher' in this one... it may well be that her 'sales partner' (Carol Channing, who is quite funny here in her screen debut) has that 'unusual' voice, and Ginger just thought of a 'complementary' timbre for her character, since they are doing a good chunk of the movie dialouge together... it's not to the point of 'annoying', but I guess enough to be 'aware' of it... but not THAT big a deal, I assure you...probably shouldn't have even mentioned it - sorry.
Overall, it is a pretty 'cute' little movie, and Ginger is the primary focus... and she is her usual charming and perky self... the plot is somewhat predictable, and the 'western' aspect is typical, but without any 'out-and-out mean' characters... just 'antagonists'.
This was the LAST RKO movie made, and thus very appropriate Ginger is in it... also, check out a young Clint Eastwood - his character is a somewhat minor one, tho... and, James Arness is featured, the fellow who played 'Marshal Dillon' on the 60's TV show 'Gunsmoke', which actually ran well over a decade, I believe...
Rating? well, it is in the 'middle' of the pack, I guess... quite entertaining, and 'easy' to watch - nothing too 'heavy', plot-wise. Thumbs-up overall!
Hope this helps out somebody somewhere...
Thanks, JW
As usual, there are many suitors pursuing Ginger, with only one eventual winner... won't tell you that, either.
Her character basically has 'moxie', as one would expect from the first traveling saleslady, no? Although she has her share of 'setbacks', she keeps plugging away at the problem at hand... and we all know what happens when Ginger sets her mind to anything!
As for Ginger's wardrobe, it is nice, 'turn-of-the-century' stuff, but more 'business lady' style; there are only a few scenes where she is 'to the nines'... she has a dinner date, and is in a white number with gold and black flower print on it... 'off-the-shoulder' style (what I would call it, anyway)...pretty nice.
Ginger is in her mid-forties in this one, and is as fetching as ever, IMHO - I think I have written before that the 'middle-age' Ginger is quite attractive to me, being in my 'low-to-mid-forties' myself....
The fact that it is in color is an interesting feature, too... I know "Ginger in B/W" is our mantra, as it well should be, but it is neat to see Ginger in color every now and then (I wish she would have made one of her color films while she was in her 'dark-hair color' mode, just to figure out the exact color...(just let it go, dude...let it go... :-]).
There is only one 'small' thing about this one, and it is really 'nit-picking'... but Ginger basically kicks her voice up a noticeable amount 'higher' in this one... it may well be that her 'sales partner' (Carol Channing, who is quite funny here in her screen debut) has that 'unusual' voice, and Ginger just thought of a 'complementary' timbre for her character, since they are doing a good chunk of the movie dialouge together... it's not to the point of 'annoying', but I guess enough to be 'aware' of it... but not THAT big a deal, I assure you...probably shouldn't have even mentioned it - sorry.
Overall, it is a pretty 'cute' little movie, and Ginger is the primary focus... and she is her usual charming and perky self... the plot is somewhat predictable, and the 'western' aspect is typical, but without any 'out-and-out mean' characters... just 'antagonists'.
This was the LAST RKO movie made, and thus very appropriate Ginger is in it... also, check out a young Clint Eastwood - his character is a somewhat minor one, tho... and, James Arness is featured, the fellow who played 'Marshal Dillon' on the 60's TV show 'Gunsmoke', which actually ran well over a decade, I believe...
Rating? well, it is in the 'middle' of the pack, I guess... quite entertaining, and 'easy' to watch - nothing too 'heavy', plot-wise. Thumbs-up overall!
Hope this helps out somebody somewhere...
Thanks, JW
4 comments:
Neat-- thanks again for the interesting and entertaining post. :)
I agree- it is nice to see a Ginger movie in color every once in a while. Her hair was lovely. I agree about the brunette thing, and wish ever so much to find a color picture of her with red hair. I know, probably not, as it was quite early...ah well.
I didn't like westerns much either until...well, Barbara Stanwyck really. ;)
R.A. - thanks for the kind words... hopefully I can do a review of a movie every few days... I have quite a few Ginger movies 'en route' from eBay and iOffer folks...hopefully they will all be in fair condition.
Seems like the VKM blogs have not really touched much on Kitty Foyle (probably because we are too busy looking for the 'hard to find' VKM movies!), but it is, ultimately, THE Ginger movie...I guess the Academy Award more or less demands that...but it really is so 'total Ginger' throughout, it really is hard to keep it out of the #1 spot. I guess a review of it would be in order.
Juliette - I am going to 'sort out' all my color pix of Ginger with the 'dark' hair color and post them all... that might help some... but I probably am WAY too uptight on the 'hair color' question...but would like to know!
well, again, westerns are not my favorite genre, but they are ok - and just like anything, there are good ones and bad ones... this one actually is not a 'traditional' western, as not much in the way of shootouts or really even fights...but it is a neat little movie.- Excellent-- that'd be wonderful!
Rupert