My Friend Irma (film)
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| My Friend Irma | |
|---|---|
| Image:Myfriendirma.jpg | |
| Directed by | George Marshall |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis |
| Written by | Cy Howard Parke Levy |
| Starring | Jerry Lewis Dean Martin Marie Wilson John Lund Diana Lynn |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 16, 1949 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
My Friend Irma was filmed from February 22 through April 12, 1949. It was released on August 16, 1949 by Paramount. This comedy was directed by George Marshall and is most notable as the film debut of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It was based upon the CBS radio series My Friend Irma that first aired in 1947.
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[edit] Plot
The storyline follows two women, Irma Peterson (Marie Wilson) and Jane Stacey (Diana Lynn), who room together in New York. Irma is a somewhat dim-witted blonde who deep down has good intentions. Jane is an amibitious woman who dreams of marrying a rich man. She winds up as a secretary for a millionaire, Richard Rhinelander (Don DeFlore).
Meanwhile, Irma is in love with Al (John Lund), who is a con-artist looking to get rich quick. Al visits an orange-juice stand and encounters Steve Laird (Dean Martin) singing. He convinces him to leave his job and promises to make him famous. Al and his partner Seymour (Jerry Lewis) then wind up living at Jane's apartment through the invitation of Al. She is angry, but Irma convinces her to let them stay. This opens up a romantic arc where Jane and Steve fall in love.
After a successful singing debut, Steve gets upset with Jane's wishes to marry a wealthy man and he leaves and returns to the juice stand. Meanwhile, Irma gets into a situation and decides to end her life. However, she finds out a radio station is about to call her for a $50,000 question, so she rushes home to answer the quiz. She wins the prize and all live happily ever after.
[edit] Trivia
- Lewis was originally cast to play the part of Al, but after the first day of screen tests it was obvious that no one would believe him as the gangster-type. Concerned that he would be left out of the film and that they were abandonning the formula that had created the Martin & Lewis team's comedic success ("handsome guy with the monkey"), Lewis came up with the idea of playing the comical sidekick to Steve, and the character Seymour was written into the script.
- Marie Wilson, Hans Conried, and Gloria Gordon played the same characters in the movie that they did on the radio show.
- Felix Bressart was cast in the film, but died during filming. Hans Conried took over his role.
- It was followed the following year by a sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West, the only sequel that Martin & Lewis ever made.
- Diana Lynn later appeared with Martin and Lewis in 1955's You're Never Too Young.
- Martin & Lewis had been approached by several film studios before signing a five-year contract with Paramount. Filming of this movie was already underway but Producer Wallis thought it would be a low-risk introduction of the team to the screen.
[edit] DVD releases
[edit] References
- Lewis, Jerry and James Kaplan. Dean & Me (A Love Story). New York: Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-7679-2086-4
