Bob Hope is American actor Arthur Tyler, though he spends most of his time living up to mistaken identities.
First, rich American Effie Floud is led to believe he’s a true English butler named Humphrey. She drags him to the Wild West so he can help refine her husband Mike and her rough-and-tumble daughter Agatha (Lucille Ball).
But Mike Floud gets confused and thinks Humphrey is an English earl. Next thing ou know, the town of Big Squaw is rolling out the welcome mat for English nobility.
And word spreads. Teddy Roosevelt hears of the earl’s presence and decides to stop by Big Squaw for a visit.
Meanwhile, Agatha and her dad have hatched a plan: Convincing Agatha’s very jealous suitor Cart Belknap (Bruce Cabot) that Humphrey has romantic feelings toward his girl might be a good way to rid themselves of the bothersome butler.
But by the time that plans moves into full swing, Agatha has had a change of heart.
Review:
There not very much Wild West in this comedy Western. But team up comedy legends Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, and you’re bound to get some laughs, no matter what.
They’re delivered here in the form of a hair-styling session that winds up with a bird atop Agatha’s head, a scared would-be Englishman fleeing a horde of midget Indians and a fox hunt gone very, very awry. With the help of a determined Dachshund.
Lucille was in her late 30s and a year away from stardom that came with the “I Love Lucy” TV show when this film was released.
It marked one of four films in which she and Hope appeared together, preceded by “Sorrowful Jones’ (1949) and followed by “The Facts of Life” (1960) and “Critics Choice” (1953).
Directed by:
George Marshall
Cast:
Bob Hope … Humphrey / Arthur Tyler
Lucille Ball … Agatha Floud
Bruce Cabot … Cart Belknap
Jack Kirkwood … Mike Floud
Lea Penman … Effie Floud
Hugh French … George Van Basingwell
Eric Blore … Sir Wimbley
Joseph Vitale … Wampum
John Alexander … Teddy Roosevelt
Norma Varden … Lady Maude
Virginia Kelley .. Rosalind
Colin Keith-Johnston … Twombley
Joe Wong … Wong
Runtime: 92 min.
Memorable lines:
Effie Floud, after wrangling an invitation to a wealthy gent’s country place: “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Daughter Agatha: “Yeah, I want to get somewhere and loosen these corsets.”
English actress: “How did you get to be such an idiot?”
Humphrey: “Early to bed and early to rise. I think that’s the answer.”
Agatha Floud, of Cart Belknap: “He’d kill any man who got within huggin’ range of me.”
Humphrey: “In that case, I shall look forward to a long and happy life, my lady.”
Andrews: “I’m Andrews, the town undertaker. Originally came West to dig for gold.”
Humphrey: “Well, no sense wasting a shovel.”
Agatha Floud: “First time I saw you, I said to myself, ‘Here’s a dirty, low-down, liver-bellied coyote. Then, as I got to know you better, I figured you for a filthy, stinkin’ rat.”
Humphrey: “I grow on people like that.”
Wong: “Now you hold the fox good. I put on the gravy.”
Cart Belknap: “What’s that for?”
Wampum: “Dogs not hunt fox before. But dogs very much like gravy.”
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