The Girl Can't Help It
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
A slot-machine mobster, Marty "Fats" Murdock (Edmond O'Brien), wants his blonde girlfriend, Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield), to be a singing star, despite her seeming lack of talent. He hires alcoholic press agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) to promote Jordan, both because of his past success with the career of singer Julie London (a fiction of the script) and because he never makes sexual advances towards his female clients.
Miller sets to work by showing Jordan off around numerous night spots; his machinations arouse interest in Jordan and soon offers of contracts follow. However, Miller realizes that Jordan really just wants to be a homemaker and tries to persuade Murdock not to push Jordan into a show-business career. He thinks he's succeeded when he reveals to Murdock that Jordan's singing is so bad it shatters light bulbs, but Murdock suggests that Jordan would be perfect for a song he (Murdock) composed while in prison. Miller reluctantly records Jordan performing the part of a prison siren in Murdock's song and heads to Chicago to promote it to Wheeler (John Emery), a former mob rival of Murdock who now has a monopoly over the jukebox industry.
Suspicious of Miller's reluctance to promote Jordan and of the obvious attraction between Miller and Jordan, Murdock has his associate Mousie (Henry Jones) wiretap a phone call between the pair. Feeling pity for them, Mousie edits out the romantic portions of their conversations and convinces Murdock that their relationship is strictly business.
In Chicago, Wheeler is impressed by the song and Jordan's voice and offers to sign both Jordan and the song writer. However, when Miller reveals that the song writer is Murdock, Wheeler throws him out of his office and vows never to play the song. A furious Murdock bullies bar owners into buying jukeboxes from him instead and successfully promotes his and Jordan's song. To prevent Murdock from stealing his business, Wheeler arranges to have Murdock assassinated at the rock show where Jordan will be making her debut.
On his way to the show, Murdock confesses to Mousie that he doesn't want to marry Jordan. Mousie confesses that he altered the tape of Jordan and Miller's phone call and encourages Murdock to let Jordan marry Miller. Backstage at the show, Jordan confesses her love to Miller and they kiss. Jordan also admits that she is a talented singer, who lied because she did not want a show business career; she goes on stage and performs a song about her love for Miller. When Murdock arrives, Miller declares to him that he and Jordan are in love; the delighted Murdock surprises Miller by shaking his hand and offering to be the best man.
Before Miller and Murdock can tell Jordan the good news, Wheeler's assassins shoot at Murdock. Miller fights them off and shoves Murdock on stage to perform his song, reasoning that the assassins won't shoot Murdock in front of so many witnesses. Wheeler arrives and, impressed by the audience's response to Murdock, calls off the assassination and signs Murdock instead. The film ends with Miller and Jordan kissing on their honeymoon, as Murdock and Mousie perform on a TV show in the background.

Review: Wanna see when Little Richard(She's Got It-Ready-Teddy & Girl Can't Help It), Gene Vincent(BeBop A Lula),The Platters(You'll Never Know), and Fats Domino(Blue Monday)perform their hits live as the actually sang them in 1956?
"The Girl Can't Help It" is a '50s comedy that is also a showcase for some of the rock 'n' roll acts of the day, including Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Platters, Gene Vincent, The Treniers, and many others.Tom Ewell plays a down and out agent, Tom Miller, hired by gangster Fats Murdock (Edmond O'Brien) to make his girlfriend, Jerri Jordan, (Jayne Mansfield) a star.
But Fats is still around.This is a very, very funny send-up of rock 'n' roll and show business, with a marvelously deadpan performance by Tom Ewell, to whom the singing Julie London, in various costumes, is always appearing while singing "Cry Me a River" - on the staircase, in the bedroom, in a bar - a great bit.
O'Brien, who performs his "Jailhouse Rock" mockery at the end of the movie, is hilarious.The real star is the flashy Jayne Mansfield, who underneath that va-va-va-voom figure, blonder than blond hair and huge chest was a beautiful woman and a good actress.
Some of the entertainment of this movie has been forgotten or been given bad marks by modern jaded viewers.It was my great privilege to view this film when it first came out at the neighborhood theater together with "Rebel without a cause".A privilege because such moments in movie viewing history just don't come along often.It was a Friday night and the theater was packed with a variety of juveys-hoods,roque's,frats,squares from high school down to my grade school.They were all there to witness a movie twin bill that would never be equaled again.When talking of that night my description is "The place was rockin".When the music came on it was as though the crowd was at a live concert.At school the following Monday the kids wern't trying to figure out James Dean's character from r.w.a.c. they were talking and singing about t.g.c.h.i.The slow witted girl that sat across from me in class knew by heart the words to the song Edmund o'Brien sang in the picture...I was amazed.Almost everyone agrees the music was good,I'm a little at odds with other comments.Till this day in my circle Jayne Mansfield was THE blonde of that era.She was cuter,funnier(her figure speaks for itself)than any blonde of that era.One reviewer used the word bubbly,that's a good description.At times she appeared on TV in bubbly character almost out of breath when speaking,she was a real card.Despite her eye popping outer appearance she generated a lot of laughter with her character.While some are trying to figure out if the other blonds were a symbol,sensuous,tragic,etc.
there was no mystery to Jayne.She was funny and a real man's and/or boy's woman.So dynamic was her outer appearance some of her criticism may stem from jealousy.The movie at times was a bit bawdy and it's humor still should hold up today.When watching Jayne walk up the stairs a man's glasses crack, although still funny it can never be as hilarious as it was back then.In no way was it a fashion statement to wear glasses back then,it was a social stigma for young people.To hurt another youngster's feelings they were called 4 eyes if they wore glasses,an expression all but forgotten.So anyone wearing glasses was considered pretty much of a goon in the first place thus an even funnier scene in this movie.In the complete gchi song the words are spicy-She makes grandpa feel like 21....has a figure made to squeeze.Of the entertainers Fats and Little Richard were my favorites hands down.In fairness to the entertainers that some have referred to as copies or clones of Elvis they were what a lot of the public wanted at the time.This movie has very good color,may the viewer be fortunate to see a good copy..
Tom Ewell does his exact same performance from The Seven Year Itch with Edmond O'Brian doing a Broderick Crawford impression, I liked that Jayne- who was obviously intended to be a foil for Monroe at her home studio of Fox - didn't try to act like Marilyn.She came across as very natural and her "own self"- someone secure with who she was.
There was a scene where she had to break down in tears and, well, I bought it.However, the real star of the film was the music- from the awesome title track by Little Richard to Ray Anthony to Gene Vincent to a strange meta-cameo by Julie London (I had forgotten what a wonderful voice she had)..
Scenes in this movie were either very interesting and funny or they were very stupid and annoying.There was no middle ground.THE GOOD - One of the interesting parts was seeing some of the early rock performers such as Gene Vincent and Bluecaps, Fats Domino, The Platters and several others.
It was nice seeing some of rock and rolls earliest hit makers doing their thing at intervals throughout this otherwise lame comedy about a an alcoholic talent agent (Ewell) taking on a gangster's girlfriend (Mansfield) as a client.
Peroxide blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield sashays her way through a film whose main purpose is to exploit her sexual glamour, but which inadvertently functions as a stunning time capsule of early rock-n-roll music legends.
Who cares?What makes the film worth watching is its historical significance, not only as a showcase for then-current singers and rock groups but, more importantly, as a harbinger of massive cultural change not fully realized until the following decade, and still having an influence fifty years later.The film's music newcomers expressed an eclectic mix of doo-wop, be-bop, gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock-a-billy that, clumped together, defined early rock-n-roll, and which had its roots largely in Black culture.
All of the pent-up themes and rhythms previously quarantined to a repressed subgroup thus blasted into prominence, threatening a banal and conservative mainstream.Among the most electrifying performances are lively Little Richard, untamed Gene Vincent, the inimitable Fats Domino, the Platters with their cool melodies, and a bizarre-looking Eddie Cochran.Matching the charisma of the era's new music and performers, the cinematography dazzles bright, vivid colors and in some scenes a strange color synthesis, as well as interesting camera angles and dissolves.
The film's eye-popping visual garishness thus overlays implied social shallowness and racial depravity so characteristic of the Eisenhower 50s, putrid in its slavish conformity to outdated mores and customs.Although the story and characters pivot around the visual site gags of voluptuous Jayne Mansfield and a troop of Hollywood has-beens, the film's thematic import lies in its use of avant-garde music as a means of cultural escape, which at the time no doubt seemed exploitative but now seems prophetic..
It is one of the few 1950's rock'n'roll movies that include the best acts of the day, for example Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.
Frank Tashlin's 'The Girl Can't Help It' is as much a valuable social document of 1950s rock 'n' roll as it is gaudy, cartoonish comedy.The appearances of 50's luminaries such as Little Richard and Fats Domino give the viewer a strong impression of the vitality and raw power of rock 'n' roll and the film is, if nothing else, a strong piece of archive material.The plot is somewhat slight but the cast all look as though they're having fun with the light-weight material.
Tom Ewell is much more effective and bearable than he was as the whiney Richard Sherman in 'The Seven Year Itch' and is a joy to watch as the washed-up agent Tom Miller.I don't know about other viewers but I found Edmund O'Brien's turn as Fatso incredibly irritating - all growls and bluster and his 'hit' Rock Around the Rock Pile was excruciating!And so to Miss Mansfield.
It is sad to see Mansfield in such turkeys as 'The Fat Spy' after her turn in this classic although for those of you still needing proof that she could put in a dramatic turn, check out 'Too Hot to Handle'.For fans of 50's rock 'n' roll, Tom Ewell and the wonderful Jayne Mansfield, look no further than 'The Girl Can't Help It'..
Before he found Marilyn in "Seven Year Itch," Tom Ewell partnered with Jayne Mansfield in one of the great music movies of the 50's..
In 'The Girl Can't Help It,"  Tom Ewell is a down and out agent hired by a gangster to turn his talentless girlfriend, Jayne Mansfield, into a star.
The movie is made with high concept, and is also important historically because it captures rare images of early rock stars performing their music.This movie would have been a pretty good comedy even if it was made without Jane Mansfield and selection of some of the best music to go with it.
The list of artist (listed below) reads like who's who of early rock and roll stars, and the images of them are precious cultural artifacts from that era.Little Richard Nino Tempo Johnny Olenn Eddie Fontaine Three ChucklesAbbey Lincoln Julie London Gene Vincent Eddie Cochran Edmond O'brienRay Anthony and his Orchestra The Treniers Ray Anthony Fats Domino The Platters Freddy Bell & the Bell BoysCredit goes to Frank Tashin who produced, scripted, and directed this movie.
And his cast is certainly willing: Tom Ewell basically repeats his role from THE SEVEN-YEAR ITCH (1955), Mansfield is better than expected and Edmond O'Brien, most surprising of all, lets it all hang out as the wannabe music mogul/gangster.
"The Girl Can't Help It" is a cute little film--though not quite as funny and memorable as Jayne Mansfield's followup film, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?".
But like this followup, "The Girl Can't Help It" works because it never takes its self seriously and it's a good fit for the talents of Miss Mansfield--and is well worth your time.The film begins with Tom Ewell being approached by an ex-gangster played by Edmund O'Brien.
The '50s broad stroke comedy hasn't aged as well as other films, but, that is to be expected as the beloved popular music of the generation that produced this film gave way to the genre that was actually being satirized, Rock and Roll.That being said, the film was AHEAD of it's time in showing artists doing their originals for a mass appeal production.
Some radio stations would only play Pennimen (Little Richard), Domino and other black artist's songs that white artists had covered...The inclusion of the the original artists was a bold and interesting move, as, even in film history, there had been films targeted for audiences by race in much the same way as was the radio practice of the time.The influence of those assembled artists, even the ones that the dialog was mocking, for instance, Eddie Cochran, can still be heard over 40 years after his untimely death...Summertime Blues is STILL a rock standard, and classic rock stations still play Little Richard, Fats Domino, and the Platters...Even the faded ghost of the music that was passing (literally and figuratively in the movie), Julie London, has gotten re-issues of re-mastered material on CD recently.An entertainment on many levels, this film still exudes an exuberance, and quite unintentionally, preserves a visual record of the musical legacy of artists from Jazz to Rockibilly to R&B to Early Rock...and the joy of those performances is still infectious in the 21st century..
From there it goes into a musical comedy shot in Cinemascope and color the way Fox productions had it at the time, with Jayne Mansfield as the busty blonde that practically everyone turns their heads to see, with exasperated Tom Ewell just slightly more confident than in the Seven Year Itch.
They're all here, belting away tunes to dance to, and opening up at least some of the doors for other rock and roll movies (not least of which Elvis, who would've fit in here).And sure, the plot is silly, but it's a funny one, and it's led on by a full-blown ham in Edmund O'Brien's gangster Murdock.
Nothing can describe the great feeling I had of seeing Gene Vincent singing Be Bop A Lula plus Little Richard, Eddie Cochrane, Fats Domino and The Platters.
"The Girl Can't Help It" is a good example of her talents from this period.A gangster named Marty "Fats" Murdock hires Tom Miller, a show business agent, to make his girlfriend Jerri Jordan a singing star.
It contains performances by rock 'n' roll stars of the period such as Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent and His Bluecaps; it is said that it was a favourite of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, both teenagers at the time, and influenced them in their own musical careers.Another singer who appears is Julie London, who is billed as "herself", although it might be more accurate to say that she is playing a fictionalised version of herself.
Looney Tunes veteran Frank Tashlin brings some of his wacky comic sensibilities and originality to the film, making it a little more fun than the story suggests it should be.(The bookending opening/closing sequences are uniquely cartoony and one memorable scene of blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield walking down the sidewalk includes such gags as a block of ice instantly melting in the back of a truck as she passes by.
The comedy in the script is also just a bit outside the normal for a live-action film.)Tom Ewell (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH) is enlisted by a washed-up gangster to make his girlfriend (Marilyn Monroe wannabe Jayne Mansfield) a star.
The plot itself is thin as a razorblade and one can't help suspect that it is mostly an attempt to sell records for Fats Domino, Little Richard or others of the 1950s rock acts that appear in the movie.
And it is a 1950s rock-n-roll movie, so we at least have some fun performances from musicians such as Fats Domino and Little Richard.
This is a bright, harmless send-up of Marilyn Monroe laced with many full performances from contemporary rock acts, some who aren't remembered today, some who've become legends: Eddie Fontaine, Little Richard, Julie London (her "Cry Me a River" number where Tom Ewell hallucinates her singing to him is electrifying, shiver-inducing), Fats Domino, Gene "Bee-Bop-a-Loo-la" Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Before these guys, music was all jazz and classical.I realised a couple of things watching this, though.
On the whole, he's not bad - but in a few scenes you'd wonder how he ever got a job acting anywhere - and i really like him!This movie was the reason people caled Jayne Mansfield the "poor man's Marilyn Monroe." She's sending up the Monroe persona here, but because this was the first and main time people saw here, no-one thought she could be anything more than a farcical version of Monroe.
Monroe invented sexy singing.But the curiosities of this piece are enough to make it worth a rent: seeing Tom Ewell in one of his few major roles aside from Seven Year Itch, watching the majorly hot Jayne Mansfield in the least rubbishy thing she ever did, rock'n'roll legends, who at the time were "those strange new guys on the juke box." The Julie London subplot for Tom Ewell's character is actually memorable - how he hallucinates her whenever he hears "Cry Me a River" on the juke box..
This film is more interesting for the variety of rock and roll acts and Tom Ewell's great comedy performance than the presence of La Mansfield.
This would also be the first time writer/director Frank Tashlin would use Jayne Mansfield in his movies, the second and last time being Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
When ex-con and gangster Marty 'Fats' Murdock (Edmond O'Brien) comes forth with an offer to make his girl friend Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield) a singing star Miller scoffs at the idea.
Clunky jokes about Mansfield's body, gangsters, rock and roll, and talent management are set up and delivered well by the trio of leads Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, and Edmond O'Brien.Adapted from Garson Kanin's novel "Do Re Mi" by director Frank Tashlin and Herbert Baker the narrative takes up about sixty percent of the movie.
Ray Anthony, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, the Treniers, Eddie Fontaine, Abbey Lincoln and Eddie Cochran all appear as themselves in musical showcases during sequences as Tom shepherds Jerri through the entertainment landscape of the day.Director Frank Tashlin cut his teeth directing cartoons, and the way he helms this flick shows it.
This regret-driven hallucination is goofily presented but with Tom Ewell in the male role playing against the haunting voice of London it takes on substantial weight in the over-lit comedic world of the film.Edmond O'Brien comes on a little too heavy as the ex-con gangster Marty 'Fats' Murdock who is bankrolling Jerri's entry into the music business.
As a movie per se it doesn't have a lot of merit.Tom Ewell's drunken cynic act is a bit worn and the ill - starred Jayne Mansfield is willing and good - natured but lacks the personality and talent required by her part.Edmond O' Brien has no discernible gift for comedy - a handicap you might think in a film that is supposed to be one.
There is Jayne Mansfield and some very good early rock 'n' roll tunes by the original artists.
But it is Jerri feeling vibes for Tom. During musical venues some very good music is presented like: "Cry Me a River" by Julie London; "Be-Bop-a-Lula" by Gene Vincent; "Blue Monday" by Fats Domino"; "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran; "Ready Teddy" and the title tune by Little Richard, and "You'll Never, Never Know" by The Platters.
In a way this movie does profess early that Elvis is the King, while Little Richard is the Queen of rock 'n' roll.
Cut to 97 minutes in the U.K. and Australia.SYNOPSIS: Tom Ewell plays a down-and-out agent who is hired by a mobster (Edmond O'Brien) to make a star out of his sexpot girl friend (Jayne Mansfield).