Little Giant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Little Giant | |
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 Little Giant Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | William A. Seiter |
| Produced by | Joe Gershenson |
| Written by | Walter DeLeon Paul Jarrico Richard Collins |
| Starring | Bud Abbott Lou Costello Brenda Joyce Jacqueline de Wit Margaret Dumont |
| Music by | Edgar Fairchild |
| Editing by | Fred R. Feitshans, Jr. |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 22, 1946 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $775,000 |
| Preceded by | Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945) |
| Followed by | The Time of Their Lives (1945) |
| IMDb profile | |
Little Giant is a 1946 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.
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[edit] Plot
A naive country boy, Benny Miller (Lou Costello), from Cucamonga, California, has been taking correspondence phonograph lessons on how to be a better salesman. Upon his successful completion of the course he leaves his mother (Mary Gordon) and his girlfriend Martha (Elena Verdugo) to make it big in Los Angeles. He arranges a meeting with his uncle Clarence (George Cleveland), who is a bookkeeper with the Hercules vacumn cleaner company. When he arrives to meet with his uncle to ask him for a job, the sales manager, John Morrison (Bud Abbott), mistakens him for one of the auditioning models and has him remove his clothing. Morrison's secret wife, Hazel Temple (Jacqueline de Wit), discovers the error and suggests that they hire Benny in order to avoid a scandal, as they have been cooking the books and cannot risk any type of inquiries. Unfortunately Benny is unsuccessful as a salesman and is fired after one day. Clarence then arranges for Benny to work at another one of the company's branches in Stockton, which is run by Morrison's cousin. Tom Chandler (Bud Abbott).
Benny's misfortunes continue, including a prank played on him by his new co-workers where they convince him that he can read minds. However, this gives Benny the confidence that he previously lacked and he winds up being Hercules' Salesman of the Year. He is sent back to Los Angeles to receive his award, and while demonstrating his abilities to Morrison, he alludes to the fact that Morrison has a secret bank account. This causes Morrison to send his wife to obtain more information from Benny to see what he really knows. They wind up at her apartment, and after smoking a cigar, Benny becomes ill. Hazel then gives Benny a sedative, and mistakenly takes one herself, and the two of them wind up falling asleep together. It is at this point that Morrison arrives home to find them together and fears that they have had an affair.
Later that nighe, at the awards ceremony, Benny learns of the mind-reading ruse, and after hearing Morrison bad talk him, he goes back to Cucamonga. Upon arriving there, he not only finds his mother and his girlfriend, but Chandler, one of his co-workers Ruby (Brenda Joyce), and the company president. Mr. Van Loon (Pierre Watkins) all waiting for him. They have all come to tell him that Morrison has been fired and has been replaced by Chandler, and Benny is being offered the sales manager position of the Cucamonga district.
[edit] Trivia
- It was filmed from November 1 through December 17, 1945.
- It was re-released in 1951 along with The Time of Their Lives, and in 1954 with One Night in the Tropics.
- This film, and the next Abbott and Costello film, The Time of Their Lives, both have the team playing separate roles as opposed to partners. This is due to the fact that there was tension between the two men that actually led them to splitting up the team for a while in 1945.[1]
- Abbott played a third role in this film as well, that of Chandler's and Morrison's grandmother.
- The opening scene where Costello is trying to sell Sid Fields more than just the gasoline that he came to buy was originally filmed with another actor, Eddie Waller.
[edit] Routines
- Abbott and Costello perform the 7x13=28 routine, where Costello attempts to prove to Abbott that 7 times 13 equals 28, 13 divided by 7 equals 28, and seven 13's added together equals 28.
[edit] DVD Release
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[edit] Reference
- ^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
