The Long, Long Trailer

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The Long, Long Trailer

Directed by	Vincente Minnelli
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Written by	Clinton Twiss (novel) Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich (screenplay)
Starring	Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Marjorie Main Keenan Wynn
Music by	Adolph Deutsch
Cinematography	Robert Surtees
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	February 18, 1954
Running time	96 min
Language	English
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The Long, Long Trailer is a novel by Clinton Twiss from the 1950s. It is about a couple who buys a new travel trailer home and spends a year traveling across the United States.

The novel was made into a movie in 1954 starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Marjorie Main, Keenan Wynn, Bert Freed, Moroni Olsen, Gladys Hurlbut, Madge Blake, and Walter Baldwin. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli working from a screenplay by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Continuity Goof
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Nicky (Arnaz) and Tacy Collini (Ball) are going to be married. Nicky wants to save up money for a house, but Tacy dreams of starting off with their own home on wheels--a trailer. After the two are hitched, they hitch up their trailer and begin their honeymoon. The humor comes from several disastrous adventures the couple has while traveling, including Tacy's awkward attempt to cook dinner in a moving trailer, and a cliffhanging ride through the mountains that nearly destroys their marriage.

[edit] Trivia

The trailer in the film was a 32-foot (9.8m) 1953 New Moon, which cost $5,345 at the time. The trailer was built at the New Moon Homes trailer factory in Alma, Michigan. The car was a 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible with a 125 HP flathead V8 engine.

According to Turner Classic Movies' host, Robert Osborne, the studio was not sure if this film would be a success because they thought that people would not pay money to see Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz in a movie when they could watch Lucy & Desi on television for free (I Love Lucy). So Desi made a bet with the studio that if the movie made more money than the current highest grossing comedy at that time (Father of the Bride starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and also directed by Vincente Minnelli), the studio would have to pay Desi twenty-five thousand dollars and if the movie didn't do so well, then Desi would have to pay the studio the amount. Desi won the bet.

A young Liza Minnelli had a scene as a guest at the Collini's wedding that was cut from the final version of the movie.

This movie is referenced in the song "Everything Right Is Wrong Again" by They Might Be Giants on their debut album: "Everything right is wrong again / Just like in The Long, Long Trailer / All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving / And nobody would stop to save her."

The dangerous mountain road featured in the movie is Whitney Portal Road which leads up to Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The hairpin turn featured in the film offers scenic views of the Owens Valley.

[edit] Continuity Goof

During the scenes of Nicky and Tacy pulling their trailer in the mountains, their 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible is replaced with a larger but similar appearing 1953 Lincoln Capri convertible. The distinct Lincoln grille is clearly evident in a shot as the car rounds a curve. The more powerful Lincoln (which is equipped with a 205 HP V8 engine) was needed to pull the heavy New Moon trailer up and over the steep grades of the Sierra Nevadas where the scenes were filmed.