''The First Traveling Saleslady'' is a 1956 American film, starring

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

and

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

. Commercially unsuccessful, it was among the films that helped to close RKO Pictures. Future western stars Clint Eastwood and

James Arness James Arness (born James King Aurness; May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011) was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the CBS television series ''Gunsmoke''. Arness has the distinction of having played the ...

have supporting roles in the film.

Plot

Corset company owner and independent-thinking suffragette Rose Gillray has her wagon struck by a 'horseless carriage' in 1897 New York. This early automobile is driven by Charlie Masters, who tells her it is the transportation of the future. At work, Rose is helping singer Molly Wade into a boldly designed new corset when she gets the idea that using it for Molly's costume on stage would help to promote sales, but instead the show is shut down by the police. With her business failing, Rose owes money to Jim Carter, whose steel business manufactures the metal used for a corset's stays. Jim takes a shine to Rose and offers her a chance to sell his barbed wire, which is not selling well out west, where his salesmen get run out of town ... or worse. She ends up in Kansas City, accompanied by Molly and followed by Charlie. A cattlemen's association convention seems a good place to try to sell the barbed wire. However, cattle rancher Joel Kingdon gives her the runaround, attracted to her personally but warning her against peddling wire. She tries his home state of Texas next, but once again, Joel interferes, putting the women out of business temporarily. Rose eventually disproves the claim that barbed wire injures cattle, but she demonstrates that the cattle are smart enough to avoid impaling themselves, and the sales start rolling in. Joel and Jim both fall in love with Rose and propose marriage, but she rejects both. Charlie, though, comes along offering a ride to California, where he is got another new notion that he wants to explore: machines that fly.

Cast

as Rose Gillray *

as Molly Wade *

Barry Nelson Barry Nelson (born Robert Haakon Nielsen; April 16, 1917 – April 7, 2007) was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond. Early life Nelson was born in San Francisco, the son of Norwegian imm ...

as Charles Masters * David Brian as James Carter *

as Joel Kingdom * Clint Eastwood as Lt. Rice

Production

The film was based on an original story by Stephen Longstreet. It was Ginger Rogers' first movie at RKO for a number of years. "It's a very cute story", said Rogers. "It's for the whole family and I was delighted to make a family story." The role was originally intended for Mae West and according to an article in the November 8, 1955 issue of ''The Hollywood Reporter'', Betty Grable was set to play Miss Rose Gillray. The movie marked the film debut for

. It was Barry Nelson's first film in five years. Clint Eastwood was under personal contract to producer-director Arthur Lubin, who used him in a number of films. James Arness was under contract to John Wayne and had just established himself in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

-TV western '' Gunsmoke''. The movie was part of a $22 million slate of 11 films announced by RKO for the first half of 1956. Others included ''

Back from Eternity ''Back from Eternity'' is a 1956 American drama film about a planeload of people stranded in the South American jungle and subsequently menaced by headhunters. The film stars Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Anita Ekberg and Gene Barry. The film is a ...

'', ''

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, beca ...

'', '' Stage Struck'', ''

Bundle of Joy ''Bundle of Joy'' is a 1956 Technicolor musical remake of the comedy film ''Bachelor Mother'' (1939), which starred Ginger Rogers and David Niven. It stars Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (who were married in real-life at the time), and Adolphe ...

'', '' A Farewell to Arms'', ''The Syndicate'', ''

Cash McCall ''Cash McCall'' is a 1960 American romantic drama film in Technicolor from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by Joseph Pevney, and starring James Garner and Natalie Wood. The film's screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Marion H ...

'' and ''Is This Our Son''. Ultimately, RKO would only make a few of these films. Filming took place in January and February 1956. RKO's head of production,

William Dozier William McElroy Dozier (; February 13, 1908 – April 23, 1991) was an American film and television producer, writer and actor. He is best known for two television series, ''Batman'' and ''The Green Hornet''. Early life Dozier was born in Omaha, ...

, signed Channing to a five-year contract at two films a year. It was to begin with a musical remake of ''Stage Door'' but RKO went out of business some time after the contract was signed.

Reception

The film was not a financial success. According to a history of the studio. "the picture quickly faded into oblivion. RKO Teleradio needed a box-office rocket to blast off its first program of movies; instead, it tossed out a fizzling cherry bomb."Jewell, Richard B.. Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures (Kindle Locations 4417-4418). University of California Press. Kindle Edition.

References

External links