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Released November 28, 1961
Featuring Joe Besser (Solo)
Paramount
95 min. (Feature Film)

Paramutual Pictures is losing money... not at the box office, but from internal inefficiency. Studio President Tom Paramutual (Brian Donlevy), aka "T.P.," decides an internal spy would be more effective than efficiency expert Mr. Fumble, preferably someone that no one would suspect. Enter Morty S. Tashman (Jerry Lewis), an incompetent bumbler, hired as a studio errand boy so that he can routinely observe activity around the studio, and report to T.P.'s assistant Dexter Sneak (Howard McNear). This plot device is virtually forgotten once it creates a means for Morty to stumble around the studio, and create havoc with a series of blackout and extended gag sequences.

Joe Besser has a small role as a studio projectionist.

One of Jerry Lewis' best films, funny even to most who don't like Lewis.

Excellent supporting cast filled with some of the best character actors around, including several Three Stooges veterans like Kenneth MacDonald, Phil Arnold and Benny Rubin, and other familiar faces like Fritz Feld, Sig Ruman and Stanley Adams. Kathleen Freeman is hilarious as T.P.'s laryngitis-stricken wife, forgotten by Morty when he drives the limo into the car wash with the top down. Howard McNear (THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW) steals every scene he's in.

Joe Besser was struggling for work at this time, and friend Jerry Lewis gave him a small role. It paid off well for Besser, who met Joey Bishop on the set... and wound up with a costarring role on Bishop's television sitcom for the next few years.

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Avg. Rating: [8.00/10]
 
ERRAND BOY, THE on IMDb

Jerry Lewis
Morty S. Tashman

Paul Frees
Narrator

Brian Donlevy
Tom 'T. P.' Paramutual

Howard McNear
Dexter Sneak

Kathleen Freeman
Mrs. Paramutual

Paul Lees
Brutal man

Mike Mazurki
Blonde actress' stand-in

Isobel Elsom
Irma Paramutual

Harry Cheshire
Ulysses Paramutual

Stuart Holmes
Albert Paramutual

Irving Kaye
Paramutual family member

Brian O'Hara
Paramutual family member

Hank Ladd
Paramutual family member

Herschel Graham
Weaver's assistant

Renee Taylor
Miss Giles

Jim Backus
Mr. Arbutt, Personnel Mgr., voice

Benny Rubin
Mr. Wabenlotnee

Phil Arnold
Babe Wosentall

Dick Wesson
The A. D.

Fritz Feld
Mr. Busby

Pat Dahl
'Bubbles Rothschild'

Michael Ross
Big man in elevator

Herb Vigran
Smoker in elevator

Bill Richmond
Bespectaled man in elevator

Caroline Richter
Bubblegum blower in elevator

Bob Golden
Man in elevator

Mary Treen
Commissary cashier

Daryn Hinton
Girl in commissary

Judy Erwin
Girl in commissary

Barry Livingston
Boy in commissary

Darlene Lucht
Blonde stenographer

Rosalind Roberts
Miss Herok, stenographer

Sig Ruman
Baron Elston Carteblanche

Nicky Blair
Man at Carteblanche screening

Dick Whittinghill
Man at Carteblanche screening

Regis Toomey
Man at Carteblanche screening

Milton Frome
Mr. Greenback

Jerry Wayne
Confederate officer

Theodora Davitt
Southern belle

Rita Hayes
Miss Hayes, dubbing singer

Del Moore
Movie premiere radio announcer

Douglas Evans
Serina's escort

Arthur Tovey
Man at movie premiere

Cosmo Sardo
Man at movie premiere

Norman Stevans
Man at movie premiere

Bert Stevens
Man at movie premiere

Hal Taggart
Man in premiere audience

Roscoe Ates
Ralph the prop man

Mike Mahoney
Carl the prop man

Bellfontevro
Puppeteer

Mary Ritts
Herself, marionette voice

Iris Adrian
Anastasia Anastasia

Paul Ritts
Himself, marionette operator

Richard Bakalyan
Jason, Anastasia's director

Joe Besser
Man watching rushes

Robert Ivers
Young NY director

Quinn O'Hara
Model, scene deleted


Jerry Lewis
Director

Arthur P. Schmidt
Associate Producer

Jerry Lewis
Screenplay

Bill Richmond
Screenplay

W. Wallace Kelley
Director of Photography

Arthur Lonergan
Art Director

Hal Pereira
Art Director

Sam Comer
Set Decoration

James W. Payne
Set Decoration

Charles Grenzbach
Sound Recording

Hugo Grenzbach
Sound Recording

Walter Scharf
Musical Score and Conductor

Leo Shuken
Orchestration

Jack Hayes
Orchestration

Nick Castle
Choreographer

Phil Boutelje
Music Coordinator

Edith Head
Costume Designer

Sy Devore
Men's Wardrobe

Nat Wise
Men's Wardrobe

Nellie Manley
Hair Stylist

Ralph Axness
Assistant Director

William Davidson
Production Manager

Marshall Katz
Assistant to the Producer

Eleanor H. Donahoe
Script Supervisor

Marvin Weldon
Dialogue coach


















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