Fairy Tale Friday--Cinderfella (Jerry Lewis, 1960)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

This week we look at a 1960 comedy film starring Jerry Lewis entitled Cinderfella. I will be the first to admit I am not a fan of Jerry Lewis and his gurning schtick, but this had some charming moments. Ed Wynn plays his Fairy Godfather in that daft other-worldly way that only he can. Has anyone ever seen a film where Ed Wynn was anything but weird? 

This is a role reversal story starring Lewis as Fella that features most of the hallmarks of a traditional Cinderella tale.

Wikipedia summarises it like this:

When Fella's  father dies, he continues to live with his wicked stepmother, Emily, and her two sons, Maximilian and Rupert. His stepfamily takes over the family mansion, while Fella is reduced to living in an unfinished room at the end of a long hallway. He has in essence become their butler, catering to their every whim.

Note: This scene shows Fella as a slightly awkward, possibly dyspraxic, earnest fellow who tries but fails to light his stepbrother's cigarette.

Fella dreams nightly that his father is trying to relay a message to him about where he has hidden his fortune, but he always awakens before he learns the hiding place. His stepfamily knows of this secret fortune and some go to great lengths to discover its whereabouts, while others pretend to befriend him in order to wrangle Fella's fortune away once it is found.

Princess Charming of the Grand Duchy of Morovia is in town, so the stepmother decides to throw her a lavish ball in order to get her to marry one of the sons. Fella is not allowed to go to the ball, but his fairy godfather says he will not remain a "people" much longer, but will blossom into a "person." His fairy godfather also says that Fella will bring right to the men and will make wives stop looking for their Prince Charming because there was only one.

Note: Here we have Ed Wynn doing his trademark squeaky voice and quirky personality. it also shows, like in other versions, that our protagonist is humble and kind. 

Before the ball, Fella is turned into a handsome prince. Count Basie's orchestra is playing at the ball when Fella makes his grand entrance. The young man quickly gains the attention of the Princess and they dance.

Note: Here we see a very loose-limbed Jerry Lewis do a floppy sort of dance to Count Basie's Orchestra which attracts the attention of the princess.

 The night is cut short when midnight strikes and Fella flees, losing his shoe along the way.

Note: This energentic dash up the stairs like a rocket actually gave Jerry Lewis a heart attack. 

Wikipedia reports:

The scene was shot with one take of Jerry Lewis going down the stairs and one take going up. He ran up the stairs in less than nine seconds and collapsed at the top. He was taken to the hospital and spent four days in an oxygen tent with his second cardiac event. This delayed filming for two weeks.

Back to the story: 

Back home, one of Fella's stepbrothers realizes that Fella is the supposed "prince." They wind up in a struggle under a tree, in the process discovering that this is where Fella's father's fortune is hidden. Fella gives the money to his stepfamily, saying he never needed money to be happy, he only wanted a family. Shamed, his stepmother orders her sons to return the money to Fella.

The Princess arrives with Fella's lost shoe, but Fella explains that they could never be together because she is a "person" and he is a "people." She tells him that, underneath the fancy clothes, she is a "people" too.

Note: Sadly, I cannot find a separate clip for this, but you can watch the whole film in the link below. The scene in question where they meet and talk about her being people too starts at 1:08. Interestingly, she is dressed in a lavish red dress with long sleeves, fur trim and high heels. As they start to argue where he says he is ordinary and she is special, she rips her clothes--pulling off her sleeves and fur trim, breaking the heels off her shoes to make them flats (it doesn't really work that way, but still) until she is wearing an ordinary red dress. 

I think the one interesting thing to take away from this is that rarely do we see Cinderella have an inferiority complex about the fact that she is not good enough for the prince like we see here. He has real doubts but she makes a speech much like the one at the end of Notting Hill about being a girl standing in front of boy trying to get him to love her and it works. 

That's all for this week. Stay tuned next week for a tale with more colour.