John Fenton Murray Movies

The Arnold of Arnold, like the Harry of The Trouble With Harry, is stone cold dead from the outset of this film. That doesn't stop Arnold's mistress Stella Stevens from marrying the corpse so as to come into his millions. The trick is to hide the fact that Arnold is indeed stiff as a mackerel. To accomplish this, a series of murders is a necessity. Special guest victims include Stevens' wastrel brother Roddy McDowall, her dotty sister Elsa Lanchester, handyman Jamie Farr, as well as lawyers Farley Granger and Patric Knowles. Also on hand are such dependables as Victor Buono, Shani Wallis, John McGiver and Bernard Fox. The script is by TV-sitcom stalwarts Jameson Brewer and John Fenton Murray. As one-joke films go, Arnold is as good as any. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exiled from Lidsville by evil magician Hoo Doo (Charles Nelson Reilly), the Good Hats are forced to relocate to the dismal Peroxide Swamp. In an effort to rescue his friends, Mark (Butch Patrick) assumes the identity of "Whizzo the Magician" (no relation, of course, to the character played by Marshall Brodien on the old Chicago kiddie show Bozo's Circus!) and challenges Hoo Doo to a winner-take-all duel of prestidigitation. Fans of The Munsters will enjoy Butch Patrick's decidedly Eddie Munster-lake makeup in the guise of "Whizzo," while pop-culture buffs will get a kick out of this episode's references to everything from the movie High Noon to pianist Liberace! ~ All Movie Guide

Suffering from "Ali Baba Virus," Weenie the Genie (Billie Hayes) is too ill to emerge from his magic ring in order to seek treatment. With the assistance of Colonel Poom's secret native potion, Nursie the Nurse Hat is able to shrink in size and climb into the ring. Meanwhile, Weenie's former master, Hoo Doo (Charles Nelson Reilly), is victimized by the Bad Hats, who steal his flying Hatamarand. Highlights of this episode include the deathless musical number "Party Time." ~ All Movie Guide

Hoping to escape Lidsville and return to his own world, Mark (Butch Patrick) is receptive to the plan hatched by talking-hat Colonel Poom. Finding a map that will lead Mark to a "golden ladder," Poom uses this valuable document as the cornerstone of his plan. Unfortunately, Mark's exit is blocked by evil magician Horatio W. Hoo Doo (Charles Nelson Reilly), who then conjures up a huge, horrific inflatable giant called "Big Daddy" to discourage the terrified citizens of Lidsville from ever helping Mark again. But the fact that "Big Daddy" is a spitting image for Hoo Doo is a dead giveaway that the conniving conjurer's scheme is doomed to fail (after all, how could anything so ugly ever truly be a winner?). ~ All Movie Guide

After registering well in supporting roles in such Bob Hope farces as Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number and Eight on the Lam, raucous comedienne Phyllis Diller attempted to carry a picture all by herself. Alas, Did You Hear the One About the Travelling Saleslady? proved to be as bad as its title. Borrowing elements previously utilized in Joan Davis' Travelling Saleswoman (1950) and the Ginger Rogers-Carol Channing vehicle The First Travelling Saleslady (1956), the film casts Diller as a player-piano saleslady, dispatched to the Wild West. TV-sitcom perennials Bob Denver and Joe Flynn offer their usual overplayed support; at times they're funnier than Diller, though that's not saying much. The film's highlight is a cattle stampede, which should give you some idea. Did You Hear the One... was scripted by John Fenton Murray, soon to be a mainstay of such Sid & Marty Krofft kiddie fare as The Bugaloos and Lidsville; compared to the Diller film, the Krofft stuff was a step upward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vito Scotti returns as Dr. Boris Balenkoff, who during his last visit to the island conducted a series of diabolical experiments resulting in some severe personality changes amongst the Castaways. This time, the mad doctor has come bearing gifts--namely, a collection of attractive-looking rings. Unfortunately, when the Castaways slip on the rings, they leave themselves vulnerable to Balenkoff's latest mind-controlling experiment...which, if successful, will culminate in the robbing of Fort Knox! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Rat Pack packed it in after this sprightly musical comedy that owes more than it should to Damon Runyon's stories and Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows's classic musical Guys and Dolls. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's bright and snappy score features such songs as "Style", "Bang-Bang" and the Sinatra standard "My Kind of Town". Set in 1920s Chicago, the tale begins during a birthday party for head mobster Big Jim (Edward G. Robinson) who is shot to death during the celebration. Rival gangster Guy Gisbourne (Peter Falk) immediately declares himself the chief gangster. The northside gang, headed by Robbo (Frank Sinatra) is willing to grant Guy his self-declared title as long as he leaves the northside territory alone. Guy refuses and when small time hood Little John (Dean Martin) joins Robbo's crew, turf warfare breaks out between the two gangs, resulting in the destruction of both Robbo and Guy's nightclubs. Meanwhile, Big Jim's daughter Marian (Barbara Rush) offers Robbo $50,000 to find the man who killed her father. Robbo demurs and gives the money to his henchman Will (Sammy Davis Jr.) to get rid of. Will, hoping to do a good deed, hands the money over to Allen A. Dale (Bing Crosby), who runs an orphanage. Allen, finding out that the money came from Robbo, informs the newspapers of Robbo's philanthropic enterprise and Robbo immediately becomes a local celebrity, referred to as Chicago's Robin Hood. For his part, Robbo is willing to go along with the publicity. On the romantic front, although Robbo is attracted to Marian, he gives her the brush-off when he finds she is using a charitable foundation as a front for a counterfeiting ring being run by herself and Little John. Robbo tells Marian to leave town. Instead, she hooks up with Guy, proposing that he kill both Robbo and Little John. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Heavy on slapstick and light on the more subtle forms of humor, this standard comedy by Frank Tashlin is still an amusing junket with Danny Kaye at the forefront as Ernie Klenk, a bumbling employee of the Diner's Club credit card company. Ernie has his hands full trying to manage the new computers (maybe they were all new at this point in time) and a bullying boss. His job is to okay the credit line of new customers and after he does just that with Foots Pulardos (Telly Savalas) he may have made his last serious mistake. Foots is facing trial for tax evasion and when he discovers that he and Ernie have an odd physical trait in common, he hits upon a scheme to fake his own death by immolating most of the hapless employees and then escaping the country disguised as Ernie. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A man named Ernest Maxwell (Hugh Marlowe) arrives in Mayberry, claiming to be a talent scout for a major record company. Armed with a tape recorder, Maxwell begins auditioning local talent, and soon everyone in town is currying the man's favor-everyone, that is, except Sheriff Andy Taylor. Suspecting that Maxwell is nothing more than a con artist, especially after the locals begin investing money in Maxwell's company. But someone is in for a big surprise-and that someone is Guess Who. Written by Benedict Freeman and John Fenton Murray, "Mayberry on Record" originally aired on February 13, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The town of Mayberry is agog when a Hollywood producer and his entourage breeze into town. Captivated by the community's rustic charm, the producer decides to use Mayberry as the setting for his newest film. Almost immediately, the local merchants begins catering to the moviemakers' every whim-but Sheriff Andy draws the line when a town landmark is threatened with destruction, simply to make a "clearer picture." First shown on January 2, 1961, "Mayberry Goes Hollywood" was written by Benedict Freeman and John Fenton Murray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Atomic Kid strives mightily to wring laughs from the otherwise humorless topic of atomic radiation. Mickey Rooney (who also produced the film) and Robert Strauss play a couple of brainless prospectors who stumble upon a A-bomb testing site. Led to believe that the area is rich with uranium, Strauss goes off to stake a claim, while Rooney relaxes in a "test" house. Before long, a bomb is dropped, a mushroom cloud sprouts in the desert. . .and Rooney emerges from the rubble unharmed. Later on, however, our hero discovers that he's so full of radiation that he glows in the dark, which makes him both dangerous and world-famous. The plot then veers into Cold War territory as Rooney routs a nest of Soviet spies, led by Robert Emmet Keane. The leading lady of the proceedings is Elaine Davis, Mickey Rooney's then-wife (her marital status, transitory though it may have been, was emphasized in the film's opening credits) Believe it or not, this monumentally unfunny comedy was based on a story by Blake Edwards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still extremely busy with his film and radio career, Richard "Red" Skelton made his weekly TV debut on September 30, 1951, with this live, half-hour program from New York. Wasting no time, Skelton reprised several of his favorite characters, including hayseed Clem Kadiddlehopper (performing a duet with musical director David Rose), perpetually soused Willie Lump Lump, con artist San Fernando Red, and inept Sheriff Deadeye. He also performed a visually oriented opening routine, showing how different members of the armed services might hitch a ride (the Navy man's unspoken expletives raised several eyebrows amongst viewers and critics alike). Appearing in support were the Skylarks singing group, performing "Hallelujah," and Lucy Knoch, who delivered the commercials. The trade paper Variety complimented Skelton for the slick professionalism of his opening program, noting that he avoided the deliberately fluffed lines and "breaking up" that had typified his radio series (though this new-found artistic discipline would soon evaporate). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide