Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the most successful act in show business in the early 1950s, a hit nightclub act that dominated every medium they tackled: radio, TV and, of course, movies. Scared Stiff was their seventh film and the second of four features released in 1953. A remake of the 1940 Bob Hope comedy The Ghost Breakers, based on an old stage chestnut that had been twice adapted to the silent screen, it was rewritten to accommodate a duo sharing the lead role, and to play on their chemistry and comedy act.

The exhausting pace was taking its toll, however, and with Scared Stiff Martin and Lewis took a stand. The duo was tired of being rushed into half-baked projects and Martin was frustrated with the string of colorless romantic leads who crooned a song or two and kissed the leading lady but otherwise set Lewis up for the punchlines. So they refused to show up for work, complaining that the remake was beneath them and that producer Hal Wallis was (in the words of a telegram sent to the producer) "subjugating our artistic and personal integrity to your greed." That was only half the story. They were turning out hit after hit without a raise from Wallis, who had them under contract for another year. The walkout worked. They renegotiated the contract with a substantial raise, a smaller annual commitment and the freedom to develop their own projects. Three months after complaining that the script was "degrading, offensive, insulting" and more, they reported for work on Scared Stiff with George Marshall, the director of The Ghost Breakers, taking a second swing at the material.

The film opens in New York City, where Martin takes the stage as nightclub singer and romantic lead Larry Todd and Lewis is his best friend Myron, the clumsy, disaster-prone little buddy who interrupts his act while failing to make the grade as a waiter. Martin sings "I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine" (a song covered by young Elvis Presley, a passionate Martin fan, during his first recording sessions) and romances Dorothy Malone, the girlfriend of a particularly jealous mobster, before he and Lewis end up on a cruise ship to Cuba and meet troubled heiress Lizabeth Scott, who has inherited a small island that is said to be haunted. Malone would take a central role in a subsequent Martin and Lewis film, Artists and Models (1955), two years later but is basically a supporting player here. She had just lost her brother and was convinced that Martin suggested her for the part to get her working again. "Martin was just so gentle," she told biographer Nick Tosches. "He never said much to me, but he just sort of guided me in my little scene...I can still remember the way he touched me to guide me into the phone booth in that scene."

Carmen Miranda is fourth billed but her role is minor, limited to a couple of comic scenes and two songs shared with Martin and Lewis. One of her signature songs, "Mamae Eu Quero," is played as backdrop for Lewis to lip-synch while parodying her performance in platform heels, exotic wraps, and fruit piled high on his head. It was her final screen appearance and she passed away two years later at the age of 46. And watch for a jokey cameo by buddies Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lewis and Martin had made an uncredited appearance in Road to Bali (1952) as a gag and Hope and Crosby returned the favor.

The film also marks the first big screen credit of Norman Lear, who changed the face of the American sitcom in the seventies with All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, Good Times, and other shows. He cut his TV comedy teeth writing Martin and Lewis's Colgate Comedy Hour scripts with Ed Simmons and the two scribes are credited with "additional dialogue" on the film. One wonders if they were responsible for tossing in the reference to Steubenville, Martin's hometown, as an inside joke.

Sources:
Dean Martin: King of the Road, Michael Freedland. Robson Books, 2004.
Brazilian Bombshell, Martha Gil-Montero. Donald I. Fine, 1989.
King of Comedy, Shawn Levy. St. Martin's Griffin, 1996.
Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, Nick Tosches. Dell, 1992.
IMDb

By Sean Axmaker