Starring Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Jack Kirkwood, and Lea Penman
Directed by George Marshall
Music by Jay Livingston; Lyrics by Ray Evans
Let's head back to the US for our next wild west tale. Ruggles of Red Gap was an even less-traditional take on westerns. The version most people are familiar with from 1935 features Charles Laughton as the butler who is won in a poker game by rich Americans and brought to America. This version pushes the accent even further on comedy, with Bob Hope as the butler and Lucille Ball as one of his newly wealthy employers. How well do they pull it off? Let's begin in England, 1850, where actor George Van Basingwell (Hugh French) wants to show off to a pair of visiting rich Americans, and find out...
The Story: George hopes to impress Effie Floud (Penman) and her tough daughter Agatha (Ball) by borrowing a mansion and having the cast of the drawing room comedy he's appearing pose as his aristocratic family. American actor Arthur Tyler (Hope) is so hopeless playing their butler that they fire him, but Effie is impressed and hires him on the spot to teach manners to Agatha and her husband Mike (Kirkwood).
The rough and tumble western town where the Flouds live misunderstand Effie saying Arthur is a "gentleman's gentleman" and assume he's an Earl. He's really hopeless at being a butler and an aristocrat and stands out like a sore thumb among the tough cowboys and ranchers. Agatha and her suitor Carl Belknap (Bruce Cabot) make fun of him, but Agatha comes to admire him after he seems to hold his own in a bar fight. She manages to bring him back when none other than Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander) comes to see this unusual newcomer. Arthur has to figure out how to get through a fox hunt and look aristocratic, before the whole country figures out what's going on.
The Song and Dance: Hope gets the lion's share of the gags as the actor who gets not one, but two roles of a lifetime playing an English butler and a rich Earl. He's especially hilarious in the second half, when he's telling tall tales to the locals about his non-existent adventures and tries his hardest to dodge that fox hunt. Ball has her moments as the vulgar daughter who is more at home out west in buckskins and playing pool than stuffed into a striped gown. The production is gorgeous, too, with terrific period gowns for the ladies and gorgeous color.
Favorite Number: Hope kicks off with "I'm a Butler" as he admires his costume and shows what he's supposed to do for the (fictional) British family. Ball (dubbed by Annette Warren) sings "Hey Fancy Pants!" twice, once over the credits, and once later with Cabot and the cowboys as they make fun of Arthur's high-falutin' ways. "Home Cookin'" has Ball, Hope, Kirkwood, and the family's Chinese chef (Joe Wong) singing about their idea of a home-cooked meal as they make a feast for Teddy Roosevelt.
Trivia: This is not the first or last time Ruggles of Red Gap was made into a musical. A stage version goes back to when the original novel was published in 1915. It would be adapted on TV for Producer's Showcase in 1957 with Michael Redgrave as Ruggles.
What I Don't Like: Though Ball and Hope would work together three more times after this, they really don't have a lot of chemistry here. Ball doesn't get a lot of chances to do the physical comedy that's her stock in trade, either. And frankly, it doesn't have much in common with the original film and book besides a British butler who is brought to the US by a wealthy western family. In the book and more faithful film and TV adaptations, Ruggles a shy older British butler whom Floud wins in a poker game. Instead of running out, he learns about American customs and eventually opens his own restaurant. Belknap is a snooty relative, not a cowboy, and there's no daughter.
The Big Finale: Enjoyable enough time-waster if you're a big fan of Hope or Ball.
Home Media: Easily found in all formats.
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