Who’s Minding the Store? (1963)

Director: Frank Tashlin

Cast: Jerry Lewis, Jill St. John, Ray Walston

Synopsis: A clumsy store clerk is in love with the daughter of the store’s owner.

I’m not a fan of Jerry Lewis (The Patsy, The Trust), but the 1963 comedy Who’s Minding the Store is one of his less annoying outings, thanks largely to a strong supporting cast.    Lewis plays a proud but hopeless young man, with whom store heiress Jill St. John (The Lost World) is in love.   However, she can’t reveal her true identity to him because she fears he will break off their engagement if he discovers she is the daughter of the woman who runs the store empire that employs them both.

Lewis employs his usual meagre bag of tricks, pulling silly faces as he engineers his way into a series of ludicrous situations: he operates an invisible typewriter, walks unruly dogs, blinds passing drivers with a mirror he is carrying, does battle with an all-consuming vacuum cleaner, causes chaos with a golf ball, etc.   It might raise an occasional half-smile if you’re in a generous mood, but generally speaking, this will appeal only to little kids, undemanding adults and a disproportionate number of French people.

(Reviewed 17th January 2012)