The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.
Photos
Richard Tyler
- Homer Floogle
- (as Dickie Tyler)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOn one of Fred Allen's "Texaco Star Theater" radio broadcasts around 1941, Allen joked that Don Ameche was playing so many real-life characters in movies that if he wasn't careful Ameche would play Don Ameche in a movie one of these days. In this picture, Ameche indeed played himself in a scene opposite Fred Allen.
- GoofsWhen Parker is showing the Floogles his son's mousetrap he shows how the entry teeter board works by moving it. After a cut to the Floogles and back to Parker, he's moving the teeter board the same way again.
- Quotes
Fred F. Trumble Floogle: [being asked by a reporter about the economic situations] I'm glad you asked that. It's pitching, it's pinching me under the shoulder.
- Crazy creditsBefore the final card at the end of the movie, Fred Allen breaks the fourth wall one more time and says to the audience "Folks, you've got to come back to the next show, immediate seats on the inside."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Maltin on Movies: Identity Thief (2013)
- SoundtracksSunday, Monday or Always
(1943) (uncredited)
Music By Jimmy Van Heusen
Lyrics by Johnny Burke
Sung briefly by Frank Sinatra on a phonograph record
Featured review
Unexpectedly Good
I was surprised by the quality of the writing in this forgotten exhibition of the comic talents of radio personality Fred Allen. The story is one of those madcap farces in which a virtually non-existent plot is held together by a relentless barrage of jokes and quips which, for a change, hit more often than they miss.
Allen plays Fred F. Trumble Floogle, the penniless owner of a flea circus who unexpectedly comes into an inheritance when a distant relative is murdered. What Fred doesn't realise is that most of the fortune has already been siphoned off by crooked lawyer John Carradine and his cronies, and the few hundred thousand dollars that remains is hidden in one of a set of five chairs that have been sold at auction. There then follows a fast paced hunt for the missing chairs that leads Floogle into the paths of all manner of unusual characters. One of these is Jack Benny, and the film has a great time poking fun at his legendary stinginess. Two of the chairs have been sold to a nightclub where Floogle finds former stars Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee and Victor Moore working (Ameche has run out of things to invent in the movies so is reduced to working as a singing waiter to make ends meet.)
The story continues in this vein for ninety minutes, but very rarely does the pace – or quality of the jokes – flag. Others have pointed out that many of the gags will be lost on those with no – or little – knowledge of the period, but there's still plenty of timeless jokes that still work today.
Allen plays Fred F. Trumble Floogle, the penniless owner of a flea circus who unexpectedly comes into an inheritance when a distant relative is murdered. What Fred doesn't realise is that most of the fortune has already been siphoned off by crooked lawyer John Carradine and his cronies, and the few hundred thousand dollars that remains is hidden in one of a set of five chairs that have been sold at auction. There then follows a fast paced hunt for the missing chairs that leads Floogle into the paths of all manner of unusual characters. One of these is Jack Benny, and the film has a great time poking fun at his legendary stinginess. Two of the chairs have been sold to a nightclub where Floogle finds former stars Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee and Victor Moore working (Ameche has run out of things to invent in the movies so is reduced to working as a singing waiter to make ends meet.)
The story continues in this vein for ninety minutes, but very rarely does the pace – or quality of the jokes – flag. Others have pointed out that many of the gags will be lost on those with no – or little – knowledge of the period, but there's still plenty of timeless jokes that still work today.
helpful•40
- JoeytheBrit
- Sep 6, 2010
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- The Fifth Chair
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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