Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958) User Reviews

One of Lewis' better solo efforts

[JamesTCT · 8/10 · 1 May 2006]

I used to love Jerry Lewis films as a kid, and although I prefer the Lewis/Martin combos to his solo efforts, this would have to be one of my favorites.

I never used to like this, I found the slapstick unfunny, but it has grown on me over the years. Although the first 15-30 minutes aren't great, once Lewis is looking after the triplets there is a lot of fun to be had here, and Lewis plays his character with great pathos, in fact some parts of his performance are enough to bring tears, the way he portrays Claytons unrequited love for Carla.

The film also includes some lovely songs, particularly the Italian lullaby he sings with Papa Naples.

Recommended!

More Raucous

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 July 2012]

It might be redundant to say that Jerry Lewis did his best work with Frank Tashlin as director, either by himself or with Dino. He was a comic genius, but it took another genius to bring out the best in him.

Paramount dusted off the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek for Lewis in his early years as a solo entertainer. When he was with Dean Martin, Paramount was always remarking earlier hits for the team so this was in tradition. It took a lot of rewriting because Lewis's raucous type of comedy is far different than Eddie Bracken's more gentle schnook like character. Still Jerry does generate a lot of whimsy and pathos in his character of Clayton Poole.

It seems years ago Lewis had a big old torch for Marilyn Maxwell who left town and became a Hollywood Star. Maxwell's younger sister Connie Stevens is also crushing out on Lewis, but he can't see for the glare in Maxwell's spotlight.

Marilyn is now in a family way expecting triplets as a result of a marriage to a bullfighter who died in the arena after the honeymoon. It was all a blur and she can't remember where she got married, only that she did.

Her agent Reginald Gardiner fixes up the answer, have her go away to quietly give birth, then send them to her old friend Lewis to take care of. Later she can adopt. Hey, it worked for Loretta Young back in the day.

Of course Jerry gets fond of the three and goes to extraordinary lengths to tend to the kids. His scenes with the infants are both Tashlin and Lewis at their best.

The only real criticism I have is Lewis's best comic moment is unfortunately right at the beginning where he gets involved with a some loose chimney bricks, a runaway firehose, and a great deal of chimney soot, wreaking havoc for the whole neighborhood. Something that good should have been saved for last.

Rockabye Baby is not quite the classic of Miracle Of Morgan's Creek, but it's right up there with some of Jerry's best.

Rock-a-Bye Baby is truly Jerry Lewis' first solo effort with no Dean Martin-like role at all

[tavm · 8/10 · 3 September 2011]

Before I review this Jerry Lewis movie, let me just mention a couple of players from previous films he made with Dean Martin: Hans Conried plays his boss, Mr. Wright, and Mary Treen plays a nurse. Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say this was quite a change of pace for Lewis since for one thing, there's no role that would have been played by Martin since Jer is truly the whole show here. Also, with him having to take care of babies that happen to be sired by former girlfriend Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell), his shtick is not-so-frantic when he's on screen with them. Helping him is Carla's father (Salvatore Baccaloni) and her sister Sandy (Connie Stevens) who has a crush on Clayton Poole (Jer's character). Oh, and Carla's a movie star so there's also an agent (Reginald Gardiner) on hand. And one more thing: Jerry sings some good songs, including a duet with Mr. Baccaloni, in his own normal voice and he's as good as Dean would have been if he warbled them. He also sings with his son Gary, who's underage here and years from his fame with the Playboys, in a sequence mixing present with flashback as Gary plays his father when his age. Reportedly, Jerry's father Danny also appears though I didn't recognize anyone with the family resemblance. No matter as for the most part, I really enjoyed this movie except whenever Lewis did a couple of Asian gibberish that fell in the stereotypical trap. Oh, and Connie was also lovely when she sang. Okay, I've said enough so on that note, I highly recommend Rock-a-Bye Baby. Kudos to writer/director Frank Tashlin too. One more thing, you'll be amazed when you see the picture of the bullfighter Carla was married to when she had her triplets!

One of Jerry's more enjoyable romps.

[gregcouture · 9 May 2003]

I have to admit I've never been a rabid Jerry Lewis fan (even with a French last name, I can't join some of my relatives on the Continent in idolizing him), but, in looking back, I've seen more of his movies than I might have preferred. This one, though, was a lot of fun, possibly because it was a delightfully vulgar remake of a Preston Sturges classic.

The VistaVision/Technicolor production values are first-class; the supporting cast is able to withstand Jerry's frantic goofiness (especially Marilyn Maxwell, who gets to perform the wacked-out production number, "White Virgin of the Nile," and Ida Moore as Jerry's elderly landlady, avidly and simultaneously consuming every product being advertised on the TV she is constantly watching); and Frank Tashlin's direction pilots Jerry through the plot's crazy machinations with just the right touch of cartoon-like unreality.

If you're a Lewis fan, it's a must-see; if you aren't you may still find it an enjoyable way to spend a mindless 103 minutes.

Pleasant but a bit uneven.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 16 January 2015]

I have seen most of Jerry Lewis' comedies and I wasn't surprised that I liked this film, as it was made during a period in which most of his best films were made--the late 1950s (don't ask me what I think of the ones from the late 60s and 70s...yick). However, I must confess that while I liked the film overall, it was very uneven and about as many gags worked as flopped. As for me, I actually preferred many of the moments when Jerry wasn't trying to be funny-- such as one of the musical numbers where Jerry and the babies' grandfather sing a nice little duet.

The plot to this film is kind of weird. Clayton Poole (Lewis) used to date Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell) but now Carla has gone on to better things. She's now a big Hollywood star and her career is about to take a hit because she's pregnant and her husband died after only a day...and no one knows about the marriage. So, to avoid any sort of scandal, she plans on dumping the baby off on Clayton. However, she is surprised when she ends up having triplets. Yet, oddly, Clayton agrees to raise the kids even though they aren't his and he spends most of the rest of the film with the three adorable little girls. But, some rich biddy without kids decides to go to court to try to take the kids away, as everyone back in the 1950s KNEW that a man cannot raise a child by himself. What's next?

The film has lots of jokes that simply fall flat. The ones with the babies tended to work better because they were gentler and seemed less forced. As for the music, Jerry sings a lot of tunes (several of which were poorly chosen, as they were out of his musical range) and his acting is very nice. Overall, a cute little film that Lewis fans will love and others will at least tolerate.

A Jerry Lewis Musical / Comedy

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 27 March 2005]

This is another typical Jerry Lewis comedy. Overall, it will make you laugh. But more, this is a musical that makes you laugh. Jerry Lewis hits a home run for his typical audience. No surprises here, if you are a fan of his work, this is a treat. Then again, the supporting cast including Marilyn Maxwell, Connie Stevens and Salvatore Baccaloni make it more than just a Jerry Lewis comedy. Baccaloni is perfect. At first you hate him and then love him. Connie Stevens is beyond beautiful. She is as sexy as she can be for the decade. She plays the perfect girl next door who is head over heels for Jerry. The trick is, it is Jerry who is playing hard to get. This adds to the wonderful genre that Lewis created in his comedies. This is a nice story that offends nobody. This is hard to do when making a successful comedy. Somewhere, usually someone is the butt of the joke. Here, Jerry is the butt as well as the rest of the cigarette (wink wink).

Typical Jerry Lewis of the day. Provides showcase for his talents.

[ggfish · 7/10 · 28 December 1999]

Saw this film in its original release and later on some television re-runs. I like the film because it allows Jerry to face the situations that make for a movie that is a lot of fun. He is called upon to watch twin babies of a girl he thinks he is in love with who is a movie star, so while she goes all over the world filming he gets a crash course in baby rearing. Connie Stevens at her best is also along as a girl who really likes him. Some of the moves she put on him are quite risque for the 50's. Jerry does it all in this film. I like this period of his career after he broke up with Dean Martin. He made some great films until he transferred to Columbia. He seemed to get too much control of what he did and most of these films are quite unfunny. The wonderful Paramount's including this film, Who's Minding the Store, and his best in my opinion The Nutty Professor show him in his heyday. It's hard to imagine a theater full of families laughing so hard but I assure you they did, I was there.

Lewis and Tashlin Open Up Their Cartoon Book.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 9 March 2017]

A loose remake of Preston Sturges' wonderful The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Rock-a-Bye Baby is safe entertainment for the Jerry Lewis fans. Here he plays Clayton Poole, a small town guy whose childhood sweetheart, Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell) is now a big film star. When she finds she is pregnant, the problems it will cause her career prompts her to coerce Clayton into looking after what turns out to be triplets! Much prat-falling and high energy chaos ensues.

As befitting the Tashlin/Lewis combination, it's all very cartoonish in visual presentation. Narratively outside of Lewis' mad-cap rearing of the babies, there's a running thread of Carla's sister, Sandra (Connie Stevens), being hopelessly in love with Clayton - who of course has no idea, while the sentimental strings are pulled as Clayton fights to not lose the kids to a shifty legal guardian.

The musical numbers start to grate on the nerves after a bit, with them feeling like attempts to show off something that isn't there, and the running time is too long to sustain this type of comedy. But once a Lewis fan then always a Lewis fan, with that in mind Rock-a- Bye Baby still has enough fun and frothery to make it above average entertainment. 6.5/10

Jerry Lewis shows what could have been, might have been, with this gem

[clydestuff · 10/10 · 19 July 2003]

Giving a Jerry Lewis movie, any Jerry Lewis movie, a vote of ten is in some people's minds tantamount to movie heresy. That is, however, the vote I gave to Rock-A-Bye-Baby, and I stick by it. Believe it or not, before he became the king of overindulgent egomania in many of his later films, Lewis did manage to put a few good films on celluloid. These films were not only funny, but gave us charming, sympathetic characters, a good script, and good supporting casts. Of his early solo efforts, Rock-A-Bye Baby is the one that has stuck with me the longest, so it is the Lewis film I have chosen to talk about here.

Lewis plays Clayton Poole, a television repairman, who has gone through life carrying a torch for the beautiful Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell). Because of advice that Clayton gave Carla, she left town to become an actress, and ends up becoming a big film star. Carla's father, Gigi Naples (Salvatore Baccaloni) blames Clayton for his daughter going away. Then there is Carla's younger sister, Sandra (Connie Stevens), who is carrying the torch for Clayton. It turns out that Carla, had been married for a short time to a bullfighter who was killed in the bull ring. Later, just when she finds out she is to star in a film called (believe it or not) White Virgin of the Nile, she also finds out she is pregnant. Believing that she will not be able to do the movie if people find out she has had a baby (not to mention the way morality was looked at back then, see what happened to Ingrid Berman), Carla contacts Clayton to see if he will temporarily take care of the baby till the film is finished. Feeling that this is the one thing he can do for Carla, he agrees. What Carla doesn't tell Clayton is that there is not one baby, but three as she has had triplets.

What happens after that, well I set it up for you it's up to you to find the movie and watch it. Jerry as Clayton is funny throughout, without resorting too much to mugging while keeping the slapstick toned down to where it fits well into the picture. Marilyn Maxwell plays Carla, and though in todays climate it would hard to understand her motives, in this movie we are reasonably able to understand her motives, and despite the fact that she is using Clayton, we are sure she wouldn't if she had another way out. The rest of the cast is also good. Connie Stevens as Sandra, is sweet and funny, especially when she gets frustrated at Clayton for refusing her advances. Salvatore Baccaloni as Papa Naples, shows a rough mean exterior, yet we know inside he is a loving, carring, father. Reginald Gardner is witty and debonair as Carla's agent. Hans Conried who plays Claytons boss, could have been on note but it is not, as he also cares about Clayton despite Clayton's on the job foul-ups.

There is an early scene in this movie, where Clayton sings a song with himself as a child, played by Lewis's own son Gary. It sets the tone for the rest of the movie and from then on we are hooked. How does it all end? I'll not tell that, as it is one of the funniest endings of not only a Jerry Lewis movie, but of any movie.

This movie is for everyone. It has heart, it has soul, it has comedic genius. I only wish Jerry had made more films like this one. Then, not only in France, but in the USA, we just might be calling him "genius".

Till Next Time, Next Class Please

Surprising Lewis

[arfdawg-1 · 6/10 · 8 March 2020]

Surprisingly good early solo Lewis. Based on other's work, the story has more cohesion than his later do it yourself fare.

What brings this movie down are some bad musical numbers.

Some interesting bits of tid: After the initial exposition the film cuts to Midvale and the house Lewis is working on will be re-painted darker and become the Munster house on TV!

This early segment with the fire house is arguably the best part of the film.

For a very rainy day

[mogensenf · 5/10 · 24 January 2023]

One can't help but liking Jerry Lewis. But one have to admit that the quality of his films varies a lot. This is from 1958 and according to IMDb this is a comedy / musical and that's the closest you can come. There's six songs and they could easily have cut that down to one, they're really not any good.

Another minus is that couple of the gags on the film goes on for far too long. The scene with the water hose and the one where Jerry tries his luck as different TV-hosts, they could easily have been cut in half.

Now the film is about TV repairman Clayton (Lewis). He lives in a small town by himself missing his teenage love Clara (Marilyn Maxwell), but she has fled the town and is now a star in Hollywood. She has a recent problem because she is four months pregnant, and is worried about her image. Her next film is to start shooting in a year in Egypt. So she calculate that she has time to give birth and let someone else take care of the child, and still be able to make the film. The only person she could think of to do this important job is of cause good old Clayton, a simp even before that word was invented. The birth goes well, and the result is not one but three girls. Clayton takes on the task, helped by Carla's sister Sandy (Connie Stevens) and Carla and Sandy's father (Salvatore Baccaloni).

Of course Sandy is very much in love with Clayton will she be able to convince him to forget Clara and fall in love with her. So if it's a very rainy day, and not much to do, you could find this film and find out for yourself.

A classic of the period

[paulb_30 · 10/10 · 25 May 2006]

I've read the preceding comments and they pretty much tell the story of why this is a classic Jerry Lewis film. However, I think one of the reasons I love this one so much is that it also captures a feel for what life was like growing up in the fifties (as I did). In many ways it typifies the fifties mindset, but also exemplifies the entertainment of the period. Things were so much more family-oriented. Sex wasn't non-existence in films, but it was more often handled tastefully. Language was wholesome and the humor didn't depend on "shock" (such as the name of Navin Johnson's dog in The Jerk).

I find the segment in Hill Valley of the fifties in Back to the Future especially enjoyable as Robert Zemeckis does a great job of re-creating the era. Watching Rock a Bye Baby, which is authentically of the era confirms that. (In fact, the court house and town square in both of these films appear to have a striking similarity to one another.)

Although the story owes a lot to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek as inspiration (and even gives Preston Sturges credit), it really has its own unique flavor as well. Like a son who bears a resemblance to his father but also has his own personality. In many ways I think that Frank Tashlin has improved upon it. The subplot with the sister and its resolution are wonderful additions.

Over all I think it is a great film and can't wait till it's available on DVD (Is anybody listening?).

Jerry the Dad

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 14 December 2016]

For the most part I find Jerry Lewis insufferable. Here the plot takes over and he manages quite well. Through a series of circumstances he ends up taking care of a set of triplet girls. Much of the comedy comes, of course, from Lewis's pratfalls and lack of understanding about raising children. It is a good vehicle for his brand of humor and he is charming and humbled by his circumstances. Of course, to the outside observers, he is incompetent and potentially dangerous. A woman decides to go to court to have the girls taken from him, and we get the classic treatment of a man who knows love in his heart. There always seems to be a villain out there ready to swoop in. Anyway, a lightweight, uneven presentation.

Jerry Lewis: Babysitter

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 16 October 2007]

A Jerry Lewis vehicle that delivers exactly what his fans want while pleasing no one still hoping for a surprise from the comedic actor. Midwestern klutz (guess who?) agrees to act as babysitter to a Hollywood actress and the newborns she has delivered in secret--all three of them! Frank Tashlin-directed chaos isn't very funny, and occasionally verges on ludicrous when it tries passing Lewis off as a sensitive soul (this is no stretch for Jerry, as he manages to turn even his baby lullabies into infantile showstoppers). Pretty Marilyn Maxwell and a teenage Connie Stevens give the movie some pep, but Jerry's performance is full of fake-schmaltz. *1/2 from ****

My grandchildren love this movie!

[ragseller47 · 10/10 · 1 June 2008]

I am a fan of Jerry Lewis' early movies so when I shared this movie with my 11 and 5 year old grandsons, I was tickled to death when they laughed themselves silly watching it! They loved it from the first scenes with the runaway fire hose to the ending where Jerry makes those wild and crazy faces! I wish there were movies like this today (other than animated ones) that you could go see as a family. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to share as many movies like this with them as we can, because otherwise they won't get the chance to see genuine hilarity. Comedians and writers of today think dirty language and bathroom humor are funny. Who needs that? This is one of my favorite Lewis movies.

Classic Lewis.

[brazen_84 · 31 October 2006]

This was one of my favorite movies as a child. My mother was a Lewis fan, and often watched this with me, the pair of us in fits of giggles.

The film centres around Lewis who is taking care of the three children of his childhood sweetheart Carla, much to the frustration of Carla's younger sister Sandy, for reasons that become immediately apparent.

Lewis stars as Clayton Poole; a likable loser, and he is as goofy as always. Connie Stevens as Sandy is sweet, and manages to keep up with the crazy antics of Lewis. The film is full of lovable odd-balls and side characters who almost steal the show. But for me the best part of the film was always Sandy's dear drunken papa played by the wonderfully endearing Salvatore Baccaloni.

This is a great film to watch with your children. They'll get a good laugh from the slapstick, and you'll feel like a kid again by the end of this feel good oldie.

A warning: Some of the hum our is quite dated, and there is a racially insensitive scene that might offend some, but it should be taken into consideration the year this film was produced, and the comedic climate of the time.

I highly recommend it to those of you who are yet to have the pleasure. It may not appeal to all tastes, but it's absolutely worth the rental.

The Cradle is Rocky.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 9 January 2013]

While there is plenty of comedy to keep your funny bone out of joint, the film overall depends on a bunch of idiots to create its plot. Surprisingly, Jerry Lewis's simpleton is not one of them; His character (if not himself) comes with a lot of heart, taking in three adorable babies which may or may not be his. The usually likable Connie Stevens is truly annoying as the impish girl who seems obsessed with getting his attention, which ultimately causes him to always be in trouble as the result of her obnoxious distractions. Then, there is her older sister (Marilyn Maxwell), a movie star who insinuates that Lewis is the father and leaves the babies with her so she can continue her career. Stevens and Maxwell's father misinterprets the situation and idiotically fluctuates between emotions that are extremely inconsistent from one moment until the next. This musical variation of 1944's "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" keeps the viewer guessing as to who & why the identity of the kiddy's daddy is never revealed until the end.

Comically, the film is extremely funny, especially the opening scene involving a fire hose that destroys an entire neighborhood. Isobel Elsom is the Billie Burke like society matron who goes after custody of the children for herself after Lewis (thanks to Steven's interference) accidentally fills her living room with chimney soot. The adorable Ida Moore is very funny as Lewis's commercial loving landlady who tries pretty much every product she sees on TV. Such vets as James Gleason, Hans Conried and Hope Emerson are wasted in minor roles, but Reginald Gardiner is given some good material as Maxwell's droll manager. The songs are actually above average, although an Egyptian themed production number is truly silly. Although Salvatore Baccaloni's papa is the real dumbbell of the story, he does get a nice duet with Lewis called "Dormi-Dormi-Dormi (Sleep-Sleep-Sleep)". Lewis's young son appears as his character in a flashback which is a nice touch, and the courtroom scene at the end has some clever dubbing utilized for comic effect.

A cute wacky movie!

[Irishchatter · 8/10 · 15 December 2015]

The babies were absolutely adorable, I couldn't stop looking at them throughout especially while the other characters were talking! I loved how they were so many songs in this too, they were quite surprising though. I never seen a movie that features songs coming right out of the blue before. My favorite songs in this were: Dormi-Dormi-Dormi (Sleep- Sleep-Sleep), Rock-a-Bye Baby and The Land of La-La-La. They really gave you a good feeling by swaying your head and boogie the night away!

I was surprised to have seen the little boy who played Jerry Lewis' younger self, I actually didn't know that was Gary Lewis aka his son! He honestly doesn't look like his father at all! I found it funny that he had the ring on his left index finger like Jerry Lewis normally wears. He was a great little boy and of course, he was just gorgeous!

This movie gives you goosebumps, watch it!

Jerry Lewis and three babies

[Petey-10 · 20 June 2000]

A famous movie star has triplets, but doesn't want the public to find out.So she leaves the babies to Clayton Poole (Lewis) to babysit.Bad mistake?I think not.I think he does a pretty good job if you ask me.Rock-a-Bye Baby is a great Jerry Lewis movie from 1958.It has that Jerry's well known slapstick comedy and it's also a warm and touching movie at the same time. It is beautiful to watch Jerry and Salvatore Baccaloni singing Dormi-Dormi-Dormi.This is a movie that makes you laugh and a movie that may make you cry.I didn't cry.I rather laugh when I'm watching a movie.Especially a Jerry Lewis movie.I'm funny that way. But anyway, watch Rock-a-Bye Baby if you want to see a funny and tender Jerry Lewis comedy.

Agnes Moorehead put infant Michele Fine on this movie 1961!!!

[michelewald · 10/10 · 9 September 2019]

Agnes Moorehead put me Michele Fine on this movie, it was done in 1961, I was the infant on the table Jerry Lewis put baby powder on me. I'll never forget this movie, the rest of my life!!! It was so so very funny, this movie made me laugh so hard that I cried & pee'd in my pants, every time I'd watch it. So hilarious, Jerry & the guy who played our grandfather had such wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous vocal cords & they practiced alot. Agnes & I had the privilege to here them sing in practice. Whenever I'd listen to them I'd cry, their perfectly insink together. Jerry liked to sing to me alot, I loved him! He was 1 in a million, & there's no one that I know that's this talented, extremely talented, beyond most at that time & even now. There's no more talent in the television or in the movies anymore, because those rotten nogooders took me away from the my best years of my life of being an A + Actress since birth. Someday I'll be back! If an actor can make me laugh so hard, that I pee in my pants, you know he is extremely talented, & he had such beautiful vocal cords, BROVO JERRY LEWIS, I give this movie a standing ovation, with tears in my eyes!!!! Thank you Agnes & Jerry Lewis for a wonderful memory Through to my deathbed!!! I loved both of you, & wish you all were still alive! Hans Conrad was my good friend too, he was in this movie with us, the most wonderful, caring human being that ever lived, right Basil Rathbone / Hans Conrad (one in the same person)???

Friends

[maple-3 · 10/10 · 21 October 1998]

Clayton helps out a friend by agreeing to babysit her Kids. It is an excellent movie for the whole family to watch. It is also a classic.

Classic, touching, hilarious

[MaKoch · 28 April 1999]

A touching yet hilarious tale of many mistakes and mistaken impressions and a great last minute rush to straighten things out. Best line in the show may be "White Virgin of the Nile?"

amazing

[amritasingh-asm · 10/10 · 9 September 2020]

Exceeds my expectations and cant fail to cheer up anybody.