The 1958 comedy was one of many "mainstream tickling contributions" by comedy writer/producer/director Hal Kantor..who has added a good deal of bare feet and tickling scenes to films and TV. In this film feet are featured several times (even Dick Martin's wiggling toes)... aside from many early TV tickle scenes, including producing OSCAR events, he's had an uncredited hand in many other films-- such as Elvis singing "Barefoot Ballad" to a bevy of bare feet. Who can forget that?
Following the break-up of Martin & Lewis in '56, hollywood was seeking a replacement comic duo. This film was suppossed to launch the career of Rowan and Martin, but it failed to do so even though it's a very funny film and they were great in it.
I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with Hal several times when we collaborated on commercials. During this time we've talked about many of his films.. and what went on behind them. Since this was one of my favorites I had to ask after I knew him a while.
The girl in question was not a stunt double- it was his soon-to-be ex wife! She appears in a few different scenes and their fighting on the set (and other films) was legendary.
The story behind-the-scene:
As with most films, many scenes are shot out of sequence for time's sake. This was no different. If you watch it closely you'll see it doesn't quite match.. and you'll see a few other things!
The scene of the feet going thru the wall was shot midway through and was not in the original shooting script. Kantor just added it with intentions of filming the 'person' later on. They were very over budget as this was a "B" film, and couldnt' afford a stunt person. A female prop assistant agreed to help out.
The wall was made of over-powdered plaster (the plaster version of break-away glass). On the other side the girl was laid and strapped on a rolling cart with her legs and bare feet taped to two extended boards sticking straight out. The dogs belonged to the food caterers on set. They smeared powdered sugar on her feet (so as to blend in with the wall plaster as she broke through).. and two lighting men simply pushed the cart as hard as they could towards the wall until her feet went through and the cart hit the other side of the wall and stopped.
The dogs were suppossed to already be there but in the first take they got so scared from the crash that they took off running! So in the second take the dogs were kept just off to the side and with clever editing they immediately went after her her feet.
For whatever reason, they really couldn't get the dogs to lick her soles very well. They just weren't interested, hated the sugar or plaster smell, or perhaps they were just 'full' being the caterer's dogs.
The bar fight was filmed late in the shoot. It was filmed two various ways, one was much longer, both were intended to be used in the film as a two-punch gag, but the first one hit the cutting room floor... and the outtakes from it are even better than the actual scene issued!
The scene used was of her lunging off the back of a cowboy, onto a chandelier, swinging off it, and her feet going thru the wall. Kantor couldn't get his wife to react the way he wanted. A heavy smoker, she would cough and sputter and ruin the take.. also she either didn't react loudly enough or simply couldn't fake being tickled by the imaginary dogs on the other side of the wall (there was no one on the other side). After 7 takes- and putting the wall back together for 7 takes too!- they got into a fight.
While they were resetting everything for another take, Kantor was angry and got hold of three grips (stagehands for movie sets) and the make-up lady. He told them when her bare feet came through the wall to "grab on for dear life" and to really tickle her senseless and not stop till he called "cut!".
What you see on TV or edited cuts is just the beginning of what he filmed, a touch of the middle, and the very end. When her bare feet went through they truly grabbed her, held her tight, and went to town on her. You can hear her surprise as she shouts "oh no!" .. she knew he was up to something..... they kept tickling her toes and he wouldn't stop filming, she started to pound the wall and get mad and curse. Her language was so bad (for that era) that they had to cut some of it out as she cursed Kantor and the people behind the wall.
They really had her in tears and anger from the tickling by the time he shouts "cut"... and if you listen and watch her closely at the very end of the scene, you'll hear a faint "cut!" followed by laughter, and then watch very closely as she turns directly to Kantor with a pissed-off look that would melt stone! She cursed him out for ten minutes as they got her down and out of the harness.. and he had to leave the set until she was gone!
God, how I do love reality!
Hope that helps.
