who would have been in it? There would have been other comedy stars in their prime from the earlier eras, so who might have been in it who wasn't in the 1963 film? And would it have been a better film?
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Interesting question. Most of the stars were known from TV, yet TVs were not widely owned in 1953. So I would guess more radio stars would be in this. So let's see:
Take away Dick Shawn, Buddy Hackett (maybe), Edie Adams (maybe), Dorothy Provine, Peter Falk and that's really abut it. The other main characters were all established actors for the most part by 1953. I guess one could add Eddie Cantor and Ann Sothern, Dinah Shore, Betty Hutton, perhaps Fred Allen, hey even Frank Sinatra...Clark Gable??!
In thinking about it, most of those actors in the movie had been established and known to audiences by 1953, through radio or movies. Even Phil Silvers was well-known enough to star in a movie like this, at least I think so. I just occurred to me that Elvis Presley could have played the Dick Shawn role and done very well in it!
Wasn't Elvis unknown in 1953?
shareYeah I guess you're right. There wasn't any rock n roll music till 1955, so I don't know what Sylvester and his girlfriend would dance to in 1953. The Hucklebuck?
shareWho would have been in it? Most definitely:
Jack Benny (who begged and pleaded to be in the movie)
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
George Burns and Gracie Allen
Danny Kaye (maybe as a cameo)
Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin
Red Skelton
Bob Hope (he would've played the weasley Phil Silvers character)
For the female characters:
Ethel Merman, believe it or not
Judy Holliday
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