A Ticklish Affair (MGM) (1963)

TOTS ARE TAKING OVER HOLLYWOOD WITH A VENGEANCE Hollywood is either getting younger every day or is reverting back to its second childhood. A sixteen-year-old wins an Academy Award; one among five Oscar nominees is eight years old; another youngster is star of the year’s best foreign film; and over at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, there’s a six-year-old who is said to give tough competition to Shirley Jones, Gig Young, Red Buttons and Carolyn Jones in the new comedy, “A Ticklish Affair.” He is Peter Robbins, a three-foot-six giant who has Producer Joe Pasternak yelling : “New Star!” This isn’t new for Hollywood. Back in the bobbysock era when Judy Garland played jacks and trills, Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper, Margaret O’Brien, Deanna Durbin, Freddie Bartholomew, Roddy McDowall, Jane Withers, Bonita Granville and Shirley Temple were the kid stuff dreams are made of. The Good Ship Lollipop has the bounty in Hollywood once again. At the age of sixteen, Patty Duke beat out a stable of stalwarts to win the coveted Oscar. Mary Badham was dusted with Oscar gold along with veteran Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and her moppet co-star, Peter Alford, came within a nugget of joining her. Pintsized Patricia Gozzi shone through the Academy Award-winning “Sunday and Cybele” and young Ronnie Howard headlined both the Broadway and_Hollywood versions of ‘The Music Man’ and gave Glenn Ford stellar help in rounding up a wife in “The Courtship of Fddie’s:Fathier,” But at the moment, it is Master Peter Robbins who has a major studio planning a major campaign around a minor. In “AS Ticklish Affair,” tied to a cluster of genuine U.S. Navy Weather Balloons, Peter makes his film debut walking on air. With the aid of such studio devices as giant double-steeled cranes which reach 150 feet into the sky, Peter flies over San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. And for this he got paid! First grade to Peter Robbins is now mere child’s play. : ; In this age of astrokids, the birds and the bees are taking lessons from the small fry... it’s only too bad Ponce de Leon isn’t around to enjoy it. GIG ALL BURNED UP! Everyone laughed except Gig Young, who was rather burned up after inadvertently sitting on a fire extinguisher which had been left on a chair on the set of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “A Ticklish Affair.” The extinguisher had its wall hooks pointing upward and its hooks made a definite impression on Gig. Swathed in bandages, he completed his scenes standing up! “TICKLISH AFFAIR” A FAMILY AFFAIR *°A Ticklish Affair’’ is something of a family affair, with Red Buttons playing Shirley Jones’ brother and the favorite uncle of six-year-old Peter Robbins and nine-year-old Bryan Russell. No wonder, when he brings them toys like U. S. Navy weather balloons, one of which takes young Peter sky-high! Gig Young and Carolyn Jones also star in the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy, filmed in Panavision and color. Still 1804-8 A Ticklish Affair Mat 2-B TOOK EXACTLY 27 FILMS FOR CAROLYN JONES TO BECOME “OVERNIGHT STAR” Becoming an “overnight sensation” takes a long time. Carolyn Jones maintains she spent some of the best years of her life achieving the feat. But she couldn’t be happier. She’s an actress who revels in being a star. Her closets are filled with furs, evening gowns, a hundred or so pairs of shoes, and her jewels are for real. In the backyard of her Beverly Hills home are a swimming pool, an outdoor dancing pavillion, a fun-house, soda fountain and tennis court. Indoors, the floors are covered in thick, soft, white rugs. When it gets too cool in the city, there’s that roomy Palm Springs retreat. “T don’t try to hide the way I live today,” Miss Jones admits. “My husband (Aaron Spelling) and I worked hard for what we have. We are enjoying the fruits of our labors. We're involved with life to the fullest.” This means many things to Carolyn Jones. At the moment, she is sharing stellar Carolyn Jones is a sympathetic listener to Gig Young’s love A get $3 troubles, caused by Navy widow Shirley Jones’ refusal to marry another sea-going man, even though her three youngsters decide he’d be an ideal addition to the family. The scene is from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s tickling comedy, *‘A Ticklish Affair.” Red Buttons also stars in the new Panavision and color attraction. Still 1804-50 A Ticklish Affair Mat 2-D honors with Shirley Jones, Gig Young and Red Buttons in Metro-GoldwynMayer’s romantic comedy, “A Ticklish Affair,” in which she plays the girlnext-door whom every bachelor covets for a neighbor. Then there’s her TV career, highlighted by such performances as her dual role in a “Dr. Kildare” episode. Not to mention her role as George Peppard’s wife in the all-time great attraction, “How the West Was Won,” But what keeps her busiest is putting other actors to work, a talent which explains why her husband introduces her as, “My wife, the producer.” Spelling, producer of Caron Productions, associated with Four Star Studios, is the first to state that Carolyn cares more for Caron than for Carolyn. He says, “Carolyn has not only been involved in every important company decision and burns the midnight oil reading stacks of scripts not involving her personal acting services, but she makes it a point to be on hand to greet new guest stars at the start of every episode of a series under the Caron banner.” Under that banner have been the David Niven anthologies, “Johnny Ringo” series, “Lloyd Bridges Show”’ and a new pilot, “The Tyrees of Capitol Hill” with Edgar Buchanan who, incidentally, plays Miss Jones’ father in “A Ticklish Affair.” “None of this seems like work to me,” Miss Jones insists. “I love it so much that I limit myself to a maximum of three TV appearances each season and two motion pictures a year. Work has never frightened me. I know what a good role means to an actor. I’ve lost out on roles that broke my heart. The night before I was to test for ‘From Here to Eternity,’ I came down with pneumonia. By the time I recovered, Donna Reed had been signed and she went on to win an Oscar. So don’t let anyone kid you. Success doesn’t come overnight.” What Carolyn remembers are her days as a teen-age disk jockey, messenger girl for Western Union, waitress at a roadside diner, deliverer of circus handbills and telephone operator for a strip-tease show, all before she had enough money to enroll at the Pasadena Playhouse. Her performance in Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke” brought her to the attention of her husband-to-be, who gave Carolyn her first break in the film, ““The Live Wire.” Twenty-seven pictures later, when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her six-minute portrayal of the lonely Greenwich Village existentialist in “Bachelor Party,” she was heralded as an “overnight sensation.” THE ADDITIONAL SCENE AND PLAYER MATS, SHOWN IN THE COMPLETE CAMPAIGN MAT ON ANOTHER PAGE, MAY BE ORDERED SINGLY. DANCING FOR PENNIES COULD LEAD UP TO MOVIE “OSCAR”: ASK RED BUTTONS When backed by effort, there is no substitute for talent. And with that motivation, Academy Award winner Red Buttons has become an outstanding personality in every media of show business from cutting records to cutting capers on stage and screen. Currently, he’s romancing Carolyn Jones in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “A Ticklish Affair,” a comedy which also stars Shirley Jones and Gig Young and sends the U.S. Navy into orbit. Buttons’ career began on the street corners of Manhattan, where the restlessly eager youngster sang and danced for pennies. He also sang alto in the local choir. After Childs High School in the Bronx, he graduation from Evander got a job as singing bellboy at Ryan’s, City Island, where he was named “Red Buttons” by orchestra leader Dinty Moore. At 16 he was earning $1.50 a week as a boy singer in the Catskills and when his voice “changed,” he switched to comedy and within two years was in Minsky’s. In 1943, Buttons tested for Paramount but a summons from Uncle Sam put him in the army instead. Then Moss Hart selected him for a lead in “Winged Victory,” the Air Corps show which ran for 20 months on Broadway. He later re-created his role for the film version. While still in the service, he joined a four-man G.I. unit, including Mickey Rooney, which entertained troops in England, France and Germany, and also acted as master of ceremonies for the Potsdam Conference, which he characterizes as a “small house—Churchill, Truman, Stalin.” Discharged February, 1946, he resumed his career as a nightclub entertainer, then went back to Broadway for George Abbott’s “Barefoot Boy with Cheek.”” More shows, more clubs, then TV and in 1952 his own show, which MAN OF ALL JOBS This young house-painter ends up in getting more paint in his ears than on the wall. He is MetroGoldwyn -Mayer’s new “acting find,” six-year-old Peter Robbins, who plays Shirley Jones’ youngest son in **4 Ticklish Affair,”’ rollicking comedy also starring Gig Young, Red Buttons and Carolyn Jones. But mixing paint is the least of young Pete’s talents. Wait °’til you see him flying sky-high in a U.S. Navy weather balloon! A Ticklish Affair Still 1804-14 E Mat 1°A Red Buttons does his best to get his sister, Shirley Jones, married off to Gig Young in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s ribtickling comedy, ‘‘A Ticklish Affair.’ Carolyn Jones also stars in the new Panavision and color attraction. A Ticklish Affair Still 1804-29 Mat 1-B ran for three years and won him the “Michael,” forerunner of the Emmy, as Best Comedian of the Year. He made one detour, to star with Basil Rathbone in the New York State Festival presentation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Then came a dry spell until Josh Logan signed him for the role of Joe Kelly in “Sayonara,” a decision which won Buttons an Academy Award, CHASE SCENE CALLED FOR “CRASH” ARTISTS Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sent out an S.0.S. for Hollywood’s top “crash” artists for a hectic sequence in the new comedy, “A Ticklish Affair,” starring Shirley Jones, Gig Young, Red Buttons and Carolyn Jones. They were needed for a chase sequence in which the U.S. Navy helps rescue moppet actor Peter Robbins, who is in orbit in an AWOL weather balloon. Eight stunt experts drove the autos that crash into a jeep carrying the two Miss Jones, who are wildly following the route of the overhead careening balloon. The pile-up of cars was enough to make any auto insurance company shudder, but neither crash artists nor actresses suffered as much as a scratch ! AWARD CONSCIOUS The four stars of Metro-GoldwynMayer’s new romantic comedy, “A Ticklish Affair,” represent a total of two Academy Awards and_ three “Oscar” nominations. The awards went to Shirley Jones for “Elmer Gantry” and Red Buttons for “Sayonara. The nominations are divided by Gig Young and Carolyn Jones. Gig received two; the first for “Come Fill the Cup,” the second for ‘““Teacher’s Pet.” Carolyn won hers for her performance in “Bachelor Party.” CREDITS Music: George Stoll. Robert Van Eps, Associate. Director of Photography: Milton Krasner, A.S.C. Art Direction: George W. Davis and Edward Carfagno. Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Keogh Gleason. Assistant Director: William Shanks. Film Editor: John McSweeney, Jr., A.S.C. Special Visual Effects: J. McMillan Johnson, A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert R. Hoag, A.S.C. Hair Styles by Sydney Guilaroff. Make-Up by William Tuttle. Assistant to the Producer: Irving Aaronson. Recording Supervisor: Franklin Milton, 3