The Bellboy

For his first venture into direction, Lewis forsook the saccharine plotlines of his previous work for a film of sketches based on the character of a bumbling bellboy at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. The result, each scene working like a fully achieved comic short, boasts more hits than misses, including such superbly timed gags as the speedy assembling of chairs in a hall and the relapse of a hopeless diet-watcher, as well as guest appearances by Walter Winchell, Milton Berle and 'Jerry Lewis' (revealingly irascible). Lewis even throws in a tribute to his great mentor, Stan Laurel. Perhaps to the relief of many, Lewis (in his bellboy character) remains entirely mute for most of the movie.