Fifties Cheesecake Dance No. 35

PLEASE READ THIS - The principal singer in the musical harem number aboard the space station is Rosemary Clooney, the famous aunt of George Clooney, and she appeared unbilled. The number was originally shot for the Bob Hope film, "Here Come the Girls" (1953), which also starred Arlene Dahl and Rosemay Clooney, of course. It is interesting in that it is an accurate prediction of the introduction of widescreen television for general entertainment.

This sequence is from "Conquest of Space" (1955), which was also known as "Mars Project". The film was produced by the legendary George Pal, who produced a series of landmark sci-fi and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s that included "When Worlds Collide" (1951); "The War of the Worlds" (1953); "The Time machine" (1960); "Atlantis, The Lost Continent" (1961); and "The 7 Faces of Dr Lao" (1964). Born in Hungary, he was a multi-talented individual who rose to fame as the animator of the famous "Puppetoons" shorts which were originally made in Europe in the 1930s, and in the US in the 1940s. He was also a writer, cinematographer and director. Among the many films he directed were "The Time machine"; "Atlantis, The Lost Continent"; "The 7 Faces of Dr Lao"; and "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" (1962).

"Conquest of Space" starred Walter Brooke as General Sam Merritt, the experienced space explorer who loses his moind on a trip to Mars. His son, Captain Barney Merritt, was played by Eric Fleming, who would rise to fame as Gil Favour in the popular "Rawhide" television series (1959-65) alongside Clint Eastwood. Benson Fong, who played the level-headed Imoto, appeared in numerous TV series including "Bewitched"; "Have Gun Will Travel"; "Bonanza"; and "Mission Impossible". Jackie Siegel, the astronaut with the two-timing wife, was played by Phil Foster and his wife rosie was played by Joan Shawnlee.

Many thanks to Youtuber denberg2 for suggesting this particular dance to me.

I am always looking for new ideas for this series. If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• conquest
• of
• space
• cheesecake
• dance
• eric
• fleming
• george
• pal
• puppetoons
• joan
• shawnlee
• walter
• brooke

[kester1940]

I have to correct you about the origins of the Rosemary Clooney song, pwgr. It was actually filmed for the  Bob Hope movie 'Here Come The Girls'. Someone has put the full clip on youtube which you can by typing Ali Baba (be my baby) into the youtube 'search' box.

[pwgr2000]

Many thanks for pointing that out. I thought it looked a little incongruous in this film so I dug around The Net and found a site on sci-fi films which said this dance number was made for this film.

I have corrected my comments in the More Info section.

[potaluca]

Hey, it's Artemus Gordon!

[pwgr2000]

Thanks. This comment refers to the fact that Ross Martin, who plays Andre Fodor in this film, played the character of Artemus Gordon in the television series, "The Wild, Wild West" (1965-69). This series was the inspiration for the feature film, "Wild Wild West" (1999), which starred Will Smith. His sidekick, U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon, was played by Kevin Kline.

[BusterTV1]

And LOOK!! Phil Foster as Jack

[kakabukkake0]

haha half of those NY chumps would never be allowed 100 miles within a space station

[markukkerd]

Thank you very much