GOOD HUMOR MAN

I can recall the hot summers growing up in Chicago.  We'd have dinner, do the dishes, and then it was outside to play hopscotch, jump rope, or hide and seek until time to get ready for bed.  Each evening between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. we'd hear the familiar chimes of the bells on the Good Humor truck as it would slowly make the trek down our street.  My grandmother would sometimes treat us and herself, to a tasty indulgence from the familiar white conveyance holding so many favorite goodies.  Creamsicles were to die for!

As I first watched this Columbia Pictures film starring Jack Carson, Lola Albright and George Reeves, it  brought back some of nostalgia that I felt as a youngster.   Even though this film was made in 1950, I didn't actually get to view it until the early 1960's after Reeves had died.  No stranger to comedy, Carson's films were always enjoyable.  This was his second film with George Reeves, for The Strawberry Blonde was the first.  Carson's third wife, Lola Albright was his love interest in this film.  As for Reeves' performance, a few things really impressed me.  Unlike the following year when he would don the red/blue costume (actually, it was brown/gray during the black and white years) as Superman, The Good Humor Man showed Reeves with his natural brown, quite wavy hair rather than the slicked, black, dyed look of the Man of Steel and his alter ego.  His role of Stuart Nagle, whose cover was that of an insurance investigator, was yet another of his sweet-talking but sinister characters.  Another childhood hero is mentioned in this flick as Albright's kid brother is the president of his neighborhood's Captain Marvel Fan Club.

Contrary to his previous parts, Reeves was on the receiving end of typical slapstick comedy ploys.  The first of these occurred in the elevator of the office building where Nagle's firm was located.  Bear in mind that I had been watching Reeves as a superhero from 1953-1958, so what a shock it was to see my "Superman" get an ice cream bar smeared over his entire face!  I have to say though, that Jack Carson was really careful in making sure that he got George's cheek, forehead and hair while completely missing his eyes.  To add insult to injury, Carson's character, Biff dropped his portable cooler on Nagle's foot.  Once again, to see the man let out a yelp from pain was unthinkable since he was invincible as Superman.  And as if the ice cream wasn't enough, the finale showed George's character and his henchmen getting pies in the face from the kids of the Captain Marvel Fan Club with a swift kick from a mule on his derriere before being apprehended by the police.

Other familiar faces were Arthur Space, who portrayed a gangster.  Not only did he have a guest spot on The Adventures of Superman during the color years, he would have a recurring role in the 1960's as Velvet Brown's father in the TV version of National Velvet.  Frank Ferguson, as police inspector Quint, was also a guest on The Adventures of Superman, while his claim to fame was Gus, the ranch hand on the TV show My Friend Flicka.

While some might say the plot was trite and contrived, I loved the chuckles and a chance to see George Reeves in a different role.  TCM airs this film periodically and if you want a lighthearted comedy, try and catch this one.