Main Cast: Jerry Lewis, Jill St. John, Agnes Moorehead, John McGiver, Ray Walston
Release Year: 1963
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
This frantic comedy finds Raymond (Jerry Lewis) working in a department store. Mr. Tuttle (John McGiver) is the watchful owner, whose outspoken wife Phoebe (Agnes Moorehead) makes no secret about her feelings that Raymond is an incompetent boob. Barbara (Jill St. John) is the pretty elevator operator, and unknown to Raymond, the boss' daughter. Quimby (Ray Walston) is the floor manager who has more of an eye for the ladies than his job at the store. Raymond proceeds to wreck every department in the store, earning new positions with each mishap. Two of the many sight gags are when Raymond is sent to paint the top of a flagpole and a hilarious vacuum cleaner demonstration that naturally goes awry. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Roland Anderson - Art Director, Hal Pereira - Art Director, Al Y. Roelofs - Art Director, Arthur P. Schmidt - Associate Producer, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Ralph Axness - First Assistant Director, Frank Tashlin - Director, John M. Woodcock - Editor, Joseph Lilley - Composer (Music Score), Wally Westmore - Makeup, W. Wallace Kelley - Cinematographer, Paul Jones - Producer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, James W. Payne - Set Designer, Paul K. Lerpae - Special Effects, Frank Tashlin - Screenwriter, Harry Tugend - Screenwriter
Mrs. Tuttle (Agnes Moorehead) is upset that her daughter Barbara (Jill St. John) is engaged to a man beneath their social stature, Norman Phiffier (Jerry Lewis).
Phiffier, a dog walker, is as awkward socially as he is physically. Mrs. Tuttle despises Phiffier and arranges for him to get a job at one of her stores. She directs the store manager, Mr. Quimby (Ray Walston) to assign him a series of impossible and outrageous jobs hoping he will become frustrated and quit, proving to her daughter that he is worthless. Instead, he becomes more driven and determined as he progresses with Mr. Quimby realizing that "he's a man of character."
Meanwhile, Barbara has kept her millionaire status as the sole heir to the Tuttle Department store fortune from Phiffier knowing he is a proud person who refuses to marry her until he can afford to buy her a home.
Eventually Phiffier proves his worth to Mrs. Tuttle and she accepts him into her family.
Production
Who's Minding the Store? was filmed from March 25-May 22, 1963.
Notable facts
The scene in which Fritz Feld feeds Lewis a delicacy of fried ants actually contained genuine fried ants, a fact that Lewis was unaware of until after the scene was over.
The film's poster can be seen in the background of Jerry's film, The Patsy when Ina Balin gets into a phone both to call Jerry's character, Stanley Belt.
