This may well, as Ginger Rogers liked to say, have finished RKO, where not only herself and Fred Astaire, but Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and others enjoyed early success. This is nothing if not bizarre; six well-known names and no two even close to suggesting they're in the same movie. In Rogers case there is not an iota of chemistry between her and 1) Barry Nelson, her leading man - in the sense that they wind up together and 2) Carol Channing, her co-star and team-mate in a 'female buddy' movie. Channing and Nelson were both more comfortable on Broadway and both found success there. Here, Channing has the only number in the film proper (there is a title song sung over the credits) and though she brings it off it's a stand-alone item rather than an integral part of the plot. But if Channing and Rogers are mismatched Channing and Clint Eastwood, who actually share a kiss, borders on the grotesque. Add Jim Arness as a heavy and you have a real curio.
Review of The First Traveling Saleslady
