The First Traveling Saleslady

directed by Arthur Lubin
Category: "Comedy"
Year of Release:1956
Date Added:04/11/2008
Date Watched:11/27/2005
Description:Set in 1897. Rose Gillray (Ginger Rogers) runs a corset company that is on the verge of bankruptcy because the corsets are deemed indecent. She has an outstanding bill with the Carter Steel company which is trying to sell barbed wire to Texas ranchers. All the men barbed wire salesmen have been hung by the large ranchers, led by Joel Kingdom,(James Arness) who want to keep the range open. Rose decides to go to Texas and try to sell the barbed wire herself, accompanied by her corset model, Molly Wade (Carol Channing). On the way, the pair keep running into Charles Masters (Barry Masters) who is attempting to drive the horseless carriage he built across the country. When they get to Texas, Molly meets Roughrider Jack Rice (Clint Eastwood), and the two fall in love.

Rose meets Kingdom, who invites her to his ranch. He knows she’s selling barbed wire and intends to stop her, but is also in love with her. She turns him down. Then James Carter, president of Carter Steel shows up, also looking to marry Rose. Then Masters arrives in his car. Rose gets thrown into jail, then takes Kingdom to court to sue him for refusing to use barb wire. Kingdom’s defense rests on the basis that barbed wire is dangerous to cows. Masters uses his car to stampede cattle toward a barbed wire fence. When the cattle stop short of the fence, Rose wins her case and sells barbed wire to all the ranchers. Molly runs off with Jack Rice.
My Rating:5

Reviews for The First Traveling Saleslady

Review - First Traveling Saleslady, The

Colorful but silly. Ginger Rogers looked long of tooth. The very young James Arness and Clint Eastwood were fun to watch. Carrol Channing was incredibly annoying as Molly, and the picture almost ruined her career.
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