Joanne Gilbert

By the early 1900s, the extraordinary Houdini earned an international reputation for his theatrical tricks and daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, handcuffs and... Scotland Yard's jails.

Miss Dove is a prim New England school teacher who is treasured by her students in the small town of Liberty Hill. When she falls ill, a kindly doctor, who is a former student of Miss Dove's, comes to her aid. As many of her pupils, present and past, come to see her in the hospital, they reveal how Miss Dove has greatly impacted their lives over the years. These visitors include a police officer, a playwright, a banker, a convict, and an unmarried mother.

When an Indian chief is murdered in a hateful town, a sympathizing ex marshal tries to stop the Indians from attacking for revenge.

Joe Harris, preparing a eulogy for popular radio commentator Herb Fuller, finds that nobody has a good word to say about him.

Middle-aged middle-manager Jim Fry, with the same company for fifteen years, is in a comfortable rut. But life becomes less predictable when he doesn't receive an invitation to an important luncheon being held by the new company president. Convinced that he's about to lose his job, Jim begins to mull over his limited prospects when his wife confirms that she's pregnant.

A spirited cast kicks up its heels in a lively musical spoof of cowboy films crammed with spur-jangling tunes by Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans and decked out with colorfully stylized, Oscar.-nominated sets. Rosemary Clooney heads up the high-kicking, red-gartered girls of the Red Dog Saloon. They can-can. but she won't-won't unless Jason (Jack Carson) asks her to get hitched. Guy Mitchell and Gene Barry are gun-totin' polecats who think they've got a feud to settle. And Frank Faylen and Buddy Ebsen are among the folks who hope the gunslingers get itchy fingered - so they can hold a town barbecue during the funeral!