Living It Up is a 1954

1954 in film

The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...

 film comedy

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 starring the team of Dean Martin

Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

 and Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

 and released by Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

.

The film was directed by Norman Taurog

Norman Taurog

Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director, and screenwriter.Between 1920 and 1968, Taurog directed over 140 films, and directed Elvis Presley in more movies than any other director...

 and produced by Paul Jones

Paul Jones (film producer)

Paul Jones , an American film producer. His major work was done for Paramount Pictures.-Career:He produced a number of the films of Preston Sturges, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis. He also produced the Red Skelton comedy A Southern Yankee for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-External links:...

. The screenplay by Jack Rose

Jack Rose (screenwriter)

Jack Rose was an American screenwriter and producer born on November 4, 1911, in Warsaw, Russian Empire. He died on October 21, 1995, in Los Angeles, California....

 and Melville Shavelson

Melville Shavelson

Melville Shavelson was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1969 to 1971, 1979 to 1981, and 1985 to 1987. He came to Hollywood in 1938 as one of comedian Bob Hope's joke writers, a job he held for the next...

 was based on the 1953 musical Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg

Hazel Flagg is a musical with a book by Ben Hecht, lyrics by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred...

by Ben Hecht

Ben Hecht

Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...

, in turn based on the story Letter to the Editor by James H. Street

James H. Street

James Howell Street was a U.S. journalist, minister, and writer of Southern historical novels.Street was born in Lumberton, Mississippi, in 1903. As a teenager, he began working as a journalist for newspapers in Laurel and Hattiesburg, Mississippi...

.

An earlier film, Nothing Sacred

Nothing Sacred (film)

Nothing Sacred is a 1937 Technicolor screwball comedy film made by Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by William A. Wellman and produced by David O. Selznick, from a screenplay credited to Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street...

, had been made in 1937

1937 in film

The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....

 by Selznick International Pictures

Selznick International Pictures

-Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...

 (released through United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

) with Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...

 and Fredric March

Fredric March

Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...

, and directed by William A. Wellman

William A. Wellman

William Augustus Wellman was an American film director. Although Wellman began his film career as an actor, he worked on over 80 films, as director, producer and consultant but most often as a director, notable for his work in crime, adventure and action genre films, often focusing on aviation...

. The 1954 version had original music by Walter Scharf

Walter Scharf

Walter Scharf was an American film composer.Born in New York, he was the son of Yiddish theatre comic Bessie Zwerling...

, cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp

Daniel L. Fapp

Daniel L. Fapp or Daniel L. Fappani was an American cinematographer, best known as director of photography for West Side Story , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and The Great Escape...

, art direction by Albert Nozaki

Albert Nozaki

Albert Nozaki was an art director who worked on various films for Paramount Pictures. He is perhaps best known for his memorable design of the Martian war machines from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds and for his art direction on the epic The Ten Commandments...

 and Hal Pereira

Hal Pereira

Hal Pereira was an American art director and production designer....

, and costume design by Edith Head

Edith Head

Edith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...

.

Living It Up also features Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....

, Edward Arnold

Edward Arnold (actor)

Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...

, Fred Clark

Fred Clark

Frederick Leonard Clark was an American film character actor.-Career:Born in Lincoln, California, Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included almost 70 films, and numerous television appearances...

, Sheree North

Sheree North

Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...

, and Sig Ruman

Sig Ruman

Sig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains.-Life and career:...

.

Plot

Homer Flagg is a railroad worker in the small town of Desert Hole, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. His big dream in life is to visit New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 while he is young.

One day he finds an abandoned automobile at an old atomic proving ground. His doctor and best friend, Steve Harris, diagnoses him with radiation poisoning and gives Homer three weeks to live.

A reporter for a New York newspaper, Wally Cook, hears of Homer's plight and convinces her editor, Oliver Stone, to provide an all-expenses paid trip to fulfil Homer's life-long fantasy of seeing New York.

Steve, however, realizes that he made an error and Homer is only suffering from a sinus condition. Steve agrees to keep this new diagnosis a secret after Homer begs him ... particularly after meeting the attractive reporter. Steve announces that only he can provide medical treatment to Homer and must accompany him on the trip.

New York embraces Homer and he becomes a celebrity, with everyone following his every move in the paper. Homer even makes plans to marry Wally, despite the fact that she has fallen for Steve.

Meanwhile, editor Stone is anxious for Homer to die. Every day it is costing the newspaper money to support the dying man's extravagant requests, which includes ordering 3,000 shrimp cocktails for his hotel suite. Stone hires three specialists to examine Homer, who is given a clean bill of health.

To escape the fix that they have gotten themselves into, Homer fakes suicide. The newspaper gets the exclusive story. Wally gets married to Steve, and the two guys get new jobs in New York as street sweepers.

Production

Living It Up was filmed from October 19 to December 18, 1953. Sig Ruman

Sig Ruman

Sig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains.-Life and career:...

, who plays Dr. Emil Eggelhoffer, played the same role in the 1937 version.

Re-release

The film was re-released with another Martin and Lewis

Martin and Lewis

Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....

 film, Pardners

Pardners

Pardners is a movie starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis and was released on July 25, 1956 by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:The storyline involves two ranch partners who are killed by the 'Masked Raiders' defending their land. Their infant sons are separated, one being raised on the farm and...

in 1965.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Dean Martin Dean Martin Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...	Steve Harris
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...	Homer Flagg
Janet Leigh Janet Leigh Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....	Wally Cook
Edward Arnold Edward Arnold (actor) Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...	The Mayor
Fred Clark Fred Clark Frederick Leonard Clark was an American film character actor.-Career:Born in Lincoln, California, Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included almost 70 films, and numerous television appearances...	Oliver Stone
Sheree North Sheree North Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...	Jitterbug Dancer
Sammy White Sammy White (actor) Sammy White was an American vaudeville song-and-dance comedian who appeared in a few films. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He appeared with Lew Clayton, as Clayton and White, in the Broadway show Schubert Gaieties of 1919.With his first wife, Eva Puck, White appeared in vaudeville as...	Waiter
Sig Ruman Sig Ruman Sig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains.-Life and career:...	Dr. Emile Egelhofer
Richard Loo Richard Loo Richard Loo was a Chinese American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. A prolific actor, he appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982....	Dr. Lee

DVD release

The film was included on a five-film DVD set, the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection: Volume Two, released on June 5, 2007.