That's Judy Canova, a garland of laughs rather than song. Yes, she did sing (one of the singers of "The Lady in Red" when it was first heard on screen), and if her voice isn't Kathryn Grayson, it isn't Minnie Mouse, either. But Ms. Canova was known primarily as a comedian, a self-effacing one who like Fanny Brice used her own created less than glamorous image to make fun of herself. A biography on her quotes her in one movie referring to being taken to a zoo by her parents as a child, and the zoo wouldn't take her. Yes, her comedy is obviously based upon the old vaudeville style, and thrown in with a little bit of slapstick and song, the results are highly amusing.
In this, one of her last leading lady roles, she is the Cinderella like niece of Jacqueline deWit, a nasty aunt who is determined to get her hands on a farm left to Canova by her parents. Ms. deWit is in cahoots with sleazy attorney Richard Deacon ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "The Mothers-in-Law") to get Canova to sign it over, but for some reason, Canova refuses to give it up. She is also a secret romantic, making up a non-existing love interest in hopes her prince will appear, and after crying wolf (or at least hoping one will show up), her prince does show up to rescue her just as her aunt demands to meet her newest beau, simply in order to humiliate her. He is Robert Lowery, and he is every country bumpkin girl's dream. Together, Canova and Lowery do their best to outwit aunt Jacqueline when he informs her that a rare weed growing on the farm could make her a fortune.
Canova belts out a couple of silly songs here, sends out her supply of witty lines and gets into all sorts of trouble which works out for her in the end. Lowery is handsome and charming, yet there is a bit of the con-artist in him, too, which adds on all sorts of plot twist possibilities. It's really a lot of fun to watch the two of them work together to outwit the greedy aunt and attorney which results in an ironic twist at the end after the typical slapstick chase sequence where all is revealed.
In this, one of her last leading lady roles, she is the Cinderella like niece of Jacqueline deWit, a nasty aunt who is determined to get her hands on a farm left to Canova by her parents. Ms. deWit is in cahoots with sleazy attorney Richard Deacon ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "The Mothers-in-Law") to get Canova to sign it over, but for some reason, Canova refuses to give it up. She is also a secret romantic, making up a non-existing love interest in hopes her prince will appear, and after crying wolf (or at least hoping one will show up), her prince does show up to rescue her just as her aunt demands to meet her newest beau, simply in order to humiliate her. He is Robert Lowery, and he is every country bumpkin girl's dream. Together, Canova and Lowery do their best to outwit aunt Jacqueline when he informs her that a rare weed growing on the farm could make her a fortune.
Canova belts out a couple of silly songs here, sends out her supply of witty lines and gets into all sorts of trouble which works out for her in the end. Lowery is handsome and charming, yet there is a bit of the con-artist in him, too, which adds on all sorts of plot twist possibilities. It's really a lot of fun to watch the two of them work together to outwit the greedy aunt and attorney which results in an ironic twist at the end after the typical slapstick chase sequence where all is revealed.