The Glass Bottom Boat
Encyclopedia
The Glass Bottom Boat is an 1966 American romantic comedy movie
directed by Frank Tashlin
; it is also considered by some people to be musical entertainment
. This movie features Doris Day
and Rod Taylor as the main entertainers, with assistance from actors Arthur Godfrey
and Paul Lynde
. It is also known as The Spy in Lace Panties.
. His widowed daughter, Jennifer Nelson, occasionally helps by donning a mermaid
's costume and swimming underneath his boat for the passengers' amusement.
One day, Jennifer accidentally meets Bruce Templeton when his fishing hook snags her costume. He reels in the bottom half of her mermaid costume, leaving the irate Jennifer floating in the water without pants. Jennifer later discovers that Bruce is the main manager of her part-time place of employment, an aerospace
research laboratory
.
Mr. Templeton later sees Jennifer again at work and recognizes her, and with a hidden purpose, he hires her for a new full-time assignment: to be his "biographer" and to write his life story. His hidden purpose is to make an attempt to win Jennifer's affections. There is a problem. The laboratory's security chief, Homer Cripps, concludes that Jennifer is a Soviet
spy, and to prove his suspicions, he has Jennifer surveilled. When she learns of the notion, Jennifer disproves the bumbling Cripps.
* Pearce and Tobias play an inquisitive wife and her disinterested husband, in roles not unlike the ones they played at the time on the television series Bewitched
.
Robert Vaughn
, famous at the time for playing "Napoleon Solo" on the TV series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, makes a very brief appearance in a non-speaking role.
.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin, born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, also known as Tish Tash or Frank Tash was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director.-Animator:...
; it is also considered by some people to be musical entertainment
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
. This movie features Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
and Rod Taylor as the main entertainers, with assistance from actors Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
and Paul Lynde
Paul Lynde
Paul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie...
. It is also known as The Spy in Lace Panties.
Plot
Axel Nordstrom manages a glass-bottom boat tourist operation in the waters of Santa Catalina Island, CaliforniaSanta Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
. His widowed daughter, Jennifer Nelson, occasionally helps by donning a mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
's costume and swimming underneath his boat for the passengers' amusement.
One day, Jennifer accidentally meets Bruce Templeton when his fishing hook snags her costume. He reels in the bottom half of her mermaid costume, leaving the irate Jennifer floating in the water without pants. Jennifer later discovers that Bruce is the main manager of her part-time place of employment, an aerospace
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
research laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
.
Mr. Templeton later sees Jennifer again at work and recognizes her, and with a hidden purpose, he hires her for a new full-time assignment: to be his "biographer" and to write his life story. His hidden purpose is to make an attempt to win Jennifer's affections. There is a problem. The laboratory's security chief, Homer Cripps, concludes that Jennifer is a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spy, and to prove his suspicions, he has Jennifer surveilled. When she learns of the notion, Jennifer disproves the bumbling Cripps.
Cast
- Doris DayDoris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
- Jennifer Nelson - Rod Taylor - Bruce Templeton
- Arthur GodfreyArthur GodfreyArthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
- Axel Nordstrom - John McGiverJohn McGiverJohn Irwin McGiver was a character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975....
- Ralph Goodwin - Paul LyndePaul LyndePaul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie...
- Homer Cripps - Edward AndrewsEdward AndrewsEdward Andrews was an American actor, one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films between the 1950s and the 1980s...
- Gen. Wallace Bleecker - Eric FlemingEric FlemingEric Fleming was an American actor, known primarily for his role as Gil Favor in the long running CBS television series Rawhide.-Early life:...
- Edgar Hill - Dom DeLuiseDom DeLuiseDominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
- Julius Pritter - Elisabeth FraserElisabeth FraserElisabeth Fraser , was a television, film and stage actress, best known for playing brassy blondes.Born as Elisabeth Fraser Jonker in Brooklyn, New York, Fraser began her acting career six weeks after graduating high school; she was cast as the ingenue in the Broadway production of There Shall Be...
- Nina Bailey - Dick MartinDick Martin (comedian)Thomas Richard "Dick" Martin was an American comedian and director, best known for his role as the cohost of the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.-Early life and career:...
- Zack Molloy - George TobiasGeorge TobiasGeorge Tobias was an American character actor.-Early life and career:Born to a Jewish family in New York, he began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. He then spent several years in theater groups before moving on to Broadway and, eventually, Hollywood...
* - Norman Fenimore - Alice PearceAlice PearceAlicia “Alice” Pearce was an American actress. Brought to Hollywood by Gene Kelly to reprise her Broadway performance in the film version of On the Town , Pearce played comedic supporting roles in several films, before being cast as Gladys Kravitz in Bewitched in 1964...
* - Mabel Fenimore - Ellen CorbyEllen CorbyEllen Corby was an American actress. She is most widely remembered for the role of "Grandma Esther Walton" on the CBS television series The Waltons, for which she won three Emmy Awards...
- Anna Miller - Dee J. Thompson - Donna
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
.
Robert Vaughn
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
, famous at the time for playing "Napoleon Solo" on the TV series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, makes a very brief appearance in a non-speaking role.
Reception
The movie was an attempt to appeal to both Day's traditional fans and a younger audience. It was a success financially. She followed it with the 1967 movie Caprice with the same director and a similar scenario but it was a critical and commercial failure.DVD
The DVD of The Glass Bottom Boat (published during 2005) includes three vintage featurettes (Catalina Island, Every Girl's Dream, and NASA), as well as the Oscar-Winning cartoon The Dot and the LineThe Dot and the Line
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics is a book written and illustrated by Norton Juster, first published by Random House in 1963. The story was inspired by Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions...
.