Whos Minding the Store

Plot

The rich Mrs. Tuttle (Agnes Moorehead) is upset that her daughter Barbara (Jill St. John) is engaged to a man beneath their social stature, Norman Phiffier (Jerry Lewis).

Phiffier, a dog walker, is as awkward socially as he is physically. Mrs. Tuttle despises Phiffier but she arranges for him to get a job at one of her stores. She directs the store manager, Quimby (Ray Walston), to assign Phiffier a series of impossible and outrageous tasks, hoping he will become frustrated and quit, proving to her daughter that he is worthless. Instead, he becomes more driven and determined, and Quimby realizes that "he's a man of character".

Barbara has been keeping her heiress status to the Tuttle Department Store fortune a secret from Phiffier, knowing he is a proud person who refuses to marry her until he can afford to buy her a home. When her identity as an heiress is revealed, Phiffier breaks off the engagement and quits, returning to his previous job as dog walker.

Phiffier in this way does prove his worth to Mrs. Tuttle and she accepts him into her family.

Production

Who's Minding the Store? was filmed from March 25 to May 22, 1963.

Cast

Jerry Lewis as Norman Phiffier

Jill St. John as Barbara Tuttle

Ray Walston as Mr. Quimby

John McGiver as Mr. John P. Tuttle

Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle

Francesca Bellini as Shirley Lott

Peggy Mondo as Lady wrestler

Nancy Kulp as Emily Rothgraber

John Abbott as Mr. Orlandos

Isobel Elsom as Hazel, a Dowager

Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Glucksman

Fritz Feld as Irving Cahastrophe, the Gourmet Manager

Milton Frome as Francois, the Driver

Mary Treen as Mattress Customer

Dick Wessel as Traffic Cop (credited as Richard Wessel)

Notable facts

The scene in which Fritz Feld feeds Lewis a delicacy of fried ants actually contained genuine fried ants, a fact that Lewis was unaware of until after the scene was over.

The film's poster can be seen in the background of Jerry's film, The Patsy when Ina Balin gets into a phone booth to call Jerry's character, Stanley Belt.

The French actor Christopher Lambert, known for his major roles in Highlander and Luc Besson's Subway, played an uncredited role in this movie.

Part of the musical score from the typewriter scene was used as a title theme for the German comedy series Büro, Büro.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 27, 2012.