Ball Of Fire - Original Trailer 194

Ball of Fire is a delightful retelling (by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett) of the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" legend -- though strictly for grownups. Gary Cooper is the youngest of eight bookish professors authoring an encyclopedia. They find a perfect "research associate" in the curvaceous form of stripteaser Barbara Stanwyck, who (chastely) hides on the professors' domicile to escape her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews). As Stanwyck interprets various slang expression, she and the professors grow quite fond of one another; she brings out their sentimental sides, while they revive her essential decency. Naturally, Cooper is the one most smitten, though he hides his true feelings until the inevitable clinch. When gangster Andrews and his torpedo Dan Duryea show up to claim Stanwyck (Andrews wants to marry her so she can't testify against him), the professors save the day and it is Cooper who ends up with the beautiful Stanwyck. For the record, two of the "ancient" professors are Richard Haydn and O.Z. Whitehead, still in their mid-thirties (the others are S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Oscar Homolka, Leonid Kinskey and Aubrey Mather). Producer Sam Goldwyn later remade Ball of Fire as a Danny Kaye musical, A Song is Born (1948). Gary Cooper - Prof. Bertram Potts Barbara Stanwyck - Sugarpuss O'Shea Oscar Homolka - Prof. Gurkakoff Dana Andrews - Joe Lilac Dan Duryea - Duke Pastrami S.Z. Sakall - Prof. Magenbruch Tully Marshall - Prof. Robinson Henry Travers - Prof. Jerome Leonid Kinskey - Prof. Quintana Richard Haydn - Prof. Oddly Aubrey Mather - Prof. Peagram Allen Jenkins - Garbage Man Ralph Peters - Asthma Anderson Kathleen Howard - Miss Bragg Mary Field - Miss Totten Charles Lane - Larsen, the Lawyer Charles Arnt - McNeary Al Rhein - Horseface George Barton - Garbageman Aldrich Bowker - Justice of the Peace Doria Caron - Girl in Subway Eddy Chandler - Cop Ken Christy - Cop Edward Clark - Motor Court Proprietor Elisha Cook, Jr. - Waiter Pat Flaherty - Deputy Eddie Foster - Pinstripe Geraldine - Fissette Otto Hoffman - Stage Doorman June Horne - Nursemaid at Park Ken Howell - College Boy Gene Krupa Will Lee - Benny the Creep Ethelreda Leopold - Nursemaid at Park Lorraine Miller - Girl in Cafe Johnnie Morris Ed Mundy - Spieler Jack Perry - Fighting Bum Lee Phelps - Cop Gerald Pierce - Delivery Boy Addison Richards - District Attorney Dick Rush - Cop Tommy Ryan - Newsboy Tim Ryan - Motor Cop Francis Sayles - Taxi Driver Helen Seamon George Sherwood - Deputy Walter Shumway - Garbageman Pat West - Bum