Eccentric widow Madame Rosepettle (Rosalind Russell) had her husband stuffed when he passed away, and now keeps him in a closet. Her 24-year-old infantile and socially backward son, Jonathan (Robert Morse) is kept indoors at all times, fed hamburgers and a cherry three times a day, and kept busy with his stamp collection, edited books and his telescope.
Mother and son decide to visit Jamaica to spend a vacation at a first-class resort at Montego Bay for the summer. She takes along a tank of pet piranhas and a pair of Venus Flytraps. He takes along his stamp collection. Naturally, they take dear old stuffed dead Dad with them too . . .
Hotel babysitter, Rosie (Barbara Harris) falls for Jonathan while crazy old Commodore Roseabove (Hugh Griffith) sets his sights on Madame Rosepettle.
Despite the good cast, this dire adaptation of a flop play by Arthur Kopit is so bad that Paramount Pictures shelved it for nearly two years before finally releasing it. During that time, the studio added the dead Dad (Jonathan Winters) in a little circular insert at the top of the screen at various points throughout the film to comment on what is transpiring on the screen with (mostly) feeble wisecracks.
Madame Rosepettle
Rosalind Russell Jonathan
Robert Morse Rosalie
Barbara Harris Commodore Roseabove
Hugh Griffith Airport Commander
Lionel Jeffries Hawkins
Cyril Delevanti Breckenduff
Hiram Sherman Moses
George Kirby The Other Woman
Janis Hansen Dad (Narrator)
Jonathan Winters
Director
Richard Quine
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