Before they were call RVers they called themselves Trailerites - Celebrate the history of RVing

In the Long Long Trailer, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez play newlyweds Tacy and Nicky Collini. Nicky's job keeps him moving around the county. Tacy thinks having their own traveling home... before they were called RVs... is a much better idea than staying in motels and rented rooms.

Nicky is against the idea at first, but when he realizes Tacy is serious, agrees to buy a trailer.

During the film, Nicky learns how to drive 'forty feet of train' through congested city streets and the importance of 'trailer brakes first!' Then he backs the 'rig' over Aunt Anastasia's prize roses.

Tacy tries to cook dinner in the New Moon trailer while Nicky drives them to their destination which proves to be a really bad idea.

Along the way she collects rocks as souvenirs of the places she has been along with lots of canned fruits and vegetables, eventually causing the trailer to be greatly overloaded.

The movie's climax revolves around the hilarity of moving a 32ft 3 ton trailer up a very steep, narrow mountain road.

The dangerous mountain road featured in the movie is Whitney Portal Road which leads up to Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The hairpin turn featured in the film offers scenic views of the Owens Valley.

During the scenes of Nicky and Tacy pulling their trailer in the mountains, their 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible is replaced with a larger but similar appearing 1953 Lincoln Capri convertible. The distinct Lincoln grille is clearly evident in a shot as the car rounds a curve. The more powerful Lincoln (which is equipped with a 205 HP V8 engine) was needed to pull the heavy New Moon trailer up and over the steep grades of the Sierra Nevadas where the scenes were filmed.

Even though it's only loosely based on Clinton Twiss' novel, the Long, Long trailer is one of our favorite comedies and is a must see for any serious RVer.

You can purchase a DVD copy of the Long Long Trailer for less than $10 from Amazon.com. Also, see our book store for our list of recommended RV books and Check out the DVDs at RV Education 101 for more informative and fun RV videos.

While Lucy's character on the hit TV series yearns to star in a musical performance, Lucy herself had no such ambition. M-G-M nevertheless provided her an opportunity to sing with Desi in the film.

"Breezin Along With The Breeze" by Haven Gillespie, Seymour Simons, and Richard A. Whiting, was the ideal song for the newlyweds to sing as the long long trailer passes by glorious scenery. The lush orchestration heard in the rest of the movie was dropped in favor of a light trio accompaniment emanating from the characters' car radio. This was done in order to keep their breaking into song within the realm of believability.

Nicky & Mrs. Hittaway carry Tacy in to the long long trailer.

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