# WTF happened to Steve Martin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284 "2003-12-16T07:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/41 "2003-12-16T21:36:43Z")
Ever snce I read Harry Harrison’s “Stainless Steel Rat” series, I have always envisioned Steve Martin as Slippery Jim DiGriz. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/42 "2003-12-16T22:05:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*The book and the Original Movie (was that Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball?) “Cheaper By The Dozen” were good, but this latest incarnation is a Crappy Movie that will Suck Ass. \*\* No, it was Clifton Webb and Jeanne Crane. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by hannahw_ > **Just FTR, Cheaper by the Dozen is a true story written by two of the Gilbreth children.** There’s also a sequel, _Belles on Their Toes_, although I’ve never read it. How much ya wanna bet the new movie doesn’t end like the book did? Lastly, I just noticed on the IMDB that they’ve also changed the name of the family: they’re the Bakers, now. Apparently, the only thing this movie has in common with the book is the title and the number of kids. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/43 "2003-12-16T22:23:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*The book and the Original Movie (was that Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball?) “Cheaper By The Dozen” were good, but this latest incarnation is a Crappy Movie that will Suck Ass. \*\* Clifton Webb played Frank Gilbreth in the original, while Myrna Loy played wife Lillian. Jeanne Crain appeared as daughter Ann. Perhaps you’re thinking of _Yours, Mine, and Ours_, in which a widow (Ball) and widower (Henry Fonda) married and had to blend their eighteen total offspring (eight were hers, ten his) into a family unit. ---
**Author:** ![Spurious\_George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Spurious\_George](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spurious_George)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/44 "2003-12-16T23:27:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*Chalk me up as someone who simply cannot understand why anyone likes “The Spanish Prisoner.” Martin is fine in it, but the pacing is bad, it’s all plot and no story, and it’s marred by some pretty terrible acting outside of Martin, most notably Rebecca Pidgeon, who is the worst actress to appear in actual Hollywood films in the last fifty years. \*\* Awww. Thus ends my secret fantasy that you’re actually [Ricky Jay](http://www.magicdirectory.com/jay/), who appeared in said flick and several other Mametian works. Unless… you _are_ him, and you’re just needling your friend. Yes, that’s it. Fantasy intact. [FWIW, I enjoy Ms. Pidgeon’s acting style, or lack thereof. I guess you didn’t like _Heist_, either?] ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/45 "2003-12-17T03:14:22Z")
Personally, I think its because of… **the CRUEL SHOES…** ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/46 "2003-12-17T04:54:00Z")
It’s all been downhill since _Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid_. ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/47 "2003-12-17T14:08:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\* After reading most of what he’s written in the last few years, I wonder if movies were never really his ideal medium… he could have a really good ‘second career’ as a writer. \*\* Steve Martin started out as a writer only. One of his first jobs was for **The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour** , back in the late 1960s. It wasn’t until several years later that he started his stand up act, which led to his movie career. I agree, his best talent is in his writing. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284/48 "2003-12-18T14:36:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*The book and the Original Movie (was that Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball?) “Cheaper By The Dozen” were good, but this latest incarnation is a Crappy Movie that will Suck Ass. \*\* I read the book so many times that I can still, years later, recall stretches of passages verbatim. I never watched the whole movie, but I never really wanted to after I saw who they had playing the father. The VERY FIRST THING the book talked about was how FAT their dad was and then the man they cast in the part was not only NOT overweight, he was so thin that if he turned sideways and stuck out his tongue, he’d look like a zipper! I figured if they couldn’t even get that little detail right, the rest of the flick was bound to drive me crazy! 😃 I’m betting it’ll be the same with this version of the film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-steve-martin/219284.md?page=2)