This – the last MGM film of Red Skelton – minor comedy was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Martin Rackin and László Vadnay . In addition to the headliner comedian, the cast includes Cara Williams, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar and Reginald Owen, among others.
Skelton plays an accomplished diamond cutter (!) that has worked for Bainbridge Gibbons (Owen) for 20 years. Found as an abandoned infant on a bench under an umbrella in the city park, Skelton's character was so named – Ambrose C. Park – and grew up in an orphanage until he came of age and met Gibbons, who took Ambrose under his wing and into his business. Desperate to find his real family, Skelton hires a lawyer, a scam artist named Mr. Remlick (Whitmore), who sets up a phony family of peer scammers – 'father' Duke Fargoh (George Mathews), 'mother' Emily (Dorothy Stickney) and 'sister' Maggie (Williams) – hoping to get Ambrose's $8,000 life's savings.
But then Duke discovers something that Remlick had overlooked: Ambrose's connection to Gibbons, and that Gibbons has a huge $2 million diamond – the Blue Goddess – which he'd like to have split, in order to create a market for its sale. So Duke involves gangster Tony Medeli (Kasznar) and his 'heavy' Herb (Harry Bellaver) as 'Uncles' Tony and Herb in hopes of making an even bigger score.
Since Skelton's character is a naïve 'square', the ruse proceeds, especially when the crooks – after learning that Gibbons doesn't believe Ambrose can make the delicate cut, and hence has been hiring world renown experts that Ambrose is worried will turn the diamond into dust – play the angle that they believe Ambrose can do it, and convince him to try.
Skelton plays an accomplished diamond cutter (!) that has worked for Bainbridge Gibbons (Owen) for 20 years. Found as an abandoned infant on a bench under an umbrella in the city park, Skelton's character was so named – Ambrose C. Park – and grew up in an orphanage until he came of age and met Gibbons, who took Ambrose under his wing and into his business. Desperate to find his real family, Skelton hires a lawyer, a scam artist named Mr. Remlick (Whitmore), who sets up a phony family of peer scammers – 'father' Duke Fargoh (George Mathews), 'mother' Emily (Dorothy Stickney) and 'sister' Maggie (Williams) – hoping to get Ambrose's $8,000 life's savings.
But then Duke discovers something that Remlick had overlooked: Ambrose's connection to Gibbons, and that Gibbons has a huge $2 million diamond – the Blue Goddess – which he'd like to have split, in order to create a market for its sale. So Duke involves gangster Tony Medeli (Kasznar) and his 'heavy' Herb (Harry Bellaver) as 'Uncles' Tony and Herb in hopes of making an even bigger score.
Since Skelton's character is a naïve 'square', the ruse proceeds, especially when the crooks – after learning that Gibbons doesn't believe Ambrose can make the delicate cut, and hence has been hiring world renown experts that Ambrose is worried will turn the diamond into dust – play the angle that they believe Ambrose can do it, and convince him to try.