Tribute: Mel Ferrer

Mel Ferrer, who died this week, starred in one of my very favorite family movies, the musical Lili, with Leslie Caron. She is a lonely orphan whose only friends are three carnival puppets. Her natural interaction with them leads the lonely and bitter puppeteer (Ferrer) to make her a part of the act. And the puppets allow both of them to communicate more openly than they can with anyone else. Author Paul Gallico was inspired by the 1950’s television show, Kukla, Fran and Ollie. At the moment, Lili is available only on video but I hope it will be on DVD soon.