For the most part I find Jerry Lewis insufferable. Here the plot takes over and he manages quite well. Through a series of circumstances he ends up taking care of a set of triplet girls. Much of the comedy comes, of course, from Lewis's pratfalls and lack of understanding about raising children. It is a good vehicle for his brand of humor and he is charming and humbled by his circumstances. Of course, to the outside observers, he is incompetent and potentially dangerous. A woman decides to go to court to have the girls taken from him, and we get the classic treatment of a man who knows love in his heart. There always seems to be a villain out there ready to swoop in. Anyway, a lightweight, uneven presentation.

While there is plenty of comedy to keep your funny bone out of joint, the film overall depends on a bunch of idiots to create its plot. Surprisingly, Jerry Lewis's simpleton is not one of them; His character (if not himself) comes with a lot of heart, taking in three adorable babies which may or may not be his. The usually likable Connie Stevens is truly annoying as the impish girl who seems obsessed with getting his attention, which ultimately causes him to always be in trouble as the result of her obnoxious distractions. Then, there is her older sister (Marilyn Maxwell), a movie star who insinuates that Lewis is the father and leaves the babies with her so she can continue her career. Stevens and Maxwell's father misinterprets the situation and idiotically fluctuates between emotions that are extremely inconsistent from one moment until the next. This musical variation of 1944's "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" keeps the viewer guessing as to who & why the identity of the kiddy's daddy is never revealed until the end.Comically, the film is extremely funny, especially the opening scene involving a fire hose that destroys an entire neighborhood. Isobel Elsom is the Billie Burke like society matron who goes after custody of the children for herself after Lewis (thanks to Steven's interference) accidentally fills her living room with chimney soot. The adorable Ida Moore is very funny as Lewis's commercial loving landlady who tries pretty much every product she sees on TV. Such vets as James Gleason, Hans Conried and Hope Emerson are wasted in minor roles, but Reginald Gardiner is given some good material as Maxwell's droll manager. The songs are actually above average, although an Egyptian themed production number is truly silly. Although Salvatore Baccaloni's papa is the real dumbbell of the story, he does get a nice duet with Lewis called "Dormi-Dormi-Dormi (Sleep-Sleep-Sleep)". Lewis's young son appears as his character in a flashback which is a nice touch, and the courtroom scene at the end has some clever dubbing utilized for comic effect.

Before I review this Jerry Lewis movie, let me just mention a couple of players from previous films he made with Dean Martin: Hans Conried plays his boss, Mr. Wright, and Mary Treen plays a nurse. Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say this was quite a change of pace for Lewis since for one thing, there's no role that would have been played by Martin since Jer is truly the whole show here. Also, with him having to take care of babies that happen to be sired by former girlfriend Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell), his shtick is not-so-frantic when he's on screen with them. Helping him is Carla's father (Salvatore Baccaloni) and her sister Sandy (Connie Stevens) who has a crush on Clayton Poole (Jer's character). Oh, and Carla's a movie star so there's also an agent (Reginald Gardiner) on hand. And one more thing: Jerry sings some good songs, including a duet with Mr. Baccaloni, in his own normal voice and he's as good as Dean would have been if he warbled them. He also sings with his son Gary, who's underage here and years from his fame with the Playboys, in a sequence mixing present with flashback as Gary plays his father when his age. Reportedly, Jerry's father Danny also appears though I didn't recognize anyone with the family resemblance. No matter as for the most part, I really enjoyed this movie except whenever Lewis did a couple of Asian gibberish that fell in the stereotypical trap. Oh, and Connie was also lovely when she sang. Okay, I've said enough so on that note, I highly recommend Rock-a-Bye Baby. Kudos to writer/director Frank Tashlin too. One more thing, you'll be amazed when you see the picture of the bullfighter Carla was married to when she had her triplets!

A touching yet hilarious tale of many mistakes and mistaken impressions and a great last minute rush to straighten things out. Best line in the show may be "White Virgin of the Nile?"