Bells are Ringing

I had the chance to watch Bells are Ringing last night.  An MGM musical from 1960 starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.  I first saw this film when it premiered at Radio City Music Hall in NY.  What a place!

A quick look at the cast listed on IMDb sends you to bit part Heaven!  So many actors and actresses were tapped for this film.  It was a little surprising to see so many familiar TV faces, especially in the street scene where Dean and Judy are saying "Hello" to everyone.  Many of theses actors and actresses were working in TV and also doing some movie parts.  I bet you will recognize most of the faces, but never knew their names.  I'd like to scan the faces later in that scene where Dean is singing while walking through the crowd.

Bells are Ringing includes the talents of Herb Vigran who has 324 roles listed to his credit from 1934 to 1987, Frank Richards (143 roles), Milton Parsons (155 roles), and Len Lesser (165 roles).  Of special note we heard Mae Questel as the voice of Olga on the phone.  Mae was also the voice of Olive Oyl and Betty Boop in cartoons.  In his first movie, Hal Linden was the nightclub singer who performed the classic tune, The Midas Touch.  Hal didn't even get screen credit.

One thing that looked like it really didn't belong in the film were the prat falls of Gil Lamb.  I can see one fall, tripping over Judy's removed skirt, but then he kept upstaging everyone to show how flexible he is.  It didn't work for me.

I hope you saw Leonard Bremen!  He was the man on the street who almost gets run over.  Of course, he is one of my choices for all time best bit actor.  His voice is very distinctive...in a character actor sort of way.

I must also mention the dentist/composer, Bernard West.  His was a small, but important part.  He didn't do much acting in his career, but he was a writer and producer of note.  In fact, he was the producer for "All in the Family" and of course, Jean Stapleton was in that and Bells are Ringing.  See how everything fits together?

If you've never seen Bells, please go rent or buy it.  Some reviews on IMDb have trashed it a bit, but this is a very entertaining film.  How can you beat the great musical numbers and orchestrations, the singing of Dean Martin, the comedy of Judy Holiday in her only color film, plus the wonderful character portrayals of Jean Stapleton and Eddie Foy, Jr.?

Judy Holliday

A few months ago we rented Born Yesterday (1950) from Netflix.  This was Judy Holliday's first leading role in a movie, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.  I had never seen the film before, so it was a treat.

Broderick Crawford plays Harry Brock.  I loved him in "Highway Patrol" on TV, but it was easy to hate him in this film for his treatment of Holliday's character, Billie Dawn.  At the same time, he was able to evoke pity in the audience because he was so pathetically inept at being human.

Holliday truly deserved the Oscar for this performance.  She was happy in her role as Crawford's girl until he hired William Holden to give her some lessons in how to be more refined.  One of Crawford's lines is, "Shut up! You ain't gonna be tellin' nobody nothin' pretty soon!" ...and he wants to teach Billie how to be refined?  How would he know?

She does become more educated during the course of the movie, and that would be good enough, but she brings so much more to the screen.  Every look and every action is brilliant.  Watch her playing gin.  The cards do magic things in her hands.  I couldn't concentrate on the game with her dealing.

I looked over the rest of the cast from Born, and there aren't many names that stand out.  Of interest is Larry Oliver who played Congressman Norval Hedges, the one Brock is trying to bribe.  Oliver only had one other acting role listed at IMDB, and that was the TV version of the same story on "Hallmark Hall of Fame," playing Senator Norval Hedges.  His real career was on Broadway where he was in, you guessed it, "Born Yesterday" among other roles.

What a shame that Judy didn't live long enough to make more films.  She was only in 13, as I count on IMDB, plus a few appearances on TV.  I was too young to catch her on Broadway.  Her finest roles, Born Yesterday and Bells are Ringing were both from plays in which she starred.


Judy was also wonderful in Adams Rib, with Tracy and Hepburn, but that was their film, not hers.  That role may have been helpful in getting her into Born Yesterday.

I have Bells are Ringing at home right now, from Netflix.  I saw the film when it was released in 1960 at Radio City Music Hall in NY.  That is the way to premier a film!  I was only ten years old, but I remember the day.

My wife hasn't seen it yet, so after we screen it, I will add comments in another blog.  So many movies, so little time!