Warner Home Video has finally issued a DVD of the 1960 movie version of Bells Are Ringing, starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin, complete with a glorious hunk of bonus material. There's a short "making of…" documentary, there are cut numbers and alternate takes…and if you have any fondness for this film adaptation of a hit Broadway show, you'll want to order it, which you can do from Amazon by clicking here. I always found the film quite entertaining, if only because it captured the wonderful performance of Ms. Holliday. I never got to see her on stage but there was something so delightful about her screen appearances that I'm sure I missed out on something.
I have two special interests in this movie. One is purely nostalgic: In 1960, I was eight years old and my mother took me on a two-week trip to New York, Hartford and Boston — the first two towns were because I had relatives to meet. In Manhattan, we stayed at the Taft Hotel, went to the Statue of Liberty, attended a live broadcast of the game show, Concentration…and took in two movies. One, which bored me silly, was The Nun's Story. I think my mother didn't like it either, and we walked out on it. The other, which I enjoyed, was Bells Are Ringing, which we saw at the Radio City Music Hall. I liked the film and I liked the fact that there were scenes of walking around New York City, and then when the movie ended, we went out and walked around New York City. When you're eight, as I was, that kind of thing can impress you.
I'm also, as you can see from this site, fascinated by the contribution of great voiceover actors, and Bells Are Ringing has fine, uncredited performances by June Foray, Paul Frees and Shepard Menken. You all know June and Paul from their many appearances, most notably in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, but the late Mr. Menken was equally ubiquitous. (He did almost all the extra voices on The Alvin Show, including the great inventor, Clyde Crashcup.) In Bells Are Ringing, Shep was the announcer in the opening fake commercial, and he's heard in a few other spots. Paul and June provided most of the voices that are heard in phone calls, of which there are many in the film. In the "Drop That Name" musical number, there's one point where two on-camera actors are dubbed by Paul and one actress is dubbed by June. This may not matter to you but when you're fifty-three, as I am, that kind of thing can impress you.