''Bells Are Ringing'' is a 1960 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

- musical film directed by

Vincente Minnelli Vincente Minnelli (born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American stage director and film director. He directed the classic movie musicals '' Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944), '' An American in Paris'' (1951), ' ...

and starring

Judy Holliday Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress, comedian and singer.Obituary '' Variety'', June 9, 1965, p. 71. She began her career as part of a nightclub act before working in Broadway plays and mus ...

and Dean Martin. Based on the successful 1956 Broadway production of the same name by

Betty Comden Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 - November 23, 2006) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter who contributed to numerous Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green spanned ...

Adolph Green Adolph Green (December 2, 1914 – October 23, 2002) was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved film musicals, particularly as part of Ar ...

and Jule Styne, the film focuses on Ella Peterson, based on the life of Mary Printz, who works in the basement office of a telephone answering service.

Plot

Ella Peterson works as a switchboard operator at the Susanswerphone answering service. She can't help breaking the rules by becoming overly involved in the lives of the subscribers. Some of the more peculiar ones include a dentist who exuberantly composes song lyrics on an air hose, an actor who emulates Marlon Brando and a little boy for whom she pretends to be Santa Claus. Ella has a secret crush on the voice of subscriber Jeffrey Moss, a playwright for whom she plays a comforting motherly character. She finally meets him in person when she brings him a message under a false name, and romantic sparks and some confusion begin. A humorous subplot involves the courtly Otto, who convinces Susanswerphone to take orders for his "mail-order classical record business" known as Titanic Records. However, Otto is actually a bookie whose orders are a coded system for betting on horses. Unwittingly, Ella changes orders for the supposedly incorrect Beethoven's Tenth Symphony, Opus 6, not realizing she is changing bets. Although the police begin to assume that Susanswerphone might be a front for an escort service, the plot ends happily, with Jeff proposing and Ella's wacky subscribers coming to thank her.

Cast

Character names are not indicated in on-screen cast credits. *

as Ella Peterson * Dean Martin as Jeffrey Moss *

Fred Clark Frederick Leonard Clark (March 19, 1914 – December 5, 1968) was an American film and television character actor. Early years Born in Lincoln, California, Clark was the son of Fred Clark Sr. He attended Stanford University with plans to become ...

as Larry Hastings * Eddie Foy, Jr. as J. Otto Prantz *

Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Arc ...

as Sue * Ruth Storey as Gwynne * Dort Clark as Inspector Barnes * Frank Gorshin as Blake Barton * Ralph Roberts as Francis * Valerie Allen as Olga *

Bernie West Bernie West (May 30, 1918 – July 29, 2010) was an American television writer and actor best known for his work in situation comedies such as ''All in the Family'', its spinoff ''The Jeffersons'', and ''Three's Company''. Biography Born on ...

as Dr. Joe Kitchell * Steven Peck as Gangster *

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...

as Ella's blind date * Jean Moorhead

Songs

Music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green * "It's a Perfect Relationship" * "Do it Yourself" * "It's a Simple Little System" * "Better Than a Dream" * "I Met a Girl" * " Just in Time” * "Drop That Name" * " The Party’s Over” * "I'm Going Back"

Production

and

reprised their stage roles for the film. Jazz musician

, Holliday's real-life ex-lover, plays her disastrous blind date in a cameo role. ''Bells Are Ringing'' was Holliday's final film. ''Bells Are Ringing'' was also the final musical produced by the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

"Freed Unit" headed by producer

Arthur Freed Arthur Freed (September 9, 1894 – April 12, 1973) was an American lyricist and Hollywood film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture twice, in 1951 for '' An American in Paris'' and in 1958 for '' Gigi''. Both films were musicals. ...

, which had been responsible for many of the studio's greatest successes, including ''

Meet Me in St. Louis ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is a 1944 American Christmas film, Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith famil ...

'' (1944), '' Easter Parade'' (1948), '' On the Town'' (1949), ''

An American in Paris ''An American in Paris'' is a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by American composer George Gershwin first performed in 1928. It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital ...

'' (1951), '' Singin' in the Rain'' (1952) and '' Gigi'' (1958). The film marked the 13th and final collaboration between Freed and director Vincente Minnelli. Several songs from the Broadway production were dropped or replaced, including "Salzburg", "Hello, Hello There", "On My Own" (replaced by "Do It Yourself"), "Long Before I Knew You" (replaced by "Better Than a Dream"), "Mu Cha Cha" (filmed but shortened) and "Is it a Crime?" (filmed, but cut before release). A new song for Dean Martin, "My Guiding Star", was also filmed but cut. The latter two songs have been released as extras on the Warner Home Video DVD. The soundtrack album was released by Capitol Records.

Reception

In a contemporary review, critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' was critical of the script but praised Holliday's performance: " e jangled romance they have prepared for her to play is a poor thing, made up of one slight gimmick and a lot of surrounding gags. What Miss Holliday does with the latter is the measure of the quality of the show. ... You can take our word for it: 'Bells Are Ringing' owes more to Miss Holliday than to its authors, its director (Vincent Minnelli), or even to Alexander Graham Bell."

Awards and nominations

Comden and Green won the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

award for Best American Musical. Together with Styne, they shared a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nomination for Best Soundtrack Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or TV. Minnelli earned a Best Director nomination from the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

. André Previn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. At the 18th Annual Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for Best Film - Musical, and Holliday was nominated for Best Actress - Musical.

Box-office

According to MGM records, the film earned $2,825,000 in the U.S. and Canada but only $800,000 elsewhere, losing a total of $1,720,000.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bells Are Ringing (Film) 1960 films 1960s musical films American musical films Films based on musicals Films directed by Vincente Minnelli Films produced by Arthur Freed Films set in New York City Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about telephony CinemaScope films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films