Several plots overlap. I will not go into detail as it is fun to be surprised.

However working as an operator for a phone answering service Ella Peterson (Judy Holliday) is in the perfect location to here people problems, and schemes to help them. At first she passes information on by phone. When one customer unplugs, she decides to help in person. She takes on an alias “Melisande Scott” and falling in love with customer, Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin), she takes on more than she bargained for.

Mean while Inspector Barns suspects that the answering service is a front for some hanky panky and is looking for an excuse to put the lot of them in the woman’s’ detention center.

And J. Otto Prantz just sold 5000 copies of Beethoven’s Tenth, Op. 6.

Lots of song including “Plaza O, Double Four, Double Three” and dance scenes. The still camera gives it that stage musical feel but it only adds to the fun.

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One note on the DVD. The outtakes with the exception of one Dean Martin song “My Guiding Star” were best taken out as they distracted form the rest of the story.

Born Yesterday. by Garson Kanin (Paperback – Jan 1951)

Born Yesterday

Rating: 5 / 5

BELLS ARE RINGING was written specifically to fit the talents of Judy Holliday by her old friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and originally premiered on Broadway in 1956. Holliday beat Julie Andrews (in MY FAIR LADY) to win the coveted Tony Award and she stayed for the entire 3-year-run. The story concerns the lovelorn Ella Peterson, a telephone operator for the Susanswerphone message service. Ella (disguised as ‘Mom’) falls in love with the voice of one of her subscribers, Jeff Moss, a playwright with writer’s block, though she resigns herself to the fact that she may never actually meet him. Complications arise when Ella bites the bullet and takes on the persona of ‘Melisande Scott’ in order to embark on a relationship with him.

Eddie Foy Jr., Frank Gorshin and Jean Stapleton, all great stage-trained actors, turn in fantastic supporting performances. It is lovely seeing Judy Holliday (in her final film before succumbing to cancer) kicking up her heels in her acclaimed Broadway role. She is truly missed.

The DVD includes a brief Making-Of featurette with Hal Linden talking about understudying and eventually replacing Sydney Chaplin as Jeff Moss on Broadway; as well as warm reminisces from Comden & Green and Frank Gorshin. The outtake numbers “Is It a Crime?”, “My Guiding Star” and an alternate take of “The Midas Touch” can also be savoured, as well as the obligatory trailer.
Rating: 4 / 5