Ring-A-Ding In the New Year

Known as, "Ring-A-Ding Rhythm" in the US or, "It's Trad, Dad," in the UK, this little picture was directed by Richard Lester in 1962 and was turned on to me by fellow TCM obsessive, Main Line Sportsman sometime last night.  I hate to say, "last night" 'cause it's embarrassing I never heard of it.  Who cares.

It's a funky little film that mixes a fictional "Boy-Girl story with amazing B&W cinema vérité and you can see Lester's, "A Hard Day's Night" coming at you for a country mile.  It's a rough patch at the beginning but it manages to loosen up and the musical numbers are the reason to hang in there.

Bert Stern mentioned in a Lincoln Center viewing of his 1958 documentary, 'Jazz on a Summer's Day,' that it was his original intent to have a "Boy-Girl backstory with actual footage of the festival threaded throughout the film.  He eventually gave up on the idea, in large part, because there was no script and he was winging it without any idea of what to do with the story.  Lester, a sneeze in time later, seemed to pull off what Stern couldn't do with, Ring-A-Ding/It's Trad Dad.



Bizarre minutiae attends this film in spades, which really makes for a deeper appreciation. John Lennon wrote "Misery" for the "Girl" and  co star, Helen Shapiro, a uniquely attractive brunette with an even more unique and beautiful voice.  The Boy, Craig Douglas, is still touring, although in a wheel chair, and his performance, as a "local" introduced by Miss Shapiro in this clip, "Rainbow in Your Tea" is a show stealer. Then there's a bizarre appearance Craig makes in a very rare clip (that's what they say) of Russ Conway's television show, Russ Conway & a Few Friends:



Sweet, Jesus.  If I were a designer, I'd rip off this entire clip, shoot it in B&W at the Oak Room in the Algonquin and use it to feature my new line.  It certainly beats Lincoln Center.  Happy New Year.

American Film Polski

1947, Eryk Lipinski, Casablanca, 33 x 23in


1948, Henryk Tomaszewski, Citizen Kane, 34x24in Est. $1,200


1957, Waldemar Swierzy, Sunset Boulevard, 33.5 x 22.5in, Est. $4,500


1959, Maria Heidrich, Spellbound, 23 x 31.5in


1959 Franciszek Starowieyski, Satchmo the Great, 33 x 23in


1959, Marian Stachurski, Snows of Kilimanjaro, 34 x 23in


1973, Wiktor Gorka, Cabaret, 33 x 23in


1973, Waldemar Swierzy, Midnight Cowboy, 32 x 23in Est. $1,800


1978, Andrzej Klimowski, Taxi Driver, 38 x 26.5in


1978, Mieczyslaw Wasilewski, Three Women, 32.5 x 22.5in, Est. $90


1980, Marek Ploza-Dolinski, The Dirty Dozen, 27 x 39in, Est. $70


1984, Waldemar Swierzy, The Dogs of War, 38 x 26.5, Est. $132


1988, Mieczyslaw Wasilewski, Untouchables, 26.5 x 38in, Est. $107


2001, Wieslaw Walkuski, Face Off, 38.5 x 27in


2020, Joanna Gorska, Jerzy Sakun, Annie Hall, 27 x 29in, Est. $32

I loved watching foreign movies as a kid. They were my ticket and passport out of whatever crappy Army town I was living in. They were also a chance to share a film with my deaf sister thanks to subtitles. I'm not gonna tell you I was watching Bergman's, The Seventh Seal at 12, but I was a dedicated follower of the CBS Children's Film Festival. Never liked Kukla, Fran and Ollie much, but they were a small price for a ticket to Tokyo, London, Munich or even the Bronx.

Polish American Film Posters are a different point of view on established American ideas. Created a few years after the original release, the artists rarely saw the films but were given a written description. All but two of these (Dirty Dozen, Annie Hall) posters were taken from the 2002 exhibit, American Films in Polish Posters at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.

If these float your boat, there are a number of dealers on the internet, and prices for all but the earliest works are affordable, if not down right cheap. There's a gap between 1949 and 1957 when American movies were banned by the communists. That really worked.

Compared to the huge American One-Sheets, these posters all run around 33" x 23", give or take. They also don't shout at you like American posters and tweed bicycle rides. There's an understatement that's intelligent, creative and fun. Just like my Polish grandmother.

Sweet Smell Of Success

Sidney Falco - More twists than a pretzel

Toots Shor Bar

Anyone know this issue?

Loads of NYC locations

JJ Hunsecker - I hope he doesn't look like your brother in law

21, Toots Shor, The Elysian Room...They're all here. Not to mention a New York City of 1957 that's long gone. Everytime I watch this I can't help but be stunned by the images, the words, the actors, the photography...It never lets up and I always want to take a shower afterwards.

I first saw Sweet Smell of Success on video in '89. The next day I had an interview with the head of PR at 20th Century Fox in Chicago. She never heard of it. So I say, "Tony Curtis is this press agent who'll do anything for this Walter Winchell like columnist played by Burt Lancaster. It's based on a short story by Ernest Lehman but the script is by Clifford Odets. You gotta see it." I remember she asked me who Burt Lancaster was.

At 30, I had sympathy for Sidney Falco, the press agent. I also saw nothing wrong in him peeking at JJ's column the day before it was printed and using it in a slightly devious but creative way to sign a new client.

At 40, I saw the connection between sleazy JJ Hunesucker played by Burt Lancaster and the radio show hosts of the 'patriotic' right. Fat white men who managed to avoid any military service but were thumping for war and if you disagreed you were a commie.

Today, I hear the music in the words. "Your dead, son. Get yourself buried." "Hey Lump. I told you I wasn't selling no fish." "Sidney, conjugate me a verb. For instance, to promise." Dated a little but JJ echos Richard III, "I am not in the giving vein today."

It's a movie for the winter. Get far enough away from Christmas before you cue it up and get your shower ready. You'll need to wash these characters off but you're never going to forget them.