A Movie, Some TV … and Jukeboxes

Betty Comden and Adolph Green struggled with getting the screenplay for the movie version of Bells Are Ringing produced, but eventually the project went before the cameras with Judy Holliday reprising her stage performance under the direction of Vincente Minnelli. After this the writers found that their work as performers was taking them to television and specifically two high-profile network specials. They also began work on another musical with Jule Styne, an adaptation of Garson Kanin’s novelette Do Re Mi. The story, about some ex-cons trying to go legit in the jukebox business, starred Phil Silvers and proved to be such a hit that President-elect John F. Kennedy felt it necessary to take it in just days before his inauguration.