Ding Dong Williams

Plot

Hollywood's Sunrise Studios is producing a film about a heartbroken composer who creates a modern rhapsody. The head of the music department, Hugo Meyerhold (Felix Bressart), and his young secretary Angela Jones (Marcy McGuire), engage jive clarinetist Ding Dong Williams (Glen Vernon, billed under his real name of Glenn Vernon). Unfortunately Ding Dong's musical skills are limited to improvisation: he can't read or write music at all, and just plays music the way he feels at the moment. Angela spends the rest of the hour-long film trying various schemes to induce Ding Dong to play something sad and soulful, including a fake romance with the studio's cowboy star, but all of her attempts fail. Dressed down by the studio boss, and disillusioned by life in Hollywood, Ding Dong watches Meyerhold conducting an orchestral performance of Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu." At the rear of the recording stage, Ding Dong thoughtlessly begins to play in counterpoint to the orchestra. Angela sees this and has the director position a microphone above Ding Dong. The counterpoint melody is exactly what the studio boss wants, and all ends happily.

Cast

History

Ding Dong Williams was based on a series of stories by Richard English, published in Collier's magazine, chronicling the comic adventures of a young musician. The movie version was filmed in 1945 as a vehicle for one of RKO's promising juveniles, Glenn Vernon. The studio had cast Vernon opposite its resident rambunctious teenager, Marcy McGuire, in the B comedy Sing Your Way Home, and saw possibilities of making Vernon and McGuire a movie team like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The working title of the new picture was Meet Ding Dong Williams, and the 62-minute B comedy was supposed to be the first in the series. Meanwhile, the studio had set the Leon Errol comedy Riverboat Rhythm as the next Vernon-McGuire picture. However, the temperamental McGuire saw the script and resented the size of her role. She voiced her objections to her bosses, insisting that she be cast in leading musical roles. RKO responded by dismissing McGuire and canceling any plans for a series. The studio allowed talk of the new team to fade into memory, and kept the unreleased Ding Dong Williams on the shelf. Ding Dong Williams was finally released in April 1946, to favorable reviews in Motion Picture Herald, Motion Picture Daily, and Variety.