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 composes songs 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 "Mom" character. She finally meets him face to face, 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. Unfortunately, Otto is actually a bookie whose orders are a 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 her wacky subscribers coming to thank her.
Joan Staley------Blonde taking a shower in "Susanswerphone" ad
Sammy White------Vendor
Olan Soule------Nervous man
Mae Questel------Olga's voice
Leona Gage------Jeff's party guest
Madge Blake------Woman on street
Len Lesser------Charlie Bessemer
Phil Arnold------Man on the street
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 notes
and Jean Stapleton reprised their stage roles for the film. Dean Martin took over the male leading role, and the cast also included Eddie Foy Jr., Fred Clark, Frank Gorshin, Hal Linden and Bernie West. Jazz musician Gerry Mulligan, by this time Holliday's lover, plays her disastrous blind date in a cameo role. Bells Are Ringing was Holliday's final film; she was already ill when production began. Bells Are Ringing was also the final musical produced by the MGM 'Freed Unit', headed by producer Arthur Freed, which had been responsible for many of the studio's greatest successes, including Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, On the Town, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and Gigi. It was the thirteenth and final collaboration between producer Freed and director Vincente Minnelli. Several songs from the Broadway production were dropped or replaced. These include, "Salzburg", "Hello, Hello There", "On My Own", "Long Before I Knew You", "Mu Cha Cha" and "Is it A Crime?". 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.
