Fairly Harmless Entertainment, Cute and Funny in Places, RIP Most of the Guest Stars

The 1978 American TV musical comedy special Ringo features an all-star cast and a plot lifted from Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper.

Famous drummer and ex-Beatle Ringo Starr plays a dual role as a fictional version of himself and as his doppelgänger, Ognir Rrats. It opens with a press conference as ex-Beatle George Harrison explains that two identical babies were born to different parents on the very same day. While one grew up to be Ringo Starr, the other, Ognir Ratts, was raised by an abusive father in a poor home in California, and when first encountered is trying to eke out a living selling maps to stars’ homes.

Ringo Starr is shown as being tired, overworked, and driven by his manager Marty Flesh, played by John Ritter. One day he spots his lookalike and suggests they trade places for awhile. In a borrowed car, Ringo runs into Ognir’s girlfriend Marquine, played by Carrie Fisher, but is caught and dragged home by Ognir’s father, played by Art Carney, who accuses him of stealing the car.

Ringo has forgotten he is due to appear on The Mike Douglas Show, and Ognir passes out when told. Ognir’s father has locked Ringo in Ognir’s room, and Ringo watches helplessly on a tiny TV while Ognir botches every aspect of his guest appearance including hilariously blundering through a drum solo.

Starr escapes Rrats’s house only to be arrested by a policewoman, played by Angie Dickinson, for grand theft auto. He escapes the station while the police argue which of his mugshots looks the best, and with Marquine’s help heads for his concert before Ognir can ruin his reputation for all time.

Vincent Price appears as Dr. Nancy, a hypnotist enlisted to convince Rrats that he really is Starr in an amusing scene.

The music is a mix of favorite oldies and hits of Starr’s as well as his material which was new at the time. Although all four Beatles were then still alive, only George appears and they are not seen together. The music is of course not up to Beatles level and one wouldn’t expect it to be, but is acceptable pop music. I liked it better than the music on the Alice Cooper special I also watched because Vincent Price appeared.

This program contains nothing objectionable except that many people may be creeped out on several levels when Ringo sings “You’re 16, You’re Beautiful, and You’re Mine” to Marquine. Although Ringo was single at the time of this special (between his first and second wives), the fictional version of himself is only 32 years old and the real Ringo was married to his first wife until around 35 years old. The real life Ringo was almost 38 years old here. Besides that, he is singing to another man’s girlfriend and she doesn’t know it. Although Carrie Fisher was 21 years old at the time this special aired, if she is really meant to be 16 here and her boyfriend is 32, you can do the math and what it adds up to is creepy. People may find this entire segment hard to take.

Inevitably but still sadly, every famous person in this besides Ringo is dead except for Angie Dickinson. This is particularly regrettable in the cases of John Ritter and Carrie Fisher who would be only 76 and 68 years old respectively. George Harrison would be 82 years old on February 25, 2025.

I don’t give this a really strong recommendation but it was fairly entertaining and fun.