IN FRATERNAM MEAM: RINGO STARR...A LOOK BACK ON SOME NON-MUSICAL PURSUITS .

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Sunday, June 26, 2005

RINGO STARR...A LOOK BACK ON SOME NON-MUSICAL PURSUITS .

** 1972: After dabbing in front of the camera a few times -- in the Beatles films, in "The Magic Christian" with Peter Sellers, in Frank Zappa's "200 Motels" -- Ringo stepped behind it to direct " Born to Boogie", a marathon concert film about pioneering glam rock band T. Rex. The film was painstakingly restored for a DVD release earlier this month, including a nifty studio scene featuring Ringo, T. Rex's Mare Bolan and Elton John jamming on "Tutti Fruitti".

** 1974:John Lennon's fabeld :lost weekend" was in full swing, and lots of celebs went along for the wild rede, including Ringo and buddy Harry Nilsson, Ringo koined Nilsson for the latter's "Pussy Cats" record, then the two made a wacky documentary about their legendary carousing titled "Harry and Ringo's Night Out". It was never released.

** 1975: Ringo appeared as the pope in Ken Russell's film's "Lisztomania", in which the character of the great classical pianist Liszt (played by Roger Daltrey) actually says "Piss off, Brahms!".

** 1977: In his first dabbling in children's entertainment (if you don't count "Yellow Submarine"and "Octopus's Garden"), Ringo provided the voice for Scouse the Mouse for an animated special and an album of the sane name.

** 1978: Ringo played a European movie director in Mae West's final film, "Sextette" (with a wild cast including everyone from Timothy Dalton and Tony Curtis to Alice Cooper and Regis Philbin). He also appeared in Martin Scorsese's concert documentary about the Band. "The Last Waltz".

** 1981: Ringo starred in the primitive comedy "Caveman", on the set of which he met his future wife, Barbara Bach. Meanwhile, Ringo became part owner of a cable TV company in Liverpool.

** 1983: Ringo hosted a 26-part weekly radio show called "Ringo's Yellow Submarine", a series about Beatles music.

** 1984: All aboard! Ringo narrated the animated series "Thomas the Tank Engine" for Britain's ITV. The series lasted until 1991. Later in the year, Ringo hosted "Saturday Night Live", the only Beatle to do so. One of thje skits featured fans snapping up Beatles memorabilia at an auction -- $45,000 for a Lennon guitar pick, $110,000 for a Paul McCartney toothbrush, $800 for Ringo himself.

** 1985: A star studded TV adaptaion of "Alice In Wonderland" found Ringo playing the Mock Turtle.

** 1987: Ringo appeared at the opening of the Brasserie, a restaurant in Atlanta in which he had co-ownership and joined in impromptu jam session with Isaac Hayes, Jermaine Jackson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Also that year, at the height of his alcohol dependency (later successfully treated), he appeared in a series of ads for Sun Country Classic Wine Colors.

** 1989: Ringo played the part of the tiny Mr. Conductor in the children's TV series "Shining Time Station", for which he was nominated for an Emmy.

** 1985: Swipe it! Ringo created a painting for the Private Issue credit card, the company that sponsored his summer tour. The painting itslef brought $33,000 when it was auctioned to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That year, Ringo also designed a line of drumsticks for the ProMark signature series.

** 2005: Ringo, 64, opened up an exhibition of his computer art at Pop International Galleries in Manhattan. The show features 14 different images, all signed. Starr said he started doing computer art to keep him occupied while he was on the road touring.

(abstracted from GLARE: Celebrity News and Gossip by: Thomas Conner)

posted by infraternam meam @ 4:14 AM

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