Bedtime for Bonzo
| Bedtime for Bonzo | |
|---|---|
|
Original 1951 film poster | |
| Directed by | Frederick de Cordova |
| Produced by | Michael Kraike |
| Written by |
screenplay by Lou Breslow & Val Burton story by Ted Berkman & Raphael Blau |
| Starring |
Ronald Reagan Diana Lynn Walter Slezak Jesse White Ann Tyrrell Brad Johnson "Bonzo" Lucille Barkley |
| Music by | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | Carl E. Guthrie |
| Edited by | Ted Kent |
| Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release dates | April 5, 1951 |
Running time | 83 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,225,000 (US rentals)[1] |
Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Diana Lynn. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Psychology Professor Peter Boyd (Ronald Reagan), to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question. He hires Jane Linden, a woman (Diana Lynn) to pose as the chimp's mother while he plays father to it, and uses 1950s-era child rearing techniques.[2]
This movie is one of the most remembered of Reagan's acting career and renewed his popularity as a movie star for a while. Reagan, however, never even saw the film until 1984.[3]
The film was later referenced in connection with Reagan in the 1986 Ramones song "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", in the 1986 Dead Kennedys album "Bedtime for Democracy" and in a track on a 1984 Jerry Harrison record, sampling Reagan and credited to "Bonzo Goes to Washington". A song unflattering to Reagan entitled "Bad Time for Bonzo" is featured on The Damned's fourth studio album, Strawberries. It was also referenced in a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip,[4] "Bloom County" comic strip (October 11, 1981), as well as in the Strontium Dog comic story "Bitch", published in 2000 AD, which featured President Ronald Reagan being kidnapped out of his own era and taken into the far flung future setting of the comic. Other notable references include the 1966 Stan Freberg comedy album Freberg Underground, and the 1986 video of the British band Genesis's song "Land Of Confusion". In the 1980's satirical British TV show Spitting Image, Reagan was shown as having appointed a dead taxidermied Bonzo as vice president. A sequel was released entitled Bonzo Goes to College (1952), but featured neither lead performer from the original.
In popular culture
- The movie is referenced in the MMORPG video game DC Universe Online. Following the two player duo "Gorilla Grodd's Lab" The Flash quips at Gorilla Grodd "It's bedtime for Bonzo".
- A rap song released by Nickelodeon for the 2004 Presidential Elections had a line mention that Reagan "acted with a chimp when he was a movie star."
References
- ↑ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952
- ↑ Rickey, Carrie. "Reagan's film persona: Cheerful, humble, kind." The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 6, 2004. National A22.
- ↑ The Unlikely Life of Ronald Reagan - 1994 ABC TV special.
- ↑ "Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip, December 03, 1986 on". Gocomics.com. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
External links
- Bedtime for Bonzo at the Internet Movie Database
- Bedtime for Bonzo at the TCM Movie Database
- Bedtime for Bonzo at AllMovie
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