On Ringo Starr’s birthday, we look back at an often overlooked bit of Beatles history.
As a huge fan of both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the Beatles, nothing could be more exciting to me when those two worlds collide. Like they did when Ringo Starr played the Mock Turtle in the TV movie Alice in Wonderland !
I managed to commandeer the family VCR when the two-part CBS movie premiered in 1985, and I almost wore out the VHS tape watching it over and over. Though I must admit, I have a much stronger recollection of Sammy Davis Junior’s rousing rendition of You Are Old, Father William! than Ringo’s role.
A quick youtube refresher helps explain why. Ringo doesn’t get a heck of a lot to do. He gamely makes his way through a few dance steps while wearing nude pantyhose and inexplicably furry slippers while Alice and the Gryphon (played by Sid Caesar, of course) look on. Traditionalists will note that Ringo’s Mock Turtle does not sing Beautiful Soup, but instead does a little ditty called Nonsense.
What better day than today, Ringo’s birthday, to bring up this crucial and often underrepresented bit of Beatles history? Who could have portended in the heyday of Beatlemania that one of the beloved moptops would one day dazzle the world using only a plastic shell and his imagination? I mean, who possibly could have guessed that Ringo Starr would play the Mock Turtle from Alice in Wonderland? WAIT A MINUTE…
Happy Birthday, Ringo AKA the Clairvoyant One! Peace and Love!!!
Think Ringo is the only Beatle with an Alice in Wonderland connection? Read all about John Lennon and Alice In Wonderland and the connection between George Harrison and Cheshire Cat!