The Unkissed Bride
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''The Unkissed Bride'', also known as ''Mother Goose-A-Go-Go'', is a 1966
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Jack H. Harris Jack Henry Harris (November 28, 1918 – March 14, 2017) was an American film producer and distributor. He produced ''The Blob'' (1958), ''4D Man'' (1959), and ''Equinox (1970 film), Equinox'' (1970). Biography Harris was born to a Jewish famil ...
and starring
Tommy Kirk Thomas Lee Kirk (December 10, 1941 – September 28, 2021) was an American actor, best known for his performances in films made by Walt Disney Studios such as '' Old Yeller'', '' The Shaggy Dog'', ''Swiss Family Robinson'', '' The Absent-Minded ...
.


Plot

Newlyweds Ted (Kirk) and Margie Hastings (Helm) go on honeymoon at the hotel of Margie's uncle, Jacques Phillipe (Bergerac). Nervous about the prospect of having sex, Margie picks up a copy of
Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...
and begins reading from it, causing Ted to faint. Dr. Richards (D'Hondt), a psychiatrist, deduces that Ted has a "Mother Goose complex" and treats him with an
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
spray while he sleeps. This causes him to hallucinate and mix up reality with fairy tales. Matters are complicated by the hotel detective Ernest Sinclair who believes that Ted, like his employer, Jacques Phillipe, is being unfaithful to his wife.


Cast


Production

Producer Jack H Harris was invited to the
Sands Hotel The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent high sign, the Sands was the seventh ...
in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
to see what he later described as "a musical interpretation of
Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...
stories and nursery rhymes with a naughty twist."Jack H Harris, ''FATHER OF THE BLOB: The Making Of A Monster Smash & Other Hollywood Tales'' 2015 He said he "couldn't see filming this show to have a theatrical purpose, but I worked on the idea with Richard Clair." The film was about a young man who was rendered impotent on hearing any reference to Mother Goose stories and nursery rhymes. Harris wanted to make the film and add it to the released schedule for their distribution company. He financed the film with a cash investment from a telemarketing company in return for a 40% interest in the film. The film was shot in late 1965. The women's costumes came from designer Guy Tassel and the men's from
Botany 500 Botany 500 is an American brand of menswear & suits that was originally part of a firm based in New York City. The name lives on today as a licensed property by several foreign clothing manufacturers. Manufacturing Botany 500 was a brand name own ...
. Harris says the investor backed out of paying, resulting in Harris deciding to direct himself to save money. His wife Muriel and her partner Jim Bechtold designed and dressed the sets with borrowed set pieces. The crew consisted of only six people. Harris said he told them "it wasn't a question of how many days of shooting. It was a question of how many hours of shooting we could afford." Harris says shooting took ten days and editing and post production sixty days. "It looked like a million dollar movie...
ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...
sexy humour and... decent performances," claimed Harris. Anne Helm was pregnant during filming. "It was sort of funny ’cause here I was bikini-clad — the sexual aspects of the movie were so ridiculous," she recalled. "They had my boobs hanging out and me laced up in all these tight frocks, and I was three and a half months pregnant. I only remember the movie because it was an exciting time for me: It was my first child." Kirk (billed as "Tom Kirk") sung the title track "Mother Goose a Go Go".


Release

The film was originally released as ''Mother Goose-a-Go-Go''. Harris says this title proved hard to pronounce and difficult to put on a marquee. An exhibitor joked that "The Unscrewed Bride" would be an ideal title, prompting Harris to re-title it ''The Unkissed Bride''. He says the film "enjoyed a passable companion feature gross theatrically, eventually becoming a semi-string VHS title" but admitted it was "a program picture that was not a big winner."


References


External links

*
Mother Goose a Go Go
at BFI
Mother Goose a Go Go
at
TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unkissed Bride 1966 films American comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films