Herman's Hermits

HOLD ON!-1966-Herman's Hermits are a hit in America! They disguise themselves as policemen to get away from screaming fans. Somehow NASA winds up naming one of there rockets after the group. A government employee (Herbert Anderson) investigates the band because the State Department doesn't like the idea of naming a US rocket after an English pop band. Herman falls for American Louisa (Shelly Fabares) and he has a daydream about being a knight in shining armor. There's also a fantasy sequence where Herman dreams he and his manager (Bernard Fox) are astronauts.

This dumb but harmless Sam Katzman produced musical comedy (obviously trying to emulate The Beatles' HELP!, from a year early; both titles end with exclamation points...) also features a side plot about an actress (Sue Ane Langdon) trying to get a publicity shot with Herman. (Character actor Mickey Deems is her agent) In the end Anderson decides “the lads” are just like any other teenagers.

While no Beatles Herman's Hermits had some pretty nice songs (although almost none are in this!). Ray Kellogg (director of THE KILLER SHREWS) and John Hart (who'd played The Lone Ranger on TV for a season or two) play detectives. HOLD ON was written by B-movie Robert Kent under the pseudonym James B. Gordon. He wrote THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE (with Roy Orbison) the next year. Director Arthur Lubin had work on several Abbott & Costello movies in the early '40's. Then on the Francis the Talking Mule series. By this time he was doing a lot of TV. The title song and several others were penned by PF Sloane who died this passed November.

Thanks for reading!