Ed Sullivan is all for doing his bit for the war effort, so when it is suggested to him that recently drafted heart-throb "Conrad" (Jesse Pearson) should sing an as-yet unpenned song on his show before going on tour - he jumps at the chance. That suggestion has come from "Rosie" (Janet Leigh) who has been dating oddball composer "Albert" (Dick van Dyke) for years and was just about to marry him when the movie "Conrad" was about to make - featuring his song - was abruptly halted by his new war commitments. Now she has the tail end of her task arranged, she must convince "Albert" to write the song and then get "Conrad", whom she doesn't know, to agree to sing it. There is a lot that can go wrong with her scheme, not least caused by the intervention of "Kim" (Ann-Margret) who is becoming infatuated with their visiting star, much to the chagrin of her brylcream boy (Bobby Rydell) who's a fair crooner himself when it comes down to it. What chance her cunning plan can come together without bloodshed? I had watched this for a good hour before I remembered that I was actually in an am-dram performance of it in the 1980s. I had virtually no recollection of the plot and until "Put on a Happy Face" I can't say that I recognised any of the other songs, either. That was maybe my problem with this musical. It just isn't very memorable and even with the obvious parallels to Elvis Presley I co…

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