Video: 'Frank Zappa - 200 Motels Trailer'
(Monday, February 1, 1971) — Former Beatle Ringo Starr arrived today at Pinewood Studios outside London to begin shooting his part for 200 Motels, a surreal musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa.
An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film also starred the Mothers of Invention and Theodore Bikel.
Based on “an account of what it is like to be a pop musician on the road in 1971,” Zappa’s original plan to produce the show for Dutch television was scuppered when a large enough sound stage for the shooting could not be found.
Problems again occurred when filming was originally scheduled to begin in late January at Shepperton Studios, but, due to every inch of studio space being taken, mainly by Roman Polanski’s production of Macbeth, shooting was switched at short notice to Pinewood.
Using a new technique where the action is shot directly onto videotape and transferred onto 35mm film (by Technicolor-England) for cinema release, each day’s work is concluded at 5:20 p.m. due to a strict union ruling.
Video: 'Frank Zappa - The True Story of 200 Motels - Full Movie Doc.'
During a break from the five-day taping, Starr would bring in a specially prepared birthday cake for Zappa’s drummer Jimmy Carl Black and was seen chatting to Hollywood actor Tony Curtis who is at the studios filming a second series of The Persuaders with Roger Moore.
200 Motels would also feature a cameo appearance by Starr’s 22-year-old chauffeur Martin Lickert who would quit Ringo’s employment in April and join Frank Zappa and The Mothers for a tour of America.
Filming would conclude on Feb. 5, when at 5:20 p.m. precisely, the cast and crew attended a party celebrating the conclusion of the production.
Palmer would edit the 24 hours of videotape at Europe’s largest VT facility, Television Recordings, in London the following week, using three VTR machines and just one vision-mixer.
The 95-minute film would open Nov. 10, 1971, at the Plaza Theatre, 627 Madison Avenue, New York City.
