Mary Printz

Mary Printz (April 8, 1923 – February 21, 2009) was an answering service operator who catered to many of the New York theater and business A-list in the 1950s. Bells Are Ringing, a Broadway musical, was based on her career, which was turned into the 1960 film of the same name.

Born Mary Selina Horn in Grosse Pointe, Michigan on April 8, 1923, she was raised in Hampton, Virginia and was afflicted with polio as a five-year-old. She moved to New York City after dropping out of college and a failed marriage. There she married cocktail pianist Bob Printz in 1953 and found a night job at an answering service to match her husband's evening schedule.

The service she worked for was used by many of the city's professionals and people in show business, and Printz was noted for her ability to serve her clients, going beyond just listening to her customers to the point where she would pick up their laundry, walk their dog or water their plants, whatever was necessary.

Adolph Green, one of her customers, based the Broadway play Bells Are Ringing on Printz's situation, with book and lyrics by himself and Betty Comden and music by Jule Styne. In his review in The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson described Judy Holliday's character Ella Peterson as "an original subject - a telephone answering service that leads into the personal lives of several people. This is how the dream girl played by Miss Holliday meets her sweetheart, and brings a number of other bizarre people together." The original production ran from 1956 to 1959, with songs such as The Party's Over and Just in Time that have become standards. Both Holliday and co-star Sydney Chaplin won Tony Awards for their performances.

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