Music Video of the Day: Round And Round by Ratt (1984, dir. Marshall Berle)


First things first here. Yes, that is Milton Berle in the music video both as the husband and wife. He agreed to be in the music video because his nephew Marshall Berle was the manager of the band at the time. It’s interesting to note that while Wikipedia says he is his nephew, mvdbase says that he is Milton’s grandson. Thankfully the Wikipedia article on Milton Berle also states he is his nephew, so I think we can safely say that’s the case. The Google Knowledge Graph also says that Milton Berle’s only grandchild is Tyler Roe via his son William Berle.

The second thing is about who the woman is in this that is drawn to the attic where Ratt is apparently playing for the convienent brittle floor that makes for a great guitar solo scene when guitarist Warren DeMartini crashes through it. That woman is Lisa Dean. She would go on to play Diana in the music video for Michael Jackson’s Dirty Diana. She died of colon cancer in December of 2009 at the age of 50.

I guess the last thing to bring up about this video is that it doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, the butler is still the real star of the show. The information I provided above is all over the Internet, but I can’t find who played the butler. I can find that apparently the song is about a girl who initially pushes a guy away, but ends up coming back to him. I guess that’s the reason they play in that attic a la John Cusack in Say Anything… (1989) till she turns into a rat (???), and comes to them. I can find a person that thinks this is sexist and refuses to show it to their kid, but still loves it regardless. As somebody who is transgender, I could find that it’s transphobic, but whatever, it’s Round and Round by Ratt. I don’t care. Yet, the most simple thing, like who is the awesome butler, is lost to the sands of time. This is particularly sad when he is not just the real star, but the music video is arranged like a mystery about who let the band in the house, and it of course turns out to be the butler.

Anyways, I was able to find out that Ken Barrows was the 1st assistant camera on the music video. He worked on music videos such as Hold On by Wilson Phillips and Burning Up by Madonna. It looks like he is still working in music videos today as I can find a credit as recent as 2015. Outside of music videos, he has also worked on movies such as The Master (2012) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991).

So, enjoy this ridiculous music video for a band that would have probably been long forgotten without it, and don’t take it seriously.