What did young Stephen Pearcy wish for his birthday? He wished to be a rock star with a girlfriend who had appeared in Playboy and today’s music video of the day indicates that his fantasy came true. (Or at least it came true for a while.)
Young Stephen Pearcy was played by child actor Whit Hertford. The woman that the adult Stephen sings to was played by model Marianne Gravatte, who also appeared on the cover of Ratt’s Invasion Of Your Privacy album.
The video was directed by Marshall Berle, who was also known for his work with Van Halen and for being Milton Berle’s nephew.
With this music video of the day, you can follow the adventures of Kitty Galore as she tries to get pictures of Ratt. Not even a professional journalist doing her job can resist the sound of Ratt’s music. If this video had come out earlier, Tawny Kitaen would have played Kitty Galore but, by the time this song was recorded, Tawny had moved onto David Coverdale and Whitesnake.
The scenes at the hotel were filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. The concert scenes were filmed at a show in Nashville. For the video, the band performed the song twice during the concert.
How did Milton Berle come to appear in a music video with one of the bands that epitomized 80s hair metal? It probably had something to do with Ratt being managed by his nephew, Marshall Berle. Milton was not only helping out family but letting the 80s kids know that he knew where they coming from. In this video, he appears as both the patriarch and the matriarch of a wealthy family, a call-back to his days on Texaco Star Theater. Presumably Milton’s cameo in this video led to a better result than the Saturday Night Live hosting gig that led to Milton Berle becoming one of the first people to ever be banned from appearing on the show.
The woman who goes up to the attic is played by Lisa Dean, who later appeared in Michael Jackson’s video for Dirty Diana.
This was one of Ratt’s biggest hits. The band has broken up and re-formed many times over the years but, as of now, they appear to be on an indefinite hiatus.
Before Tawny Kitaen became famous for appearing in Whitesnake videos, she dated Robbin Crosby, the lead guitarist of Ratt. Those are Kitaen’s legs on the cover of Ratt’s first self-titled album. Decorating those amazing legs with high heels and rats results in a classic 80s music image.
The video below is for one of the songs from that album, You Think You’re Tough. You Think You’re Tough was Ratt’s first single and was released with a cover version of Rufus Thomas’s Walking The Dog. The video keeps things simple, highlighting the band’s musicianship and saying, “These guys can really play!”
Like a lot of people, I was shocked and saddened when I heard yesterday that Tawny Kitaen had died at the age of 59. Though Kitaen is arguably best-known for appearing in a series of music videos for Whitesnake, her first music video appearance was in today’s music video of the day.
In this video, Kitaen plays one of two women who apparently really love RATT. (At the time, she was dating the group’s guitarist, Robbin Crosby.) When she puts the Out of the Cellar album on the jukebox, it mystically summons two members of the RATT. Soon, Tawny and her friends are running out on the check, stealing cars, and eventually getting pulled over by two cops who turn out to be Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee! At the end of the video, Milton Berle shows up, recreating a role that he played in an earlier RATT video. Milton’s nephew, Marshal, was the band’s then-manager.
Despite the presence of Uncle Miltie and two members of the Motely Crue, this video today is all about Tawny Kitaen, who is young, beautiful, and appears to have not a care in the world. Rest in peace, Tawny.
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.
Through the Shattered Lens 