ANN-MARGRET attended the world premiere of the movie "Tommy" in Dallas. Here, she poses for photographers beside a pinball machine. The premiere was held in Dallas because that is the city where she got her start in show business.

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Ann-Margret Wows ’Em At Dallas Film Premiere

By MAX YANZI

DALLAS (UPI) — The spotlights. The beautiful, sexy starlet and her long, black shiny limousine. The screaming hordes who gobble up every word in the fan magazines. They were all here. A little bit of oldtime Hollywood smack dab in the middle of Texas.

The occasion was the world premiere of the movie version of the rock opera “Tommy,” the story about the deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes a pinball wizard and finally a God-like pop hero.

The story is familiar enough to anyone who listens to rock music. But director Ken Russell has jazzed the story up a bit, turning it into a surrealistic piece of cinema that comes across like a musical "Clockwork Orange."

There’s one scene featuring singer Elton John playing a piano keyboard mounted on a pinball machine. And a bedroom scene featuring Ann-Margret throwing a shoe at a television set and, through the hole in the screen opened by the shoe, getting swamped in a sea of just advertised soap beads.

But the movie, due for national release next week, was only half the show.

Ann-Margret, the film's female lead, emerged at the premiere from a shiny, black limousine and entered the theater to the delight of screaming fans who jammed the shopping center parking lot where the Inwood Theater is located.

Spotlights shone on the theater’s marquee. Girls in tights dangled from swings scattering confetti on the crowd.

The local dignitaries — Mayor Wes Wise and other city officials — made it a point to be where the action was Thursday night.

"Tommy" was written by the rock group The Who, who said it was the world’s first rock opera. It was written for recording and, unlike "Jesus Christ Superstar" which followed in "Tommy’s" wake, it has never been produced for the stage.

The title role is played by The Who’s lead singer, Roger Daltrey.

In fact, many of the principal roles were taken by rock stars — John as the pinball wizard, guitarist Eric Clapton as the pastor of a church whose followers worship Marilyn Monroe and soul singer Tina Turner as the infamous "Acid Queen."

The only actors appearing in lead roles were Ann-Margret and British actor Oliver Reed, although such standouts as Jack Nicholson, a current Academy Award nominee, had a cameo role.

The Inwood Theater was filled to its 1,400 person capacity and 2,000 others were turned away.

The promoters of "Tommy" said they chose Dallas to premiere the film because this is the city where Ann-Margret got her start in show business and because Dallas "is a new and unspoiled scene."