sixties

The Elvis Starlets Are Coming! The Elvis Starlets Are Coming! Part 2

Well, it is official. Gail Gerber has accepted the invitation to participate in The Night of a Thousand Stars Convention in Memphis from August 15-17. She’s billed on the site as Gail Gilmore, which was her stage for Girl Happy and Harum Scarum.

The list of Elvis’ co-stars who will be attending is growing daily. However, the convention run by actress Suzanna Leigh, still does not have a venue posted. Also the tickets are quite pricey to attend. I am a bit skeptical if Ms. Leigh is going to be able to pull this off especially when she will be competing with the official Elvis Presley convention run by his estate happening at the same time. Stay tuned.

YVETTE MIMIEUX

I have always been indifferent about ’60s starlet, Yvette Mimieux. In the mid-sixties one critic tabbed her the “poor man’s Carol Lynley.” In fairness, Lynley was tagged the “poor man’s Carroll Baker.” Mimieux consistently played waif-like roles while Lynley was able to play more varied roles to better effect i.e. the harried heroine in Bunny Lake Is Missing, the psychotic heiress in Once You Kiss a Stranger, etc. However, by the early ’70s Yvette was snagging lead film roles in which I though Carol should have got and I started to resent her. Two of those movies have just been released on DVD.

First up was my favorite movie as a kid until I saw The Poseidon Adventure a year later. Skyjacked (1972) features an all-star cast trapped aboard a jetliner hijacked by disturbed Vietnam vet James Brolin with Yvette as the head stewardess. The following year she appeared in The Neptune Disaster in the role of the “girl” who accompanies a team of scientists to the ocean floor. Check out a great review of this on the CinemaRetro site. Buy them both. I will and as I am watching I’ll still mutter under my breath that Carol Lynley should have been cast instead!

THREE ON A ISLAND

Sultry Pamela Tiffin starred in two 3-Girls-Out-to-Trap-Themselves-a-Man movies, Come Fly with Me (1963) with Dolores Hart and Lois Nettleton, and The Pleasure Seekers (1964) with Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley. So Pamela was the perfect choice to lead a trio of starlets looking for romance in New York City in the failed TV pilot, Three on an Island (1965). Long, leggy Julie Newmar was the sophisticated one and Monica Moran (never heard of her? hell neither have I!) was the gruff one.

Check out this clip on YouTube. Never have any women just waking up in the morning look as glamorous as Pamela and Julie.

THE ELVIS STARLETS ARE COMING! THE ELVIS STARLETS ARE COMING!

In celebration of the King’s 30th anniversary of his death, British starlet Suzanna Leigh (pictured, blonde in middle) of Paradise, Hawaiian Style is organizing a “Night of a Thousand Stars” in Memphis from August 16 to 18. She has rounded up a number of Elvis’ co-stars including Celeste Yarnall, Sue Ane Langdon, Irene Tsu (pictured, lower left), Edy Williams, Pat Priest, and many others. They are suppose to invite Gail Gerber and if so I will be accompanying her but so far Gail has not received anything official from them. Check out the web site for more information.

Speaking of web sites, if you are interested in cool Sixties movies or groovy Sixties starlets, and if you are reading my Blog I would hasten to guess you are, check out www.cinebeats.com. It is hosted by a really cool chick herself named Kimberly who is such a talented and entertaining writer.