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sixties
TOP 10 ’60s STARLET MOVIES: THE PLEASURE SEEKERS
The Pleasure Seekers (1964)
Starlets: Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley, Pamela Tiffin. Bit roles: Shelby Grant, Irene Tsu, Warrene Ott.
Along with Come Fly with Me, The Pleasure Seekers is the other three-girls-out-to-trap-themselves-a-man movie I can watch over and over. Basically a rehash of 1954’s Three Coins in the Fountain from the same director, Jean Negulesco, but with the locale shifted fromRome toSpain with musical interludes added provided by Ann-Margret. For me is by far more entertaining than the original. No surprise as I prefer those 60s starlets over the 50s version any day. The movie follows the typical pattern where girls get boys, girls lose boys, and girls get boys again for a happy ending. But here it is just so well done with gorgeous gals and handsome guys in front of beautiful Spanish scenery accompanied by a bouncy Oscar-nominated musical score.
Ann-Margret is Fran a struggling fiery red-haired singer/dancer who falls for a darkly handsome poor-but-proud doctor named Andres (Andre Lawrence). Carol Lynley is Maggie the pouty blonde newspaper secretary who moons over her married boss, editor Paul Barton (Brian Keith), while ignoring the comforting charms of playboy reporter Pete McCoy (Gardner McKay). He has a different girl every night including Irene Tsu and Warrene Ott. Pamela Tiffin is the sultry dark-haired Susie Higgins, the naïve virgin newly arrived inSpainwho becomes the prey of wealthy Casanova Emilio Lacayo (Tony Franciosa). With guidance from Fran and Maggie (Emilio’s former lover) she thinks she can out fox him and get him to the altar without tumbling into bed with him first. The gals share a huge three-bedroom apartment across from amorous neighbor Vito Scotti who (in the film’s running joke) is forever trying to catch a glimpse of them as they parade around the apartment in baby doll pajamas or even less.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkadt-dNJCc
The Pleasure Seekers is beautifully filmed on location all over Spain from Madrid to Barcelona to Toledo. They even got special permission to shoot at the Museo del Prado. All three actresses are first-rate. Nobody during this time could play doe-eyed innocence with a touch of humor better than Pamela Tiffin. She looks simply stunning and for me gives the film’s standout performance. As a confident Susie told Maggie after arriving from America, “I know everything about Spain but Spanish” thinking she can stay one step ahead of the cheating Emilio. But naïve Susie is no match for the conniving womanizer—or is she? The scene where she goes to meet his mother after his fake proposal and learns she is the first to have fallen for his lie and gone this far is very touching. Isabel Elsom (recreating her role from Three Coins in the Fountain) is a simply grand as she delivers the cruel honest truth about her ”cad” of a son while he stands there in shame with a new girl waiting for him in his car.
Carol Lynley as the conflicted good girl fighting the feelings for her wedded boss surprisingly has two standout scenes—one over-the-top camp and the other quite humorous. Paul takes Maggie to a party where a number of married men go with their girlfriends. They are trailed by his wife Jane (Gene Tierney) who corners Maggie in the ladies room where they have it out over Paul. Jane threatens that all Maggie would get is a sleazy love nest, while Maggie blames Paul’s wandering eye due to Jane’s disinterest in him. It ends with Jane slapping Maggie and calling her “a little tramp.” Pete comes to Maggie’s rescue and they go get drunk. Carol is very amusing here as she rehashes the night and says, “she called me a little tramp.”
Ann-Margret is saddled with the least interesting story, though she and the broodingly handsome Andre Lawrence are the most attractive of the couples. No wonder they are the only ones to have sex in the movie. Ann-Margret also peppers up the film with some truly entertaining musical numbers. She sings the catchy title tune in a tight form-fitting lavender gown at a party and sings “Everything Makes Music When You’re in Love” on the beach accompanied by Lawrence whose singing voice is not bad.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSfXwtJ4Jgw
If you are in the mood for light entertainment featuring three of the top starlets of the 1960s, I truly recommend you “seek the pleasure seekers.” The Fox Movie Channel airs it regularly wide-screened.
Trivia:
George Chakiris was originally announced for the role of Andres and James Darren for the role of Pete, but they dropped out.
Dina Merrill was set to play Jane, but shooting delays inHollywoodforced her to give up the role due to a commitment inEurope.
Hedda Hopper reported that Ann-Margret played Diva and at one point refused to pose with Carol Lynley and Pamela Tiffin for any more publicity photos.
The Pleasure Seekers was set for a late January 1965 release. Due to a law suit filed by Notre Dame regarding the movie John Goldfarb, Please Come Home preventing 20th Century-Fox from releasing it, they needed a replacement. The Pleasure Seekers was chosen and snuck into some medium-to-small cities during the last week of December 1964 without any promotion.
Pamela Tiffin in my book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema recalls that it was not all pleasure while pleasure seeking:
“Making The Pleasure Seekers was strange. Nobody connected with anyone. When working people are very competitive or are only after money, it is agony to work with them because they bring their hang-ups to the set. I tried to make friends with Ann-Margret and Carol Lynley. But I think both of them at that time weren’t interested in friendship with another woman. Carol was especially reserved and aloof. In retrospect, I recall that she just had a baby and therefore was entitled to be private. I don’t know what Gardner McKay’s problem was but he didn’t talk to any of us. Tony Franciosa was very hostile–especially to Jean Negulesco. During a car scene, he got mad at Negulesco and drove off with me in the car. He drove for over two hours at break-neck speed out ofToledo,Spain. I thought he was going to kill us both! During another scene, Negulesco wanted Tony to change his tie. He took Negulesco, who had to be near 70, by the neck and threatened him. Brian Keith though was very nice and I never spoke with Gene Tierney because I was in such awe of her.”
TOP 10 ’60s STARLET MOVIES: GIDGT GOES TO ROME
Gidget Goes to Rome (1963)
Starlets: Cindy Carol, Danielle de Metz, Noreen Corcoran, Trudi Ames, Lisa Gastoni plus their male counterparts James Darren, Joby Baker, Peter Brooks
Any Top 10 Sixties Starlet Movie Poll needs a Tammy or a Gidget on it. I chose Gidget Goes to Rome, the second sequel to the hit comedy Gidget (1959), because I found it more enjoyable than its predecessor Gidget Goes Hawaiian and those icky sweet Tammy movies with Sandra Dee. The main reason being is the lush Roman locales and star Cindy Carol, who makes a very charming, spunky Gidget. I found her more appealing than the last portrayer, Deborah Walley, but Sandra Dee in the original cannot be beat.
In Gidget Goes to Rome, the surfing sweetie leaves the sunny shores of Southern California for a vacation inItaly’sEternalCity. She and her two friends, pouty Lucy (Noreen Corcoran) and tomboyish Libby (Trudi Ames), meet up with Moondoggie (James Darren) and his two college buddies, wisecracking Judge (Joby Baker) and nerdy Clay (Peter Brooks). Their supposed chaperone is Baker’s rich absent-minded Aunt Albertina (Jessie Royce Landis), who hands them over to luscious Italian tour guide Daniela (Danielle de Metz). Of course typical romantic complications quickly ensue as Gidget falls for older, suave journalist Paolo Cellini (Cesar Danova) unaware that he is secretly chaperoning her as a favor to her father, while Jeff becomes infatuated with sweet Daniela. Lots of admittedly silly things happen before the end of the film when Gidget and Moondoggie head home reunited.
Viewers are treated to some spectacular shots ofRomeand of James Darren, who is just so handsome, even though he is ridiculously saddled with a sports jacket and tie almost the entire movie. He and Carol have good chemistry and the way they try to one-up each other in making the other jealous is amusing. Jessie Royce Landis has some funny moments (even when creepily hitting on our Moondoggie), while de Metz is just stunning as the tour guide who comes between the surfing sweeties. How she did not become an international movie star ala Ursula Andress or Claudia Cardinale, I will never know.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIl2KKZ9GDw&feature=related
The other great thing about Gidget Goes to Rome is Trudi Ames, a true Sixties starlet who disappeared from the limelight in 1968. Usually cast as the perpetual good friend of the prettier leading lady (Ann-Margret in Bye Bye Birdie, Christina Ferrare in The Impossible Years, many TV sitcoms), Ames always proved she was good with a quip. And here she doesn’t disappoint. If anyone knows whatever happened to her, please let me know—another starlet that just vanished from theHollywood scene.
GET ME THAT ROLE! VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
Trying something a bit different, I thought I share some almost casting choices for the 1967 camp classic Valley of the Dolls. Not surprisingly, since the book was a huge bestseller, it is the female roles that had everyone speculating who would play which part.
In the book Casting Might-Have-Beens, author Eila Mell claims the original choices for the pill-popping trio of fashion model Anne Wells, doomed starlet Jennifer North, and obnoxious singer Neely O’Hara were Natalie Wood, Jane Fonda, and Barbara Harris. None of their names came up for these roles in my research. She also says Petula Clark was offered Neely, but turned it down due to disinterest. Again her name too never turned up.
My personal choices are The Pleasure Seekers—Ann-Margret as Neely, Carol Lynley as Anne, and Pamela Tiffin as Jennifer. Since David Weisbart produced both movies, I am surprised former Fox contract players Lynley orTiffin’s names never came up as possible candidates. Before becoming an actress, Lynley was a super successful teenage model andTiffin, now a blonde goddess, had the appeal more than ever to play a sexpot.
June 26, 1966: HerbLyon reports that Bette Davis and Barbra Streisand are on tap to play the overbearing star Helen Lawson and Neely O’Hara, respectively.Davis campaigns mightily for the part, but Streisand quickly falls off the list of potential candidates.
August 27, 1966: Dorothy Manners writes that Debbie Reynolds, of all people, “gets hotter and hotter to play the pill-addicted singing star [Neely].” Quick, throw some cold water on this, now!
September 8, 1966: Bette Davis is reported to be still fighting hard to play Helen Lawson and thinks this part will give “her career a zesty push as did her role in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”
September 13, 1966: Debbie Reynolds tells the Chicago Tribune that she wants to shake her demure image and the role of Neely would help. She remarked, “I’m sure it would shake up a few people. I’ve been playing goody-goody roles for 18 years. It’s time for a change.” Thank goodness the producers told her to make her change somewhere else.
September 22, 1966: Washington Post reports that director Mark Robson “is angling for Raquel Welch in the role of the ill-fated Jennifer [whose luscious body on display in European nudies make her famous].”
October 10, 1966: Producer David Weisbart informs columnist Dorothy Manners that “we’re very interested in getting Candice Bergen for the role Anne Welles. All right, she’s a Grace Kelly-type.” Her screen persona is also an ice queen-type.
November 1, 1966: Jill St. John throws her hat into the ring and tells the Chicago Tribune, “Of course I would like the role of Jennifer in Valley of the Dolls. I think I can play the hell out of it…I’m at the point in my life where I can understand a girl like that. Don’t get me wrong though. The only kinds of pills I take are iron pills. They give me energy.” Too bad they couldn’t get her the part.
November 2, 1966: Columnist Alex Freeman reports that Tuesday Weld is “glowing” after being informed that she is “a dark-horse candidate for the role of Neely.” He also writes that Natalie Wood and Shirley MacLaine crave the role as well.
They all go home empty-handed. Weld would have probably turned it down anyway continuing her streak of rejecting hit movies (Lolita, Bonnie and Clyde, etc.). MacLaine was too long-in-the-tooth, while Wood was totally wrong for it.
November 29, 1966: The head honchos at 20th Century-Fox, the studio producing the movie, finally weigh in and are determined to sign Raquel Welch, Candice Bergen, and for the role of Neely, Ann-Margret.
January 16, 1967: Dorothy Manners reports that the role of Neely O’Hara has been surprisingly cast with Elizabeth Hartman (Oscar-nominee for A Patch of Blue in 1965) beating out some more famous names. She reportedly won over director Mark Robson, who was a big fan of her performance in You’re a Big Boy Now. For some reason, she doesn’t do the movie.
January 23, 1967: The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both report that Candice Bergen has officially agreed to play Anne Welles.
January 24, 1967: Alex Freeman reports that Lucille Ball, of all people, is determined to play Helen Lawson, but” wants it padded a little to make it an even more important part.” He also writes that Lee Remick wanted one unnamed part but was offered another, which she turned down. I am guessing she wanted Neely, but was offered Anne.
February 17, 1967: When all is said and done, it is announced that Oscar-winner Patty Duke has been signed to play Neely (against her agent’s advice) and Barbara Parkins of TV’s Peyton Place has signed to play Anne after Candice Bergen has a change of heart and drops out. Dorothy Manners writes that Bergen, “took a walk…because she didn’t like the book to begin with [and] wants to make another picture inGreece.”
Bette Davis is still in the running to play Helen Lawson, but new contenders announced for the role are Joan Crawford and Betty Hutton.
March 1, 1967: According to the Chicago Tribune, it is a sure thing that Raquel Welch will sign to play Jennifer and Judy Garland seems to have a lock to play Helen Lawson.
March 4, 1967: Dorothy Manners reports that Judy Garland is all set as Helen Lawson and that Raquel Welch has bailed out of the movie without explanation. Perhaps the role of Jennifer who goes toEurope where she becomes a big film sex symbol hit too close to home for La Welch?
March 1967: With Raquel out, Fox next offers the role of Jennifer to contract player Jean Hale, who just made a splash opposite James Coburn in In Like Flint. To the studio’s chagrin, she turns it down due to the semi-nudity involved. She remarked in Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, “Fox was not happy with me.” So much so, they parted ways soon after.
March 1967: One starlet who wanted the role of Jennifer was Karen Jensen, a former Universal contract player now freelance. Recalling the audition, she says in Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, “When you go on interviews, sometimes you get the sense if they like you or don’t. I really sensed that either producer David Weisbart or director Mark Robson—I can’t remember which—took a real liking to me and was pulling for me to get the part. I went back a couple of times and I thought I had a real chance for it.”
March 17, 1967: The Los Angeles Times announces that Sharon Tate has won the role of Jennifer and is being loaned to Fox from Filmways. She will go on to win a Golden Globe nomination for Most Prosing Newcomer – Female for her touching performance. No such accolades for Duke who gives one of the best bad performances of all-time or Parkins who just glides through the movie without much emotion. She however looks just fabulous in her mod high fashion model hairstyles and clothes.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQqrgJWblI
April 29, 1967: Fox drops Judy Garland from the movie because a number of times the fragile actress failed to appear for work or would film in the morning and not come back after lunch. Susan Hayward takes her place and roars onto the big screen as tough-as-nails Helen Lawson.