sixties

I recently returned from a trip to Rome and the Amalfi Coast, but before I went I purposely watched Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) with Cindy Carol to get a feel for what I was in store for in the Eternal City. This was the third in the series that began with Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959) followed by Deborah Walley in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961). Walley should have starred in Rome, but her pregnancy prevented her from taking the role. For me that was a good thing because I found her to be the most whiny and annoying of the bunch. No one can match the sweet vulnerability Sandra Dee first brought to the role, but Cindy Carol makes a good effort and is quite likable.

All three movies co-star handsome clean-cut James Darren as Moondoggie. He charming in all three and looks good in everything from swim trunks to butt hugging chinos to suits! that he wears touring in Italy. A really good actor that deserved meatier roles though I  really like him in these Gidget movies and the two he did with Pamela Tiffin in 1964 – For Those Who Think Young and The Lively Set.

httpv://youtu.be/kIl2KKZ9GDw

Cindy Carol was appearing as a regular on The New Loretta Young Show under her real name of Carol Sydes when she got the call that she beat out many other starlets including Elvis co-star Laurel Goodwin to be the new Gidget. She had to be released from the TV series (it was cancelled shortly after) and had to sign a contract with Columbia Pictures, which stipulated a name change hence Cindy Carol. Regarding his casting choice, producer Jerry Bresler remarked in Photoplay, “Cindy isn’t the typical kind of beauty, is she?  But she is exactly what Gidget is supposed to be—a girl every girl loves to have as a friend, a girl every boy loves to be with.”

In Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), the surfing sweetie never touches a surf board as she and her friends (wise-cracking Trudi Ames and man-hungry Noreen Corcoran of Bachelor Father fame) leave the sunny shores of Southern California for a vacation in Rome with her boyfriend Jeff/Moondoggie (James Darren) and two college buddies (joker Joby Baker and studious Peter Brooks).  Of course romantic complications quickly ensue as Gidget falls for older suave journalist Paolo Cellini (Cesar Danova) unaware that he is married (to a stunning Lisa Gastoni and has a brood of bratty kids) and secretly befriended Gidget as a favor to her father to make sure she keeps out of trouble. Meanwhile Jeff becomes infatuated with tour guide Daniela Serrini (Danielle de Metz).  The two then try to make each other jealous before taking a more mature approach and allow each other to see other people. You know how that will turn out. Of course, by the end of the film, after the viewer is treated to some spectacular shots of Rome, Gidget and Moondoggie are reunited and head home together but a bit sadder as both their hearts were broken by their Italian loves.

httpv://youtu.be/EcEA6OUCojs

Even though there is no surfing in Gidget Goes to Rome (except for some brief shots on the beach at the beginning) I really like this movie. Carol and Darren have nice chemistry and it is refreshing that the 3rd wheels in their relationships are not villains but likable people. Joby Baker and Trudi Ames deliver their wisecracks as pros. Funniest bits are when Gidget gets mistaken for a high fashion model and is glammed up before being sent down the runway causing a melee and every time Jessie Royce Landis appears on screen as Baker’s eccentric Aunt who has the hots for Moondoggie. Who doesn’t!?! Her come-ons are quite amusing and a nice surprise for a Gidget movie, as is the adult manner in which it handles Gidget’s discovery of Paolo’s marriage and Daniela’s rejection of Moondoggie.

Click here to read my friend Stephen Bowie’s gret new Blog about casting director Marion Dougherty.

One of my favorite parts of interviewing actors is asking them about roles that they turned down or were up for that they didn’t get.   Some rumors reportedly in print were debunked from my asking. For instance, book after book about Bonnie and Clyde reports that Carol Lynley was a top contender for the role. If she was, it was news to Carol. She told me she never spoke to Warren Beatty about the part nor did she ever see a script. Doing research for my book Dueling Harlows, I can across a small item from about 1967 where Beatty is quoted that he saw Carol in Harlow and thought she had the perfect thirties look for Bonnie. That one statement seems to have catapulted Carol to frontrunner status for the part…in the mind of the press only.

Here are some interesting tidbits.

Roman Polanski cast Deanna Lund right on the spot to play Rosemary’s ill-fated neighbor in Rosemary’s Baby. She was elated even though she had just signed with Irwin Allen to play intergalactic castaway Valerie Scott in TV’s Land of the Giants. Polanski promised that her scenes would be completed in time for her to begin the series. Allen balked and made such a big fuss over it the actress had to sheepishly turn it down to Polanski’s ire. Victoria Vetri stepped in for her.

Tina Louise turned down a starring role opposite Cary Grant in Operation Petticoat because she didn’t like the boob jokes. Joan O’Brien happily took her place and the screenplay was Oscar nominated boob jokes and all.

A number of my favorite 60s starlets were on producer Larry Turman’s short list to play Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine in The Graduate including Sue Lyon, Yvette Mimieux, Carol Lynley and Pamela Tiffin. Alas he went with Katherine Ross never a favorite of mine.

Lisa Seagram was all set to star opposite Stephen Boyd in Fantastic Voyage at Fox when the part was stolen out from under her by Raquel Welch. She wouldn’t share details.

Catherine Denueve was first choice to star opposite James Coburn in In Like Flint but director Gordon Douglas had his mind set on American starlet Jean Hale. After jumping through hoops for Fox head Richard Zanuck, Hale landed the role and a contract with the studio.

Sharon Tate squeaked through to land the role of ill-fated Jennifer in Valley of the Dolls over Karen Jensen after both Raquel Welch and Jean Hale turned it down.

AIP wanted Fabian for Beach Party but he was under contract to Fox and the studio would not lend him out. Bobby Vinton campaigned vigorously for the part, but AIP chose Frankie Avalon instead. Wise move.

Deborah Walley was set to reprise her role as Gidget in Gidget Goes to Rome but she got knocked up. Laurel Goodwin, who had just co-starred with Elvis in Girls! Girls! Girls!, got the part, lost the part, got the part again, and finally lost it for good (at 5’7″ she was deemed too tall). TV actress Carol Sydes was cast instead and was re-christened Cindy Carol.

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Sad to hear that Haji, co-star of one of my favorite movies of the sixties Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, passed away recently. I really liked her in this movie, but had an unpleasant dealing with her about 15 years ago. I contacted her through her web site to ask if I could interview her for my book Drive-in Dream Girls. I sent her a letter and she called me where she reamed me out for wanting to take advantage of her to make money off her name. She demanded $500 for an interview. I kindly declined.

She was not the first starlet I encountered who wanted some dough. One made me sign an agreement stating that if I paid anyone for an interview she would be compensated for the same. Another too demanded a fee, which I passed on. I could understand where these ladies were coming from, but it was not like I was doing a fancy coffee table book for Random House. I was writing an interview book for a small press and let’s be honest the interest in my 1960s starlet interview books is very niche.

One was very sweet when I interviewed her for my book and we stayed in touch. When she told me she would be doing an autograph convention just when my book would be out and I asked if I could sit with her to sell some books, she went off on me excusing me of trying to take advantage of her. Goodbye to you!

The saddest encounter for me was with an actress from my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood. She called me from a pay phone in Palm Desert pleading for a fee to be interviewed. I was stunned and told her I wish I could help but I make a point of not paying. It really shook me up hearing the desperation in her voice. I hope today she got her act together and is doing well today.

Disney Channel’s Teen Beach Movie was a sort of Beach Party meets West Side Story meets Out of Sight. Not as bad as I suspected as I was mildly entertained for a good 3 quarters of the movie. The last part bogged down and I found myself reaching for the fast forward button and an itching to pop in Beach Blanket Bingo to see a teen beach musical done right.

httpv://youtu.be/2Ip3ndiD7hY

The two leads who go back in time were quite pleasant and I liked that the cute blonde surfer boy Brady (Randy Lynch), was the one into the old 60s beach movies while his girlfriend McKenzie (Maia Mitchell) found them to be lame. However, the chemistry between them doesn’t even come close to what Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello had. Also a missed opportunity to cast Frankie in the small role of McKenzie’s grandfather to give it a direct connection to Beach Party rather than Barry Bostwick.

Once the two surfers land back in 1962 after some really cool surfing footage, there are a few nods to the Beach Party movies beginning with the biker gang being called The Rodents comparable to Erich Von Zipper and his Rat Pack and Mollee Gray as the hip-shaking, fringe-trimmed bathing suit wearing Giggles as a homage to perpetual Twister Candy Johnson. The kids hang out in Big Momma’s run by a sassy black woman sort of close to the 60s version where they hung out at Big Drag’s run by insult comic Don Rickles. And Steve Valentine as the movie’s villian does his best Basil Rathbone impersonation straight out of The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini though his plan to ruin the kid’s beach by controlling the weather is lifted from the non-AIP beach movie Out of Sight. I also liked that the two leads really surfed in the present and when back in the 60s they had them in front of blue screens like Frankie and Annette always were. However, for me the similarity to the 60s beach movies ended there. All the songs are instantally forgetable and none come close to the 60s surf music sound. The less said about the Grace Phipps and Garrett Clayton playing the 60s beach stars the better.

Though I sort of enjoyed the movie, it in no way captured what made Beach Party and its sequels so popular. Granted it is a much different time and the innocence of the early 60s is long gone in all facets of life. By the time Beach Party (1963) went into production the second wave of surf music began climbing the charts.  These were pop songs about surfing or the Southern California lifestyle sung in three or four part harmony.  The Beach Boys from Southern California had a regional hit with “Surfin’” and then cracked the Top 20 with “Surfin’ Safari” in 1962.  And in early 1963, Jan and Dean climbed the charts with “Honolulu Lulu” the Queen of the surfer girls before hitting the top of the charts with “SurfCity.”  These songs inspired the surfing dreams of young people across the country some that had never seen the ocean and turned the sport into a national craze.

Beach Party producers James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff of AIP had the foresight to gamble on a new formula suggested by director William Asher, an avid surfer and denizen of Malibu.  He convinced the producers to make their first pop musical film about clean cut, beach-loving surfers just looking for a good time.  Screenwriter Lou Rusoff set up an interesting premise in Beach Party as it combined aspects of Gidget and Where the Boys Are.  Surfer gets mad at girl for inviting his buddies on their romantic holiday at the beach so he decides to make her jealous.  Throw in an older professor studying the sex habits of teenagers, an inept motorcycle gang, the best stock surfing sequences in the entire series, and a buxom Hungarian vixen, and you have the makings for an entertaining beach party.  In between some of this foolishness, the subculture of surfing is explored.  Surfer slang peppers the script and surf culture is off limits to the adults, biker gang, and “gremmies.”  Yes, we know that real hot doggers don’t break into song or are as dumb as Bonehead, but not since Gidget does a film, amid the slapstick, try to explain the appeal of shooting the curl.

Signed to star in Beach Party (1963) were singing sensation Frankie Avalon and Mouseketeer cast-off Annette Funicello.  Neither actor would be considered an obvious choice to play the typical Southern California beach dweller.  The dark-haired Avalon was slight at five feet, seven inches tall and grew up in the inner city of Philadelphia.  Annette was a buxom, Italian Catholic brunette who had never donned a bikini and never would.  Nevertheless, the chemistry between Frankie and Annette immediately struck a chord with the teenage movie going public as they sang, surfed, bickered, and fell in love under the California sun.  Also contributing to the movie’s immense popularity was the gorgeous Malibu shoreline, ample surfing footage, shirtless surfer boys and bikini-clad beauties, Harvey Lembeck as a fumbling motorcycle gang leader, and authentic surf rhythms provided by Dick Dale & the Del-Tones.  The adult guest stars, including Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone, and Morey Amsterdam, made it appealing to older audiences as well.

AIP meanwhile followed up with two immediate sequels re-teaming Frankie and Annette.  While the first film showed the surfers smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, these activities slowly disappeared in all the subsequent films so as not to rile parents of the teenagers for whom these films were intended.  In Muscle Beach Party (1964) the surfers battle a group of bodybuilders led by the hysterical Don Rickles for their turf on the beach while Annette has competition with Luciana Paluzzi as an Italian countess for the charms of Frankie.  Bikini Beach (1964) was the first AIP movie to introduce another sport as drag racing replaced surfing as the main focal point.  It also lampooned The Beatles with Avalon playing the dual role of Frankie the surfer and the Potato Bug, a British pop singer who flips for Annette. Both were big box office hits as well.

The beach movies were extremely popular as they struck a chord with the teenage psyche.  AIP was probably the first studio to realize that roughly two-thirds of the movie ticket buying public were between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.  The beach-party movies were tailored squarely for that audience combining their love of rock music with their hormonal thirst for titillation (e.g. scantily clad boys and girls twitching and singing about love and heartache on the shores of Malibu) without straying from the moral attitudes of the time.  The surf and beach-party movies created a carefree environment where good kids don’t have a care in the world and enjoy an easygoing parentless lifestyle of surfing, dancing, rock ‘n’ roll, and romance, which was unconnected with reality.  It was an escapist fantasy look at the American youth culture—an innocent ideal that most teenagers of the time embraced.

Of course the major studios took notice of AIP’s success with the beach movies and flooded the market with their knock-offs in 1964 and 1965. Soon there was Surf Party; For Those Who Think Young; Ride the Wild Surf; The Horror of Party Beach; The Girls on the Beach; A Swingin’ Summer; Beach Ball; Wild on the Beach, etc. With the over saturation of beach movies in the marketplace, the innovative American International Pictures needed other hooks to lure the fickle teenage ticket buyers into the drive-ins.  They began the year hitting the bulls-eye with Beach Blanket Bingo, arguably the best of the Frankie and Annette beach-party movies.  It threw in everything from mermaids to skydiving and came out a winner thanks to the attractive cast of regulars, newcomers to the genre Linda Evans and Marta Kristen, and hilarious bits from Don Rickles, Harvey Lembeck, and especially Paul Lynde.  The studio ended the year however with a thud.  Though How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featured a pleasant musical score warbled by the cast, the film was weakened by unconvincing leading man Dwayne Hickman, a preoccupied and pregnant Annette Funicello, and a hammy Mickey Rooney. Frankie only cameos at the beginning and end of the movie.

Even so, it was a very popular and profitable run for Frankie and Annette, AIP, and the beach party genre it created. I just don’t see Teen Beach Musical coming close to this phemenon back then though I did read it scored supremely high ratings so I presume a sequel will be in the works.

Great tribute video to all the 1960s Beach Party movies with Frankie and Annette I found on YouTube:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZNVXS08R7A&feature=share&list=FL7Yme4vIatJxEPMu2B8OsAg

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