Tom Lisanti

I was perusing some of my Amazon reviews for my older books and came across two posts from former actresses.

Linda Thorson from TV’s The Avengers and later One Life to Life commented on the Gail Gerber memoir Trippin’s with Terry Southern: What I Think I Remember:

“Gerber was a wonderful story teller and she saw it all first hand. Told without sentimentality and subtle humor, I loved every minute of this book which evoked many memories of my LA days in the late 60’s and 70’s. Sadly Gail passed away last year. She had an interesting life and as a fellow Canadian, I admire her gumption, getting out and about in the world, expanding horizons but keeping her appreciation of who we are, how we were raised and the blessing it clearly was.”

Vicki London of Village of the Giants fame whom I interviewed for Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood wrote:

“I loved being included in Tom Lisanti’s fun book. Today, I especially remember this time in my life. A time I very rarely talk about. Tom checked the facts and handled my involvement in the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping case respectfully and with great care.It was 1963. I was a teenage girl totally smitten with a teenage boy. A gifted boy. A musical prodigy. Sweet, introverted and so talented. Then, one night everything changed. We were talking on the phone, laughing and fooling around, when I heard a loud knock on the door. Frankie said “Hold on. It must be room service.” Then I heard voices and scuffling and the phone went dead. The next morning the Feds were at my grandparent’s front door questioning me since the hotel’s phone records showed I was the last call Frankie made before he was kidnapped. From that moment on, my life were reporters getting all the facts wrong, being subpoenaed, refusing to show up, so the court “police” came and pulled me out of a rehearsal I was doing for a musical country revue, dragging me to the trial dressed in a cowgirl’s getup. It was surreal, embarrassing and frightening. How can one ever forget such an incident?”

After her appearance on TV’s Land of the Giants in 1970, Francine York told an interviewer, “I can’t escape playing the big parts. Why can’t I play the girl next door?  It seems I’m always blowing up the world or something.” Standing 5-foot-8 and measuring 38-23-35, it is no wonder the statuesque dark-haired beauty was usually cast in bigger-than-life roles. Francine made her film debut in the cult low-budget Secret File: Hollywood.  She then progressed from featured roles in the early sixties opposite Jerry Lewis, Marlon Brando, and Elvis Presley to starring roles in such cult drive-in movies as Curse of the Swamp Creatures, Space Monster, and The Doll Squad.

On TV, Francine York held the Robinson family captive on Lost in Space, vamped the Dynamic Duo on Batman, beguiled Robert Conrad on The Wild, Wild West, and became the living goddess Venus de Milo on Bewitched. Francine became so adept at playing these types of roles, that years later when the casting director of the seventies Saturday morning series Jason of Star Command asked her if she could play the evil queen, she replied jokingly, “I am the queen!” Always a pro, York had the ability to command and dominate the screen with her poise and confidence. She has energetically played so many different roles wearing a variety of wigs and using an assortment of dialects (Italian, French, British, Southern, etc.) that she became somewhat of a chameleon in Hollywood. No one ever criticized her for giving a lazy performance. And in a business that can be cruel, especially to older actresses, the self-determined Francine continues to act today.

Read my interview with Francine York in my book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema and keep an eye out for her upcoming memoir!

https://youtu.be/gvf55tSFJUA

Millions of music lovers remember prolific singer and songwriter Jackie DeShannon for her beloved Top 10 singles “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” during the ‘60s.  But what they might not know is that the pretty slender blonde embarked on an acting career for a short period of time during that swinging decade.  Her film debut was in the beach romp Surf Party (1964) starring Bobby Vinton and Pat Morrow. DeShannon played the doe-eyed, tomboy Junior who accompanies her friends Morrow and Lory Patrick to Malibu from Arizona to visit Morrow’s brother who is the leader of an elite surfing group called The Lodge.  Morrow is romanced by Vinton the operator of a local surf shop while Jackie pairs up with Kenny Miller as a surfer who breaks his arm trying to gain entrance into an elite surfer gang.

After appearing in the low-budget drama Intimacy (1966), Jackie teamed with Bobby Vee for the youth-oriented musical C’mon, Let’s Live a Little (1967). It was one of those too-square-to-be-hip movies the major studios released in the late sixties trying to attract the college crowd. DeShannon soon let the acting drift and concentrated on her music career exclusively culminated with a Grammy Award for co-writing the hit song “Bette Davis Eyes” in the eighties.

Read my interview with her in my book Drive-in Dream Girls.