Tom Lisanti is an award-winning author/film historian specializing in1960s/1970s film and television. He began writing professionally in 1998. His newest book is Ryan’s Hope: An Oral History of Daytime’s Groundbreaking Soap from Citadel Press/Kensington Books released in October 2023. Look for his next book, Dueling Harlows: The Race to Bring the Actress’ Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland & Company in late spring 2024.
Inga Neilsen was dubbed on the Internet as “A Nordic Goddess Supreme, the World’s Greatest Glamazon” and the statuesque beauty clearly deserves the title. Standing 6-foot-3 in heels, this striking blue-eyed blonde had curves galore and was built to be ogled on the big screen in spy spoofs (The Silencers, The Ambushers) and musical extravaganzas (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Funny Girl where she stood out as the Winter Bride). Her body was not all Inga offered as she was an accomplished singer and had comedic talent to hold her own opposite some of the decade’s top comedians. Read my interview with her in my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood.
Summer’s here and surf’s up! My book Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969 makes for great laid-back, at the shore summer reading. Revisit all those great 1960s beach movies such as Gidget; Where the Boys Are; Beach Party; Ride the Wild Surf; The Girls on the Beach; Beach Ball; A Swingin’ Summer; Beach Blanket Bingo; Don’t Make Waves, etc. Full of comments and anecdotes from many cast members including Salli Sachse, Jody McCrea, William Wellman, Jr., Peter Brown, Bart Patton, Gail Gerber, and particularly the late Aron Kincaid. Our cover boy not only wrote a foreword but provided many funny and interesting stories about his beach movies, his life and career. Catch the wave!
And don’t forget my most recent book Pamela Tiffin: Hollywood to Rome, 1961-1974. All her summer teenage summer drive-in movies are discussed such as the beach movie For Those Who Think Young plus State Fair; Come Fly with Me, The Lively Set; and The Pleasure Seekers.
My new interview book tentatively titled Talking Sixties Drive-In Movieswas delivered to BearManor Media 2 weeks ago. It is my first time working with this publisher who has released a number of impressive film books at reasonable prices recently.
Talking Sixties Drive-in Movies is a collection of profiles, interviews, and tributes about actors and films popular with the drive-in movie crowd during the sixties. Genres covered include beach party films, Elvis Presley musicals, spy spoofs, spaghetti westerns, biker films, and alienated youth exploitation movies. Some of the chapters center on one movie or a genre while others are career profiles with a main focus on one or two drive-in movies.
The book is somewhat arranged in chronological order based on the release of the genre or the particular movie the interview with the actor focuses on. It begins with Elvis Presley’s three-time co-star Shelley Fabares and supporting players Arlene Charles, Nancy Czar, Gail Gerber, and Christopher Riordan talking about working with him during his MGM days from 1964-1967 in such films as Viva Las Vegas, Girl Happy, Spinout, and Clambake.
https://youtu.be/lpPP75GVE8k
Bobbi Shaw remembers making her AIP Beach Party films including Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, Ski Party, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
Perpetual bikini girl Arlene Charles recalls her fun times in Hollywood working in teenage movies and her adventures in Hawaii shooting I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew.
Rediscover drive-in heartthrob Steven Rogers from TV’s Combat! to the big screen’s The Girls on the Beach, Ski Party, Wild, Wild Winter, and Angels from Hell with brief observations from the actor.
Jan Watson remembers what is like being a decorative Slaygirl opposite Dean Martin in the Matt Helm spy spoofs The Silencers, Murderers’ Row, and The Ambushers.
Irene Tsu recounts her time in Hawaii with Elvis Presley filming Paramount’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style.
Mimsy Farmer talks about how she went from being the Queen of the Drive-In starring in such movies as Hot Rods to Hell, Riot on Sunset Strip, and Devil’s Angels to working in Europe.
Diane Bond shares memories of going from beach parties and Elvis movies to becoming a Flint Girl opposite James Coburn in the spy spoof In Like Flint.
Italian actress Nicoletta Machiavelli talks about all her spaghetti westerns including Navajo Joe with Burt Reynolds and her experience being under contract to producer Dino De Laurentiis.
https://youtu.be/dB2jMag_H0o
Lara Lindsay recalls her days as a 20th Century-Fox contract player attending their talent school and the making of the last sixties Hollywood surf movie, The Sweet Ride.
Screenwriter Stephen Yafa explains how he came to write the script for Three in the Attic and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this drive-in hit, while co-star Maggie Thrett also shares her stories about the movie and her singing and acting career.
Valerie Starrett relives her time making one of the most popular biker films of the sixties Run, Angel, Run where she was not only the female lead but the screenwriter as well.
https://youtu.be/-2ndWjwYZPU
One of the busiest young dancing actors in Hollywood during the sixties, the outspoken Christopher Riordan dishes on his teenage drive-in movies and his memorable role in the cult comedy The Gay Deceivers. [Photo from ChristopherRiordan.com]
Lada Edmund, Jr., reflects on her career as a dancer on TV’s Hullaballoo; actress, particularly her role opposite Jon Voight in the teenage coming-of-age film Out of It; and stunt woman.
A salute to Edy Williams for giving a wonderfully over-the-top performance in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls with comments from fellow Fox contract player Lara Lindsay and co-star Christopher Riordan.
My next interview book tentatively titled Talking Sixties Drive-In Movies will be my first for Bear Manor Media. I purchased two books to get a feel of their quality and both lived up to my expectations. I liked both immensely so thought I would give a brief shout out to them.
I truly enjoyed and learned a few things from Mark Thomas McGee’s book Katzman, Nicholson, Corman: Shaping Hollywood’s Future. This book was right up my alley as all 3 filmmakers made movies geared to teenagers in the 50s and 60s. I really bought this for the Sam Katzman chapter because not much has been written about him lately. The entire book did not disappoint. Thoroughly researched with wonderful well-produced photos that are very crisp. Each chapter has a narrative and then a focus on key movies in the filmmaker’s career. At the end of the chapter is a select filmography with more interesting comments and behind-the-scenes tidbits. It was nice to see James Nicholson paid homage since everyone in Hollywood knew that Jim was the creative force and Sam Arkoff the businessman behind American International Pictures. However, that all changed once Jim died in the mid-70s and Sam alone began to change history in interview after interview. This book helps set the record straight.
I was looking forward to the Roger Corman chapter least since so much has been written about him in the past. I was wrong. McGhee had wrote a book about Corman previously (that the director did not like). He interviewed him many times after that and even worked for him. He brings a new perspective to Corman’s career based on his interactions with him. This chapter was my favorite.
Finally, I always get a kick seeing my name in the footnotes for quotes actors gave me from one of my books. And unlike a recent book about Elvis, kudos to Mark for spelling my last name correctly.
*****
My taste in movies and actors/actresses has always left me in the minority. For someone whose favorite movie of all-time is The Poseidon Adventureand fave actresses of all-time include Carol Lynley, Pamela Tiffin, Julie Newmar, Anjanette Comer, and Yvette Mimieux, I have become used to the grief I get. However, the most I receive is when I tell friends that I prefer Jaws 2 over Jaws. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Jaws but found it too talky in spots. Jaws 2 was sort of like Beach Blanket Shark Attack with the town’s catamaran-sailing teenagers being stalked by the Great White as he devoured a few of them (but not enough). So image my surprise and delight to discover the book Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequelby Louis R. Pisano and Michael A. Smith.
This book is fantastic and I cannot say enough good things about it. First I had no idea that the movie began with a different director and a lot more actors cast as teenagers. After learning to sail for a month in Florida and about a month of filming in Martha’s Vineyard, the director and his screenwriter wife were fired, production was halted, and a new director brought in. Half the cast was let go (including a very young Ricky Schroeder) or had to re-audition and the script was overhauled. The authors present an excellent meticulously researched account of what happened by interviewing practically everybody connected with the movie from fired actors, to the ones who survived to star in the movie, to crew members, to townspeople who were there on location. The book is loaded with behind-the scenes never-before-seen photos. My only quibble with the book is that some of the photos are sort of on the muddy side but that could be from the quality of the original, and a few grammatical/spelling errors sneaked by the copy editors.
I learned so much about this movie (one of my all-time faves) from this book. However, two things stand out. 1) Roy Scheider was a dick. 2) The reason that there were not as many teenage deaths as I thought there should be was because of a threatened R-rating. Scenes were shot of the actors surviving and then getting eaten. Even they did not know what was going to be used in the final cut.
I love reading books about the behind-the-scenes making of films and this is one of the best!
