Sixties Posts

Happy New Year from all the ’60s beach/Elvis/biker/hippie/spy/western movie actresses & actors found in my BearManor Media and McFarland & Company book!

[amazon_textlink asin=’B00005Y6Z5′ text=’Wild Guitar’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’44797bdd-e2aa-11e8-89f1-2b0716d10253′] opened in 1962 starring [amazon_textlink asin=’B002WJZWCI’ text=’Arch Hall, Jr.’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’54c1bab3-e2aa-11e8-b765-876225fa9f7e’] and Nancy Czar, [amazon_textlink asin=’B071764GRZ’ text=’Talking Sixties Drive-In Movies’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6c3e4d6b-e2aa-11e8-9328-fb864eb18a38′] cover gal. It was directed by Ray Dennis Steckler a.k.a. Cash Flagg and produced and written [amazon_textlink asin=’B000GW2BHM’ text=’Arch Hall, Sr.’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7c953112-e2aa-11e8-88be-1fb498401b84′]  A dancer trying to make it big in Hollywood, Vicki (Czar) meets at the Coffee Cup Cafe (shamelessly decorated with posters from Arch Hall, Sr.’s previous movies) the newly arrived Bud Eagle (Hall, Jr.) described as “a guitar-playing, motorcycle-riding hipster” who comes to the big city from South Dakota to become a rock ‘n’ roll star. Feeling sorry for him as he spends his last fifteen cents on coffee and a donut, she offers her sandwich, which he gulps down heartily. When she finds out he is a musician, she invites him to accompany her to The Hal Kenton Show, a national talent program. Steckler (whom Nancy described as being “a real trip”) directed these scenes rather oddly with medium shots of Czar sitting at the counter looking up and speaking her lines it seemed to the Klieg lights.

On the TV program, Vicki twists with abandon in a solo while Bud watches from the wings. As luck would have it, an ailing singer bows out and Bud takes his place stealing the show. He is signed by promoter Mike McCauley (William Watters aka Arch Hall, Sr.). He allows Bud to live in a penthouse apartment, with private swimming pool, but asserts complete authority over the boy including prohibiting him to meet back up with Vicki at the café. Instead, McCauley sends his weird beady-eyed associate Steak (Steckler) to retrieve Bud’s belongings. Steak lies to Bud that Vicki was a no-show and that Marge the waitress (Marie Denn) hit him up for $10 to get his suitcase back. In reality, Vicki was there and deeply disappointed that Bud stood her up and never mentioned her according to Steak. She shows up back at the café a few weeks later still crestfallen. Marge plays Bud’s first single on the jukebox for her and she then heads to a record store to buy a copy.

Bud is feeling gloomy too when he learns McCauley has paid off high school students to start up his fan clubs across LA. “Does everything have to be so phony,” he asks. When Bud says he has had it and is returning home, McCauley pretends to agree and then mentions the $50,000 he invested in Bud to make him a star. The boy falls for his lie and agrees to stick around for six months to earn the money back. Bud becomes the newest teen sensation and on a national TV show croons “Vicki” a love song to the girl that got away.  Vicki sits at home watching and is touched by the feeling he puts into the tune. She hightails it over to the studio and the couple reunites. Instead of heading to the nearest motel, they go ice skating—in Los Angeles! Obviously this was to show off Czar’s expert skating skills, which she does quite nicely.

The next day, Bud receives a late night drunken visit from former singer and McCauley client Don Proctor (Robert Crumb) who schools Bud to the ways of his manager’s shady dealings including how he cheats his protégés out of royalties. Proctor ends up unconscious at the bottom of a stairwell at the hands of Steak, while Vicki catches Bud in the arms of a sexpot hired to seduce him. While running after his love, Bud is jumped by three low-lives that hang around the Coffee Cup Café and is kidnapped. The bunglers have no idea what to do so Bud helps them out writing his own ransom note demanding $15,000. After retrieving the money, the trio is followed by Steak. A melee starts and Bud slips away. Hiding out, he takes a job as a dishwasher at Marge’s diner where he reunites again with Vicki.

A clean-cut young man shows up at McCauley’s office and for $20 reveals Bud’s whereabouts. He turns out to be Bud’s brother Ted and he secretly tapes McCauley while he threatens Bud and Vicki with violence if the singer tries to get a new manager or doesn’t show up at the scheduled gigs.  Bud gets to beat the crap out of Steak, but decides to stay with McCauley, due to his “smarts,” with a renegotiated contract. McCauley’s first idea is to put Bud and Vicki into a movie about the Twist. Wild Guitar ends on the beach with Bud singing “Twist Fever” with Vicki, inexplicably clad in a man’s shirt over her swimsuit, shimmying besides him.

Hall, Sr. and Jr. made a few popular thought less-then-stellar movies (The Choppers, Eegah, and The Nasty Rabbit) and Wild Guitar is arguably the most admired due to the straightforward storytelling (somewhat aping true life as it was reported that Hall, Jr. never wanted to act and was pushed into it by his father) and the energetic twisting by Nancy Czar who also has a nice believable rapport with Hall. They make quite a cute couple.

Pretty blonde Nancy Czar (born Nancy Jean Czarnecki in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) went from champion figure skater to Elvis’ girlfriend to actress all by the time she was twenty. However, unlike many of Presley’s former lovers and co-stars who give interviews and attend Elvis conventions, Nancy Czar (who had small parts in his musicals Girl Happy and Spinout), has been tight lipped about her relationship with the King until now. Besides working with Elvis, Czar had leading roles in Wild Guitar starring Arch Hall, Jr. and the beach-party-in-the-snow Winter a-Go-Go.

Commenting in Wild Guitar, Nancy Czar said,

Arch Hall, Jr. was very nice and recently got in touch with me after all these years. Arch Hall, Sr. was just as sweet and shot this movie with practically no money. Since I was an ice skater they purposely wrote in an ice skating scene.

You wouldn’t believe what a huge following this film. It is funnier than hell to me. I think most of it is because the second unit photographer was [amazon_textlink asin=’B00DJZNLUE’ text=’Vilmos Zsigmond’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’906f6ff6-e2aa-11e8-95b4-43c2e1f5fb97′] who is one of today’s top cinematographers in the entire business. Film schools study his film technique and this is one of his earliest jobs. I never looked at the movie other than looking at the movie until I started to really look at it. For its small budget it does not look like other B-films at the time. I never knew why until I realized it was due to Vilmos’ exemplary work on it.

 

 

With [amazon_textlink asin=’B004CZZZ7W’ text=’Winter a-Go-Go’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bd9b8313-dca5-11e8-8cd2-5fc2cfdc5fa2′] opening this week 53 years ago in 1965, I want to pay tribute to actor/screenwriter Bob Kanter who inadvertently or not created the arguably first gay character in the 1960s teenage beach movie genre and cast himself in the part. A personal favorite though most critics consider it one of the lesser beach party movies.  Unlike [amazon_textlink asin=’B0095MPVG2′ text=’Ski Party’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c9dba62b-dca5-11e8-a891-999f5d8fb7d4′] and Wild Wild Winter, which incorporated beach scenes into their plots, Winter a-Go-Go heads straight for the slopes and remains there the entire time though there is an obligatory bikini scene. Jeff ([amazon_textlink asin=’B01K0UYEV0′ text=’William Wellman, Jr.’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’dd5a57f2-dca5-11e8-a3e6-850e19ec1b6f’]) inherits a ski resort and with a pack of friends (including love interest Beverly Adams, Duke Hobbie, Julie Parrish, Nancy Czar, and Linda Rogers) heads off to turn the lodge into a success but trouble ensues when the mortgage holder hires two goons to wreck havoc so he can foreclose. Of all the beach-party films this was this is the closest to being camp with its scantily-clad dancing Winter a-Go-Go girls, to [amazon_textlink asin=’B003VFUT7U’ text=’James Stacy ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’198b20ab-dca6-11e8-8f90-5f1b4e6b20c9′]as lothario Danny singing “Hip Square Dance” in his pajamas, to musical performances by the Nooney Rickett Four and Joni Lyman, to the bitchy barbs thrown out by Kanter’s Roger.

It is Roger who makes the movie especially interesting and an undiscovered camp classic as he descends on the ski resort accompanied by his best gal pal the snobbish selfish socialite Janine (Jill Donohue) and her cute timid friend Dori (Judy Parker). Though both babes are hot there is absolutely no evidence of any current or past romance with either gal. During the course of the film Janine sets her sights on Danny and Jeff, without a trace of jealousy from Roger, but winds up reuniting with tough guy Burt (Anthony Hayes). Dori makes goo-goo eyes at Frankie (Tom Nardini) throughout the film. Poor Roger has no romantic contact with anyone. The closest he gets is when running to Jeff and Danny for protection from the bullying Burt. Otherwise, he just sits there drinking his cokes making amusingly catty comments about the proceedings. He is like Paul Lynde in The Hollywood Squares sitting center stage cracking jokes at the others expense. He shows no sexual attraction to either Janine or Dori and barely looks at the other scantily clad snow bunnies who double as cocktail waitresses and dancers. These gals barely give him a glance and Roger could care less. You just know if he is going to hit the sheets oops slopes with anyone, he would choose Danny or Jeff to winter a-go-go.

Regarding his thoughts if Bob Kanter’s character was a homosexual, William Wellman, Jr. opined in my Hollywood Surf and Beach Movie book, “I don’t know what Bob Kanter’s sexual preference was in real life. He authored the screenplay and wanted to act so he wrote the part of Roger for himself. The character made no sense and I guess it does sort of come off like the gay best friend.”

There is not much to biographical info on Bob Kanter and I have no idea what his sexual orientation was. As an actor, he seemed to be the go-to guy for war movies beginning with small roles in Two and Two Make Six (1962) starring George Chakiris and [amazon_textlink asin=’B00008R9M6′ text=’The War Lover’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3f95bdb3-dca6-11e8-95d5-1b9c2fa6fac3′] (1962) starring Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner. He graduated to a major supporting role in WWII adventure [amazon_textlink asin=’B000I9VZ0C’ text=’The Thin Red Line’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’4c5e730c-dca6-11e8-9e36-1ffe9b0ed6a2′] (1964) starring Keir Dullea. On TV he guested on a few TV series again most of the war kind such as 12 o’Clock High and Combat!  His first screenplay was for the forgotten film Mike and the Mermaid (1964) about a little boy who tries to convince his parents that he befriend a real life mermaid. He was directed by Richard Benedict who also directed Winter a-Go-Go. Perhaps they had a directing/writing partnership? Kanter’s last acting credit was in 1965 on the TV’s Convoy–you guessed it another WWII series. He then disappears from the Hollywood scene. Per IMDB he died on August 2, 1993 in Dade City, Florida.

So for something a bit different, check out Winter a-Go-Go the next time it turns up on some obscure cable TV channel. It is worth the look.

 

 

[amazon_textlink asin=’B00005AUK5′ text=’Village of the Giants ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’43aa1e10-d606-11e8-a210-c71af4365299′] opened in 1965 starring [amazon_textlink asin=’B0000DZ3G3′ text=’Tommy Kirk’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’5ab3074f-d606-11e8-b482-d1b70128975c’], Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges, Ronny Howard, Tim Rooney, Bob Random and 60s starlets Tisha Sterling and Joy Harmon (Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Hollywood), Gail Gilmore aka Gail Gerber ([amazon_textlink asin=’0786441143′ text=’Trippin’ with Terry Southern’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’63e42a63-d608-11e8-8ed7-d9700c5f726c’]), Vicki London ([amazon_textlink asin=’1476672334′ text=’Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9eaf3e5b-d607-11e8-aeba-aba0203ff6ca’]) plus Charla Doherty and Toni Basil

Village of the Giants was loosely based on [amazon_textlink asin=’1607104962′ text=’H.G. Wells’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ebe23b57-d606-11e8-a41a-f12bc68238cd’]’ story Food of the Gods and was produced and directed by [amazon_textlink asin=’B001NRTG7W’ text=’Bert I. Gordon’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’sixtiescinema-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’013b798e-d607-11e8-b856-419f03251312′]. Here science fiction meets teen exploitation head on with an excellent array of scantily-clad starlets, exciting musical performers, and a classic background score by composer Jack Nitzshe. As for the story, boy genius Ronny Howard develops a magic goop, which is eaten by a cat and two ducks that grow giant-size.  When a group of troublemaking teenagers (including Beau Bridges, busty Joy Harmon, beautiful Tisha Sterling, Tim Rooney, perky Gail Gilmore, sultry Vicki London, and Bob Random), who look as tough as Archie, Betty and Jughead, hear of this at the local discotheque, they steal the goop and sprout to mammoth proportions. They pop out of their now too small clothes and begin terrorizing the small town in the process while draped in togas made from old theatre curtains.  The local teens (led by Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford. Charla Doherty, red-haired Toni Basil years before Mickey was oh so fine) join forces with the police to thwart the marauding giant teens who have an axe to grind with the adult establishment. When the good teens fail in stopping the overgrown delinquents, Howard develops a smoke gas that counteracts the growth formula.  The “giant” teens shrink to normal size and are then chastised and run out of town.

The opening scene of Village of the Giants features the group of delinquents piling out of their wrecked auto after crashing on a mountain road during a rainstorm. They then begin dancing in the mud to the film’s rockin’ music score, which is heard throughout the movie. “This scene was awful,” exclaimed Joy Harmon. “I had mud in my eyes and face—I was covered in mud all over my body! That scene was so true and authentic. They really made us got down in the mud. We just went for it and did the scene. The mud wasn’t thick but slimy—very slippery. We couldn’t stand up and were falling all the time. It was cold and I only had a little crop top on. The guys had a ball with it but the girls were freezing and dirty.  I felt so ugly—there was nothing glamorous about it!”

Vicki London recalled that muddy scene as well and remarked, “[It] didn’t bother me as much as it did the other girls. It was messy and hard to move around. I found it to be kind of stupid but the movie was stupid—yet it is so popular.” Tisha Sterling too felt the same way and remarked, “I felt exploited throughout the whole movie. It was all tits and ass. But that’s part of Bert Gordon’s thing when making a movie. I thought Bert was very good at making these kinds of films.”

Producer Bert I.Gordon was known for his previous gimmick films involving giants or huge animals including King Dinosaur (1955), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), and The Spider (1958). He not only produced and directed Village of the Giants but was responsible for the special effects as well. Though the effects are cheesy and amateurish, they do have an endearing quality about them—none more so when giant-size ducks are seen doing the Jerk and the Watusi at the Whiskey a-Go-Go.

Another interesting effects scene is when the giant teenagers are sitting on the stage of the town’s movie theater and Tommy Kirk brings them food, which is supposed to be chicken. Gordon filmed the teens separately from Kirk and used rear projection to edit the scene together. According to Joy Harmon, “The prop guys gave us some really small bird that they fried to make it look like a tiny chicken. It came from a famous chicken place and it was horrible. I hated eating whatever it was and had to keep eating it over and over. They even duplicated the chicken box and the coke bottles as small props. I thought Bert did a good job and was a super nice man. I could talk to him very easily. He wasn’t a typical director who told you to stand here or there but more of a creative person.  And I think the cast responded to that.”

Though Joy respected Gordon, she did have a bit of a problem with Bert regarding one of her scenes and that was because of her amble bosom keeping with the giant theme.  Harmon opined, “The only thing that irritated me while doing this film was the scene when my sweater pops open as I grow to a giant—you didn’t see anything—but I hated that scene. I objected to wearing that sweater and asked Bert Gordon if I could wear something else to pop out of.  Nobody else had that problem. They wore clothes that got smaller but mine had to open. I also felt very uncomfortable because I couldn’t wear a bra and I don’t like going without one.”

Vicki London felt the same way as well and let her discomfort be known to her detriment. She recalled, “During the wardrobe fittings, they wanted us [Joy Harmon, Tisha Sterling, Gail Gerber] to remove our blouses because they wanted the girl with the biggest breasts to play the part Joy Harmon wound up with. I refused and Tisha did too.  They still gave Tisha a very nice part. It was down hill after this for me though. Now that I am older and think back on it, I understand that Bert just wanted to see who would fit that part since her chest was used in the ad posters with Johnny Crawford hanging off her bra straps. But at the time it just didn’t feel right to me. They made an issue out of me not willing to show my breasts, so they threatened that if I didn’t do it they were going to cut me out of everything and they did.”

Gail Gerber (aka Gilmore) remembered this incident and said, “They wanted us to show us popping out of our clothes and asked if we minded being nude for it though we would cover our breasts with our arms. I never had any qualms with nudity so I readily said yes. Joy did too, but Vicki refused. She was a sweet girl and this was 1964 so her reluctance was understandable to me but unfortunately for her not the producer. I guess to punish Vicki they didn’t use her at all in those scenes and at one point shot her in silhouette from behind a screen.”

The cast seemed to gel on-and-off-screen and nobody had a bad word about anyone with Beau Bridges being all the gals favorite.  “Everybody was just so nice to work with—we were just a bunch of kids having a really good time,” Joy Harmon says.  “Tisha is so beautiful in this film.  I remember that she has such a gorgeous face.  And Beau Bridges is a nice very guy and liked to joke around.  He got married just before filming began.”

Tisha Sterling said, “I really did have a good time making this film. Beau Bridges is great!  He is a friend and I like him a lot.  He is a very bright, funny, and talented man.  I became friendly with his first wife Julie and I think they were adopting children at the time. Joy Harmon is a very sweet girl. We really didn’t do too much together after the film was over but we always kept in touch via other people. I would really love to find out what happened to Bob Random. His wife Ida became a costume or set designer.  They were both fascinating people.”

Vicki London concurs about Beau Bridges, “Beau Bridges was wonderful. I also met his brother Jeff and his father Lloyd and they were all so down-to-Earth. That is a really nice family and really great people. Beau I think was the nicest of them all. Tisha Sterling was fabulous. She should have become a major star because she was absolutely gorgeous. Joy Harmon had a bubbly personality and was very sweet, but she didn’t have that movie star look.  Gail Gerber was nice also.”

Gail Gerber remembered, “Terry Southern came to the set of Village of the Giants one day and hit it off with big-eyed blonde Joy Harmon. He had met her previously on The Loved One where she had a tiny role as an aspiring starlet. Joy was a sweet girl but she was so formidable and so big in so many ways I was a bit put off by her. But Terry was just drawn to larger-than-life people and thought she was wonderful. Joy was so full of energy. Tisha Sterling was the prettiest thing I ever saw. Beau Bridges was just a kid then but so charming. If I ever meet him again, I would hate to say—because he has done some wonderful, fine work—that not only did we work together on Village of the Giants but I was the blonde who licked his face during the dance scene in the mud.  He’d probably take out a gun and shoot me!”

For everything you ever wanted to know about Village of the Giants, but were afraid to ask, visit Michael Howe’s fantastic tribute web site accessible from the link below:

http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/villageoftheg/