Speaking of Charlie’s Angels, I interviewed two who had Charlie’s Angels stories. Francine York starred in The Doll Squad (1973) directed by Ted V. Mikels who until this day claims Aaron Spelling ripped off his idea. In fact, York’s character was named Sabrina. Per Francine in Film Fatales, “Ted went to the producers with the premise. They even asked me to audition for Charlie’s Angels and I would have been perfect for it. Charlie Grauman made a pass at me, I turned him down, and that was the end of that!”
Former Playboy Playmate Anne Randall was just coming off a hit drive-in B-movie called Stacy where she played a sexy private eye. She remarked in Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood, “I wasn’t real thrilled with Stacey. It was silly and I looked real stupid in it. After the movie, I got an audition for Charlie’s Angels because of the description of Stacey—I don’t think they actually saw the movie. I went in for the audition and read the scene and saw that it was me wrestling an alligator. I got up and left without auditioning. I thought, ‘I am not going to wrestle an alligator!’ I think they picked the right girls and don’t think I would have gotten it anyway
Even though we knew it was coming, I was saddened by the passing of Farrah Fawcett. To be honest though I, like millions of others, had her famous poster hanging on my bedroom wall, I really wasn’t a fan of hers or Charlie’s Angels. I just never understood the appeal of that show. Surprising since I am such a huge starlet fan. However, I give props to Farrah for turning into a first-rate dramatic TV actress in the 80s and 90s after bombing on the big screen in the late 70s.
COME SPY WITH ME During the height of the ’60s spy boom, a few actresses headlined their own movies as female James Bonds. Most fans remember Monica Vitti as Modesty Blaise, Raquel Welch as Fathom, and Doris Day as “the spy who came in from the cold cream” in Caprice.
Less remembered but equally memorable was former model Andrea Dromm in Come Spy with Me. Unfortunately the movie is not out on DVD but check out the trailer as it is fast paced fun and hopefully someday will be available.
The lithsome blue-eyed blonde was born in 1945 on Long Island, New York. She grew up in the upper middle class town of Manhasset. As age six she began modeling and progressed from department store catalogs to the cover of True Confessions. Modeling took a back seat to her education for awhile until she returned to New York City. She immediately became one of the most in-demand models and was earning close to $75,000 a year before graduating from print ads to TV commercials. Her most memorable ad was for National Airlines. Dressed as a stewardess, she asked the TV viewer, “Is this any way to run an airline? You bet it is!”
After appearing in the second pilot of Star Trek and making her film debut in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Dromm was handed the lead in her next film Come Spy with Me (1967) co-starring fading matinee idol Troy Donahue. Since the film’s tag line proclaimed. “They Frug in the water…Swim on the floor…And blow up the Caribbean…Come blow your mind…Come Spy with Me” it’s no surprise the movie opens with a number of go-go boys and girls dancing in silhouette to the title track written and sung by Smokey Robinson. As secret agent Jill Parsons, Dromm (“I’m an agent not a spy!”) is sent to Jamaica to solve the murders of two Americans just before a big meeting of the world’s leaders aboard an aircraft carrier in the island’s waters. Financier Walter Ludecker (Albert Dekker) has been laying bombs throughout the ocean floor to destroy the cruiser and to create an international incident. Parsons masquerades as a skin diver contestant in a competition hosted by swinging ex-surfer Pete Barker (Donahue) on his boat. She goes diving, does the new dance craze “the Shark” at a local discotheque and lounges by the pool. Oh and she also finds time to locate Barker’s kidnapped friend Samantha (played by Donahue’s then wife Valerie Allen, under 20 pounds of eye makeup), uncover Ludecker’s plot and defuse the bombs.
Regarding the on location work in Come Spy with Me, Andrea Dromm recalls, “ I had to learn how to ride a motorcycle, dive into the water and scuba dive for this. The thing is I thought the scuba diving was very dangerous. I didn’t take an official course and they had us go down in really quite bad weather as practice. They wound up using a double for me because I was really nervous doing it and I just didn’t want to take my life in my hands. When they shot the scene I think the regulators weren’t checked properly and one of the actors—it may have been Troy Donahue—got into some trouble under the water. One of the other actors, Martin Hewitt, who had taken a scuba diving course, had to save him.”
After The Poseidon Adventure, Carol Lynley’s biggest hit and most recognized movie was the 1963 comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree starring Jack Lemmon as a lecherous landlord who only rents his apartments to nubile young things such as Glamour GirlsPamela Curran and Jane Wald. Carol played a coed who moves in with her boyfriend Dean Jones to live platonicly to see if they are “marriage compatible.” The running joke is then who will seduce the gorgeous Lynley first, as if either had a chance in staid 1963. Carol is amusing in her drunk scenes and supporting players Paul Lynde as the envious groundskeeper and Imogene Coca as his droll disapproving wife and Lemmon’s housekeeper deliver funny quips.
Under the Yum Yum Tree is now finally available on DVD but only as part of The Jack Lemmon Film Collection. The set also includes Phffft! featuring Kim Novak, Operation Mad Ball, The Notorious Landlady, and Good Neighbor Sam featuring Dorothy Provine. In addition, the bonus materials include a two-part documentary hosted by Chris Lemmon featuring intimate interviews with friends, fans, and colleagues.
Purportedly Lemmon disliked the movie because he hated his role as the voyeuristic playboy but Yum Yum went on to become one of his biggest hits at the box office and snagged two Golden Globe nominations for Best Comedy and one for him as Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical. Not a fan of these other movies, here’s hoping Yum Yum will be set free and soon available on its own!
Former Playboy Playmate Anne Randall was just coming off a hit drive-in B-movie called Stacy where she played a sexy private eye. She remarked in Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood, “I wasn’t real thrilled with Stacey. It was silly and I looked real stupid in it. After the movie, I got an audition for Charlie’s Angels because of the description of Stacey—I don’t think they actually saw the movie. I went in for the audition and read the scene and saw that it was me wrestling an alligator. I got up and left without auditioning. I thought, ‘I am not going to wrestle an alligator!’ I think they picked the right girls and don’t think I would have gotten it anyway
