BEACH BABY NO MORE
I received an email from one of Mary Hughes’ former co-stars informing me that the plucky blonde starlet passed away a few months ago possibly from Cancer. Sadly, Mary will decorate the sands of Malibu no more.
BEACH BABY, BEACH BABY GIVE ME YOUR HAND
I always get inquiries about the starlets but the one I get asked about the most is the one with perhaps the least amount of screen time and lines–Mary Hughes from the beach-party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.
A sexy statuesque blonde in the tradition of Brigitte Bardot, Hughes was the perpetual Sixties beach bunny and stood out from all the other girls on the shore due to her eye-popping proportions—standing 5-foot-9 and measuring 36-22-36. None of the other gals on the sand could turn as many heads as she. She made her movie debut in Muscle Beach Party (1964) and appeared in all the remaining AIP beach movies right through the last The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966). After the beach ball deflated, she popped up in Fireball 500 (1966), the Matt Helm spy spoof Murderers’ Row (1966), Thunder Alley (1967), and the Elvis musical Double Trouble (1967). She rarely had more than a line or two but due to her beauty and the way she shimmied and shook to a rockin’ beat, always grabbed lots of camera time. Shortly after, she faded from the big screen.
Flash forward to August 2006 where Mary Hughes (along with fellow beach babes Salli Sachse, Patti Chandler, and Linda Opie) was featured in a Vanity Fair article on Malibu surfers of the ‘60s. Still a gorgeous blonde, she has been a personal trainer for thirty years, owns a boogie board, and still can turn heads while traipsing across the sands of Malibu, where she currently resides.
For the record, I wrote to Mary Hughes twice to ask for an interview but disappointingly I never heard from her. I guess I don’t rate like Vanity Fair.
SPY MUSIC
I just love the music from ’60s spy movies (my faves are Goldfinger, In Like Flint, and Casino Royale) or more contemporary music that pays homage to it. Wes Britton’s Spywise web site has a great interview with legendary 007 guitarist Vic Flick and lead guitarist Tom Pervanje of the band, Spy-Fi who talk about Bond music and TV and film themes. Click here to read.
LOOK OUT DARK KNIGHT, THE CATWOMAN IS LURKING
Miss Julie Newmar is in the news today. She is my favorite Catwoman and in my humble opinion by far the best of all the actresses to don the catsuit to play Batman’s purrfectly feline nemisis. Miss Newmar is touting Angelina Jolie for the role in the next sequel and states matter-of-factly, “Angelina would own the part.” This may be moot as the writers of the upcoming sequel have gone on record that they are not yet inclined to introduce Catwoman.
Miss Julie Newmar, who just turned 75, also revealed that she is suffering from an incurable neuromuscular disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth, which slowly robs a person of the ability to walk. She walks “very s-l-o-w-l-y” and is still able to so with the aid of a gentleman’s arm when needed but without a cane.