by


I’M BACK

Well I’m finally Blogging again. Been a busy couple of weeks. My publisher sent me the copy proofs for Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood so had to work on that. Trying to meet a deadline so the book is released before the Oct. 5 Chiller Theatre convention held in New Jersey, which I hopefully will be attending.

I then got a freelance gig writing a piece on Sixties Beach Girls for Neiman Marcus’ The Book. Basically it is a high-end catalog with essays. Hard part of it was that since the article was for an advertisment they didn’t want me to mention actresses’ names just the characters. I had to slip in Annette Funicello but don’t know if they are going to keep it in or not.

Finally, though she changed her mind at least three times Gail Gerber will NOT be attending The Night-of-a-Thousand-Stars in Memphis on August 16-18.

by


RIP

Actor Kerwin Matthews passed away this week at the age of 81. Kerwin who? you may be asking. He was one of Hollywood’s most handsome actors in the late Fifties and early Sixties. Resembling Sean Flynn and just like Sean’s daddy Errol, Kerwin excelled in swashbuckling adventure or fantasy movies such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Three Worlds of Gulliver, and Jack the Giant Killer.

I personally was not a fan of these movies but Kerwin deserves kudos as the openly gay actor wouldn’t play the Hollywood closet game and for a time only found work in Europe. Among his films was a chance to co-star opposite the luschious Tina Louise in the Italian historical epic Warrior Empress. Click the link to a great tribute page to him on the fantastic web site, Brian’s Drive-in Theater.

by

NIGHT-OF-A-THOUSAND-STARS

I’ve been contacted twice so far on why Gail Gerber dropped out of the above convention this August during Elvis week in Memphis. Basically it was my fault. Gail only agreed to go if I accompanied her. Loving Elvis (and his starlets) like I do, I readily agreed. However, after researching the airfare and the hotel rates (double or triple the price compared to other times) I just couldn’t swing it financially. Even though Gail was going to sell autographed copies of the book I interviewed her for (Drive-in Dream Girls) I just didn’t think I would recoup anything near the money I was going to have to lay out. Also this convention has high entrance fees so I was not sure how much of a turnout it would get.

I (and Gail) wish Suzanna Leigh (a really nice lady) all the best with her convention and hope it does so well that she has another one next year.

by



DVR ALERT

Some rare airings of ’60s starlets movies are upcoming this week on our favorite channel Turner Movie Classics. On 7/15 @ 6pm Shelley Fabares, Suzie Kaye, Angelique Pettyjohn, and Arlene Charles play vacationing gold diggers out to snare themselves a rich husband down Miami Beach way in Clambake (1967) starring Elvis Presley as a rich boy masquerading as a poor water ski instructor. Though not considered a high point in the King’s career, it is one of my 5 top Elvis movies–breezy fun with a great theme song sung by Elvis of course which rates 5 stars on my iPod. Fave scene: playboy Bill Bixby tossing olives into Arlene Charles’ cleavage. Huh? It’s that type of movie.

On 7/15 @ 10pm comes from the folks who gave the world Guns of Navarone the so-bad-it’s-entertaining misfire of a western MacKenna’s Gold (1969). Gregory Peck leads a disparate group of desperate desperados including Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Omar Sharif and the film’s saving grace Julie Newmar as a mean mute Indian warrior to find the lost river of gold somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

Finally on 7/18 @12pm one of our fave starlets Barbara Luna has a rare leading role in the charming children’s movie filmed in Mexico Dime with a Halo (1963).