In 2002 I interviewed 60s starlet (and West Side Story alumni) Suzie Kaye  for my book Drive-in Dream Girls. She was so delightful to speak with. I recently read the new book Our Story: Jets & Sharks Then and Now. I bought it in anticipation in reading Suzie Kaye’s chapter. I was disappointed to learn that she did not contribute and then was stunned to see her name on the “In Memory” page. I then learned from her friend actress BarBara Luna that Suzie had (unbeknownst to me) passed away in 2008.

Either as a sultry brunette or dippy blonde, Suzie Kaye was a talented actress/singer/dancer who made her mark in ‘60s drive-in movies. The petite Kaye, a veteran of many stage productions while growing up in New York City, made her film debut as Rosalia, a Shark girl, in the Academy Award-winning musical West Side Story (1961). She recalled in Drive-in Dream Girls, “Natalie Wood was fine to work with but a little distant. I think she was fearful and a bit uncomfortable being around all these New York dancers. I never had any run-ins with her. Off the set we were gangs through and through. We even played cards separately. We didn’t mix because a lot of us were Method Actors—I know I was.  We just stayed in character most of the time because it made it easier.” She is in the tight striped dress in the “America” number below.

httpv://youtu.be/Qy6wo2wpT2k

As a brunette she went on to play small roles in a few more films including Tammy and the Doctor (1963) with Sandra Dee and the beach-party-in-the-snow Wild Wild Winter (1966) with Gary Clarke and Chris Noel.  Feeling her career needed a boost, Kaye dyed her hair blonde. This seemed to suit her perky personality better, as she went on to work in a string of teenage comedies and musicals including Clambake (1967) with Elvis Presley; It’s a Bikini World (1967) with Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley; and C’mon, Let’s Live a Little (1967) with Bobby Vee and Jackie DeShannon. Kaye is the cute blonde in teh gold lame bikini in the below clip.

httpv://youtu.be/Dk8vgSdLrwQ

After smaller roles in the biker flick The Angry Breed (1968) and the comedy The Comic (1969), Kaye was cast as Angel Chernak, one of the early Seventies most memorable daytime vixens, on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. “Angel Chernak was an absolute villainess until she got cancer and then atoned,” remarked Suzie in Drive-in Dream Girls. After a four year run, the soap was cancelled in 1973 and Kaye retired from acting to concentrate on a career in business.

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Former Bond Girl Lana Wood is in the news this week good and bad. The good is that an new photography exhibition is being put together about the Bond Girls and will be exhibited in The Tate London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The bad news is that Lana agreed to talk with The Daily Mirror about the “curse” of being a Bond Girl. With that premise, Lana should have known that they were going to concentrate on the negative things in her life and emphasized them they did! Lana was one of my favorite interviews in my first book due to her sense of humor, honesty and frankness. She didn’t edit anything out. I hung out with her in person a few years ago at a celebrity autograph convention in the Memphis area and she was as nice as can be. So if you stumble upon this horrid article please read it with a grain of salt and know the Lana described by the writer is not the Lana we all know.

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It was during my high school years when I began researching the careers of a number of Sixties starlets whom I admired. One of them was Nancy Kwan. She was red hot after her first two films The World of Suzie Wong (1960) and then Flower Drum Song (1961). Both were critical and financial hits earning Kwan a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female and being voted a Star of Tomorrow. However, her career took an immediate downturn with her next couple of movies beginning with The Main Attraction (1962), Tamahine (1963), and The Wild Affair (1963). These movies were never broadcast in the NY metro area as far as I could tell (if aired and I missed it, it had to be on the Late, Late, Late Show before the VCR).]

I finally saw The Main Attraction and Tamahine recently when Turner Classic Movies ran three Nancy Kwan movies back-to-back. The third was the very unfunny sex comedy Honeymoon Hotel (1964) with Robert Morse and Robert Goulet, which I had seen previously. What surprised me about both is that they were medium-budgeted movies shot in color on location in Europe and not some low-budget programmers that I always suspected. When Kwan was hired by producer Ray Stark to play Suzie Wong on screen (after France Nuyen was unceremoniously dumped), she had to sign a contract with his company Seven-Arts Productions and was obligated to do these two films as well as The Wild Affair.

Nancy Kwan was half British and Chinese so with her natural look she could play either Caucasian or Asian roles, but usually was cast in the latter. The Main Attraction was one of the few exceptions. In this melodramatic circus yarn, Pat Boone, trying to butch up his pretty boy image, played an American singer who joins a Continental circus as partner to ventriloquist Mai Zetterling. He fights, sings, has sex, and is shirtless a lot. When Zetterling gets jealous of the attention Boone shows horseback rider Kwan, she threatens to frame him for murder and he flees accidentally meeting up with Kwan running from her infatuated brother-in-law. Kwan is usually an ebullient actress but here she is just saddled with a boring script and is quite dull. Sorry, Nancy but the main attraction here is Pat Boone despite your equal billing. The picture was an obvious showcase to try to get the crooner future adult roles, so it seems he gets all the best camera angles highlighting his toned physique and cute butt in very tight chinos and oh yes his acting talent.

httpv://youtu.be/eYej9WF1hv0

Nancy fares better in Tamahine, which is a bit more lively and entertaining than the other plus she has no competition with any other castmate. Kwan is the pretty exotic Tamahine (a sort of perky Polynesian version of Sandra Dee’s Tammy) who is sent to live with Mr. Poole the staid British cousin of her father Charles Poole (played by Dennis Price) after he passes away. He is the Head Master of a Men’s Academy in England. Kwan is immediately a fish out of water as the island beauty’s frankness with sex and boys gets her in hot water with her new guardian but makes her really popular among the other males in residence including a Bohemian art teacher (Derek Nimmo) whom she poses nude for and her kissin’ cousin Richard Poole (John Fraser) a student and son of the Head Master. It gets really icky when the older Poole finally discovers just how attractive Tamahine is as she sits in his lap resting her head on his chest. Still, Kwan is utterly charming and makes the film quite entertaining and a worth while viewing. With which suitor will Tamahine end up with is quite obvious, but the film does deliver a surprise ending of where she winds up.

Raquel Welch will appear at the NY Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Cinematic Goddess, American Sex Symbol, The Films of Raquel Welch from Februray 10-14. Films to be screened include those rarely seen in theatrical format, including Myra Breckinridge, 100 Rifles, Fantastic Voyage, The Wild Party and Mother, Jugs and Speed. What, no, A Swingin’ Summer!?! For more infomration click here.

I think it is great that such a prestigous organization is beginning to recognize the appeal of Sixties actresses. First Tuesday Weld, now Raquel Welch. Maybe Carol Lynley or Pamela Tiffin next Film Society?

Below is a trailer for the Raquel’s violent Euro-western Hannie Caulder (1973). I already have my tickets for the screening and her Q&A.

httpv://youtu.be/mijehYrRqnI