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Excerpts from
IT'S PARTY TIME
A Musical Appreciation of the Beach Party Film Genre
by Stephen J. McParland
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Excerpt 1 refers to AIP's Beach Party, the first teen pic to fuse the beach lifestyle with surf music:
The subsequent success of BEACH PARTY (and its numerous sequels) was simply due to the fact that AIP had the perfect idea and coupled it with the talent needed to bring the idea to fruition. The theme of teenage freedom (there were no parental interruptions of the kind that plagued teenage fun in the GIDGET-productions) embodied with music which itself conjured similar images and emotions, created a particular type of image, perhaps more fanciful than factual, but then that's Hollywood!
Excerpt 2 refers to a scene from Beach Party featuring Frankie Avalon, John Ashley and Jody McCrea:
In BEACH PARTY an interesting incident takes place. The scene is "Big Daddy's" during Dick Dale's performance of "Surfin' And A-Swingin'". The trio of Avalon, John Ashley and Jody McCrea are seated at a table with Avalon smoking what appears to be the remnants of a cigarette. He takes a few puffs and then passes it to Ashley who in turn takes a few puffs and passes it to McCrea. It is a curious few seconds and it is either a lampooning of the then-current controversy of "pot on campus" (some of the true surfing fraternity of the period were also known to dabble in the weed) or just an innocent sharing of a cigarette. Only AIP knows for sure!
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| Excerpt 3 refers to 'For Those Who Think Young', a United Artists movie capitalizing on the beach party phenomenon staring James Darren, Pamela Tiffin and Bob Denver:
Joanie Sommers had used [For Those Who Think Young] as the title for her 1961 Warner Brothers' long-player (although no song with that title was included) and even Pepsi Cola (during the same year) made use of a similar theme - "Now It's Pepsi FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG". If United Artists wanted to capitalize in such a manner, why not title the film "Come Alive" after the then-current Pepsi jingle?
As it was, the title smacked of middle-aged minds trying to be "hip".
Although no actual proof can be furnished, there is a strong possibility that the original title of the film may well have been FOR THOSE WHO THINK LOVE, but toned down to FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG to avoid any "moral majority" backlash and (maybe) take advantage of the "Pepsi" connection.
Regardless of its flaws, FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG was an interesting example of a BEACH PARTY hybrid and if you look close enough you can also spot a number of AIP's own "stock players" moonlighting in the background. Included are surfing star and man of mystery, Mickey "Malibu" Dora, Mike Nader and beauties Donna Russell and Susan Hart (also seen in RIDE THE WILD SURF). Most are glimpsed in the guise of "college boys and girls", although many manage to shed their clothes for some beach and poolside frolics. I guess old habits die hard!
Excerpt 4 refers to Deborah Walley and her co-starring role in Beach Blanket Bingo with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon:
For Walley, the role was a dream come true because for the first time she was able to work alongside her husband, John Ashley. Her marriage to Ashley was in fact the reason why she was not available to pursue her established role as "Gidget" (which she had inherited from Sandra Dee) in the sequel, GIDGET GOES TO ROME. At the time she was well on her way to expecting her first child ... "If I'd been offered a million dollars to make GIDGET GOES TO ROME or any other picture at this time, I would have turned it down," said Ms Walley at the time. "For what can be more priceless than a child's life?" The birth of her son also had another effect on her acting career because it convinced her that her days playing teenage roles were over. "Having a baby makes you feel older," she was reported as saying ... "I've grown up in real life and I want to grow up in my movie roles". And grow up she did. Her subsequent appearances in BEACH BLANKET BINGO, SKI PARTY, SERGEANT DEADHEAD, DR GOLDFOOT & THE BIKINI MACHINE (a cameo only), GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI and IT'S A BIKINI WORLD, all saw her as a more nubile and desirable woman, far from her pubescent role as "Gidget" in GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN.
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| Excerpt 5 refers to the refusal of Beach Party regulars, Annette Funicello and Donna Loren, to wear bikinis:
So conscious of her projected image was Donna that she (like Annette) even refused to wear a bikini in any of her films, stating:
"I don't believe in going up there, sticking a bikini on and shaking around."
It was this type of attitude that prompted AIP to bestow upon her their "Deb Star" award in 1965.
This preoccupation with the bikini on both Donna's and Annette's part was particularly interesting, considering the horde of semi-clad female (and male) bodies constantly surrounding them. Although both refused to wear them on camera (it was written into Annette's contract at the request of Walt Disney), they were often seen in the occasional two-piece; Annette more so than Donna. Also, contrary to popular belief, Donna's adopted surname of Loren was not borrowed from actress Sophia Loren. Instead, it was randomly selected from the phone book.
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Excerpt 6 comprises some of Aron Kincaid's comments on the 1985 Beach Party Reunion which he attended with former co-stars Frankie Avalon, Annette, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley, Fabian, Meredith Macrae, Salli Sachse, Bobby Shaw, Dick Dale et al:
There was nothing that could have prepared me for what I was to encounter. The crowd before me was the healthiest, happiest, tannest group of people I'd seen since I last worked with all of them. Most looked and sounded better than they did some twenty summers before. Nobody looked worse! The women had grown from frisky colts to sleek, sensually mature ladies. The men looked dependable, fit, successful and proud. The years began to dissolve like morning mist at Malibu and for a brief few hours it was a late spring night in 1965 ... not 1985 ... and everything was really okay again. The pink, turquoise and white balloons bobbed toward the ceiling as the surf music mixed with clinking ice, laughter and hearty embraces. |
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