Beach Party film
Encyclopedia
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures
(AIP) with their surprise 1963
hit, Beach Party
, and copied by virtually every other studio. Precursors to the genre were Columbia Pictures
1959
release Gidget
, starring Sandra Dee
as teenage surfer girl Gidget and James Darren
as her beau Moondoggie; 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian
starring Deborah Walley
as Gidget; and Gidget Goes to Rome
(1963) starring Cindy Carol
as Gidget. American International's films took the Gidget idea, added more music and far more bikinis, and removed nearly all references to parents.
Another precursor to the genre was Where The Boys Are
, in 1960
, which was significantly more serious but still aimed at the same audience. Elvis Presley
's Blue Hawaii
in 1961
is also the same basic architecture. These films helped popularize surfing and later, surf music
, and they often included on-screen performances by well-known pop groups.
The films were originally intended as a low-budget imitation of both the Elvis Presley
musical and the Doris Day
bedroom farce
, aimed at the teen market, but they ended up taking on a life of their own.
Although termed "beach party film genre," several films of the genre do not actually include surfing, or even scenes on the beach. Some critics define a "classic" AIP series of seven films produced by American International Pictures
- whereas others, including Stephen J. McParland in his 1994 book, "It's Party Time - A Musical Appreciation of the Beach Party Film Genre," include the AIP films Ski Party
, Sergeant Dead Head, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
and Fireball 500
in the genre, along with non-AIP, non-beach product such as C'mon Let's Live a Little, Wild Wild Winter
and Village of the Giants
. In fact, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
is defined here as a "classic" beach party film - although a beach is never seen onscreen.
) and Annette (Funicello
) trying to make one another jealous with newcomers, as they and their friends had adventures (on and off the beach), with someone breaking into song every few minutes. The main cast usually had running roles (though their character names sometimes changed from picture to picture), and with the exception of Muscle Beach Party
, the villains of the story were usually biker Eric Von Zipper (played by comic actor Harvey Lembeck
as a parody of Marlon Brando
in The Wild One
) and his inept gang the Rat Pack, or "Rats & Mice" (which included Alberta Nelson
, of The Andy Griffith Show
).
by talking into the camera after a spat with Dolores/Dee Dee. However, the most popular running gag of the beach party series is "The Himalayan Suspender" technique, originated by Professor Sutwell in Beach Party, in which the forefinger is pressed against a certain part of the skull, rendering the victim paralyzed. The victim of this move (aka "The finger" (forefinger)) was always Eric Von Zipper, who learned it from Sutwell and threatened people with it in subsequent films, calling it "The Rats' Revenge". However, Von Zipper's finger never worked on others, only himself. Once Von Zipper became paralyzed (usually with a big open-mouthed smile on his face), the Rats & Mice would carry him out and declare "Eric Von Zipper will return!"
and Paul Lynde
. The various beach films also provided an early look at many actors who would soon go on to greater fame in popular television programs. These include: Tina Louise
and Bob Denver
(Gilligan's Island
), Barbara Eden
(I Dream of Jeannie
), Marta Kristen
(Lost in Space
), Linda Evans
(The Big Valley
), Yvonne Craig
(Batman
), Meredith MacRae
(Petticoat Junction
), and Peter Lupus
(Mission Impossible).
Another feature was a series of cameo appearance
s by veteran actors such as Buster Keaton
, Vincent Price
, Elsa Lanchester
, Boris Karloff
, Dorothy Lamour
, and Peter Lorre
(in his penultimate film appearance). Integral to the series were appearances by contemporary musical stars including Stevie Wonder
, Nancy Sinatra
, Donna Loren
, The Supremes
, The Beach Boys
, The Animals
, The Castaways
, Little Richard
, The Righteous Brothers
, The Kingsmen
, The Pyramids
, The Hondells
, and Dick Dale
and The Del-Tones. Original songs performed by the cast were largely written by Gary Usher
and Roger Christian, or by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner.
Toni Basil
served as choreographer for the dance sequences in Village of the Giants
(also appearing onscreen), and appeared as a dancer, along with an uncredited Teri Garr
, in Pajama Party. Don Weis and William Asher
directed the films in the AIP series, with Asher's then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery
making a voice cameo in Bikini Beach
, and appearing on camera in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
spoofing her character from the Bewitched
TV series.
was in his mid-twenties, married and had children when he made Beach Blanket Bingo
.
Many of the movies were made at Paradise Cove in Malibu, California
. To meet the release schedule, most of the movies had to be filmed during the winter months—when hardly anyone wanted to run around a beach in a swimsuit, or go in the water.
The 1965 AIP film Ski Party
(with Dwayne Hickman
, Yvonne Craig
, Lesley Gore
and James Brown) is also notable for employing many of the same actors and schtick
s, only transplanted to a ski resort
in the Sawtooth National Forest
.
Regular cast members included John Ashley
, Luree Holmes, Jody McCrea
, Salli Sachse, Michael Nader
, Candy Johnson
, Johnny Fain, Valora Noland
, Andy Romano
, Susan Hart, Jerry Brutsche and Linda Rogers
.
with Bobby Vinton
and Jackie DeShannon
was released, Ride the Wild Surf
with Fabian
, Barbara Eden
and Shelley Fabares
, and For Those Who Think Young
with James Darren
, Pamela Tiffin, Tina Louise
, Bob Denver
, Nancy Sinatra
and Paul Lynde
. Darren had co-starred in all three of the Gidget movies. Lynde also appeared in AIP's Beach Blanket Bingo
in 1965.
Billed as "The First Horror Musical", The Horror of Party Beach
(1964), filmed in Connecticut, offers an offbeat blend of music, bikers, and a rampaging monster created by radioactive waste.
The number of beach movie releases peaked in 1965 - even Elvis Presley
made his dip into the genre this year with Girl Happy
. Many of the films were packed with well-known musical acts: A Swingin' Summer
with Raquel Welch
(who also performs one song) and music by The Righteous Brothers
and Gary Lewis & The Playboys
, Beach Ball with Edd Byrnes, The Supremes
, The Four Seasons
, and The Righteous Brothers, Girls on the Beach with The Beach Boys
and Lesley Gore
, Wild on the Beach
with Sonny & Cher and Daytona Beach Weekend with Del Shannon.
1965 was also the year in which producers began to extend the theme by producing teen-oriented musicals set in non-beach locations, often with scripts that blended music with non-comedic storylines. These included Village of the Giants
(which merged the "beach" genre with science fiction), Beach Girls and the Monster (merging the genre with horror), One-Way Wahini (music and mystery set in Hawaii) and Get Yourself A College Girl
, a relatively lavish MGM production set on a campus and featuring the first appearances in a U.S. produced teen musical by British Invasion acts The Animals
and the Dave Clark Five.
With at least six beach films released in 1965, the genre reached the height of its popularity. That year the 1959-1963 Gidget
film series was also remade into a television sitcom starring 19-year-old Sally Field
as the titular California surfer girl. The show ran for one season (1965-1966).
Following in the trail of AIP's Ski Party, the ski-resort formula of replacing sand with snow was duplicated in Winter a Go-Go (1965) and Wild Wild Winter
(1966), with music by The Beau Brummels
and Jay and the Americans
. Another 1966 release, Out of Sight
, from Universal Pictures
, was a multi-genre blend of beach film, hot rods, rock 'n' roll, and spy spoof. The cast included a pre-Land of the Giants
Deanna Lund
and music by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Turtles
, and Freddie and the Dreamers
. The Fat Spy
(1966) starring '50s icon Jayne Mansfield
, was another dual-genre parody of beach party and spy films.
Although American International folded up its beach towel by the end of 1966, a late entry, Catalina Caper
(1967) with Tommy Kirk and music by Little Richard
, attempted to blend the beach concept into a crime-mystery comedy. This film is generally acknowledged as the "last gasp" of the genre, the final beach-themed film with music. It was also lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000
. Earlier in 1967 It's a Bikini World
came out with, once again, Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley. This movie was actually produced in 1965 but due to contract and music licensing issues was held from release for almost two years. In addition, early 1967 saw C'mon, Let's Live a Little
— a teen-oriented musical featuring Jackie DeShannon and Bobby Vee. Like Catalina Caper, this film tried to merge the beach party theme with another genre (in this case, emerging Vietnam-era inspired campus protest). The general failure of all three of these films at the box office confirmed that the teen-oriented "beach party" musical trend had passed. It was replaced by a new crop of youth-oriented drive-in movies centered around car racing, motorcycle gangs and escapist spy adventures.
, released in 1966. The end credits for the 1965 AIP spy-spoof Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
(with Frankie Avalon), advertises this film with its original title (The Girl in the Glass Bikini) and intended stars, Funicello and Avalon. However, both actors passed on this film, appearing instead in AIP's car-racing themed Fireball 500
. The lead roles were given to Tommy Kirk
and Deborah Walley
, with an almost all-new supporting cast (including singer Nancy Sinatra
). This time the "formula" did not work. The movie—which was more of a haunted-house comedy than a proper beach film—bombed at the box office and the series was retired by AIP. Fireball 500 was followed by another racing film, Thunder Alley, also starring Funicello.
Avalon and Funicello starred in Paramount Pictures
' Back to the Beach
in 1987, playing off their original roles and subsequent careers. The movie became a hit, and there was talk of making a sequel, but with the beginning of Funicello's trouble with multiple sclerosis
, this never came to be.
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
(AIP) with their surprise 1963
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....
hit, Beach Party
Beach Party
Beach Party was the first of several beach party films from American International Pictures aimed at a teen audience. It was directed by William Asher and written by Lou Rusoff. The main actors included Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, and Annette Funicello...
, and copied by virtually every other studio. Precursors to the genre were Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
release Gidget
Gidget (film)
Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume...
, starring Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
as teenage surfer girl Gidget and James Darren
James Darren
James William Ercolani , known by his stage name James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer.-Career:...
as her beau Moondoggie; 1961's Gidget Goes Hawaiian
Gidget Goes Hawaiian
Gidget Goes Hawaiian is a 1961 musical romantic comedy film starring Deborah Walley and James Darren. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film is a sequel to the 1959 Sandra Dee "beach movie" vehicle Gidget....
starring Deborah Walley
Deborah Walley
Deborah Walley was an American actress.-Biographical Information:Deborah Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley. She attended Central High School in Bridgeport. At fourteen she was playing summer-stock theatre. She...
as Gidget; and Gidget Goes to Rome
Gidget Goes to Rome
Gidget Goes to Rome is a 1963 Columbia Pictures feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally created by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film Gidget. The film is the third of three Gidget films directed by Paul Wendkos and expands upon Gidget's romance with...
(1963) starring Cindy Carol
Cindy Carol
Cindy Carol is an American actress. She was credited as Carol Sydes before her starring role as Gidget in Gidget Goes to Rome ....
as Gidget. American International's films took the Gidget idea, added more music and far more bikinis, and removed nearly all references to parents.
Another precursor to the genre was Where The Boys Are
Where the Boys Are
The kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...
, in 1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
, which was significantly more serious but still aimed at the same audience. Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii is a 1961 musical film set in the state of Hawaii and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The movie opened at no...
in 1961
1961 in film
The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...
is also the same basic architecture. These films helped popularize surfing and later, surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
, and they often included on-screen performances by well-known pop groups.
The films were originally intended as a low-budget imitation of both the Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
musical and the Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
bedroom farce
Bedroom farce
A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy, centered on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors...
, aimed at the teen market, but they ended up taking on a life of their own.
Although termed "beach party film genre," several films of the genre do not actually include surfing, or even scenes on the beach. Some critics define a "classic" AIP series of seven films produced by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
- whereas others, including Stephen J. McParland in his 1994 book, "It's Party Time - A Musical Appreciation of the Beach Party Film Genre," include the AIP films Ski Party
Ski Party
Ski Party is a B-movie, directed by Alan Rafkin, and released in 1965 by American International Pictures. Ski Party is part of the 1960s Beach Party film genre, with a change of setting from the beach to the slopes - although the final scene places everyone back at the beach...
, Sergeant Dead Head, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a 1965 American International Pictures film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Deborah Walley...
and Fireball 500
Fireball 500
Fireball 500 is a stock car racing film, blended with the beach party film genre. A vehicle for stars Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Fabian, it was one of a string of similar racing films from the 1960s...
in the genre, along with non-AIP, non-beach product such as C'mon Let's Live a Little, Wild Wild Winter
Wild Wild Winter
Wild Wild Winter is a 1966 Universal Pictures comedy film in the beach party genre, starring Gary Clarke and Chris Noel. It is directed by standup comedian Lennie Weinrib and produced by Bart Patton and is notable for featuring Jay and the Americans and the duo of Dick and Dee Dee in their only...
and Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods...
. In fact, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh of the American International Pictures beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming...
is defined here as a "classic" beach party film - although a beach is never seen onscreen.
Storylines
The AIP storylines typically revolved around boyfriend and girlfriend Frankie (AvalonFrankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...
) and Annette (Funicello
Annette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...
) trying to make one another jealous with newcomers, as they and their friends had adventures (on and off the beach), with someone breaking into song every few minutes. The main cast usually had running roles (though their character names sometimes changed from picture to picture), and with the exception of Muscle Beach Party
Muscle Beach Party
Muscle Beach Party is the second of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures. It was made in 1964 and was directed by William Asher, who also directed four other films in this series...
, the villains of the story were usually biker Eric Von Zipper (played by comic actor Harvey Lembeck
Harvey Lembeck
Harvey Lembeck was an American comedic actor best remembered for his role as Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s, and as the stumbling, overconfident outlaw biker Eric Von Zipper in the beach party movie series during the 1960s...
as a parody of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
in The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
) and his inept gang the Rat Pack, or "Rats & Mice" (which included Alberta Nelson
Alberta Nelson
Alberta Nelson was an American television and film actress. She was born on August 14, 1937, and attended Villa Maria Academy and later graduated from Andrews High School for Girls in Willoughby, Ohio...
, of The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
).
Running gags
One running joke has Frankie breaking the Fourth WallFourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
by talking into the camera after a spat with Dolores/Dee Dee. However, the most popular running gag of the beach party series is "The Himalayan Suspender" technique, originated by Professor Sutwell in Beach Party, in which the forefinger is pressed against a certain part of the skull, rendering the victim paralyzed. The victim of this move (aka "The finger" (forefinger)) was always Eric Von Zipper, who learned it from Sutwell and threatened people with it in subsequent films, calling it "The Rats' Revenge". However, Von Zipper's finger never worked on others, only himself. Once Von Zipper became paralyzed (usually with a big open-mouthed smile on his face), the Rats & Mice would carry him out and declare "Eric Von Zipper will return!"
Cameo actors, musical groups and future stars
Veteran movie stars regularly cropped up in cameo roles while larger supporting parts were given to up-and-coming personalities such as Don RicklesDon Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
and Paul Lynde
Paul Lynde
Paul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie...
. The various beach films also provided an early look at many actors who would soon go on to greater fame in popular television programs. These include: Tina Louise
Tina Louise
Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
and Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...
(Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
), Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
(I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
), Marta Kristen
Marta Kristen
Marta Kristen is an American actress.The naturally blonde-haired Kristen is best-known for her role as Guy Williams's and June Lockhart's beautiful daughter, Judy Robinson, in the television series Lost in Space...
(Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
), Linda Evans
Linda Evans
Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
(The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
), Yvonne Craig
Yvonne Craig
Yvonne Joyce Craig is an American actress best known for her role as Batgirl from the 1960s TV series Batman, and as the Orion Marta in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Whom Gods Destroy”.-Early life and career:...
(Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
), Meredith MacRae
Meredith MacRae
Meredith Lynn MacRae was an American actress and singer.-Life and career:MacRae was best known for her television roles as Billie Jo on Petticoat Junction and as Sally Ann in My Three Sons...
(Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
), and Peter Lupus
Peter Lupus
Peter Lupus is an American bodybuilder and actor of Syrian ancestry. He attended the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University, where he also played football and basketball, graduating in 1954...
(Mission Impossible).
Another feature was a series of cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s by veteran actors such as Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
, Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
, Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
, Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
, and Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
(in his penultimate film appearance). Integral to the series were appearances by contemporary musical stars including Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, Donna Loren
Donna Loren
Donna Loren is a singer and actress. A very prolific performer in the 1960s, commenciong while still attending Venice High School in western Los Angeles, she was the Dr Pepper spokesperson from 1963–1968, prolific vocalist on ABC-TV’s Shindig, and a cast member of the American International...
, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, The Castaways
The Castaways
The Castaways are an American garage rock band from the Twin Cities in Minnesota.Their first and only hit single was "Liar, Liar". Written by band leader James Donna and Denny Craswell, produced by Timothy D. Kehr and released by Soma Records, it reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
, The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen
The Kingsmen is a 1960s garage rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the #2 spot on the Billboard charts for six weeks...
, The Pyramids
The Pyramids
The Pyramids may refer to*Egyptian Pyramids*The Pyramids , a surf rock group from Long Beach, California*The Pyramids , buildings in Indianapolis*The Pyramids, a rock formation at Victory Beach, New Zealand...
, The Hondells
The Hondells
The Hondells were an American surf rock band who hit the Top 10 with the 1964 single "Little Honda"."Little Honda", written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, was inspired by the popularity of Honda motor bikes in Southern California during the early 1960s. The band recorded the song...
, and Dick Dale
Dick Dale
Dick Dale is an American surf rock guitarist, known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.-Early life:Dale was born in South Boston, Massachusetts and lived in nearby...
and The Del-Tones. Original songs performed by the cast were largely written by Gary Usher
Gary Usher
Gary Usher was an American surf rock musician, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:Usher's early life was spent in Grafton, Massachusetts. He attended Norcross Grammar School with his sister, Sandra, who was in the same class and was likely his twin. Gary was kiddingly called "Chicken Feed"...
and Roger Christian, or by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner.
Toni Basil
Toni Basil
Antonia Christina Basilotta , better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.-Early life:Basil was born Antonia Christina...
served as choreographer for the dance sequences in Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods...
(also appearing onscreen), and appeared as a dancer, along with an uncredited Teri Garr
Teri Garr
-Early life:Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1947. Her father, Eddie Garr , was a vaudeville performer, comedian and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road...
, in Pajama Party. Don Weis and William Asher
William Asher
William Asher is an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early directors in the budding television industry, producing or directing over two dozen of the leading television series.With television in its infancy, he introduced the...
directed the films in the AIP series, with Asher's then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Montgomery
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is perhaps best remembered for her roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.-Early life:Born in Los...
making a voice cameo in Bikini Beach
Bikini Beach
Bikini Beach is a 1964 teen film directed by William Asher and starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. The film belongs to the beach party genre of movies, popular in the 1960s. This is the third in a series of seven films produced by American International Pictures .-Plot:School is out and...
, and appearing on camera in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams...
spoofing her character from the Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
TV series.
Production
Few if any of the principal actors were actually teenagers. Frankie AvalonFrankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...
was in his mid-twenties, married and had children when he made Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series...
.
Many of the movies were made at Paradise Cove in Malibu, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. To meet the release schedule, most of the movies had to be filmed during the winter months—when hardly anyone wanted to run around a beach in a swimsuit, or go in the water.
The "classic series"
American International Pictures produced a series of seven beach films, starting with Beach Party:| Film | Release date | Also starring: |
|---|---|---|
| Beach Party Beach Party Beach Party was the first of several beach party films from American International Pictures aimed at a teen audience. It was directed by William Asher and written by Lou Rusoff. The main actors included Robert Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, and Annette Funicello... |
7 August 1963 | Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone is an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years she played small roles, mainly in B-movies. After a decade in films, she began to acquire a more glamorous image, particularly after her performance in Written on the Wind , for which she won the Academy... and Morey Amsterdam Morey Amsterdam Morey Amsterdam was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s.-Early life:... |
| Muscle Beach Party Muscle Beach Party Muscle Beach Party is the second of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures. It was made in 1964 and was directed by William Asher, who also directed four other films in this series... |
25 March 1964 | Peter Lupus Peter Lupus Peter Lupus is an American bodybuilder and actor of Syrian ancestry. He attended the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University, where he also played football and basketball, graduating in 1954... , Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi is an Italian actress. She is best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball.-Career:... and Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and actor.-Early life:Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103... |
| Bikini Beach Bikini Beach Bikini Beach is a 1964 teen film directed by William Asher and starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. The film belongs to the beach party genre of movies, popular in the 1960s. This is the third in a series of seven films produced by American International Pictures .-Plot:School is out and... |
22 July 1964 | Keenan Wynn Keenan Wynn Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts.... and Martha Hyer Martha Hyer Martha Hyer is an American actress.She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. After completing her education, she next appeared in The Locket in 1946... |
| Pajama Party Pajama Party (film) Pajama Party is a 1964 beach party film starring Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello. This is the fourth in a series of seven beach films produced by American International Pictures... |
11 November 1964 | Jesse White Jesse White (actor) Jesse White was an American television, film, and stage character actor. He is best remembered for portraying the Maytag repairman in television commercials, a role he played from 1967 to 1988.-Life and career:... and Ben Lessy Ben Lessy Ben Lessy was an American television and film actor. He was born in New York, New York, United States.-Career:Lessy appeared in 32 films and television programs between 1951 and 1981... |
| Beach Blanket Bingo Beach Blanket Bingo Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series... |
14 April 1965 | Paul Lynde Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie... , Linda Evans Linda Evans Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley... , Marta Kristen Marta Kristen Marta Kristen is an American actress.The naturally blonde-haired Kristen is best-known for her role as Guy Williams's and June Lockhart's beautiful daughter, Judy Robinson, in the television series Lost in Space... and Timothy Carey Timothy Carey Timothy Agoglia Carey was an American film and television actor.... |
| How to Stuff a Wild Bikini How to Stuff a Wild Bikini How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams... |
14 July 1965 | Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... , Beverly Adams Beverly Adams Beverly Adams is a Canadian-born actress and author.-Early life and career:Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Adams moved to Burbank, California as a child. As a teen, she competed in and won beauty contests before becoming an actress. During her career, Adams appeared in various guest roles in television... , Len Lesser Len Lesser Leonard King "Len" Lesser was an American actor. He was known for a key role in the Clint Eastwood movie Kelly's Heroes and his recurring role as Uncle Leo in Seinfeld, which began during the show's second season in "The Pony Remark" episode.-Early life:Lesser was born in The Bronx in 1922... , Irene Tsu Irene Tsu Irene Tsu is a Chinese American actress who started in the film adaptation Flower Drum Song in 1961 and has had many subsequent roles in TV and films... and Brian Donlevy Brian Donlevy Brian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty... |
| The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh of the American International Pictures beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming... |
6 April 1966 | Basil Rathbone Basil Rathbone Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films... , Benny Rubin Benny Rubin Benny Rubin was an American comedian and film actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Rubin made more than 200 radio, film and television appearances over a span of 50 years.-Radio and television:... and Francis X. Bushman Francis X. Bushman Francis Xavier Bushman was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. His matinee idol career started in 1911 in the silent film His Friend's Wife, but it did not survive the silent screen era.... |
The 1965 AIP film Ski Party
Ski Party
Ski Party is a B-movie, directed by Alan Rafkin, and released in 1965 by American International Pictures. Ski Party is part of the 1960s Beach Party film genre, with a change of setting from the beach to the slopes - although the final scene places everyone back at the beach...
(with Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Bernard Hickman is a former American actor and television executive at CBS.He is known primarily for his "teenage" actor roles on television sitcoms. The naturally brown-headed Hickman is best known for playing Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins's crazy teenaged nephew, on the popular 1950s...
, Yvonne Craig
Yvonne Craig
Yvonne Joyce Craig is an American actress best known for her role as Batgirl from the 1960s TV series Batman, and as the Orion Marta in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Whom Gods Destroy”.-Early life and career:...
, Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
and James Brown) is also notable for employing many of the same actors and schtick
Schtick
A shtick is a comic theme or gimmick. "Shtick" is derived from the Yiddish word shtik , meaning "piece"; the closely related German word Stück has the same meaning. The English word "piece" itself is also sometimes used in a similar context...
s, only transplanted to a ski resort
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
in the Sawtooth National Forest
Sawtooth National Forest
Sawtooth National Forest is in Idaho and Utah was protected in 1905 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as the Sawtooth Forest Reserve. Today the forest administers over 2.1 million acres of some of the most remote forestland in the lower 48 states, and there are over 1,000 lakes and 3,000...
.
Regular cast members included John Ashley
John Ashley (actor)
John Ashley was an actor who appeared in many films, most notably the American International Pictures' "Beach Party" films...
, Luree Holmes, Jody McCrea
Jody McCrea
Joel Dee "Jody" McCrea was an American film and television actor; son of veteran film actors Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, who were married from 1933 until Joel McCrea's death in 1990. The eldest of three, his brothers are David McCrea and Peter McCrea.-Career:Jody McCrea served in the United...
, Salli Sachse, Michael Nader
Michael Nader
Michael Nader is an American actor of Lebanese descent, known for his role on the ABC primetime soap opera Dynasty from 1983 to 1989 as Farnsworth "Dex" Dexter, the third husband of Alexis Colby .Nader's first soap opera role was opposite actress Marie Masters playing the character of Kevin...
, Candy Johnson
Candy Johnson
Candy Johnson is an American singer and dancer who appeared in several films in the 1960s.She was born in San Gabriel, and graduated from San Gabriel High School...
, Johnny Fain, Valora Noland
Valora Noland
Valora Noland is an American actress, notable for her 1960s movie and television work.-Biography:Valora Noland was born in Seattle, Washington December 8, 1941. Her mother had not yet decided upon a name for her new boy or girl, and caught up in the concerns of the hour , let it go for the moment...
, Andy Romano
Andy Romano
Andy Romano is an American actor, known for playing "J.D." in the 1960s Beach Party movies ....
, Susan Hart, Jerry Brutsche and Linda Rogers
Linda Rogers
Linda Rogers is a Canadian poet and children's writer. She was born in Port Alice, British Columbia.A past president of the League of Canadian Poets and the Federation of BC Writers she lives in Victoria, British Columbia.-Poetry:...
.
Other films of the genre
The success of the AIP movie series spawned many imitators. In 1964 Surf PartySurf party
Surf Party is a 1964 beach party film directed by Maury Dexter. It is notable for the musical acts showcased onscreen, as well as for being the first direct imitation of AIP’s hit Beach Party, which was released six months earlier. It also notable for being one of the few films in the genre shot...
with Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...
and Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...
was released, Ride the Wild Surf
Ride the Wild Surf
Ride the Wild Surf is romantic drama in the beach party style. It was filmed in 1963 and distributed in 1964. Unlike most films in the genre, it is known for its exceptional big wave surf footage – a common sight in surf movies of the time, but a rarity in beach party films...
with Fabian
Fabian
-People:*Fabian Månsson, , Swedish socialist*Fabian , , 1950s American teen idol and singer*Fabian Bachrach, an American photographer*Fabian Cancellara, , Swiss professional road cyclist...
, Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
and Shelley Fabares
Shelley Fabares
Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
, and For Those Who Think Young
For Those Who Think Young
For Those Who Think Young, appearing on the album cover as and originally to be entitled for those who think jung, was the third album by Canadian new wave band Rough Trade; it was released in 1981...
with James Darren
James Darren
James William Ercolani , known by his stage name James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer.-Career:...
, Pamela Tiffin, Tina Louise
Tina Louise
Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
, Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...
, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
and Paul Lynde
Paul Lynde
Paul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie...
. Darren had co-starred in all three of the Gidget movies. Lynde also appeared in AIP's Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series...
in 1965.
Billed as "The First Horror Musical", The Horror of Party Beach
The Horror of Party Beach
The Horror of Party Beach is a 1964 horror film in the beach party genre, directed by B-movie maven Del Tenney, which Tenney himself describes as "a take-off on beach parties and musicals"....
(1964), filmed in Connecticut, offers an offbeat blend of music, bikers, and a rampaging monster created by radioactive waste.
The number of beach movie releases peaked in 1965 - even Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
made his dip into the genre this year with Girl Happy
Girl Happy
Girl Happy is a 1965 American musical romantic comedy in the beach party film and spring break style, starring Elvis Presley.This was the last mega-successful Elvis Presley film at the box office, finishing at #25 on the Variety year-end top-grossing films of 1965 chart and making $3 million,...
. Many of the films were packed with well-known musical acts: A Swingin' Summer
A Swingin' Summer
A Swingin' Summer is a 1965 comedy film in the beach party genre. It was directed and co-written by Robert Sparr. Raquel Welch stars in her first featured film role and makes her singing debut in the film.-Synopsis:...
with Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
(who also performs one song) and music by The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
and Gary Lewis & The Playboys
Gary Lewis & the Playboys
Gary Lewis & the Playboys were a 1960s rock group fronted by Gary Lewis, son of comedian Jerry Lewis. They are best known for their 1965 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "This Diamond Ring."-Original members:* Gary Lewis - Drums and vocals...
, Beach Ball with Edd Byrnes, The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (group)
The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band who became internationally successful in the mid-1960s. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has stated that the group was the most popular rock band before The Beatles...
, and The Righteous Brothers, Girls on the Beach with The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
and Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
, Wild on the Beach
Wild on the Beach
Wild on the Beach is a 1965 beach party film directed by Maury Dexter. It is notable for the musical acts showcased onscreen, being the film debut of Sonny & Cher in particular...
with Sonny & Cher and Daytona Beach Weekend with Del Shannon.
1965 was also the year in which producers began to extend the theme by producing teen-oriented musicals set in non-beach locations, often with scripts that blended music with non-comedic storylines. These included Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants
Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods...
(which merged the "beach" genre with science fiction), Beach Girls and the Monster (merging the genre with horror), One-Way Wahini (music and mystery set in Hawaii) and Get Yourself A College Girl
Get Yourself a College Girl
Get Yourself a College Girl is a 1964 Metrocolor film comedy in the style of a beach party movie. The plot involves a college co-ed who tries to balance her time writing songs and dealing with her publisher who tries to pursue her. It was directed by Sidney Miller and written by Robert E...
, a relatively lavish MGM production set on a campus and featuring the first appearances in a U.S. produced teen musical by British Invasion acts The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
and the Dave Clark Five.
With at least six beach films released in 1965, the genre reached the height of its popularity. That year the 1959-1963 Gidget
Gidget (TV series)
Gidget is an American sitcom about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called "Gidget" and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as her father. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15, 1965 through April 21, 1966...
film series was also remade into a television sitcom starring 19-year-old Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
as the titular California surfer girl. The show ran for one season (1965-1966).
Following in the trail of AIP's Ski Party, the ski-resort formula of replacing sand with snow was duplicated in Winter a Go-Go (1965) and Wild Wild Winter
Wild Wild Winter
Wild Wild Winter is a 1966 Universal Pictures comedy film in the beach party genre, starring Gary Clarke and Chris Noel. It is directed by standup comedian Lennie Weinrib and produced by Bart Patton and is notable for featuring Jay and the Americans and the duo of Dick and Dee Dee in their only...
(1966), with music by The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
and Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans
Jay and the Americans was a pop music group popular in the 1960s. Their initial lineup consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane , Kenny Vance and Sandy Deanne , though their greatest success on the charts came after Traynor had been replaced as lead singer by Jay Black.-Early years:They were...
. Another 1966 release, Out of Sight
Out of Sight (1966 film)
Out of Sight is a 1966 beach party film with elements of the spy spoof. It is the third and last of a series of films geared at teenagers by director Lennie Weinrib and producer Bart Patton for Universal Pictures...
, from Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, was a multi-genre blend of beach film, hot rods, rock 'n' roll, and spy spoof. The cast included a pre-Land of the Giants
Land of the Giants
Land of the Giants was an hour-long American science fiction television program lasting two seasons beginning on September 22, 1968 and ending on March 22, 1970. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen. Land of the Giants was the fourth of Allen's science fiction TV series. The show was...
Deanna Lund
Deanna Lund
Deanna Lund is an American film and television actress best remembered for her role in the Irwin Allen television series Land of the Giants, where she played the character of Valerie Ames Scott.-Early life:...
and music by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, and Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active...
. The Fat Spy
The Fat Spy
The Fat Spy is a 1966 Z movie that attempts to parody teenage beach party films. It was filmed at Cape Coral, Florida. It is featured in the 2004 documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made. Briefly released to theaters in 1966, it was rarely seen until the 1990s, when it was released to the public...
(1966) starring '50s icon Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
, was another dual-genre parody of beach party and spy films.
Although American International folded up its beach towel by the end of 1966, a late entry, Catalina Caper
Catalina Caper
Catalina Caper is a 1967 comedy musical mystery film starring Tommy Kirk. It is one of the last in the beach party film genre. This entry blends the beach format with a standard crime-caper comedy...
(1967) with Tommy Kirk and music by Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, attempted to blend the beach concept into a crime-mystery comedy. This film is generally acknowledged as the "last gasp" of the genre, the final beach-themed film with music. It was also lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
. Earlier in 1967 It's a Bikini World
It's a Bikini World
It's a Bikini World is an American musical comedy film released in 1967 starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame. The film features cameos by the music groups The Gentrys, The Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, The Castaways and R&B girl group The Toys...
came out with, once again, Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley. This movie was actually produced in 1965 but due to contract and music licensing issues was held from release for almost two years. In addition, early 1967 saw C'mon, Let's Live a Little
C'mon, Let's Live a Little
C'mon, Let's Live a Little is a 1967 film directed by David Butler. It stars Bobby Vee and Jackie DeShannon.-Cast:*Bobby Vee as Jesse Crawford*Jackie DeShannon as Judy Grant*Eddie Hodges as Eddie Stewart*Suzie Kaye as Bee Bee Vendemeer...
— a teen-oriented musical featuring Jackie DeShannon and Bobby Vee. Like Catalina Caper, this film tried to merge the beach party theme with another genre (in this case, emerging Vietnam-era inspired campus protest). The general failure of all three of these films at the box office confirmed that the teen-oriented "beach party" musical trend had passed. It was replaced by a new crop of youth-oriented drive-in movies centered around car racing, motorcycle gangs and escapist spy adventures.
End of the genre
The final entry in the original AIP series was The Ghost in the Invisible BikiniThe Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh of the American International Pictures beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming...
, released in 1966. The end credits for the 1965 AIP spy-spoof Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a 1965 American International Pictures film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Deborah Walley...
(with Frankie Avalon), advertises this film with its original title (The Girl in the Glass Bikini) and intended stars, Funicello and Avalon. However, both actors passed on this film, appearing instead in AIP's car-racing themed Fireball 500
Fireball 500
Fireball 500 is a stock car racing film, blended with the beach party film genre. A vehicle for stars Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Fabian, it was one of a string of similar racing films from the 1960s...
. The lead roles were given to Tommy Kirk
Tommy Kirk
Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...
and Deborah Walley
Deborah Walley
Deborah Walley was an American actress.-Biographical Information:Deborah Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers Nathan and Edith Walley. She attended Central High School in Bridgeport. At fourteen she was playing summer-stock theatre. She...
, with an almost all-new supporting cast (including singer Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
). This time the "formula" did not work. The movie—which was more of a haunted-house comedy than a proper beach film—bombed at the box office and the series was retired by AIP. Fireball 500 was followed by another racing film, Thunder Alley, also starring Funicello.
Avalon and Funicello starred in Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' Back to the Beach
Back to the Beach
Back to the Beach is a 1987 comedy film starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, directed by Lyndall Hobbs. The original music score is composed by Steve Dorff. The film generated a total domestic gross of $13,110,903...
in 1987, playing off their original roles and subsequent careers. The movie became a hit, and there was talk of making a sequel, but with the beginning of Funicello's trouble with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
, this never came to be.
Influence on popular culture and parodies
- The BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
TV series spoofed the beach films and surfing culture in the third season episode: "Surf's Up! Joker's Under" from 1967. Here, the Joker (Cesar RomeroCesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
) challenges Batman to a surfing contest. Yvonne Craig, who was also in GidgetGidgetGidget is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friends on the beach at Malibu. The name Gidget is a portmanteau of "girl and midget"...
, appears as Batgirl.
- In 1978 Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
did an extensive parody sketch of the beach movies entitled "Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space." Bill MurrayBill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
and Gilda RadnerGilda RadnerGilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
, wearing thick black wigs, imitated the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello characters. John BelushiJohn BelushiJohn Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
played biker Eric Von Zipper, and Dan AykroydDan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
played a curiously effeminate Vincent Price. Guest host Carrie FisherCarrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, dressed in a gold bikini, reprised her Princess Leia character from Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
.
- Without mentioning a specific film, The B-52'sThe B-52'sThe B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
1978 song, "Rock LobsterRock lobsterJasus edwardsii, the southern rock lobster, red rock lobster, or spiny rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found throughout coastal waters of southern Australia and New Zealand including the Chatham Islands. This species is commonly called crayfish or crays in New Zealand and in Māori...
" relied on 1960s beach party movie imagery and featured a surf guitar sound, with lyrics referencing 60s dances like the FrugThe FrugThe Frug was a dance craze from the 1960s that evolved from another dance of the era, the Chicken. The Chicken, which featured lateral body movements, was used primarily as a change of pace step while doing the Twist. As young dancers grew more tired they would do less work, moving only their hips...
and the TwistTwist (dance)The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed...
, as well as bikinis, surfboards, flippers, flexing muscles, and tanning butter. The song ends with a list of sea creatures, culminating in the fanciful Bikini Whale, whose name is greeted with a shriek of hysteria from the band's female members. During the late 70s, female bandmembers completed the period effect by donning bouffant wigs and clothing from the early and mid-60s and doing 60s dances like the PonyPony (dance)The Pony was a dance made popular in the 1960s by the Chubby Checker song "Pony Time". The beat is 1&2, 3&4, etc. In the dance the feet are kept comfortably together, while various arm and hand motions are possible. Movement around the dance floor may occur, but there is no line-of-dance...
and the Swim during performances.
- The Revillos 1980 song, "Scuba Boy", also featured 60s beach movie-influenced lyrics and sounds, with its chorus of "Scuba! Scuba!" and lyrics expressing the lead singer's desire to join her scuba boy "in the deep". A repeated drum flourish within the chorus is so authentic-sounding that one almost expects Candy JohnsonCandy JohnsonCandy Johnson is an American singer and dancer who appeared in several films in the 1960s.She was born in San Gabriel, and graduated from San Gabriel High School...
to pop up and send men flying with her hips. The accompanying video showed band members wildly doing the Swim.
- Surf II: The End of the Trilogy (1984) was a modern send-up of 1960s beach films and 1970s horror films, revolving around a mad scientistMad scientistA mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
turning surfers into garbage-eating zombies through chemically-altered soft drinks.
- The Dead MilkmenDead MilkmenThe Dead Milkmen is an American satirical punk rock band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman , guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro , bassist Dave Schulthise and drummer Dean Sabatino .Beginning within the local underground...
's 1986 album "Eat Your Paisley!" featured the song "Beach Party Vietnam" which included references to typical Beach Party film characters and scenarios (Frankie and Annette, cook-outs, etc.) but uses '60s mid-war VietnamVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
as its setting.
- The 1996 movie That Thing You Do!That Thing You Do!That Thing You Do! is a 1996 comedy-drama musical film written and directed by Tom Hanks. Set in the summer of 1964, the movie tells the story of the quick rise and fall of a one-hit wonder rock band...
touches briefly on the phenomenon, with the fictional music group The Wonders making an appearance in a beach party movie called Weekend at Party Pier.
- Psycho Beach PartyPsycho Beach PartyPsycho Beach Party is a 2000 Comedy horror film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Charles Busch wrote both the original play and the screenplay...
is a 2000 film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Set in 1962 Malibu Beach, this is a parody of beach movies and GidgetGidgetGidget is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friends on the beach at Malibu. The name Gidget is a portmanteau of "girl and midget"...
.
- The "Beach Blanket Bizarro" episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch from 2001 also paid homage to the series with Frankie Avalon appearing as himself. Concerned about her plans for a wild spring break weekend in Florida, her aunts use their magical powers to send Sabrina and her friends into the alternate reality of an innocent '60s beach film. Series regular Beth BroderickBeth BroderickElizabeth Alice "Beth" Broderick is an American actress famous for her portrayal of the character Zelda Spellman in the television sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch from 1996–2003 on ABC and then the Warner Bros. network.-Early life:Broderick was born in Falmouth, Kentucky and grew up in...
("aunt Zelda") was also in Psycho Beach Party.
- Camping CosmosCamping CosmosCamping Cosmos is a Belgian 1996 film, sequel to La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978, directed by Jan Bucquoy. It stars Claude Semal, Lolo Ferrari , Noël Godin , Herman Brusselmans and Arno ....
is a Belgian parody on the classical Beach Party films and BaywatchBaywatchBaywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
. Miss Vandeputte (Lolo Ferrari) is C.J. Parker and Harry, the lifeguard ( Arno), is Mitch BuchannonMitch BuchannonMitch Buchannon is a fictional character from the TV series Baywatch. He was played by David Hasselhoff in every season of Baywatch and Baywatch Nights plus in the first season of Baywatch Hawaii...
. The movie starts with the evergreen song Maria ElenaMaria Elena"María Elena" is a 1932 popular song written by Lorenzo Barcelata . It was published by Peer International Corporation of Mexico...
and the view of a bird overlooking the campsite on the beach. Lolo FerrariLolo FerrariLolo Ferrari, born Eve Valois , was a French dancer, sex star, pornographic actress, actress and singer billed as "the woman with the largest breasts in the world" though their size was artificially achieved....
coming out of the sea as an AphroditeAphroditeAphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
with the song of Vera LynnVera LynnDame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
( is the Land of Hope and GloryLand of Hope and Glory"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...
: BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
?) and having her first orgasm with the comic strip Tintin in the CongoTintin in the CongoTintin in the Congo is the second title in the comicbook series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Originally serialised in the Belgian children's newspaper supplement, Le Petit Vingtième between June 1930 and July 1931, it was first published in book form...
, is focused on as a central figure, but the movie treats all characters with the same interest (in this movie Lolo Ferrari has the looks of Brigitte BardotBrigitte BardotBrigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
).