Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969

by Thomas Lisanti

Overview

Surfers loathed them, teenagers flocked to them, critics dismissed them, producers banked on them—surf and beach movies. For a short time in the 1960s they were extremely popular with younger audiences—mainly because of the shirtless surfer boys and bikini-clad beach girls, the musical performers, and the wild surfing footage.

This lavishly illustrated filmography details 32 sizzling fun-in-the-sun teenage epics from Gidget to the Beach Party movies with Frankie and Annette to The Sweet Ride plus a few offshoots in the snow!) Entries include credits, plot synopses, memorable lines, reviews and awards, and commentary from such as Aron Kincaid of The Girls on the Beach, Susan Hart of The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, Peter Brown of Ride the Wild Surf, Chris Noel of Beach Ball, and Ed Garner of Beach Blanket Bingo. Biographies of actors and leading actresses who made their marks in the genre are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786472970
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	09/07/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 3.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tom Lisanti is the award-winning author of multiple books about film history, and he blogs at www.sixtiescinema.com. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Foreword Aron Kincaid 1

Preface 5

Introduction 7

Part I The Movies

1 Gidget (1959) 29

2 Where the Boys Are (1960) 38

3 Blue Hawaii (1961) 50

4 Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) 61

5 Beach Party (1963) 71

6 Bikini Beach (1964) 86

7 For Those Who Think Young (1964) 97

8 The Horror of Party Beach (1964) 109

9 Muscle Beach Party (1964) 117

10 Pajama Party (1964) 128

11 Ride the Wild Surf (1964) 139

12 Surf Party (1964) 151

13 Beach Ball (1965) 158

14 Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) 170

15 The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) 181

16 Daytona Beach Weekend (1965) 189

17 Girl Happy (1965) 193

18 The Girls on the Beach (1965) 204

19 How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965) 215

20 One Way Wahine (1965) 224

21 Ski Party (1965) 229

22 A Swingin' Summer (1965) 241

23 Wild on the Beach (1965) 252

24 Winter a-Go-Go (1965) 261

25 The Endless Summer (1966) 270

26 The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) 282

27 Out of Sight (1966) 295

28 Wild Wild Winter (1966) 306

29 Catalina Caper (1967) 315

30 Don't Make Waves (1967) 324

31 It's a Bikini World (1967) 334

32 The Sweet Ride (1968) 343

Part II The Players

John Ashley 353

Frankie Avalon 355

Peter Brown 358

James Darren 361

Sandra Dee 363

Mickey Dora 367

Don Edmonds 369

Shelley Fabares 373

Johnny Fain 376

Annette Funicello 378

Ed Garner 380

Susan Hart 383

Aron Kincaid 385

Tommy Kirk 390

Jody McCrea 393

Yvette Mimieux 396

Mike Nader 399

Chris Noel 402

Quinn O'Hara 405

Bart Patton 407

Pamela Tiffin 410

Deborah Walley 413

William Wellman, Jr. 415

Bibliography 419

Index 433

Editorial Reviews

Lisanti gives 1960s glamour girls something they never had before in film circles: respect. His approach is a mixture of fun with the seriousness of a film historian. The concoction is irresistible, and it’s fantastic that these gals get their turn to tell their stories and share their good and bad times in the movie world...valuable...highly recommended. Lisanti is the supreme chronicler of the ’60s era...simply amazing...definitive...excellent writer”—Classic Images; “refreshing”—Scarlet; “exhaustive and highly entertaining”—Brutarian; “written with high style, an aficionado’s love of his subject, and packed with meticulous...information...a must-read”—Show Business Weekly; “an overview of the surf movie genre with an in-depth look at 32 of the most popular surf movies”—BudPlant.com.

From the Publisher

exhaustive and highly entertaining

Brutarian

refreshing

Scarlet

the [author] is the supreme chronicler of this era...simply amazing...definitive...excellent writer

Classic Images