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Subject: The "Beach Blanket Bingo" and surfer movie fad of the mid 1960s
Written By: yelimsexa on 07/23/20 at 5:58 pm
In 1960, "Where The Boys Are", perhaps best known today for the title song by Connie Francis, featured four college-age girls heading to Florida meeting guys for Easter Vacation. In essence, it was the first ever "beach bum" type of film that would dominate the pre-psychedelic 1960s. But the peak of this genre came in the mid-60d, launched by the 1963 film Beach Party. The thread title refers to the fifth title in the series, the 1965 film starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, the couple most associated with this genre. But even Elvis himself had a bit of a hand early in the trend in the 1962 flick Blue Hawaii. But you had an array of beachers, all released in 1964 and 1965:
*A Swingin' Summer
*Surf Party
*Seaside Swingers
*Ride The Wild Surf
*Muscle Beach Party
*Bikini Beach
*How To Stuff A Wild Bikini
*Beach Ball
*The Beach Girls and the Monster
Looking back at these today, they're truly a time capsule of coming of age life for teenage and college-aged early Boomers that come at a time that represents the tail end of that midcentury "Go-Go" era associated with wide body convertibles, surfer rock, Beach Boys, Four Seasons, medium length weaved hair on girls, and good old rock 'n roll, just before the youth culture turned hippie and psychedelic. It's very much a product of its time.
I consider the end of this fad 1966's Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which still had Frankie & Annette, as well as The Supremes singing a song like you had in Beach Ball, but when you just have mad scientists and robots, its pretty clear by that point that this brief but raunchy fad had come to an end. Also in 1966 was The Endless Summer, which is less about a cheesy collection of just chilling out and listing to music, flirting with girls, and driving hot cars, and more about adventure and exploration. The same was true in 1968 with the Swedish film Vibration, which is a bit more hardcore and serious in tone.
Subject: Re: The "Beach Blanket Bingo" and surfer movie fad of the mid 1960s
Written By: CatwomanofV on 07/24/20 at 1:39 pm
You forgot Gidget.
-Gidget (1959-Sandra Dee)
-Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961-Deborah Walley)
-Gidget Goes to Rome (1963-Cindy Carol)
-Gidget TV Series (1965-1966- Sally Field)
-Gidget Grows Up (1969-Karen Valentine)*
-Gidget Gets Married (1972-Monie Ellis)
-Gidget's Summer Reunion (1985-Caryn Richman)
*My favorite. I also liked the TV series, too.
Cat