This summer my husband and I have been working our way through my boxed set of beach movies. Every Monday night is "Old Movie Monday" at our house, and even though we had watched a few of these before, we decided this summer to watch them all, and in the order they were released. So far we've watched
- Beach Party (1963)
- Muscle Beach Party (1964)
- Bikini Beach (1964)
and
- Ski Party (1965) which is technically not a beach movie, but it is included in the box set, and is actually one of my favorites.
These movies are campy, but I love them! I actually have very fond memories of watching them with my mom. Her favorite was How To Stuff A Wild Bikini and Pajama Party, which, sadly, is not included in the box set.
If you've never seen them, or you just want to take a little trip down memory lane, you can watch them online, most of them for free!
There are also two movies in the boxed set that I couldn't find free online, Thunder Alley and Fireball 500, both of which are about racing, which makes them less desireable to watch, at least for me.
Another movie with a beach theme that I love is Summer of 42, which is the story of a young boy who develops an innocent love for a young woman whose husband is in the military. It stars a young Jennifer O'Neill, who has always been one of my favorites. I especially remember the Theme From Summer of '42, which was sung by my mother's favorite crooner, Andy Williams, and I absoutely love this instrumental version.
There are a number of movies with a summer theme or setting, such as;
And then there's always my favorite summer movie, Gidget, which I wrote about, here.
Hopefully I've listed at a least a few that may be new to you that you can enjoy as hot days of summer amp up. What about you? Do you have any favorite movies you watch in this season? I'm always looking for new recommendations!
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From now until September, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite classic movies that were set in summer, and I'm going to begin with one of my favorites, Gidget*.
I was first introduced to Sandra Dee as a young girl, originally through the movie If a Man Answers (another favorite I'll discuss some other time). I enjoyed her so much in that role that I began searching out every movie she starred in.
Back then I watched most of my favorite old movies on Turner Classic Movies or AMC, which is where I first remember watching Gidget*.
Based on a novel by Frederick Kohner, Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas*, the movie was released on April 10, 1959. It was so popular that some consider this film as the beginning of the entire beach party genre of films. It inspired several sequals, a television series starring Sally Field, and more than one made for television movie.
Gidget highlights one summer in the life of Francis Lawrence, a young seventeen year old girl who finds that her playful, tomboyish ways no longer fits with her girlfriends who have moved on to "man hunts". While the girls do everything they can to catch the attention of the local beach boys, it's sweet innocent Francis who ends up stealing the show. When Francis shows an interest in learning to surf, the guys quickly nickname her Gidget, part girl, part midget. And while it takes a little work and determination, she quickly masters the board and becomes one of the "boys", eventually winning the heart of Moondoggie, who asks her to wear his pin. It's a sweet, innocent movie, that sends the message that the best way to make friends (and maybe win a boy's heart), is to simply be yourself!
Following the original movie there were a number of sequels, a few released in theaters and a few more on television.
Released in 1963 with Gidget portrayed by Cindy Carol
These three films inspired the TV series, Gidget, starring Sally Field, which is one of my favorite adaptations, but sadly did not do well in the ratings and only lasted one season.
Then, beginning in 1969, there were a few made for television movies, including;
Gidget Grows Up which starred Karen Valentine in the title role.
Gidget's Summer Reunion released in 1985 with Caryn Richman in the final role of the pint sized surfer.
Last summer Amazon Prime featured all of the movies as part of their subscription plan, but they no longer appear to be available. And while you can pick up the first three movies in the series relatively cheap (if you buy a good used copy), I did manage to find them available free online, should you want to watch them.
Of the series, my favorites are the original, the TV series, Gidget Grows Up and and Gidget Gets Married. Gidget Goes Hawaiian is cute, too, I'm just not a big fan of Deborah Walley and found her far too different from Sandra Dee.
Oddly enough, James Darren portrays Moon Doggie in the first three movies, along side three different actresses! Apparently they wanted Sandra Dee to reprise the role, but by then she was under contract to Universal Studios and filming the Tammy series of movies (another of my absolute favorites that we'll discuss soon), and they would not release her. Deborah Walley did not reprise the role in Gidget Goes to Rome due to pregnancy.
There are also a number of other inconsistencies in the films as well, most notably that in the first three movies Gidget has a mother, but the role was dropped with the television series and the first two made for television movies. In Gidget Goes to Rome, Gidget's father is portrayed by Don Porter, who I absolutely adored! He went on to reprise the role in the TV series. Lynette Winter also portrays LaRue, Gidget's best friend in the TV Series, another character I adored, as well.
If you've never watched the Gidget movies, I highly recommend me. I've already mentioned my favorites, but if you've never watched them I would definitely start at the beginning and just work your way through. The acting is a bit campy, especially in the made for television movies, but I personally like the nostalgia. If you are familiar with these movies or decide to watch them, let me know which ones are your favorite!
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and this post contains affiliate links. When you click through and make a purchase
I've been thinking a lot about the television shows of my childhood. Growing up in the 60's, I recall when we got our first colored television set. I was probably about six or seven years old, and I remember with fondness my mother's excitement when she told me that the next day we would be able to watch our favorite television shows in color because a new t.v. set was going to be delivered! Color breathed new life into the characters and stories we had already come to love. For my mother that was soap opera's, her favorites beingAs The World Turnsand The Guiding Light. And speaking of, did you know that As The World Turns aired on radio and television from 1956 to 2010? That's 54 years, and The Guiding Light aired from 1952 to 2009, 57 years! I'm pretty sure there was never a prime time show with that kind of staying power!
As a young bride in the 80's I watched soap operas for a short time. But in the end it was old movies and sitcoms that really captured my heart and still do to this day. With that, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorites with you, here, in a series of posts I am fondly dubbing . . . Wayback Wednesday : A Tribute To Classic Television from the 50's, 60's and 70's. Every week, or so, I'll discuss one of my favorite old movies or a sitcom that I grew up on, many of which we still enjoy as a family today. In addition, since many of my fondest television memories also includes the commercials from that era, I thought it might be fun to revisit some of the products and memorable advertising campaigns that were popular then, as well, which is where we'll begin today.
I think you'll agree that commercials these days are not what they used to be. Largely monopolized by pharmaceutical and insurance companies, they reflect the society we have become. Gone are the days when our biggest worry was how to make a good cup of coffee or leave our bathtub sparkling clean. These days we're in search of the latest pill for our ills and if that doesn't work, maybe we should look over that life insurance policy again? Modern day marketing campaigns, while laughable at first, quickly go sour, Flo caught my attention for awhile, but lately the old gal is beginning to wear on me. But when I think back to commercials from the 60's and 70's I recall that watching them was almost as entertaining as the shows themselves, and there were a few female commerical icons that I remember with fondness. They were the faces of products that depicted every day life in small town America. So join me for a few minutes as we take a little step back to a time not so long ago, and reacquaint ourselves with a few of them.
Do you remember?
❈Josephine the Plumber / Comet Cleanser "Gets out stains when other leading cleansers can't!"
The friendly household pitchwoman, Josephine, was the face of Comet Cleanser in the 60's and 70's, and no one could pull off a "side by side comparison" better than her, sprinkling and scrubbing Comet against any number of "other leading cleansers".
Jane Wither's career began as a child, with one of her most notable roles being the spoiled, obnoxious, doll-ripping, bicycle-riding brat who terrorizes sweet Shirley Temple in Twentieth Century-Fox's Bright Eyes (1934). huggable, brunette-banged Jane was fun, rambunctious and full of kinetic energy--a scrappy little tomboy who could take on any boy at any time, which won her the leading role in close to 50 B-level films back in the day, such as, Ginger (1935), and Johnny Doughboy (1942), among others.
It was TV, however, that would turn Jane into a wealthy woman as a friendly household pitchwoman. Her decades-long job as the dress-downed Josephine the Plumber pushing Comet cleanser made her one popular gal. Here you can watch her in one of those ads, where Rosie is selling a young Robby Bensen on the superior performance of super-stain removing Comet!
❈Mrs. Olson - Folger's Coffee "Mountain grown, it's the richest coffee there is!"
No one came to the aide of hapless young housewives who struggled to make a decent cup of coffee better than Mrs. Olson. With her sweet Swedish accent, Mrs. Olson saved many a marriage, so long as the her protege always remembered to use Mountain Grown Folger's Coffee!
Portrayed by Virginia Christine, she worked in radio while attending the University of California, and was trained for a theatrical career by Fritz Field, whom she married in 1940. She appeared in films such as Edge of Darkness (1943), High Noon (1952) and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). But her greatest fame came in the 1960's when she started her 21-year stint as the matronly "Mrs. Olson", offering words of comfort to young married couples while pouring them a cup of Folger's Coffee. You'll find her here, serving up comfort with coffee to a distraught young wife.
❈Madge the Manicurist - Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid "You're soaking in it!"
Probably the most memorable from my childhood, is Madge, portrayed by actress Jan Milner. The campaign ad, which featured a manicurist who worked at Salon East Beauty Parlor, soaked her customers fingernails in Palmolive dishwashing liquid, advising her clients, "Palmolive softens your hands while you do the dishes". The campaign ran from 1966 to 1992, and was televised in other countries, as well. In France (where Madge was "Françoise"),Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (in all three as "Tilly"),and in Finland (as "Marissa").
Miner was a well established radio and film actress. She had featured roles in the dramatic radio anthology, Radio City Playhouse, and appeared on television in shows such as, Boston Blackie and Casey, Crime Photographer. But she became an icon to TV viewers as Madge, the wisecracking manicurist. You can catch Madge in action in this clip, from 1981.
There were a few other notable ad campaigns featuring women, such as;
❈Rosie the Waitress - Bounty Paper Towels "Bounty, the quicker picker upper!"
Portrayed by Nancy Walker (also of Mary Tyler Moore/Rhoda fame, where she was cast as Rhoda's mother.) She's pitching Bounty, here.
But no compilation would be complete if I didn't include
❈Cora, The Maxwell House Lady "Good to the last drop!"
Portrayed by legendary Margaret Hamilton, who frightened me to bits as a child, not as The Wicked Witch of the West, but oddly enough, as Elmira Gulch. I would watch that movie end to end in my childhood days, with the exception of one scene, Elmira Gulch on her bicycle. I had nightmares about that woman riding down my street and stuffing me in her basket and whisking me away. Isn't it funny, the things that frighten us as a child? To be honest when I watch it now, I think it was the music and image combined that frightened me. Who really knows?
Well, I hope you've enjoyed reminiscing with me today, and if you liked this post, I'll be back next week with some iconic men of the 60's and 70's, who memorably pitched their wares and secured a place in our hearts!
