Fantasy Femmes Of Sixties Cinema

Elvis Presley musicals, beach romps, biker flicks, and alienated youth movies were some of the most popular types of drive-in films during the sixties. The actresses interviewed for this book (including Celeste Yarnall, Lana Wood, Linda Harrison, Pamela Tiffin, Deanna Lund, Diane McBain, Judy Pace, and Chris Noel) all made their mark in these genres. These fantastic femmes could be found either twisting on the shores of Malibu, careening down the highway on a chopper, being serenaded by Elvis, or taking on the establishment as hip coeds. As cult figures, they contributed greatly to that period of filmmaking aimed at the teenage audience who frequented the drive-ins of America. They frolicked, screamed, and danced their way into B-movie history in such diverse films as Eve, Teenage Millionaire, The Girls on the Beach, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Three in the Attic, Wild in the Streets, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style. This book is a celebration of the actresses' careers. They have for the most part been overlooked in other publications documenting the history of film. Fantasy Femmes addresses their film and television careers, focusing on their view of the above genres, their candid comments and anecdotes about their films, the people they worked with, and their feelings in general regarding their lives and the choices they made. The book is well illuminated and contains a complete list of film and television credits.

During the 1960s, a bushel of B–movies were produced and aimed at the predominantly teenage drive-in movie audience. At first teens couldn’t get enough of the bikini-clad beauties dancing on the beach or being wooed by Elvis Presley, but by 1966 young audiences became more interested in the mini-skirted, go-go boot wearing, independent-minded gals of spy spoofs, hot rod movies and biker flicks. Profiled herein are fifty sexy, young actresses that teenage girls envied and teenage boys desired including Quinn O’Hara, Melody Patterson, Hilarie Thompson, Donna Loren, Pat Priest, Meredith MacRae, Arlene Martel, Cynthia Pepper, and Beverly Washburn. Some like Sue Ane Langdon, Juliet Prowse, Marlyn Mason, and Carole Wells, appeared in major studio productions while others, such as Regina Carrol, Susan Hart, Angelique Pettyjohn and Suzie Kaye were relegated to drive-in movies only. Each biography contains a complete filmography. Some also include the actresses’ candid comments and anecdotes about their films, the people they worked with, and their feelings about acting. A list of web sites that provide further information is also included.

During the 1960s, many models, Playboy centerfolds, beauty queens, and Las Vegas showgirls went on to become “decorative actresses” appearing scantily clad on film and television. This well illustrated homage to 75 of these glamour girls reveals their unique stories through individual biographical profiles, photographs, lists of major credits and, frequently, in-depth personal interviews. Included are Carol Wayne, Edy Williams, Inga Neilsen, Thordis Brandt, Jo Collins, Phyllis Davis, Melodie Johnson, and many equally unforgettable faces of sixties Hollywood.

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.

Dark-haired 60s cult pop icon Pamela Tiffin debuted in Summer and Smoke (1961) and was a scene-stealing comedienne opposite James Cagney in Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961) before becoming the queen of teenage drive-in movies in State Fair (1963), Come Fly with Me (1963), For Those Who Think Young (1964), The Lively Set (1964) and The Pleasure Seekers (1964). After landing a sexy adult role opposite Paul Newman in Harper (1966), she went blonde and ran away to Italy to star in such films as Kiss the Other Sheik (1968), The Fifth Cord (1971) and Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears (1973). This thoroughly researched career retrospective pays tribute to the talented Tiffin, hailed by Cagney for her "remarkable flair for comedy," and addresses why she did not achieve superstardom. Interviews with co-stars, including Franco Nero, and film historians offer a behind-the-scenes look at her most popular films.

Sean Connery began the sixties spy movie boom playing James Bond in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Their success inspired every studio in Hollywood and Europe to release everything from serious knockoffs to spoofs on the genre featuring debonair men, futuristic gadgets, exotic locales, and some of the world's most beautiful actresses whose roles ranged from the innocent caught up in a nefarious plot to the femme fatale. Profiled herein are 107 dazzling women, well-known and unknown, who had film and television appearances in the spy genre. They include superstars Doris Day in Caprice, Raquel Welch in Fathom, and Ann-Margret in Murderer's Row; international sex symbols Ursula Andress in Dr. No and Casino Royale, Elke Sommer in Deadlier Than the Male, and Senta Berger in The Spy with My Face; and forgotten lovelies Greta Chi in Fathom, Alizia Gur in From Russia with Love, and Maggie Thrett in Out of Sight. Each profile includes a filmography that lists the actresses' more notable films. Some include the actresses' candid comments and anecdotes about their films and television shows, the people they worked with, and their feelings about acting in the spy genre are offered throughout. A list of websites that provide further information on women in spy films and television is also included.

This filmography (including television and music video appearances) chronicles the career of Caroline Munro, a woman of humble beginnings whose chance entry in a "Face of the Year" photo competition propelled her to international fame as a model and actress, and whose work in genre cinema has won her the well-earned title of "First Lady of Fantasy." It provides complete technical and cast credits for each film, a synopsis, reviews and notes, and a foreword by Caroline Munro.

Taboo breakers and trendsetters, shameless hucksters and famous directors. Exploitation filmmaking has seen it all. Fred Olen Ray made his first movie for $298. In 1936 Marijuana-Weed with Roots in Hell showed drug use and nudity on screen in an effort to "educate the public." Kroger Babb, the man behind Mom and Dad, spliced color medical footage of a baby's birth into his black and white "classic." Russ Meyer, John Waters, Andy Milligan, Doris Wishman, and many others are covered. "Classic" films such as The Immoral Mr. Teas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Nude on the Moon are examined. Production techniques and innovations are also discussed.