Fantasy femmes of sixties cinema : interviews with 20 actresses from biker, beach, and Elvis movies

531 Pages·2010·16.49 MB·English

by  Tom Lisanti

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Chris Noel
Preface
Introduction
Elvis, Beach, Biker and Alienated Youth Films: A Brief Summary
Joan O’Brien
Diane McBain
Joan Staley
Jill Haworth
Pamela Tiffin
Francine York
Joy Harmon
Eileen O’Neill
Julie Parrish
Jean Hale
Irene Tsu
Chris Noel
Lana Wood
Celeste Yarnall
Judy Pace
Salli Sachse
Deanna Lund
Karen Jensen
Linda Harrison
Tisha Sterling
More Groovy Gals
Bibliography
Index of Terms
Fantasy Femmes
of Sixties Cinema
Interviews with 20 Actresses
from Biker, Beach,
and Elvis Movies
Tom Lisanti
Foreword by Chris Noel
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Also By Tom Lisanti and from McFarland
Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-Five Profiles (2008) Hollywood
Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959–1969 (2005) Drive-in Dream
Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties (2003)
By Tom Lisanti and Louis Paul
Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962–1973 (2002)
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Lisanti, Tom, 1961–
Fantasy femmes of sixties cinema : interviews with 20 actresses from biker,
beach, and Elvis movies / by Tom Lisanti ; foreword by Chris Noel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: Joan O’Brien — Diane McBain — Joan Staley — Jill Haworth —
Pamela Tiffin — Francine York — Joy Harmon — Eileen O’Neill — Julie
Parrish — Jean Hale — Irene Tsu — Chris Noel — Lana Wood — Celeste
Yarnall — Judy Pace — Salli Sachse — Deanna Lund — Karen Jensen — Linda
Harrison — Tisha Sterling — More groovy gals.
ISBN 978-0-7864-6101-1
1. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. 2.
Actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN1998.2.L57 2010
791.43'028'0820973—dc21 00-64008
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2001 Tom Lisanti. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
On the cover: Celeste Yarnall
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To my parents, Vincent and Joan,
for all those wonderful summer
evenings at the drive-in.
Acknowledgments
A number of people had a hand in helping me put together this book. First and
foremost, I relay my thanks to the lovely ladies who let me interview them and
who shared their lives in Hollywood with me: Jean Hale, Joy Harmon, Linda
Harrison, Jill Haworth, Karen Jensen, Deanna Lund, Diane McBain, Chris Noel,
Joan O’Brien, Eileen O’Neill, Judy Pace, Julie Parrish, Salli Sachse, Joan Staley,
Tisha Sterling, Pamela Tiffin, Irene Tsu, Lana Wood, Celeste Yarnall and
Francine York. I also wish to thank Mitchell Bard, Brendon Boone, Shelley
Fabares, Laurel Goodwin, Sue Ane Langdon, Carol Lynley and Dale Sheets for
their brief comments.
This book and my writing career would never have come to pass if it weren’t for
the encouragement from my pool buddies and fellow authors Louis Paul and
Heidi Stock (a groovy gal in her own right). Thanks to Mark Tolleson for his
editing prowess. He now knows more about “sixties gals” than he ever could
have imagined. Thank you to my longtime friends John Covelli and Teresa
DeTurris with a special thank you to Teresa for her legal help. My gratitude goes
to my colleague Barbara Cohen-Stratyner for her input and advice, to my former
boss Robert Marx at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for
giving me the support and flexibility to write this book, and to Bob Taylor, the
curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection, for giving me unlimited access to
the collection.
I also wish to thank my family—my mother Joan Lisanti, Joe and Beth Lisanti,
Lorraine and Richie Nicolo (I spelled it right!) and Donna and Mike Cates. A big
hurrah to my number one fan on Long Island, Vincent Page.
Kudos to my friends who have prodded me along with their helpfulness and
encouragement—top billing must go to my LA friend Shaun “Floyd Smoot”
Chang and (in alphabetical order) Keith Aden, Bill Benish, Anne and Chris
DeMarco, Jeff Failla, Scott Hannibal, Pete Kaiser, Tom Kazar, Phil Lindow,
Jeremy Megraw, Alan Pally, Tim Roberts, Mitchell Soble and Kevin Winkler.
And last but certainly not least, special thanks to a great guy named Ernie DeLia.
Foreword
The sixties were the highlight of my life. While my high school friends had gone
off to college, I hit New York City, where director Sandy Howard cast me in his
first film. I then went to California. I had always dreamed of Hollywood. How
exciting to be under contract to MGM and to become a working movie actress! I
learned my craft from successful, important actors. Having not attended acting
school, I studied by paying attention, being disciplined and working hard. Some
of us worked mightily at being the best we could be in one of the most
demanding and desired of all careers. Though we were competitive with each
other, we also liked one another. Actress Eileen O’Neill and I are best friends
today—almost like sisters.
Author Tom Lisanti has the heart to understand, appreciate and applaud us “Ol’
Sixties Cinema Gals.” We enjoyed doing Elvis, beach and teenage movies.
These films were innocent fun. Nudity, violence or foul language weren’t
necessary in these films. It wasn’t until the late sixties that we encountered this.
I loved our sixties film culture. I didn’t go to movies or work in films that caused
nightmares from any violence or horror. I experienced that visiting our troops in
Vietnam. Going back and forth from the glamour of filmmaking to the stark
reality of war later gave me nightmares. I wish for all the children of the world
never to have nightmares of fright and violence, whether from war or films. That
is one reason I still like Elvis, beach and teenage movies. They make me happy!
Chris Noel
Preface
Why a book on sixties actresses who are known only by cult movie fans or have
been long forgotten? That is the question I have been asked most since I began
working on Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema. I just felt these actresses had
long been overlooked in film history. Though none of them became superstars,
they appeared in some of the most popular films of the decade, worked in genres
aimed at the teenage audience, and guest-starred on some of the most beloved
TV shows of our time. But nobody was writing about them. There were no
interviews in genre film magazines and they were rarely mentioned in film
history books—not even ones that focused on the sixties.
The second question I’ve been asked is why I didn’t focus on better-known
actresses. The answer is simple—stars such as Ann-Margret, Jane Fonda, Faye
Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Stella Stevens, Sandra Dee, and Connie Stevens have
been written about ad nauseam. There are biographies, autobiographies, chapters
in books and numerous magazine articles on these actresses. I never tried to
contact any of them because they were not the people I wanted to write my book
about. I wanted to interview and write about the lovely young women who
graced Elvis, beach, biker and alienated youth movies.
I became familiar with most of the women profiled in this book by going to the
drive-in with my family in the late sixties and early seventies, and by watching
WABC-TV’s 4:30 movie every afternoon. I would rush through my paper route
to get home in time for “Elvis Week,” “Beach Party Week,” “Biker Movie
Week,” etc. As a teenager during the seventies, I was enthralled by the music,
the attitude, the clothes and especially the actresses of the sixties. I became a fan
of most of them and followed their careers into the seventies and eighties. Often
I would wonder, “Whatever became of…?” When nobody answered my
question, I decided to find out the answers myself. Hence this book.
Biographical information and acting credits were accumulated through research
on the Internet, at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Margaret
Herrick Library, the Museum of Television and Radio and especially the Billy
Rose Theatre Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts. I’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible regarding film and TV credits. The
reader should note, however, that it is extremely difficult to document variety,
talk and game show appearances.