Between August 1963 and April 1966,
American International Pictures (AIP)
released seven Beach Party movies. The cast of each varied, as
did the musical artists.
By the way, contrary to the stereotype
in most peoples’ heads, these films did not always star “Frankie and
Annette.” They
actually appeared as the starring couple in only four of the
movies. As the series
progressed, Avalon became a
secondary cameo character and both
he and Annette actually dropped
out completely after the sixth
film.
In
most cases, the featured stars had the majority of the musical
numbers, followed by a solo or two by secondary actors or “guest
musical stars."Donl
Don
Rickles, Linda Evans and The Hondells in Beach
Blanket Bingo
However, musical
appearances were not limited to the leading players in these
films. As example, one
cast member, Donna Loren, managed to sing duets and solo numbers in
four of the Beach Party movies while simultaneously getting only a
single, small speaking line.
Others, like Dick Dale, appeared in the scripts primarily as
“musician.” Some
of the movies featured a guest star artist (e.g. Stevie Wonder) who
got to perform a solo of one of their presumably hot singles. Others, such as the Pyramids
or Kingsmen, got to play the non-speaking but performing role of
“house band” at whatever club (and there was almost always a club, usually named
‘Big Daddy’s”) ended up in the script.
So,
while many different people performed musical numbers in these
movies, most of the material was done by a handful,
specifically:
Annette Funicello Frankie
Avalon Donna
Loren Dick
Dale
Candy Johnson and (the/her)
Exciters
Harvey Lembeck and the "Ratz and Mice"
cast
Others who performed musical numbers in
at least one of these films included:
-
Several
early 60s California bands (The Pyramids, The
Hondells)
- Several “brand name” guest stars
(Dorothy Lamour, Mickey Rooney)
-
Several actual top 40 pop stars/bands
(Nancy Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, the Kingsmen, The Bobby Fuller
Four)
·
At
least two “ringers” (in the fifth and sixth films, there are
numbers where the voice you hear singing isn’t actually that of the
actor “doing” the number, but rather a professional singer who
overdubbed the vocal track).
T
Spring
1963: Donna Loren previews her
future
