Episode 71: Back to the Beach with real life Disney Princess Annette Funicello

Return guest Vera (Episode 58 on Kenny Ortega) comes back to talk about real life Disney Princess Annette Funicello and the legacy of the Beach Party movies.

You can find four of the first five Beach Party movies available to stream for free on Pluto and the other movies are available on various other platforms.

The API Beach Party movies have been almost completely forgotten today but they were a massive phenomenon from 1963-1965. Frankie Avalon (Philadelphia native) and Annette Funicello (who hated the beach) became the face of the Southern California surf craze and even actors in minor roles, like Jody McCrea (who played the resident himbo Deadhead/Big Lunk/Bonehead) would get mobbed at appearances. The book I keep referencing in the episode is Thomas Lisanti’s Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies (2005) and it’s not only an entertaining read but essential reading for anybody looking to delve further into the genre.

As I say in the episode, the Beach Party movies were riding the growing wave of a nationwide Southern California surf craze via films like Gidget (1959) and Endless Summer (1966) articles in Life Magazine, and the music of groups like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. The upbeat Southern California teen culture represented by the Beach Movies was overwritten by the San Francisco Love and Peace hippie culture by the late 1960s and today the Beach Party movies live on mostly as a echo captured in the film version of Grease (1978), the opening credits of which recall the goofy Hot Curl of Muscle Beach Party (1964) and which features Frankie Avalon as the divine Angel of “Beauty School Dropout.”

(L: Rizzo (Stockard Channing) with her stuffed animal lover in “Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee”; R: Connie (Annette Funicello) with her stuffed animal lover in “Stuffed Animal”)

Some of the things we discuss are:

• “Miserlou” by Dick Dale was featured on the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction (1994) and is the last time I remember surf music really having a major cultural moment.

• Peter Bagge in defense of Mike Love’s Beach Boys is one of my favorite essays and a response to the “Did You Know The Beach Boys Were Actually Good?” record nerds.

• The Annette Funicello biopic A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (1995) is available to stream for free on Tubi (among other places).

• Record nerds might know Gary Usher from his work with acts like the Byrds but he also did the music for the Beach Party movies!

• Pauly D and his 21st century version of the Frankie Avalon’s classic hair.

• Is Ross Lynch really a heartthrob?

• Charles Busch’s Psycho Beach Party (2000) is one of my all time favorite films and features the era-perfect beauty Lauren Ambrose as “Chicklet.”

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The songs played are:

1. “California Girls” by Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dog (Official MV)

2. “Surfin’ Safari” by the Beach Boys

3. “Monkey’s Uncle” by Annette Funicello and the Beach Boys

4. “Beach Party” by Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello (From Beach Party, 1963)

5. “Don’t Stop Now” by Frankie Avalon (From Beach Party, 1963)

6. “Pajama Party” by Annette Funicello (From Pajama Party, 1964)

7. “Where Did I go Wrong?” by Dorothy Lamour (From Pajama Party, 1964, and the song features a young Terri Garr and Toni Basil as dancers!)

8. “Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine” by the Supremes (From Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, 1965)

9. “Surfer Dan” by the Turtles

10. “Surfin Bird” by Pee Wee Herman (From Back To The Beach, 1987, a cover of the 1963 Trashmen song.)

11. “Lemme Take You To the Beach” by Frank Zappa

12. “Lost in Space Rap” by the Diarrhea Roses (also check out my favorite track: “Slush Puppy Queen”)

13. “Fallin’ For Ya” by Grace Phipps (From Teen Beach Movie, 2013)

14. “Meant to Be” (From Teen Beach Movie, 2013)

15. “Young Love” by Tab Hunter

16. “Muscle Bustle” by Donna Loren (From Muscle Beach Party, 1964, Donna Loren was known at the time as the Dr. Pepper girl.)