Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema - Interviews With 20 Actresses From Biker, Beach, And Elvis Movies

by Tom Lisanti

McFarland & Company (series)

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.

If you were at the drive-in, they were on the screen. They were The Girls on the Beach, The Mini-Skirt Mob, The Pleasure Seekers, The Doll Squad. Posters called them "devastation in a bikini!" and "the swinginest thing on Waikiki!" What would sixties cinema have been without the young, beautiful, and hardworking actresses who filled out the genre roles? Familiar faces in beach and biker movies, they also appeared in some of the sixties' best (from Planet of the Apes to Cool Hand Luke), working with some of Hollywood's biggest stars and greatest directors. Author and interviewer Tom Lisanti takes you back in time and behind the scenes for a look at Hollywood as 20 of the sixties' "fantasy femmes" knew it. Filled with photographs and featuring a complete filmography for each actress, it's a beach blanket full of facts and fun for every fan of sixties cinema.