Beach Party
Maker
National Screen Service
(American, 1920 - 2000)
Date1963
Object number00008584
NameLobby card
MediumColour lithographic print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 280 x 356 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis cinema lobby card for the film 'Beach Party', was produced by American International Pictures in 1963. The film starred Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley and Jody McCrea. Mickey Rooney guest starred. As with many lobby cards, which were displayed in theatre lobbies, a still from the film is the main feature of the design. This image features a bedroom scene with Frankie Avalon sitting on a bed talking and Annette Funicello looking on.HistoryDuring the 1950s and 1960s Hollywood developed the beach party movie as a genre. Plots usually centered on teenage gangs that lived around beach. The appeal of surfing in popular culture was in part due to the 1957 publication of Frederick Kohner's novel 'Gidget' and subsequent 'Gidget' films and television series.
American International Pictures, following on from the appeal of 'Gidget', produced the surprise hit 'Beach Party' in 1963, helping to popularise surfing and surf music in films. 'How to Stuff a Wild Bikini' was the first in a series of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures and featured Buster Keaton in one of his final roles. The storylines of each of the seven films usually centred around boyfriend Frankie Avalon and girlfriend Annette Funicello and the adventures they got up to with their friends, both on and off the beach.SignificanceThe lobby card is representative of cinema advertising from the 1950s and 1960s.