Muscle Beach Party
Maker
National Screen Service
(American, 1920 - 2000)
Date1964
Object number00008585
NameLobby card
MediumColour lithographic print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 278 x 356 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis cinema lobby card for the film 'Muscle Beach Party', was produced by American International Pictures in 1964. The film starred Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Luciana Paluzzi, John Ashley, Don Rickles and Jody McCrea. 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 group of men and women dancing on the verandah of a beach house.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. 'Muscle Beach Party' was the second 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.