The Beach Girls and the Monster
Maker
National Screen Service
(American, 1920 - 2000)
Date1965
Object number00008573
NameLobby card
MediumPrint on paper
DimensionsOverall: 280 x 355 mm
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis cinema lobby card for the film 'The Beach Girls and the Monster', was produced by the U.S. Film Inc in 1965. The film starred Jon Hall, Sue Casey, Arnold Lessing, Elaine DuPont and Walker Edmiston. 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 four young women running along the beach, with a picture of the monster below.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.
'The Beach Girls and the Monster' was a black and white beach party horror film. It was released in September 1965 by U.S. Films Inc and featured a monster, shrouded in seaweed, who started killing kids on Santa Monica beach. Dale Davis, a filmmaker from the 1960s who produced an abundance of surfing films, shot some of the surfing footage for the movie.SignificanceThe lobby card is representative of cinema advertising from the 1950s and 1960s.