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Beach Blanket Bingo

Maker National Screen Service (American, 1920 - 2000)

Date1965

Object number00008588

NameLobby card

MediumColour lithographic print on paper.

DimensionsOverall: 280 x 356 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

United States

DescriptionThis cinema lobby card for the film 'Beach Blanket Bingo', was produced by American International Pictures in 1963. The film starred Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Donna Loren, Marta Kristen, Linda Evans, Bobbi Shaw and Jody McCrea and featured cameos by Buster Keaton and Earl Wilson. 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 Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon on the beach with two friends.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. 'Beach Blanket Bingo' was the fifth 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.