It's a Bikini World

It's a Bikini World
April 14, 1967
Trans American
Comedy, Musical, Romance
VHS
B-

Although this was made a year and a half before it was released, it doesn't feel as dated as The Cool Ones.  I attribute this to some degree to writer/director Stephanie Rothman.  She must be at least partially responsible for the more feminist than usual take on the "battle of the sexes," with Deborah Walley allowed to not only combine her usually alternating tomboy and glamorous personae but also holding her own in the athletic contests against the partially cast against type Tommy Kirk as a conceited jock.  They're named Delilah Dawes and Mike Samson respectively.  Get it, Delilah and Samson?  She doesn't emasculate him, or cut his hair.  Instead, he tricks her into thinking he's his nerdy brother Herbert.  (It's a geekier character than Kirk's Merlin Jones, although still within his usual range.  One of his outfits clearly looks like it inspired Peewee Herman's gray suit.)

Another notable thing about the movie is its cartoony style, visual and otherwise.  Not only are there moments that become cartoons-- either changed to drawings and/or featuring speech bubbles-- but there are times when the action is sped up.  When a glass pane is run through without shattering and then rematerializes and breaks, it could be an AIP moment, but Rothman does it with a different feel.  And, while I said I don't like racing movies, I meant stock-car racing.  I enjoy the wackiness of the "cross-country race" that includes not just skateboarding, speed-boating, and swimming (22 miles!), but camel-riding, hitchhiking, and of course dresser-pushing.

There are also some offbeat lines, most notably those of Sid Haig as promoter Daddy.  (Another take on Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.)  My favorites are "Greetings, surfers, hodads, gremmies, and independents," "Fuschia #1, Fuschia #2, or Fuschia #3?  Also known as Groovy Grape," and, after Delilah is unimpressed to have won decals, "And of course the admiration of us all."  Jack Bernardi, who plays the publisher Harvey Pulp (ha ha) was also in Beach Ball.  I don't think I've seen William O'Connell in anything else, but I like how he plays McSnigg the photographer likes he's Dick York's less inhibited brother.  Suzie Kaye, who's Pebbles here, would be Sally in Clambake.  And, yes, that's Bobby "Monster Mash" Pickett as Woody.  Jim Begg again doesn't have much to do, but he does wear his "Crayola hat" from Catalina Caper.  (I'll get to that when I do MST3K on my TV blog someday.)  Russell Johnson appears briefly in an Attack of the Crab Monsters clip.

And, finally, there are the musical acts, ranging from the Animals doing "We Gotta Get out of This Place" to another band singing such juvenile lines as "Liar, liar, pants on fire, your nose is longer than a telephone wire," while yet another band manages the "Yummy Yummy Yummy, I've got love in my tummy" trick of bringing out suggestiveness in a song that compares love to peanut butter and jam.

I have a soft spot for this movie, but I must admit it's not as much sheer fun as The Cool Ones.  (With this one, you can catch your breath between the WTF moments.)  Still, I'd put it on a level with Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo.  Some say that this was the last gasp for the '60s beach movies, but I say that in some ways it remained a bikini world.

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
April 1955
Universal
Comedy
VHS
B-

This was apparently made in 1952, but not released for three years.  (And, no, I don't know why they're at rather than in Waikiki.)  The earlier production may be why it feels less tired than the previous entry.  There's lots of slapstick, as well as the relatively subtle humor of a lazy man like "P.A. Kettle" trying to run a factory.  (His cousin Rodney calls him Frank, but misunderstands "Pa."  Rodney also calls Ma "Phoebe" and he courted her at the same time Pa did.)  It's interesting to get glimpses of Hawaii a few years before it became a state.  Ma has the funniest moments in this one, whether driving a rickshaw driver or offending a snooty woman played by Mabel Albertson, who is instantly recognizable as Samantha Stephens's difficult mother-in-law on Bewitched.  Pa does meet his Hawaiian counterpart (with twelve kids named after the months) and annoy kidnappers without trying.  One of the villains is a young Russell Johnson.

Lori Nelson is back as Rosie, the role she took on in MaPK at the Fair, although she has a new boyfriend here.  We don't see much of her 14 [sic] siblings, as they're sent off to camp while Ma, Pa, and Rosie go away.  George Arglen, Margaret Brown, Billy Clark, Jon Gardner, Jackie Jackson, Donna Leary, Jenny Linder, Beverly Mook, Ronnie Rondell, Jr., and Elana Schreiner are all playing the same Kettle kids as in MaPK on Vacation (1953).  Bonnie Kay Eddy (b. 1943) is the new Susie, and Rudy Lee (age unknown) takes over as Billy, while Timmy Hawkins (b. 1938), who was in Singin' in the Rain, becomes Teddy.

Dee Carroll is unconfirmed for MaPK Back on the Farm.  Bob Donnelly was in MaPK on Vacation.  Helen Dickson was in It's a Wonderful Life.  Sally Yarnell was in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars.  Sandra Spence was in There's No Business Like Show Business.  Kilbride retired but Main hung in there for The Kettles in the Ozarks and The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm, both of which I used to own but lost years ago.  As I recall, it wasn't as much fun without Pa.