‘Beach Blanket Bingo’ Turns 60! Here’s Where to Watch Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello’s Best Movies
On April 14, 1965, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello boogied back to the beach in Beach Blanket Bingo, the fifth of the Beach Party films. Beginning with 1963’s Beach Party, which first paired clean-cut, 22-year-old pop heartthrob and sometimes-actor Avalon with raven-haired, 20-year-old former Mouseketeer Funicello, the duo sang, surfed and watusi-ed their way into moviegoers’ hearts throughout the ’60s.
The iconic duo almost wasn’t, however — Fabian was AIP’s first choice for Avalon’s role and Funicello’s former boss, Walt Disney, disapproved of her playing a beach babe, clean cut or otherwise. But pair struck gold, and Frankie and Annette played variations of their Beach Party characters in five more AIP beach films, with Avalon’s part eventually dwindling as he sought meatier roles. But to movie buffs around the globe, they would forever be Frankie and Annette, the Big Kahuna of the beach and his bubbly queen.
In 1987, Avalon and Funicello reunited — this time as middle-aged married Frankie and Annette — in the beach-movie parody Back to the Beach (a planned sequel fell through), and later embarked on a multi-city musical tour.
Summer's Biggest Movies, Music & TV
July 2017
Summer nights at the drive-in, summer love, songs for the beach and tiki time!
Buy This Issue
Remind