This 1963 movie was a prequel of sorts to the 1964 “Bikini Beach”, using many of the same characters and some continuation of story lines, like Eric Von Zipper and his RATZ motorcycle gang.

But Avalon and Funicello, even though experienced actors, had not become the the “beach lovers” yet, and this is the movie that made them that. It brings back good memories for me in particular, 1963 was the year I graduated from high school and turned 18. I didn’t see this movie back then, but seeing it now is a certain type of fun that can’t be explained unless you too were a teenager back then.

This movie really focuses on established star Robert Cummings, who was in his early 50s, as Professor Sutwell. He landed his small high-wing plane on the beach and stuck around to study this strange species, the teenage surfer crowd. His able assistant and eventual love interest is Dorothy Malone as Marianne .

Frankie Avalon is Frankie and Annette Funicello is Dolores (called ‘Dee-Dee’ in the next movie). They are boyfriend and girlfriend, but as was custom back in the 1960s, she wanted him to ask her to get married. She was graduating from high school and wanted to be a wife. (It really was that way back then, all the girls from my 1963 graduating class that didn’t go to college got married pretty quickly, and many of them have lasted through the years. It was a different time.)

So most of the story is Dolores trying to make Frankie jealous so that he will ask her to marry him. She does that by taking an interest in Professor Suttwell, even with the age difference. She misinterprets his interest as a romantic interest.

Another really fun blast from the past is Morey Amsterdam as Cappy who ran the local hangout. Harvey Lembeck is Eric Von Zipper and we see how Professor Suttwell first paralyzes him with “the finger” to his temple. Soon after to become obscure was Eva Six as Ava , who some described as ‘a face like Marilyn Monroe’s and a body like Jayne Mansfield’s, which she did but I suppose she wasn’t much of an actress.

The movie is mostly ridiculous and slapstick, it never was intended to be high art, just fluff of entertainment for the times. And for that it hits that mark quite well.