Beach Bunnies
Pamela Tiffin
An exquisite brunette, this
former model became one of
the early sixties' most
popular younger actresses
appearing in a string of
drive-in movies including
the Beach Party knock-off,
For Those Who Think Young
(1964) and the hotrod film,
The Lively Set
(1964).
Lana Wood
Sixties drive-in movie fans
have known all along that
Lana Wood was sexier than
her more famous sibling,
Natalie Wood, as she went
from playing bikini-clad
cuties in The Girls on
the Beach (1965) and
For Singles Only (1968)
to a hippie chick in Free
Grass (1969).
Chris Noel
With her fresh-faced,
innocent look, perky blonde
Chris Noel, wearing the
skimpiest of bikinis,
wiggled, danced and acted
her way through a gaggle of
biker, beach and Elvis films
- Girl Happy (1965),
Beach Ball (1965),
Wild Wild Winter (1966),
The Glory Stompers
(1967) and For Singles
Only (1968).
Karen Jensen
Unlike Beach Party
star Annette Funicello,
Karen Jensen actually looked
like she grew up on the
shores of Malibu. With her
short-cropped flaxen hair,
blue eyes and shapely
figure, Jensen was exquisite
as a surfing sweetie in
Out of Sight (1966).
Joy
Harmon
With her big blue eyes and
wild blonde mane, actress
Joy Harmon giggled her way
through a number of teenage
films during the sixties
including One Way Wahine
(1965) playing a beach bunny
involved with felons and
Village of the Giants
(1965) as a delinquent teen
who grows to gigantic
proportions and terrorizes a
town.
Deanna Lund
By the time she landed her
star making role as
intergalactic castaway
Valerie Scott on TV's
Land of the Giants in
1969, Lund honed her craft
on film in the beach movie
Out of Sight (1966)
and the spy spoof Dr.
Goldfoot and the Bikini
Machine (1965), among
many others.
Beach Bunnies pictured
left, clockwise from lower
left: Pamela Tiffin, Deanna
Lund, Lana Wood, Karen
Jensen.
Elvis Girls! Girls! Girls!
Celeste
Yarnall
Former model and "Miss
Rheingold," Celeste Yarnall
swung from being one of the
first female Tarzans in Eve
(1968) to the arms of Elvis
Presley in Live a Little,
Love a Little (1968) to
sinking her teeth into the necks
of a hippie couple as The
Velvet Vampire (1970).
Irene
Tsu
During the 1960s, beautiful
Chinese actress Irene Tsu played
a variety of "native" girls in a
number of popular drive-in films
including How to Stuff a Wild
Bikini (1965), Voyage to
the Planet of Prehistoric Women
(1966) and Paradise, Hawaiian
Style (1966), as one of five
island beauties being romanced
by Elvis.
Shelley
Fabares
Purportedly, Elvis' favorite
co-star, Shelley Fabares (fresh
from exiting The Donna Reed
Show) played opposite the
King in three of his films
beginning with Girl Happy
(1965) as a mobster's daughter
on Spring Break in Fort
Lauderdale, plus Spinout
(1966) and Clambake
(1967).
Joan
O'Brien
Lovely blonde Joan O'Brien
became a well-respected actress,
co-starring opposite such
stalwart stars as Cary Grant,
John Wayne and Jerry Lewis, but
to sixties drive-in film fans
she is most remembered for
playing hard-to-get with Elvis
in It Happened at the World's
Fair (1963) and the musical
Get Yourself a College Girl
(1964).
Joan
Staley
Former Playboy Playmate Joan
Staley appeared with Jerry Lewis
in The Ladies Man (1961)
and Don Knotts in The Ghost
and Mr. Chicken (1966) but
she is best remembered as the
put-upon Marge, the waitress who
slaps Elvis in Roustabout
(1964).
Francine York
Statuesque Francine York
progressed from small roles in
films with Jerry Lewis and
Marlon Brando to one of a number
of health spa patrons beguiled
by Elvis in Tickle Me
(1965) to the female lead of
such B-movie extravaganzas as
Space Monster (1965) and
Curse of the Swamp Creature
(1966).
Julie Parrish
Dark-haired Julie Parrish
appeared in a number of
successful drive-in films
opposite some of the sixties'
most popular teen idols
including James Stacy in
Winter a-Go-Go (1965), Elvis
in Paradise, Hawaiian Style
(1966) and Frankie Avalon and
Fabian in Fireball 500
(1966).
Elvis' Girls! Girls! Girls!
pictured left, clockwise from
left: Joan Staley, Celeste
Yarnall, Irene Tsu.
