Pajama Party ** (1964, Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Elsa Lanchester, Harvey Lembeck) – Classic Movie Review 11,784

Former Disney star Tommy Kirk stars in his first film for American International Pictures with Annette Funicello in the gleefully preposterous 1964 beach party film Pajama Party, the fourth in a series of seven beach films produced by AIP. Candy Johnson returns as Candy for the fourth time and Harvey Lembeck returns as Eric von Zipper.

Tommy Kirk plays Go Go, a teenage intelligence officer from Mars, who is ordered to Earth to prepare the way for a Martian invasion. He is saved by eccentric widow Aunt Wendy (Elsa Lanchester), whose shady neighbour J Sinister Hulk (Jesse White), Chief Rotten Eagle (Buster Keaton) and his Swedish sex-bomb partner Helga (Bobbi Shaw) concoct a scheme to separate her from her million-dollar inheritance.

Frankie Avalon.

Series regulars Frankie Avalon, Don Rickles, Annette Funicello, Jody McCrea and Donna Loren all appear, though with character name changes. Susan Hart makes the first of three appearances, Buster Keaton makes the first of four appearances, and Bobbi Shaw makes the first of five appearances.

Both Pajama Party and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini are directed by Don Weis, but William Asher directed the rest of the series.

It follows Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964).

It is followed by Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966).

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

Louis M Heyward wrote the script in two weeks. It is the first movie worked on for AIP, going on to write several more films for them and becoming a leading AIP executive.

Avalon appears in all the scenes with Don Rickles, but only the back of Avalon’s head is seen until the final moments. This is the only time in the series Donna Loren has a speaking role. Sadly Dorothy Lamour makes her last musical appearance in a film, singing ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’

Walt Disney personally fired contract star Kirk in 1963 after discovering he was gay while filming The Misadventures of Merlin Jones. Kirk said that Disney had previously called him his ‘good luck charm’ when they met at a party.

The cast are Tommy Kirk as Go Go, Annette Funicello as Connie, Elsa Lanchester as Aunt Wendy, Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper, Jesse White as J. Sinister Hulk, Jody McCrea as Big Lunk, Ben Lessy as Fleegle, Donna Loren as Vikki, Susan Hart as Jilda, Bobbi Shaw as Helga, Cheryl Sweeten as Francine, Luree Holmes as Perfume Girl, Dorothy Kilgallen as herself, Candy Johnson as Candy, Buster Keaton as Chief Rotten Eagle, Dorothy Lamour as Head Saleslady, Don Rickles as Big Bang the Martian, Frankie Avalon as Socum, (a Martian), Teri Garr as Pajama Girl, Toni Basil as Pajama Girl, and Alberta Nelson as Rat Pack girl Alberta.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,784

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Tommy Kirk in his Disney days.