One slightly odd thing about this one is that it looks ahead to a lot of little or big things. In one scene, Tommy Kirk (meaning it literally) says, "I'm from Mars." Annette Funicello says facetiously, "Really? I'm from Venus." When you see that scene now, you can hardly help thinking of self-help books. Also, it has a wall safe that works just like an ATM (though this idea has probably appeared elsewhere ; I don't know). When Elsa Lanchester "withdraws" a lot of money from it, she looks at her late husband's portrait, and says very sweetly, "You always were a thoughtful husband." Then for just a moment, she gives a "knowing" look at the camera. Also, ages before "observational" comedians (as far as I know) seized on this, it had a scene about a perfume saleswoman bothering someone by spraying perfume at them. Buster Keaton and the actress in the scene (I can't think of her name) had perfect "timing" (hardly surprising in his case) when they acted out this relatively tiny joke. The movie even has a tiny bit of what would have to be called satirical humor. In each of the "Beach Movies", the motorcycle gang didn't wear those "Wehrmacht" items, like so many movie Hell's Angels, but each movie showed, at their hangout, pictures of Hitler and Mussolini, and in between them, a picture of "Von Zipper" (evidently to make him look extra scary). When Ben Lessy goes looking for teenagers to plant in the wealthy widow's home (as part of their scheme), he finds the "Rats and Mice." He says something like, "You look like typical wholesome kids," and as he says this, you see them in their leather jackets and those photos on the wall behind them. And on a completely different level, there's Susan Hart's dancing scenes. I don't know about the rest of the movie, but I would challenge anyone to find anything remotely "dated" about the titillation in those. And of course, instead of "AIP" horror actors, this movie's cameo at the end was even more of an inside joke - Frankie Avalon himself. Even if I weren't completely prejudiced IN FAVOR of beach movies, I would still say this one has a lot going for it.
Review of Pajama Party
