Fun Finds: Teen Life Magazine, April 1964

I cannot catch a break right now. After two weeks of no home Internet, I coincidentally lost power to my laptop. Then I got a new adapter in the mail and was ecstatic. However, it was shipped to me with a plug from a foreign country that no one I went to (three places, including a computer supercenter) could even tell me where it is used, much less convert it! So now we are on week four with no home computer until another new cord comes to me. Fingers crossed that it even works when I finally get it. I'm beginning to lose hope! In the meantime, with no access to the hundreds of photos & information on my p.c., I offer up yet another Fun Find. This one really is fun, though. I happened upon a church rummage sale not long ago and scored a slew of things, including an autographed copy of Jerry Lewis' autobiography, a Cary Grant book (the one by his paramour Maureen Donaldson), four paperbacks and this magazine: all for $3.50! I must alert you in advance that the pages with The Beatles on them had long ago been removed by the original, zealous, owner... There are other treats to be had, however.

The inside-front cover includes a pin-up of then-hot Richard Chamberlain. Not only was he in the midst of his popular TV run as Dr. Kildare (1961-1966), but he was also making movies such as Twilight of Honor (1963.)

Several familiar hunks here. Not sure about some of these (lame) "predictions." Baer Jr. wed two years later. Edwards wed the following year for a hot minute (though his wife soon wed Batman's Burt Ward after that.) Everett, Lockwood and Fabian all married in 1966, Considine in 1965 and Presley in 1967. Sinatra Jr. walked down the aisle for the first time in 1998! Beymer and Chakiris? Never.

One interesting thing here is the shout-out for Leave It to Beaver's (1957-1963) Tony Dow as a guest in a crossover two-part episode for the series Dr. Kildare and The Eleventh Hour. I had no clue those two shows ever did such a thing. Alas, Dow not only didn't win an Emmy. He was never nominated. (But Jack Klugman won one for a guest shot on The Defenders.) Andrew Duggan and Ruth Roman played Tony's parents in the story.

As one might guess from this pic of John Saxon, this romance went nowhere, though he did marry in 1967. Clive Clerk you might recall from Send Me No Flowers (1964) as a dry cleaning delivery boy or Billie (1965) with Patty Duke, though his real claim to fame came when he originated the role of Larry (assistant choreographer) in Broadway's A Chorus Line in 1975! Look closely at James MacArthur's wife Joyce. She later came into her own as Joyce Bulifant, chiefly on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971-1977.) Shelly Fabares and Lou Adler wound up married from 1964-1980.)

This article features several photos of a (supposedly popular) Pam Petersen, sister of Paul, though I can find nothing about her anywhere! He had a little sister Patty who worked with him on later seasons of his series The Donna Reed Show (1958-1966), but she was much younger than this gal. Perhaps she was never officially in the biz, but was seen a lot with her brother at events?

Some fun hair and clothing on this page. And the caption got it right, Carol Lynley does look chic!

This was shortly before the wheels came off of Nick Adams' career, marriage and life. In roughly a two-year span, he went from an Oscar nominee to an unemployable actor caught in cheaply-made foreign drek! By early 1968, he was dead of an overdose. Don't miss this rather rare shot of Tommy Sands and his then-wife Nancy Sinatra!

I apparently never realized that Michael Anderson Jr. had ever been popular enough an actor to warrant a feature article! At least not this early on.

A rather baffling mystery here. No clue who Joanne Crawford is or what this project of "The Out of Towners" is either! Gossip-mongers might recognize the name of the article's writer Marilyn Beck. She later became a prominent columnist.

The gal on this page is of some interest. Former Mickey Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge had enjoyed recurring parts on several famous sitcoms such as Bachelor Father, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and Leave It to Beaver, but in 1964 retired from acting in order to marry a race car driver named Lance Reventlow. Reventlow was the son and heir of millionairess Barbara Hutton. He died in a 1972 plane crash, leaving Holdridge a young widow.

These gals were both born in 1946, with Hayley Mills about eight months prior to Patty Duke. As we know, Ms. Duke is no longer with us, but Mills is (at age seventy!)

Here we find James Franciscus, in the midst of his 1963-1965 TV series Mr. Novak, in which he played an idealistic, yet strong-willed, teacher.

He's handsome as can be, though we'd be lying if we said we didn't prefer him in his almost nude get-up from Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), which can be seen up close in his Poseidon's Underworld tribute here! (Incidentally, I find the text on this page and the one before it to be incomprehensible gobbledygook!)

Why does Dick have his hands all over this thick chest? LOL

Teen Life might be proud of this "exclusive scoop," but what exactly is it a scoop of...?!

"A cloud washed over his face when I asked him about his personal life..." Clara Ray has exactly one imdb.com acting credit to her name. She was a 1962 guest on Kildare.

Ya gotta love the clothing that Bobby Crawford (Johnny's brother) and Mona Freeman wear for a day at Disneyland in this photo spread!

By this point, Crawford was nearly a 10-year veteran, having been a child star in movies and on TV's Laramie (1959-1960), and his acting career was getting close to the end. He later became a successful movie producer, working on such hits as The Sting (1973), Slap Shot (1977) and The World According to Garp (1982.)

I can't say I know anything about this young lady. She certainly is NOT the Mona Freeman who was a busy 1940s and '50s movie actress. She'd have been nearing forty by this time!

Hmmm.... This should be interesting.

Note the presence of Jill Haworth, who'd been involved with Sal Mineo (and, for a time in 1965, Aaron Spelling!) A couple of years after this, she conquered Broadway as the lead in Cabaret.

Richards is now seventy-five and still hasn't found the right girl.

Not even this head-to-head contest seems to acknowledge that anyone, including Cliff Richard, could topple The King from his position as America's greatest rock 'n roller, but it's still interesting to see that Richard was popular enough in the U.S. around this time to be put forth that way.

Party games, courtesy of the teens from The Donna Reed Show.

More party games. NOTHING says "Wildsville" more than Annette Funicello...

After six different people from showbiz offered up a favorite party game, I'm stunned that none of them mentioned The Photography Game. You turn off all the lights and see what develops!  bah-dum-bump!!  LOL

Paul Petersen had just turned eighteen and was not too far from what wound up being a serious career (and life) crisis as he was unable to continue regular acting as an adult.

Having personally walked through the fire of transitional career trauma and the after-effects of diminished fame, he later formed a group devoted to aiding child stars. A Minor Consideration has been on hand for many years now to help and be an advocate for youngsters working in movies and on TV.

This two-page spread begs the question: Why don't Teen Life readers seem to give a care about the three young ladies shown here?

Surely the biggest reason is that the magazine is far more concerned with male stars than female, but it would have been interesting to see what sort of responses to this poll wafted in. Ann-Marget, of course, went on the to biggest career of the three while Tuesday Weld sort of drifted away from hers for the most part and Sue Lyon turned out to be mostly a short-lived flash in the pan, career-wise.

Various doodads, mostly from the world of music, in this column. Marlo Thomas and Ron Harper did not marry as the blurb suggested that they were close to doing. If you happen to be eating cream pie while reading this, there's a good spot for some in the lower right corner of the page!

Um, let me just say that whatever fears or concerns George Maharis had about wearing makeup on TV were WELL past him by the time he began guest-starring on Fantasy Island, often with nearly as much cosmetic aid as the ladies! Andra Willis, of The Willis Sisters, eventually did time on The Lawrence Welk Show (1967-1969.)

My GOD, what is it with this magazine and gay men?! Hunky Tom Tryon is the subject of this spread. I love the shot of him with his dog.

I had completely forgotten that Tom Tryon was married once for about three years (1955-1958)! He later became involved with the aforementioned Clive Clerk as well as the prolific gay porn star Casey Donovan. This article came just after Tryon's most important movie, The Cardinal (1963) had been released (and they certainly do enthusiastically encourage us all to go see it!)

Incidentally, I think this spread hits home a lot better when seen in both parts, especially with the comma that I strategically placed in the headline of it!! Ha ha.

I had never heard of this person, handsome as he is. Turns out that after roughly a season of singing on Shindig (1965), he found far greater success as a composer for TV and film, going by his real name John D'Andrea. (Not even imdb.com has this right. They're listed as two people there...) One of the movies he wrote music for was Dirty Dancing (1987.)

In a rather ironic twist, the subject of this article, Gary Clarke, is one of the few people profiled in this magazine that DIDN'T have a secret life!

Pat Woodell was one of the original sisters on Petticoat Junction (1963-1965), who many aren't all that familiar with because those were lesser-seen black & white episodes. She and Clarke were married from 1964-1977.

Clarke was off The Virginian after two seasons, though he continued to appear in the occasional movie and in the subsequent series Hondo (1967.) The last time I saw him in anything, it was in a three-episode arc as the police detective who was trying to help Emma Samms figure out that she was Fallon Carrington on Dynasty (1985), something she never did convince many of the viewing audience of! LOL

I do wonder about this Connie Stevens romance... She was married to James Stacy from 1963-1966, so I am curious when this troubled romance happened.

Oh dear... Here we find Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette, who made such a beautiful pair of lovers in Rome Adventure (1962) that they fell for each other in real life. They proceeded to make the bloated western A Distant Trumpet (1964) and got married.

Can't you just see the love pouring out of them in the pictures on this page??  LOL I wonder if the editor of Teen Life knew that the marriage was totally doomed. According to Rona Barrett, Donahue was physically abusive to Pleshette. The union was kaput within the span of nine months.

Near the end of the magazine, we find an interesting assortment of personalities on this page. Popularity was apparently EVERYTHING! The teen readers were encouraged to always be voting for and ranking their favorite stars (lest they end up like the aforementioned Ann-Margret, Tuesday Weld and Sue Lyon??)

I didn't initially scan this page, but then did at the eleventh hour because of a coincidence. I recently got a new car and it came with three months of Sirius XM satellite radio. The '60s on 6 channel has a program with someone called Cousin Brucie, whose aim is to keep the music of this era alive. So imagine my surprise when I saw this page, "Ask Cousin Bruce" and discovered that this is the one and the same man, longtime DJ Bruce Morrow!

The inside back cover features a pin-up of singer Dion, singer of "Runaround Sue" and "The Wanderer." He later scored a hit with "Abraham, Martin & John" in the wake of the JFK assassination. None of that, nor anything else beyond February 3rd, 1959 would have occurred if he'd joined Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper on the charter flight that killed them as he very nearly did. Only the exorbitant cost of $36.00 prevented him from flying with them that night.

The back cover features a color pin-up of Elvis Presley, though it is not among the most flattering shots of him. Up close his skin looks like the surface of an orange! I hope you found some things to enjoy in this latest Fun Find and (someday!) I'll be back with more movies and celebrity tributes.