BEACH PARTY MOVIE CAST - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED POSTER CO-SIGNED BY: ANNETTE FUNICELLO, FRANKIE AVALON - HFSID 272064

BEACH PARTY: FRANKIE AVALON and ANNETTE FUNICELLO
Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello sign a color 21¼x29½ poster for their movie Beach Party.
Poster signed: "Annette Funicello" and "Frankie Avalon". Color, 21¼x29½. Reprint of the original poster for the 1963 American International Pictures musical comedy, Beach Party, which starred Frankie Avalon as Frankie and Annette Funicello as Dolores. The film also starred Robert Cummings as Professor Sutwell, Dorothy Malone as his secretary, Marianne, Harvey Lembeck as Eric Von Zipper, Jody McCrea as Deadhead, John Ashley as Ken, Morey Amsterdam as Cappy and Eva Six as Ava. Dick Dale and the Deltones were featured musical guests. ©1988, Portal Publications Ltd. Avalon and Funicello appeared together in ten Beach Party films between 1963-1968 (this was the first), and they reunited in 1987 in Back to the Beach, which the two co-financed. Unlike some of the heavily marketed "teen idols" who ruled youth-oriented American radio between Elvis and The Beatles, FRANKIE AVALON had a real music background. His popularity peaked in 1959, when he had #1 hits with "Venus" and "Why". While he made several action movies, beginning with Guns of the Timberland (1960), Avalon is best remembered for his Beach Party movies. He still tours in "golden boy" revivals with Bobby Rydell and Fabian. The "sweetheart" of TV's The Mickey Mouse Club, American entertainer ANNETTE FUNICELLO (born 1942) began performing at age ten. The Disney people, who sensed that Funicello had star quality, built several musical numbers around her. Funicello began appearing in the Beach Party series while still under contract to Disney, and she agreed to the Disney request that she wear a one-piece swimsuit rather than a bikini in the films to protect her image. Funicello, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1987, the year of her last Beach Party film, last appeared as herself in the 1995 biopic, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story. Fine condition.