User reviews

While none of them would qualify as brilliant film-making, this is easily the best of the drive-in "beach" movies produced by American International Pictures between 1963-67. This is the only beach movie I've ever sat all the way through without looking at my watch, and the IMDb rating of 3.0 it has as of today's date is unduly harsh.

One of the reasons Pajama Party is more enjoyable than the rest is the absence of Frankie Avalon. We only see the back of his head throughout the film, his character only being revealed in the closing segment. For once, Annette (I believe her character is called Connie is this particular outing) is not subjected to Frankie's rather sexist treatment; in the other films he expects her to be chaste and faithful to him alone while he looks at other women and studiously avoids any kind of committed relationship until the finale'. In Pajama Party, the Frankie character has never existed, and Connie instead falls in love with Go-Go, with the biggest obstacle in their relationship presented by the fact that Go-Go is a Martian sent on a scouting mission to precede the invasion of earth by Don Rickles and some other Martians up to no good. Tommy Kirk does pretty well with the awfully shallow part of Go-Go, his only weak point being the unfortunate ballad he has to sing in the convertible with Connie (driving down the highway with the top down, yet there is no wind or noise…!).

The entertainment value in these films today is their ability to provide us with escape into an easier, more innocent time. Those of you familiar with my Mrs. Astor reviews here on IMDb know this is usually my primary objective with any old movie. This film is one non-stop romp through an endless carefree teenage summer. The kids must fight for their right to party against invading Martians, con-artists, and of course quasi-Nazi Erick von Zipper and his Rat Pack, who in this film are outraged that the teens have left footprints on "their" beach (our writers must be running out of reasons to justify Von Zipper's existence by this point).

Guest stars Dorothy Lamour and Buster Keaton add much to the movie. Ms. Lamour is wonderful as the manager of the local dress shop. Mr. Keaton frequently appears in these films as an Indian, he has a brilliant scene here with the perfume counter girl, which can be attributed more to his fifty years of comedic work than any fit of genius that might have been borne by the writers of 1960's beach movies. The real spark of life in Pajama Party is brought by guest star Elsa Lanchester, always an absurd delight, here she is the aunt of the Jody McCrea character…he's always named Chunk or Hunk or Junk, in this one he's named Lunk. Our third set of bad guys, headed by the Maytag Repairman, are out to steal Aunt Wendy's millions, and she is a delightful airhead who manages to continually foil their plots without ever really being aware of their presence.

The film is further populated by the usual band of teens, all of the American International beach films have more or less the same cast, including Donna Loren, a singer far more talented than the material she is given, and Candy Johnson, who must surely be the most violent go-go dancer in the history of the world.

TRIVIA NOTE: It's interesting how a bit of trivia can get out into the movie fan community and be repeated by dozens of folk who apparently don't verify it first. While numerous sources credit Teri Garr's first movie appearance as being in the 1968 film "Head" starring The Monkees, she does in fact appear in 1964's Pajama Party. I recently heard TCM Host Ben Mankowitz state that Ms. Garr "appears just to the right of Annette Funicello in every major scene", a comment that I have also seen repeated verbatim on other IMDb reviews. Interesting, but untrue. Ms. Garr plays the second model in the fashion show sequence (which begins approximately 37 minutes into the film), but the character of Connie does not even arrive at the dress shop until the fashion show is over. Teri Garr can be seen dancing to Annette's right in the final musical number, Pajama Party, but this is hardly "appearing to Annette's right in every scene of the movie".

You may also spot Toni Basil. She is the girl in the red bikini in the first dance sequence, and the girl in the silver bikini at the fashion show. Slow it down, you can tell it's her pretty easy by the shape of her face.

In summation, if you're interested in beach movies or just want some fun post-Camelot escapist entertainment, Pajama Party is the best of the lot. It will keep you smiling and tapping your foot and rooting for those clean wholesome kids. I wished I could just hop into my giant yellow convertible and tool down to the beach for the summer without a care in the world.

This was what passed for entertainment when I was a teen. Speaking of which, I saw very few, if any, actual teens in this production. Did see the Maytag man though: this guy always leaves me in stitches for some reason. How well I remember his portrayal of Honest John in a segment of "Beverly Hillbillies". As to exactly why I remember this so well is well beyond me, I just do. Another highlight of this film was Don Rickles, one of my all time fave comics. But the ultimate high point of this or any of the sand and surf epics is none other than Eric Von and his cycle Ratz. They are without peer and I'll fight to the death over this belief. Ok, not to the death, but I do love Von Zipper. I have seen several of the beach pictures and this may be the zaniest one yet....you stupids!

GoGo (Tommy Kirk), a somewhat incompetent Martian agent, is sent to infiltrate Earth's teenagers in anticipation of an invasion from the Red Planet. Needless to say he promptly falls for Terran tart Connie (Annette Funicello, whose Disney-mandated bathing-suit is the most demure on the beach). This sci-fi-comedy, the fourth in AIPS popular 'beach' series, is full of scantly-dressed, energetically dancing youngsters (including a youthful Terri Garr), spontaneous singing, slapstick yucks, a touch of meta-humour (usually referring to the 'absent' Frankie Avalon), and an interesting secondary cast including silent-movie icon Buster Keaton (as Indian chief Rotten Eagle, a role that these days would be considered near blasphemous cultural appropriation, "Ugh!"), Dorothy Lamour (the sexy sarong-clad sidekick from the "Road to..." series) who has the best musical number (asking the classic generation-gap question 'Where Did I go Wrong?') and the lonely Maytag repairman himself, Jesse White, as the ridiculously named 'J. Sinister Hulk'. The barely existent plot makes little sense and serves primarily to set up comedic or terpsichorean set-pieces. The film also features the great Elsa Lanchester as a wealthy but ditsy dress-shop owner and a number of the usual beach-movie crowd (including Mr. Warmth himself, Don Rickles as 'Big Bang' a disgruntled Martian and Harvey Lembeck's brainless-biker Eric Von Zipper). The first part of the film is amusing in a goofy way but the story soon degenerates into a lengthy, time-killing, chase-sequence before climaxing at the titular party, a silly and not particularly funny series of predictable sight-gags and faux-teenage shenanigans. The 60's go-go style dancing is fun to watch but other than Lamour's song, the music (especially Annette and Tommy's duet) is unmemorable. Needful watching for all fans of beach movies and for obsessive sci-fi completists, otherwise, OK fluff for anyone in the mood to get nostalgic for a kinetic 1960s than never really existed. Kirk returned to Earth as a Martian in Larry Buchannan's penurious but evocatively entitled time-waster 'Mars Need Women' (1968).

With David Winters as a choreorgraher, Annette provesshe can really dance! The title song "Pajama Party" done at poolside reminds me of the old Hullabaloo series! Alot of catchy tunes! Candy Johnson is back with her wild go go dancig, and Susan Hart s very sexy! The DVD is crystal clear! The AIP studios must have used first rate film in these movies! A real winner!!!

As Annette Funicello (as Connie) and the "Beach Party" gang strip into their bathing suits for a pool party, outer-worldly Tommy Kirk (as Go Go) dons a movie usher's uniform; then, he is transported to Earth. Mr. Kirk's mission is to prepare Earth for an invasion of Martians. He is sent to dresser Elsa Lanchester (as Aunt Wendy)'s home. Ms. Lanchester thinks young Kirk belongs on the beach. She renames him "George", and sends him out, in tight blue trunks, to have fun in the sun. On the beach, Kirk meets Ms. Funicello, and romance ensues…

Not the best of the run, as it's missing some essentials; but, American International's "Pajama Party" is probably the series' sexiest entry. The cast is more often featured in swimwear than bedclothes, you should note. And, with the exception of Funicello, the cast is in their hottest beach attire. The exceptional Funicello shows off her assets in pink nightwear, during her "Stuffed Animal" song performance; and, she gets a dance number, too.

Probably due to scheduling conflicts, it appears Frankie Avalon's role was moved over to Jody McCrea; and, Mr. Avalon appears in dubbed voice-over and cameo only. At one point, it's suggested that Kirk is borrowing Funicello boyfriend McCrea's clothes, which would have been believable with Avalon, but not the much larger McCrea. Other regulars get more to do, too, like Buster Keaton, Donna Loren, and Mike Nader. The cameos are way cool; like "My name is Dorothy" Kilgallen as a fun motorcycle mama.

While the Frankie/Annette dynamic is missing; Kirk is a worthy substitute, and his meeting Funicello on the beach is a delight. Watch as Kirk explains how well-versed he is on Earth, mentioning, "George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mickey Mantle, Frankie Avalon…" and, he tells Funicello, "You have a well-rounded…" By the film's end, his unfinished phrase can be filled in.

**** Pajama Party (1964) Don Weis ~ Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Buster Keaton

Walt Disney refugees Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk star in this Beach Party sequel where you can tell by the title, the action moves in doors. No, not that kind of action, we were still under the influence of the Code.

These plots almost defy description but Tommy Kirk is a Martian teenager named Gogo which seems like a perfectly good name to use in the California beach environment. Nevertheless when he teleports to Elsa Lanchester's house, she greets him with Gracie Allen type blasé and renames him George. She likes him better than her late husband's nephew Jody McCrea who cares about volleyball more than women and that's putting a crimp into a relationship with Annette.

Add to this a trio of con-men living next door who know Elsa keeps her money, not in banks played by Jesse White, Ben Lessy, and Buster Keaton in an Indian suit. And of course Harvey Lembeck and his brain dead motorcycle gang and you've got a Beach Party film.

Frankie Avalon appears here too, but only to communicate with Kirk with Don Rickles playing Avalon's assistant. Dorothy Lamour is here to, a women familiar enough with beach settings in her films as Lanchester's dress shop manager. Lanchester's only weakness is operating a dress shop where she sells the latest trendy teen styles at a loss.

It's kind of fun to laugh at how dumb the Beach Party films are, but their enduring popularity is proved out by Baywatch and its long run in the Eighties and Nineties. And I'm sure we'll see something similar in the next generation.

But this one will not tax the brain cells too much.

Having recently discovered both Buster Keaton and Avalon/Funicello Beach movies, I decided to go on fancast.com and watch Pajama Party. Instead of Frankie, Annette is paired with first Jody McCrea-playing not Bonehead but a similarly characterized Big Lunk-and then her Disney co-star in the Merlin Jones pictures, Tommy Kirk, here playing a Martian named Go Go. Along the way there's Elsa Lanchester, Jesse White, Keaton with usual AIP partner Bobbi Shaw, Harvey Lembeck in his usual role as Eric Von Zipper, dancer Candy Johnson, singer Donna Loren in her usual single number, and Susan Hart-who was about to become Mrs. James Nicholson, co-founder of American International-in an alluring fringe-bikini role where objects explode or wither. Oh, and there's also Dorothy Lamour-a native of New Orleans from my current home state of Louisiana-in a number about old customs versus new with some choice words like "sarong". This movie is mostly a silly mess with some good songs and some funny moments like when Buster and a perfume lady (Luree Nicholson, James' daughter) keep spraying each other or when that chair keeps closing in on White or when Buster inadvertently gets onto Ms. Shaw's body (while she's wearing a towel, of course!). And how about all those alarms that Ms. Lanchester keeps turning off in order to get at her late husband's money? Or when Ms. Shaw keeps kissing different men with the red cap? Otherwise, not much makes sense and after a while, you want the whole thing over real quick. Still, Pajama Party is harmless and painless fun and the end credits, as always, provide some visual amusement.

American International Pictures at their goofy best, hitting a "Beach Party" high-point with this insane slapstick opus. Having seen all the "Beach Party" flicks (including "Ski Party" and "The Ghost In The Invisible Bikini"), I have to say this may be my favorite. Frankie Avalon is relegated to a cameo playing a Martian leader--in scenes tinted red!--but Annette Funicello is here, having trouble with a new beau who says he's from Mars. Annette is very appealing warbling the title cut poolside (she gets dunked!) or crooning "Stuffed Animal" to a colorful toy monstrosity who winks at her. There are some big laughs: Buster Keaton's battle with the perfume spritz girl, Dorothy Lamour getting a lesson in today's fashions, Susan Hart's slow shimmy making a volcano erupt, the kid who hates "mush!", and Elsa Lanchester flitting around the teenagers, casting caution to the wind (one of the bikers calls her an "older doll"). Fun stuff! *** from ****

Found this film very funny and enjoyed seeing Annette Funicello, (Connie) who was famous as a younger girl in the "Mickey Mouse Club". It was a joke to see Elsa Lancaster, "Bride of Frankenstein" who played the role of Aunt Wendy who had a large amount of money hidden in her house and J Sinister Hulk, (Jessie White) who is out to get her money and uses the help of

Buster Keaton, a veteran actor from the silent era of films who never spoke in any of his films until this film. This story is about boy and girl teenagers twisting and jumping into pools in their PJ's with lots of singing and lots of kissing and romance. The story even has an invasion of a Martian teenager who is sent to earth in order to establish contact with other teenagers in order to bring more fellow Martian's to earth. If this sounds nuts and does not make sense, this is really what this story is all about. The most comical scene in this film is with Dorothy Kilgallen, "New York Journal American Columnist" who appeared on "What's My Line,TV", way way back when. Dorothy wound up riding on a motorcycle of J.D. and winds up falling off and into the dirt.

"Beach Blanket Bingo" reigns as the best of AIP's "Beach Party" series, but "Pajama Party" takes the runner-up spot. True, there's no Frankie, but Tommy Kirk does fine as a teenaged alien trying to understand the ways of Earthlings (the plot was obviously inspired by "Visit to a Small Planet"). Annette has one of her best songs with the hilarious "Stuffed Animals" number. The often under-used Susan Hart looks terrific, especially when her dancing causes a toy volcano to erupt. In short, "Pajama Party" is a very entertaining piece of nostalgia. It's a shame that Tommy Kirk and Susan Hart were both wasted in the later lame series entry "Ghost in the Invisible Bikini".

This movie is so bad, it's downright sinful.

What is done to the superlative cast is surely a mortal sin. It includes such outstanding talent as Elsa Lanchester and Buster Keaton and the terribly underrated Harvey Lembeck. Whoever created this monstrosity and wasted all that talent is definitely doomed to one of the more painful circles of the Inferno.

This terrible flick is not watchable -- unless one is masochistic -- except when the lovely young ladies are being paraded around in their various stages of undress.

The beauteous Annette Funicello, than whom there is none more beauteous, could make the condition bearable if she were up there on the screen alone, but, alas, she is surrounded by such utter garbage even the other lovelies and the other talents, such as Jesse White and Tommy Kirk, can't save this dreck.

Probably one ought to see it -- once -- just to be able to believe anyone could ever have perpetrated such a horrible script.

I was shocked (SHOCKED!) that this movie rated only a three. I mean WTF? I consider all of the beach party movies as at least 6 or more stars, if for nothing more than sheer historical value. Add to that that these movies are definitely entertaining, then add in some now-nostalgic music and you have a wonderfully amusing bit of film. And does anyone realize that Annette Funicello was the original Disney teen queen? She was Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, and Miley Cyrus' original predecessor. If that's not worth a few stars, what is?

Perhaps I am understandably biased, but I don't think I am being too unfair about this. This particular romp finds Tommy Kirk as a Martian scout sent to prepare the way for a Martian invasion. Annette is his reluctant love interest (she thinks he's nuts), and all the other usual clowns are here as well. If you like beach movies, you'll enjoy this one as well. If 60's nostalgia cinema doesn't float your surfboard, then you should stay away. Great flick!

This 4th movie in the beach film series is quite peculiar. It essentially begins with some Martians sending one of their agents named "Go Go" (Tommy Kirk) to Earth in order to gather some intelligence on the human race prior to a full scale invasion. As luck would have it he is transported to a house near the California coast where a group of young men and women are having fun on the beach playing volleyball during the day and participating in a pajama party during the night. The leader of the group is a young man known as "Big Lunk" (Jody McCrea) who has a girlfriend by the name of "Connie" (Annette Funicello) and a rich aunt by the name of "Aunt Wendy" (Elsa Lanchester). Because of her wealth some con-men led by "J. Sinister Hulk" (Jesse White) have devised a scheme to break in and steal Aunt Wendy's money from her safe. Throw in a motorcycle gang led by "Eric Von Zipper" (Harvey Lembeck) who love to cause chaos along with an assortment of other strange characters and things begin to get pretty hectic in no time at all. Now, while I thought there were some scenes which were somewhat entertaining I must admit that the abundance of characters and the various sub-plots caused the movie to lose focus and harmony. Even so, I liked the performances of Buster Keaton (as "Chief Rotten Eagle") and the aforementioned Annette Funicello. Likewise, having a beautiful and scantily-clad actress like Bobbie Shaw (as "Helga") certainly didn't hurt the movie in any way. Neither did replacing the typically frantic dance routine performed by "Candy" (Candy Johnson) with a more sensual performance by "Jilda" (Susan Hart). Unfortunately, these few good parts simply weren't enough to balance out the jumbled plot and lukewarm script. Accordingly, in comparison to its predecessors I feel compelled to rate this movie about the same as "Muscle Beach Party" but not as high as either "Beach Party" or "Bikini Beach".

I just watched this beach flick and I'm certain that the music in Rocky Horror was influenced by this awesome surf and skin flick. There's even a scene where Tommy Kirk has a "Transducer". The story is less than ridiculous and that makes it enjoyable camp from the summer in America before the Beatles. West Side Story it's not, but the dancing and music are so expertly snychronized you'll think the actors are computerized. Look for Buster Keaton as "Cowabunga", he steals the show!

I have read the reviews of Pajama Party and have looked for the cameo appearance of Dorothy Kilgallen which I don't think was credited. If someone can describe where in the film she appears you can help me solve a who dun-it and I will be everlastingly grateful. I am not a movie critic and am using your space here to try and establish any actors who had knowledge of her activities during this period (1964) and who have any knowledge of Kerry Kallmor who also was in this flick. It seems to me that you are looking for plus or minus comments about the film from the acting viewpoint and I cannot advise here. What I would like to point out is that this film is of possible vital significance to the JFK assassination research. Your 10 line mandate has required me to be needlessly verbose but if I get an answer from someone it is worth it. John Locke [email protected]

1964's "Pajama Party" served as AIP's 4th 'Beach Party' entry, shaking things up with a new director in Don Weis and screenwriter in Louis M. Heyward, though much of the usual crowd return, such as Annette Funicello, Jody McCrea, Donna Loren, Candy Johnson, and Harvey Lembeck again leading the Rats as Eric Von Zipper. Designed as a live action cartoon with elements of science fiction, Frankie Avalon and Don Rickles are relegated to cameos on Mars as they send an incompetent go-between to spearhead their invasion of Earth, conveniently named Go Go, played by Tommy Kirk, a happy reunion of Disney stars as he and Annette share a charming duet titled "There Has to Be a Reason." Because her boyfriend is less receptive to her than to volleyball, Annette proves amenable to this newcomer, falling out of the sky to land in the home of wealthy Aunt Wendy (an always game Elsa Lanchester), who promptly grants him the name George to give her blessing to his awkward romance. Much of the picture is given over to Wendy's conniving neighbor J. Sinister Hulk (Jesse White) and his Indian sidekick, Buster Keaton as Chief Rotten Feather, aided by Bobbi Shaw's Swedish speaking bombshell Helga, a trio that would be reunited (Tommy Kirk making it a foursome) with Benny Rubin deputizing for Keaton in the series finale, "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini." Without her usual partner and a total of three new songs, Annette Funicello truly sparkles in this one, with stiff dance competition from Susan Hart and Teri Garr, both sharing the screen with Dorothy Lamour as they put on the latest fashions. Annette's final series role in "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" would find her conspicuously pregnant and ready to throw in the towel, while Tommy Kirk would go on to play another alien invader in Larry Buchanan's "Mars Needs Women," earnestly forced to play it straight with unspectacular results.

Gogo (Tommy Kirk), a Martian teenager, is sent to Earth to prepare the way for an invasion. The first Earthling he meets, one Aunt Wendy, is a rich widow who runs a dress shop catering to teenagers...

We have some great stars here: Buster Keaton as an Indian, complete with jokes about scalps and such. Don Rickles as a Martian. And then, you know... Annette Funicello.

This film is like the very definition of campy -- girls dancing in such a way to make flowers die and Dr Pepper bottles pop open. Regarding dancing in the 1960s, apparently it required no skills whatsoever -- just shake a lot and you are good to go.

In his autobiography, Sam Arkoff says that none of AIP's beach movies lost money. I love his way with words. Other producers would either say they made a fortune, or the returns were disappointing. Arkoff is just happy if he makes money -- it might be ten dollars and he considers it a success. How well this film did is not known, but I guess it did not fail by Arkoff standards.

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.

I LOVE this film, particularly the scene at the dress store, with Dorothy Lamour.

Yes, the 2nd model out, IS the one and only Terri Garr. The last dancer out - the one doing the INCREDIBLE 'Swim,' is Ms. Toni Basil.

These two women have a combined history (which might've started here. Does anyone know?), as, it was shortly after this film, that Terri became a dancer on the late, great ShInDiG!, with Toni as both a dancer and choreographer.

I saw some reviews here which were practically out for blood in their negativity, their dislike of this film.

The one that stuck in my craw, was the person who said they were in high school (in LA) at the time, and this film was so bad, they couldn't sit through it - 'FIVE(?!?!) times.'

O - kaaaaay.

While it's true, it's not the best, it does have things going for it, starting with Tommy Kirk, who I've always liked. I can only imagine how he felt, to basically be given the 'beach movie mantle' - ALONE.

That had to be a little unnerving tonhave that weight put on you. But, he did have the help of Annette, and a truly fun cast, with everyone from Buster Keaton, through to Dorothy ('poor me, pour me another drink') Kilgallen (huh?).

Yes, it's stupid, but, it's fun. It's not supposed to be anything other than lightweight fluff, and, it does it's job admirably.

Every time this film comes on, I'm front-and-centre, waiting up for that terrific dance at the dress store.

And, again, to the person who hates this - but, keeps seeing it: you keep saying you leave after only the 1st few minutes. There are very few films that are great after only a few minutes.

Next time you 'force' yourself to (try and) watch PAJAMA PARTY...just try to at least see Dorothy, Terri, and Toni? You might end up with a smile.

I think a six year old child wrote this script but nevermind. Annette Funicello was always attractive and charming. It is a cute time capsule.

I gave it a ten for Dorothy Lamour's appearance along with the dancing of Teri Garr and Toni Basil. Quite a cute and clever number.

I just watched this beach flick and I'm certain that the music in Rocky Horror was influenced by this awesome surf and skin flick. There's even a scene where Tommy Kirk has a "Transducer". The story is less than ridiculous and that makes it enjoyable camp from the summer in America before the Beatles. West Side Story it's not, but the dancing and music are so expertly snychronized you'll think the actors are computerized. Look for Buster Keaton as "Cowabunga", he steals the show!

Coming from children's drama classes and community acting performances, then spotted by a Disney agent, Tommy Kirk was made into a Disney actor at an age when no one knows who they are. Kirk, though, was ebullient and bright. He was a delight to watch in whatever role he was featured in. His "sin" caught up with him in 1963 and had nothing to do with acting. He was gay in 1963. Disney hit the roof and he was let go from his contracts. Jane Wyman and Fred MacMurray went out of their way to persecute and belittle the teenager. He lost a role in a John Wayne movie, and his career slipped to B movies and then to worse. Yet, he was one of the best child actors in the world. He was homosexual in a time when no one would accept -- in fact, when people felt perfectly within their rights to hate him and publicly despise him. This is much to their discredit as human beings ("kick him when he's down"), and gives a glimpse of the very right-wing Republican world of Hollywood in 1963. Many of the major stars were members of the John Birch Society and hated the way blacks were being accepted into films as well. But with a gay person they could still force him out, make him lose his contracts and all dignity, and consign him to nothingness. This was more than a shame because anyone watching Tommy Kirk remembers his raw talent and boyish sense of adventure -- even as a Hardy Boy in the 1950s.