Saturday, May 30, 2015

Videos of Summer: Surfin' Bird (1987)

Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello teamed for the first time in over 20 years in 1987's "Back to the Beach", but one of the real hooks to the MTV crowd was the appearance of Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens), who puts his own spin on the Trashmen's 1-hit wonder from the 60's, "Surfin' Bird". Sure enough, halfway through, Frankie and Annette join Pee-Wee on stage......



Pee-Wee was in between seasons 1 & 2 of his CBS Saturday show when this came out. Makes one wonder if Reubens can sing when not in character as Pee-Wee......

4 comments:

magicdog said...

I thought the movie was likeable - especially since I used to watch the beach movies it was meant to spoof.

Personally, I don't think Pee Wee/Paul can really sing. It seems more like "talk singing" to me.

One other thing this movie offers is Lori Laughlin - who plays Frankie and Annette's daughter. You may remember her best as Becky on Full House.

hobbyfan said...

Having not seen "Back to the Beach", I wouldn't have known.

magicdog said...

Try it. It's a harmless flick - but it helps to have seen at least one or two of their old beach movies first.

Annette even pokes fun at her period as a shill for peanut butter!!

hobbyfan said...

Maybe it could be some escapist fare on a nothing night.....