Teenagers, Partylines, and Rock and Roll Music

The 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie is an excellent parody film capitalizing on the success and phenomenon of Elvis. Based on a successful Broadway play, the film casts several already high profile names as well as some up-and-coming stars. This is often known as the film that catapulted Kitten with a Whip Ann-Margret to super-stardom. The next year in 1964, Ann-Margaret would go on to star with the real Elvis in the film Viva Las Vegas .

Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson) is the biggest rock and roll star in the country who has all of the teen girls hot and bothered and all the teen boys and the parents hot headed. Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke) is an aspiring chemist who tries to make his living by writing songs for Bridie in order to gain independence from his mother (Maureen Stapleton) and marry his longtime sweetheart Rosie De Leon (Janet Leigh). Rosie and Albert divise a contest where the winner will give a "Last Kiss" to Birdie before he goes off into the army to serve. The winner is Kim McAffe (Ann-Margaret) of Sweet Apple. Kim has just started going steady with Hugo Peabody (Bobby Rydell), who isn't thrilled that his girlfriend is going to kiss a teen heartthrob on national TV. Likewise, Kim's family of Dad Harry (Paul Lynde) and Mom Doris (Mary LaRoche) aren't excited with the thought of their daughter hanging around Conrad Birdie either. The romantic twists and humorous turns are what make this musical a success. Entertainer Ed Sullivan even makes a classic cameo appearance.

This was the first feature film with Dick Van Dyke, who was also in the stage version of Bye Bye Birdie with Paul Lynde. Van Dyke and Lynde were not happy with the way this film version was produced because of all the focus shifted to Ann-Margaret to make this film her vehicle. The 1995 made-for-TV version of the film is better at following along with the stage production than the 1963 film. In 2011, Adam Shankman, who worked on films such as Hairspray, She's All That, and Bedtime Stories, is slated to do a controversial remake of Bye Bye Birdie. Theatre fans seem very split on whether or not Shankman's version will be wonderful or completely destroy the integrity of more original versions. Bye Bye Birdie continues to have a stage reputation as it and Oklahoma! are the most commonly made high school productions.

For some history and review of the film, you can access this site dedicated to the film or this one, which discusses the history of the film and stage production. You can also read this review thanks to the House of Mirth and Movies blog. For an original trailer of the film, you can watch here. Entertainment Weekly ranked this as one of the Top 50 high school movies. You can read a series of blog entries from the ConradAskland blog on the film as well. With all of its color, dance numbers, and great songs, Bye Bye Birdie is one of my favorite musicals.