Author & pop-culture sage Tom Lisanti tells me it's not Luree Holmes. Further confirmation comes from watching "Pajama Party", where Luree Holmes has a more prominent role ("Perfume Girl") and she's clearly not our Dancing Blonde.
I went through Beach Party's imdb cast list, and -- by process of elimination -- came up with the following possibilities:
Ashlyn Martin / Laura Lynn https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/laura-lynn-aka-ashlyn-martin/
Donna Russell
Laura Nicholson https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/laura-nicholson/
Lorrie Summers / Lorie Summers https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/lorie-summers/
Marlo Baers
Pam Colbert https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/pam-colbert/ *
Susan Yardley https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/susan-yardley/ **
Valora Noland https://beachmovies.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/valora-noland/ https://24femmespersecond.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/valora-noland-with-a-camera/
The photos in the beachmovies.wordpress.com entries referenced above are all I can find on the web (i.e., these girls -- except Valora Noland -- were on the fringes of the industry). Although lots of these girls are blond, none of them seems to be the right shade of blond (Frankie's Favorite -- aka the blue-striped-shirt-brown-pants girl -- is platinum blond). Nor do any of their faces seem to be a good match for her.
Baers & Russell remain possibilities, but I suspect that, with no speaking lines, Frankie's Favorite isn't in the cast list at all, but was strictly a dancer, of the variety that you'd have seen go-go dancing in the background on The T.A.M.I. Show, Hullabaloo, Shindig, The Hollywood Palace, etc.,
* This photo is NOT her. Watch Gidget episode 1.1 "Dear Diary - Et Al." (free on YouTube as of this writing), Pam is the girl with (short blond hair & a green bikini emerging from behind a surfboard at 13:35.
** Susan is the blond girl w/ a yellow sleeveless blouse in the 1st scene of Gidget episode 1.20 "Ego-a-Go-Go".
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hockeyhrs
9 years ago
Ned Wynn (Keenan's son, and a frequent "Beach Boy" in these movies) says
"They used to bring in beauty contest winners, often from other states. The role would be part of the winners prizes. Try Miss Georgia (or other states) from the early 60's. This girl looks like one of those."
I checked Miss Georgia's from 1961 & 1962 & 1963, but they don't match.
I did stumble across the 1961 MISS UNIVERSE, Marlene Schmidt (Germany), and she is a very distinct possibility (http://missosology.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=183251) . . . . but would they really give that role to a foreigner (in a quintessentially American movie) . . . . and would she (or any other beauty contest winner) really waste time on such a small role if it weren't billed (so she could use it as a jumping off point for bigger & better things)?
This beauty pageant winner angle doesn't make sense the more I think of it.
But let's thank Ned Wynn for at least replying with some thoughts on the matter.
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