and tina louise and ellen burnstyn, too

My dear friend Polly blogged about this a few months ago, just proving that that girl lives inside my brain.. pretty much every world she writes resonates with me. She’s the best! Buy her crafts!

The subject referred to is the film For Those Who Think Young, which is magically, mercifully on Netflix Streaming.

It is one of the verrrrry many beach blanket-style films made in 1964. However, this has got a little something extra, including Bob Denver and Paul Lynde. It took me years, pre-IMDB, to find out that this film really existed, as it existed in my brain’s version.

More specifically, that this absolutely nuts musical number really existed.

Ho Daddy!

“Ho, Daddy, Surf’s Up”. The upside down face of Bob Denver.

Ho Daddy!

A terrible screen shot of the bonkers arms-up, arms-down stomping dance, the chant of “hooooo, daddy.”

I remember this scene as a rerun on TV at the age of 4. I was already a Bob Denver fan, and the crazy dance number made me mental in the specific way that 4-year-olds can become mental. I jumped and flailed, go-go style, in the TV room in Phoenix — “Hoooo, Daddy! Hoooooo, Daddy!”

After I had it down, I ran down the hall to the kitchen and showed off my moves to my big brothers (14 and 16 at the time). “Hooo, Daddy!”

My brother Paul actually seemed impressed. “That’s pretty good.” he said. Possibly the first time I had impressed him with something unexpected and (I’m sure) completely awesome.

That moment really did stay with me. I remember loving Paul’s praise and thinking “I really can dance!” And, of course, that number, one that took so many decades to find again and finally confirm its reality.

And it all cemented my love for everything excellent, kooky and weird that is in this movie. Boy, was I on the right track!

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