Untamed Youth: 1957
“Teenagers Go ROCKALYPSO Wild… UNTAMED YOUTH” started its run at the Lyric Theater on July 27. Mamie Van Doren starred in this film where “Punishment Farm for Teen-Age Cons… Makes ’em Wilder!” Miss Van Doren was by no means a teenager, but she was certainly “the girl built like a Platinum Powerhouse.” This movie is so bad that even Turner Classic Movies described it as “absolutely awful.” Van Doren sang something called “”OOBALA BABY,” a strange collaboration between Les Baxter and poor Eddie Cochran, who was in the movie. Cochran was reduced to playing air guitar with his cotton sack, singing a song called “Cotton Picken” – by Les Baxter. After a long day of picking cotton, these Hollywood rock ‘n’ rollers had lots of energy to dance and have cat fights in their underwear. On the same bill was something called “Hooked! – Pent-up Punks on a Penthouse Binge…” And they say the ’50s were so provincial.