Now, more than half a century later, there has never been a rock & roll film that has surpassed “A Hard Day’s Night.” Not only is it a great rock movie and a great time capsule showing how insane Beatlemania was at its height, but it is simply a great movie (having made many “100 Greatest Films” lists) that influenced many subsequent filmmakers and is credited with single-handedly inventing the music video.

The next time you watch this classic, here are some things you can watch for that you might have missed before.

The kids of 1960's television went all out for Father's Day as you can see from their imaginative gifts!

Now, how many of them can you name?

ANSWER: Top Row L to R - Billy Mumy, Barry Livingston, Ron Howard / Middle Row L to R - Anissa Jones, Stanley Livingston, Johnny Whitaker / Bottom Row - Clint Howard

Most of us know about the classic movie National Velvet starring Liz Taylor and Mickey Rooney.

But how many us remember that there was a National Velvet TV series as well?

It debuted on Sunday, September 18, 1960 on NBC. It starred Lori Martin as the young horse lover Velvet Brown. Scottish actor James McCallion played the former jockey Mi Taylor who was helping Velvet groom her stallion, King, for a run in the Grand National Steeplechase.

It would have seemed that the show couldn’t miss. Young girls love horses, but apparently they loved Ed Sullivan more. He was Velvet’s competition on CBS.

Remember the Beach Party movies of the 1960’s? They were made quickly and cheaply with the barest excuse for a plot (and the barest excuse for swimsuits they could get away with in those days.

Somehow, when they decided to make one more trip to beach in 1987 with Paramount Pictures’ Back to the Beach, they made it look just as cheap and feeble as the original films!

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are the stars (natch) only instead of being “Frankie and Dee Dee” as they were called in the original series, they’re now named “Annette” and “Annette’s Husband” (no, we’re not making that up).

What little plot there is revolves around a return trip to Malibu where their grown-up daughter is “living in sin” (remember that concept?) with a new generation of surfer. Also along for the ride is their young son, who actually looks like he could be Eric Von Zipper’s kid (although Harvey Lembeck is nowhere to be found). If we were Frankie, we’d get a DNA test. Just sayin’…

© 2015 By Allen B. Ury

in some ways, TV themes provided a soundtrack to our lives even more than rock & roll. Life-long TV fan, writer and raconteur Allen Ury picks 10 themes we guarantee you'll recognize instantly! 

Remembering the Beach Party Films

Who would have ever thought that two Italians from New York City would come to represent the “summer blond” California surfing movement?

But that’s what happened when American International Pictures launched one of the most successful series of pictures with Beach Party in 1963.

Since then, the names Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are not only eternally linked to each other, but also to the whole surfing craze of the 1960’s.

Here's the lowdown on the movies that kept us entertained in the mid-1960's.

If you're a comic book fan who noticed the mention of a "Stephen Strange" in this spring's Captain America movie, you may be pleased to know that MARVEL has announced that Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC's Sherlock, Star Trek into Darkness) will play "Master of Mystical Arts," Doctor Strange in an upcoming horror-flavored Marvel film.

The film is scheduled to hit theaters November 4, 2016.

The Life & Times of Howdy Doody – Part 3

We all remember that we spent our afternoons, and later, our Saturday mornings in the 50’s with Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody, but how much do you really remember about the show itself and the strange cast of characters who kept us entertained throughout a good portion of our childhoods?

C’mon backstage because once again, it’s Howdy Doody time!

The Life & Times of Howdy Doody – Part 2

It wasn’t all smiles and squirting seltzer bottles. There were plenty of show biz squabbles behind the scenes of The Howdy Doody Show. And the first (and most important) took place barely six months into the show’s 13-year run! We’ll also tell you how a puppet was killed by a mouse.

As these photos prove, the make-up team on Back to the Future got things pretty close when it came to aging their stars (except Lea Thompson is far prettier than they made her appear).

Thomas Wilson and Crispin Glover are pretty darn close.

We'd have a Pepsi Free in their honor (if we could find one).

Okay, now here's an even more recent photo of Michael J. Fox, Thomas Wilson, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson.