The 1964 Movie "For Those Who Think Young" -- Part 1

Filming began on the movie For Those Who Think Young on August 14, 1963 -- four days before the Houseman family arrived at Kellerman's Mountain House for their three-week vacation. Filming lasted for 18 days, until August 31 -- one day before the Housman departed.

Since the filming and the vacation coincided almost perfectly, the movie For Those Who Think Young authentically depicts many elements -- clothing, hairstyles, music, dancing, social relationships, etc. -- that should be depicted in the movie Dirty Dancing. 

The movie began playing in movie theaters in June 1964 -- about ten months after their Dirty Dancing vacation. Certainly, Lisa and Bay Houseman watched the movie while it was playing in the theaters.

======

The two main characters of For Those Who Think Young are two college students -- 20-year-old Gardner 'Ding' Pruitt III (played by the actor James Darren) and 19-year-old Sandy Palmer (played by the actress Pamela Tiffin).

"Ding" Pruitt and Sandy Palmer

The movie shows Ding and Sandy fighting the classic battle of the sexes. He is trying to seduce her into a brief sexual relationship, while she is resisting his seduction until he proposes marriage.

Sandy and "Ding"

In the Dirty Dancing movie, which takes place in the summer of 1963, Baby Houseman was 17 years old and about to begin her freshman year, and Lisa Houseman was 19 years old and (I assume) about to begin her junior year of college. So, when For Those Who Think Young was playing in the movie theaters, Baby was 18 years old, right after her freshman year, and Lisa was 20 years old, right after her junior year.

Baby and Lisa -- and their college friends -- enjoyed watching the movie's depiction of the battle of the sexes that was an important circumstance of their own, personal lives. The young women watching in the movie theaters watched and learned from the tricks and tactics that Sandy employed against Ding. Sandy wins the battle, because Ding has to propose marriage before Sandy allows any genital contact. When Ding puts an engagement ring on Sandy's finger, he still has not seen her naked and has only kissed her mouth-to-mouth.

======

Neither Ding nor Sandy have fathers when the story takes place. It seems that both fathers have died.

* Ding's mother is in the story and encourages his romances with various young women, expecting him to fall in love and settle down eventually. Ding's grandfather (his mother's father) is extremely rich and is trying to prevent Ding from getting involved with any young woman from a poor family (like Sandy).

* Sandy's father and mother have (I assume) died, and so she is being raised by two uncles (her father's brothers). Her uncles earn their livings as show-business performers. When Sandy's father was alive, he too had performed together with his two brothers (Sandy's two uncles). Since Sandy's two uncles are struggling to earn their livings in show-business, they want her to graduate from college so that she can enter a reliable professional career. The two uncles worry that Sandy might fall in love and become pregnant too young (perhaps like Sandy's mother) before she graduates.

Neither Ding nor Sandy are controlled by parental guidance, advice or disapproval. Ding's mother does not criticize his sexual promiscuity; she simply expects his promiscuity to end well for him.

======

Sandy's two uncles -- Uncle Sid (played by the actor Paul Lynde) and Uncle Woody (played by the actor Woody Woodbury) -- are unmarried and live nomadic, show-business lives. Uncle Sid seems to be homosexual. Uncle Woody tells jokes that mock romance and marriage. Uncle Sid and Uncle Woody live together in an apartment near the college that Sandy is attending.

Uncle Sid and Uncle Woody

Uncle Sid and Uncle Woody are failing professionally, because the kind of music that they perform is no longer popular. They feel compelled to continue their act, however, in order to continue to support Sandy at least until she graduates from college. Just as they are about to be fired from the nightclub where they perform, Uncle Woody develops a comic act that soon attracts many customers to the nightclub, thus extending their employment at the nightclub.

The career struggles of her two aging, show-business uncles demonstrate to Sandy that she needs to get a good college education and then begin a reliable professional career.

(It seems that Uncle Sid and Uncle Woody eventually purchase the nightclub, changing its name from The Silver Palms to Surf's Up. However, this purchase is not explained. I think some key dialogue about the purchase was eliminated when the movie was edited.)

======

On the other hand, the romantic struggles of two professional women in the story demonstrate to Sandy that she needs to find and marry a financially comfortable man while she still is in a marriageable age.

1) Dr. Pauline Swenson (played by the actress Ellen Burstyn) teaches sociology at the Ocean Crest College, which Sandy attends. Even though Dr. Swenson is rather beautiful, she seems destined to end up as an old maid. She is prudish and rejects Uncle Woody's flirting toward her. She volunteers to investigate whether the nightclub is serving alcohol to college students who are younger than the legal drinking age of 21.

Dr. Swenson and Ding's grandfather
at a meeting of the college's Board of Directors

2) Topaz McQueen (played by the actress Tina Louise) has earned a college degree in mathematics. Because she is a woman, however, the only mathematics employment she can get is giving private tutoring lessons to college students who are struggling in their math courses. However, Topaz earns most of her living by performing burlesque dances in the nightclub.

Topaz getting ready to tutor a college student for his math course

Topaz and Uncle Sid between acts at the nightclub

Topaz doing a burlesque dance
at the nightclub

======

Therefore, Sandy's dilemma is that she must ...

* graduate from college so that she does not end up like her uncles

* get married young so that she does not end up like Swenson or Topaz

The movie shows the young women in the movie theaters -- such as Baby and Lisa Houseman -- how Sandy cleverly manages to avoid all those sad fates. Sandy succeeds in her life by winning the battle of the sexes against Ding. Even though she frustrates his seduction attempts, he proposes marriage to her and agrees to her condition that they will not marry until after she graduates from college. Because he is extremely rich, she will be able to raise a family at home instead of beginning a professional career right away.

I will continue this article in Part 2.

======