The 1964 Movie "For Those Who Think Young" -- Part 8

Following Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7

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The movie For Those Who Think Young was filmed in August 1963 and was released in movie theaters in June 1964.  In the middle of that interval -- in January 1964 -- the Beatles began performing in the USA.

(Click on the images to enlarge them.)

The Beatles preparing for The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964

The Beatles' long hair caused much discussion in the public. Many people said that the Beatles' hair made them look feminine. Their hair was, however, the only unconventional feature of their appearance.

The movie For Those Who Think Young, filmed in 1963, demonstrates the grooming and clothing of college students a few months before the Beatles arrived. The males visited barber shops often and applied hair dressing if necessary to control their hair. The females groomed their hair elaborately, often decorating it with ribbons. College students dressed up for dates, parties and other social events.

College students Sandy and Ding
dressed for a birthday party in his apartment

Musicians performing for a college crowd in the nightclub

Male college students watching the show in the nightclub

A male college students wearing a suit and tie
for an ice-cream-eating contest

The careful clothing and grooming of college students is seen throughout the movie.

More generally, male behavior is distinguished from female behavior. The central social conflict in this movie is whether college students should drink alcohol. The movie warns that men might use alcohol to seduce women, and so women should avoid drinking it. Women should limit themselves to soft drinks, such as Pepsi.

Men are supposed to pressure women to advance their sexual interaction. Women tolerate and even enjoy such pressure. Boys will be boys! The girls are supposed to resist and yield -- thus to control the progress.

Ding tricks Sandy into coming to his apartment on a false pretense that he will be hosting a birthday party with many guests. She is not offended. She accepts his trickery as a challenge to test and outsmart him in their sexual game.

Sandy does not fear that Ding will overpower her while she is alone with him in his apartment. Rather, she fears that she might be persuaded to drink alcohol and thus lose her own control of their sexual interaction.

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By wearing their hair too long and shaggy, the Beatles did not communicate femininity. Rather, ironically, they communicated their flouting of sexual conventions. They communicated that they might violate the going-steady rules that restrained males. The Beatles were exciting bad boys who might sexually pressure good girls beyond the social norms.

Instead of using alcohol, the long-haired Beatles' seduction methods would be fun-loving enthusiasm, exuberance and artistry.

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The movie For Those Who Think Young was filmed and released on the eve of a cultural revolution. Just three years after the movie was released, the Beatles looked like this:

The Beatles in 1967

In the USA, the cultural revolution had been sparked by Negro college students protesting against racial discrimination. The Negro protests became an inspiration for Caucasian protests against the Vietnam War.

The sexual revolution followed. Young women completed their higher educations with intentions to pursue professional careers. Marriage ages became later and later. Middle-age women divorced their husbands. The going-steady rules are replaced largely by sexual adventure.

In the Houseman family, the older sister Lisa continued in the conventional lifestyle, whereas the younger sister Baby joined the cultural revolution -- in particular, the sexual revolution.

By means of hair,clothing and preferred music, a young person communicated his attitude toward the cultural revolution during the latter years of the 1960s

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One character in the movie For Those Who Think Young is a harbinger of the imminent cultural revolution. This unique character is Kelp, played by the actor Bob Denver.

Kelp and Karen dancing in the nightclub

While the other young men dancing in the nightclub are clean-cut and dressed in jackets and ties, Kelp is wearing a beard and a casual shirt. Kelp does not attend college; he is drifting happily and lazily through life. He goofs around with a young woman, Karen, but does not intend to get involved ever in a permanent romantic relationship with her or with any other woman.

The 1964 movie audience knew the actor Bob Denver in his television role as Maynard G. Krebs in the series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.  That television role and this movie role were essentially the same character, which was called a "beatnik". The character was amusing, happy-go-lucky and non-conforming.

Karen uses her cosmetics to paint Kelp's face, and then he clownishly sings goofy songs while the normal college students dance.

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This is the conclusion of this series about the movie For Those Who Think Young.

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The first episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

broadcast in September 1959