The 1964 Movie "Get Yourself a College Girl"

The 1964 movie Get Yourself a College Girl revolves around an imaginary Wyndham College for Women. It's likely that Lisa and Baby Houseman and many of their college classmates watched and enjoyed the movie. In general, the movie appealed to all "college girls". The movie portrays their fashions, musical tastes, dance styles, sexual attitudes and senses of humor.

The movie's heroine is Theresa "Terry Taylor", a student at Wyndham College for Women, half way through her senior year. She and her classmates are about 21 years old, which was the voting age in the early 1960s. This voting age is relevant because the movie ends with all these female college students joining a political election campaign.

The character Terry is played by the actress Mary Ann Mobley, who was Miss America 1959 and was about 26 years old when the movie was filmed. (Jennifer Grey was likewise about 26 when Dirty Dancing was filmed.)

Mary Ann Mobley, Miss America 1959

The movie character Terry has paid her way through college by writing popular songs anonymously. She has earned a lot of money by writing a hit song titled "Help Stamp Out Men", which the movie audience never hears. Now in her senior year she has written and recorded a new song titled "Get Yourself a College Girl", which is likely to become another hit. The movie audience does see her perform this song in a local nightclub shortly before the college's Christmas vacation.

Get yourself a college girl --
How happy you will be.

A college girl knows how to love --
How to live and how to love.
So, brother, take advantage of
Her new philosophy.

Psychoanalytically,
She's not too complex.
She knows all from A to Z
Regarding S-E-X.

S-E-X spells sex.
There is no romantic trick
She has not employed.
Tantalized or analyzed,
She's been at home, with pride,
With good old Siggy Freud.

Get yourself a college girl,
A well-read Book of Knowledge girl.
She's the Woman of the World,
She's fun and fancy-free.

Hear ye, fellow college girls:
To yourself be true.
We can do most anything
Most any man can do.

Let's not whistle in the dark.
It's time that we ignite the spark.
And, girls, I'll be your Joan of Arc
Who shows the world we're free.
Come on and follow me.

The students at Wyndham College for Women must keep their sexual desires secret from the college's administration. An early scene of the movie shows students in a ballet class. As soon as an administrator leaves the room, Terry puts on a pop-music recording, and all the girls dance the twist. The movie includes many dance scenes, in all of which the characters dance in this twist style.

The movie's plot is dopey to the max. The college administrators discover that Terry has been writing and performing sexy songs that might ruin the college's reputation. The administrators are about to expel her, even though she is only a few months away from graduation. However, because Christmas vacation is about to begin, the administrators decide to reserve their final judgment until after the vacation.

In the meantime, a female teacher -- who has defended Terry -- agrees to chaperon Terry and a couple other students during the Christmas vacation. All those students promise the administrators that they will not have anything to do with any men during that vacation.

For the Christmas vacation, the chaperoning teacher, Terry and the other couple of students go to a ski resort. Despite the promise, one of those students -- a character named Lynn, played by ultra-cute Nancy Sinatra -- meets there with her long-distance secret husband, and then they stay in their hotel room and make love during the entire vacation.

The chaperoning teacher, Terry and the other student -- named Sue Ann -- continue with their resolve to avoid interactions with men during the entire vacation. In their hotel room, Sue Ann puts on a bikini and prances around. She is seen doing so by some men outside who happen look into the room through the room's window.

It turns out that a male character named Gary Underwood -- played by the ultra-handsome actor Chad Everett -- is producing Terry's new record and has come to the resort in order to get her permission to put a sexy picture of herself on the record's cover. Terry angrily refuses to grant Garry such permission.

Therefore, Gary decides to compose a false picture for the record cover. He will obtain a photograph of Terry's head and also a photograph of Sue Ann's bikini-clad body. Then a painter will use the two photographs to paint a picture that seems to show Terry wearing a bikini. Then Gary will put this false picture on the cover of Terry's recording of her song "Get Yourself a College Girl". Gary expects that the sexy picture will help him sell more copies of the record.

Even though Terry does not know about Gary's plot to make this false picture, she avoids interacting with him, because of her promise to her college's administrators. Nevertheless, Terry does become better acquainted with Gary following a skiing accident. Soon they fall in love with each other.

In a subplot, one of the college administrators has come to the same ski resort. Through a silly series of events, he ultimately decides to defend Terry and prevent her expulsion from the college.

In gratitude for this administrator's defense of Terry, all of the college's students help him to win re-election to the state senate.

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The movie portrays primarily the students, teachers and administrators of a women's college in the early 1960s. We can see their cultured grooming, clothing and conduct.

We can see also what kind of music the girls liked and how they danced socially. You will see mostly two kinds of music:

1) The Dave Clark Five, The Animals and other such tame versions of The Beatles

2) Stan Getz, The Jimmy Smith Trio and other such smooth-jazz performers

All of the dancing is either the twist or else slow dancing to smooth jazz.

In this movie you will not see any music or dancing that is similar to the music and dancing in the movie Dirty Dancing, which takes place in 1963, the year when Get Yourself a College Girl was filmed.

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The movie gave me the impression that college girls wanted to feel confident in their sexuality and looked forward to sexual pleasure with male partners. That attitude is expressed in the movie's title song and is portrayed by the behavior of Lynn and Sue Ann at the ski resort. Lynn spends all her time making love with her  secret husband, and Sue Ann prances around in her bikini in order to attract men.

The movie's heroine Terry portrays a well-educated, ambitious young woman who is able to control her own sexual conduct. Although she writes and records sexy songs, she does so modestly. She refuses to pose for a sexy picture for her new record's cover. Complying with a promise to her college administrators, she does try to avoid interactions with men -- until a skiing accident makes her better acquainted with Gary. When Terry subsequently does become romantic with Gary, their interaction remains innocently playful.

Terry's combination of sexual enthusiasm and sexual self-control make her a role model for college girls -- such as Lisa and Baby Houseman and their classmates -- who watched the movie in 1964.