Wednesday, June 26, 2019

FOR SINGLES ONLY - "...it's party time 24 hours a day!" (1968)

 Tonight's Weirdo Wednesday feature is just that! Something I rarely do is present you with movies I have not even seen myself, but I stumbled on this madcap lightweight sex romp called "For Singles Only," and decided it needs to be acknowledged on these pages for a couple of reasons!

First reason is "For Singles Only" had a lot of odd 60's music in it, and I'm pretty sure this manic video of The Lewis and Clarke Expedition called "Destination Unknown" will attest to that fact!
That's Texans Michael Martin Murphey as Travis Lewis, and Owen Castleman as Boomer Clarke! In 1968 Owen Castleman invented a device called the 'Palm Pedal,' that allowed guitar players to execute pedal steel-style string bends.
 
Another band performing a silly novelty song in this film was The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I didn't know until just now that singer/songwriter Jackson Browne was an original member of the band for the first few months before pursuing his very lucrative solo career!


Nominated for various awards in the 80's and the 90's, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band finally won a Grammy in 2004 for "Best Country Instrumental" with added players Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Jerry Douglas, and Vassar Clements!

Brazilian Pianist and organist Walter Wanderley and his trio also perform a couple of songs in the film. Walter had a #26 hit tune in 1966 called "Summer Samba!" The song "Kee Ka Roo" is used in this movie, but I think this version with Luiz Henrique is the same, but different!


The great vibraphone player Cal Tjader, who was also known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician, is also in this movie! It's not in this film, but one of my favourite Cal Tjader songs is "Soul Sauce" that peaked at # 88 in 1965!

The last of the bands in this movie was the pop rock group known as The Sunshine Company. I bought this LP new when it came out, but I never liked it much, because even though it might look like it would have psychedelic overtones, in my opinion it was just disappointing soft rock drivel!

Here's a great pair, Mary Ann Mobley and John Saxon! Miss Mississippi 1958 and Miss America 1959, Mary Ann had the unfortunate distinction of being originally chosen but dropped as both "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E." and Batgirl! She passed away in 2014.
The good news is John (Blood Beast From Outer Space) Saxon is still around and working today!

 The other stars are Lana (Diamonds Are Forever) Wood, and Peter Mark (Agent For H.A.R.M.) Richman. Lana and Mark are still both alive, and she's still acting, but he hasn't done anything since 2016!

 It's funny what one comma can do or not do. In this direct quote about the movie's story line from IMDB, it says "Anne and Helen move into a California apartment complex for single only where all the occupants are looking to hook up with Milton Berle as the building manager."
Even though I haven't seen the movie, I don't really think they were there to hook up with Milton Berle, but that would have probably been interesting!

I'd like to see "For Singles Only" but I'm not really willing to pony up the $20.00+ the DVD's are going for, but from the looks of that poster, I think probably the best part was the musical performances anyway, but if I find it streaming somewhere some day for free, I'm always up for a good party!

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