Teenagers and Teenpics. The Juvenilization of American Movies in the 1950s

280 Pages·2002·1.958 MB·English

by  Thomas Doherty

T E E N A G E R S
A N D T E E N P I C S

T E E N A G E R S
A N D
T E E N P I C S
T H E J U V E N I L I Z AT I O N
O F A M E R I C A N
M O V I E S I N T H E 1 9 5 0 S
Revised and Expanded Edition
Thomas Doherty
Temple University Press
PHILADELPHIA
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 2002 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2002
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doherty, Thomas Patrick.
Teenagers and teenpics:the juvenilization of American movies in the 1950s /
Thomas Doherty.
p. cm.
Revised and expanded edition.
Filmography: p.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-56639-945-9 (cl.:alk. paper) — ISBN 1-56639-946-7 (pbk.:alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures—United States—History. 2. Motion pictures and youth—
United States. 3. Teenagers in motion pictures—United States. I. Title.
PN1993.5.U6 D53 2002
302.23′43′0973—dc21 20011052514
To Sandra

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 American Movies as a Less-than-Mass Medium 1
2 A Commercial History 13
3 The Teenage Marketplace 32
4 Rock ’n’ Roll Teenpics 54
5 Dangerous Youth 83
6 The Horror Teenpics 115
7 The Clean Teenpics 145
8 Generation after Generation of Teenpics 187
Notes 213
Selected Filmography 237
Index to Film Titles 251
General Index 259
vii

Acknowledgments
In his Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin smugly attests that he would
be happy to live the same life over again, “only asking the advantage
authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first.” In
this spirit, I have exploited what Franklin might call the present felic-
ity to polish and expand the first edition of Teenagers and Teenpics,pub-
lished in 1988 by the now-defunct Unwin and Hyman, by correcting
typos, purging mistakes, repairing syntax, and blue-penciling a few
boneheaded comments. In addition, the last chapter, which as before
tracks the permutations of the teenpic since the 1950s, has been up-
dated with ruminations on some recent trends, notably the grim legacy
of the AIDS epidemic on the teenpic genre. Otherwise, for better or
worse, the original text remains intact.
The first edition owed a great deal to a good many people, in whose
debt I remain. John Raeburn was unfailingly generous with his time
and incisive with his criticism. William Paul shared his enthusiasm and
considerable expertise. At the University of Iowa, back during the age
between punk rock and the hairspray bands, an exceptionally sharp and
humane group of teachers and friends offered encouragement: Rick
Altman, James Carey, Wayne Franklin, Rich Horwitz, Brooks Landon,
Cindy Larson, Richard Dyer MacCann, Albert Stone, Sherman Paul,
Paul Soucek, Bruce Sternfield, Michael Wall, Robin Wood, and every-
one clustered around the Bijou Theater and University Film Board,
whose repertory programming served as the informal film studies
curriculum on campus. Bruce A. Austin, Ernest Callenbach, and the
late Fred C. Clarke lent emotional and editorial support. Roger Cor-
man was kind enough to interrupt an editing session and answer ques-
tions from a flustered scholar-fan. The National Endowment for the
ix