When Fort Lauderdale launched a thousand bikinis: A ‘Where the Boys Are’ quiz

“Where the Boys Are,” the spring break movie that launched a thousand bikinis on Fort Lauderdale beach, is being celebrated on its 60th anniversary with a photography exhibit at the Galleria mall.

The display, which will be up through Jan. 3, offers 40 enlarged, never-before-shown pictures from the 1960 filming, curated from the collection of History Fort Lauderdale.

This isn’t dusty “history book” history, but rather a look back at the making of a film Time magazine called “a corny, phony, raucous outburst of fraternity humor, sorority sex talk and house-mother homilies that nevertheless warms two hours of winter with a travel-poster panorama of fresh young faces, firm young bodies and good old Florida sunshine.”

The fun-sun-sex-freedom themes of “Where the Boys Are” continue to define Fort Lauderdale, for better or worse. Let’s just call it a draw.

To get you in the mood, here’s a short true-false quiz to see how much you know about the film that introduced Fort Lauderdale as a magnet for the nation’s sex-crazed co-eds.

We put an emphasis on local stars, including Parkland’s Connie Francis (who sang the hit title song), Palm Beach County ex George Hamilton and, of course, the Elbo Room.

1) “Where the Boys Are” star Connie Francis was one of the top selling pop singers of the 1960s, with No. 1 hits including “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.” True or false: Connie Francis, of Parkland, has more Top 10 hits than Ariana Grande, of Boca Raton.

2) Dolores Hart played the provocative, self-proclaimed Backseat Bingo champion Merritt Andrews in “Where the Boys Are.” (Sample lines: Merritt: “What’s your shoe size?” TV Thompson: “13” Merritt: “Get in the car!”) True or false: Less than three years after the premiere of the film, Hart became a nun.

3) “WTBA” star George Hamilton is the only famous sex symbol to attend Palm Beach High School.

4) The son of one of Hollywood’s all-time leading men makes his screen debut in the film.

5) Hamilton’s leading role as Dracula in the 1979 horror spoof “Love at First Bite” is the most famous bat on any resume among the “WTBA” cast.

6) Hamilton’s co-star in “Love at First Bite,” Richard Benjamin, also has a connection to “Where the Boys Are.”

7) Connie Francis saw “WTBA” at its Dec. 21, 1960, world-premiere screening, which took place at the Classic Gateway Theatre in Fort Lauderdale.

8) Francis is honored with a sidewalk plaque in the Fort Lauderdale Walk of Fame at A1A and Las Olas Boulevard, the location of many scenes in “Where the Boys Are.”

9) The Elbo Room bar was at A1A and Las Olas when George Hamilton was born.

Answers

1) False. Grande has 18 Top 10 hits, Francis 15. 2) True. 3) False. Burt Reynolds also attended Palm Beach High School, as did Chris Noel, an actor and popular pin-up famous for her appearances with soldiers in Vietnam. 4) True. Sadly the scenes of Sean Flynn, son of Errol Flynn, were edited down to a walk-through showing him in a blue Xavier University sweatshirt. 5) False. Frank Gorshin went on to star as the Riddler on the TV series “Batman.” 6) True. Benjamin has been married to Paula Prentiss for nearly 60 years. 7) False. Francis first saw “Where the Boys Are” at the Gateway 20 years later, in 1981, with her son, who had never seen it. 8) True. 9) True. The Elbo Room opened in 1938, the year before Hamilton was born.

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