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When The Boys Meet The Girls was originally a stage play and made into a movie in 1932, but has more in common with the 1943 remake starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. This 1965 version stars Harve Presnell (Fargo) as a rich playboy who has to change schools to avoid marrying one of his many girlfriends, who insists he proposed to her. When he arrives at his new school he is smitten by the local postmaster (Connie Francis) and helps save her ranch from being sold to pay for her father's gambling debts.
A good chunk of the songs in the film are the original songs written for the play by George and Ira Gershwin, with Peter Noone singing one of them "Bidin' My Time" and Louis Armstrong reprising "I Got Rhythm" at the end of the movie. There are a few other songs written especially for the movie that are sung by Connie Francis and Harve Presnell, and they also handle most of the other Gershwin numbers. The special musical stars all have their own songs. Herman's Hermits sing "Listen People", Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs perform "Monkey See Monkey Do", and Louis Armstrong sings "Throw It Out Of Your Mind", Liberace does one of his own compositions "Aruba Liberace". In an uncredited performance, The Standells can be seen in the background of one scene playing "It's All In Your Mind".
All the musical guests are good and it's worth watching the movie just for them. Peter Noone even has a small part as a college student. I especially enjoyed Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs, although what a shame that their performance was interrupted at times with part of the storyline.
When I first ran across When The Boys Meet The Girls and
saw the line-up of the special musical stars: Herman's Hermits,
Liberace, Louis Armstrong, and Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, I knew I
had to get a copy and thought this would be a blast. To my chagrin, it
turned out to be more of an old school musical (there's one scene that
could be right out of Seven Brides For Seven Brothers) than it did any type of "beach party" or "teen" film. While I'll never watch When The Boys Meet The Girls again, it's still worth checking out if you haven't seen it, especially if you're a fan of Connie Francis or any of the other musicians in the film.
I always thought of Herman's Hermits as a light-weight pop group with some pretty good tunes and was really expecting to be entertained by Hold On. Since the lads always seemed a pleasant bunch, I thought the movie would be along the lines of some of the other British Invasion era movies I have watched (Ferry Across The Mersey, Help!, The Ghost Goes Gear). Guess I was wrong!
Herman's Hermits have come to the U.S. because the kids of American astronauts have chosen to name the next space flight after The Hermits. NASA thinks the world will think the U.S. is still some sort of English colony and sends one of their scientists (Herbert Anderson of Dennis The Menace fame) to keep an eye on the group....I know the preceding plot line doesn't make any more sense when written out, than it did when I watched the film. At the same time an actress (Sue Ann Langdon), wanting to boost her career, has set out to be photographed with The Hermits.
Hold On turned out to be a terrible movie with the songs (most written by P.F. Sloan) performed by Herman's Hermits being the only reason to watch this dud of a film. The movie is filled with awful jokes which all fall flat regardless of who is delivering them. Topping everything off are two goofy fantasy sequences in the movie. One with Peter Noone as a lovelorn Knight on a beach, and if that sounds odd, it's nothing compared to the second one: An outer space fantasy, in which Peter Noone sits inside a rocket while the other members float outside playing their instruments. (All of the other members of the group are dressed as astronauts except one, who is an angel....WTF!) During this segment the group sings "Leaning On A Lamppost", a song which would have been super easy to insert into the film with Herman actually leaning on a lamppost singing to his love interest in Hold On, Shelley Fabares (who also sings one song "Make Me Happy" in the movie).
Maybe I expected too much from Hold On, after all it was produced by famed B movie producer Sam Katzman, who had done similar bad movies based around musical acts as far back as the 1950's (Rock Around The Clock, Don't Knock The Rock). Katzman understood plot wasn't all that important to the fans who would be more interested in seeing Herman's Hermits on the big screen than the storyline. It probably didn't help matters that Hold On was written by 44 year old Robert E. Kent and directed by 78 year old Arthur Lubin. I would recommend Hold On only for fans of Herman's Hermits. If you're a fan of 1960's British Invasion movies, you would do better to look elsewhere.
