Senior Prom
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
David Lowell Rich
Jill Corey
Paul Hampton
Jimmie Komack
Barbara Bostock
Tom Laughlin
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
College student Tom Harper and his band are hired to fill in for bandleader Les Elgart during the intermission at a fraternity party. At the party, Tom incurs the ire of spoiled fraternity boy Carter Breed III when Carter's girl friend, Gay Sherridan, becomes smitten with the towheaded Tom. Tom shyly confides to Gay, who comes from a wealthy family, that he is on scholarship and must work after classes to pay for his education, prompting Gay to suggest that he take up singing as a career. After Tom and Gay make a date to attend an upcoming campus concert, the jealous Carter pays Elgart to play without an intermission, thus insuring that Tom's band will be dismissed. Later, Flip, Gay's irreverent tomboy sorority sister, announces that she has become engaged to Dog, the bass player in Tom's band. Flip, Dog, Gay and Tom attend the concert together, and afterward, Flip warns Gay that she is becoming "too serious" about Tom. At the beach one afternoon, Gay and Tom declare their love for each other, and when Gay returns home to the sorority house, Flip teases her for acting "dreamy-eyed." Later, during a planning meeting for the senior prom, Flip suggests hiring Tom and his band to perform. Immediately objecting, Carter promises to deliver renowned nightclub performers Keely Smith and Louis Prima instead. After the meeting ends, Gay invites Carter home to discuss the show, and as they go for a swim at the Sherridan estate, Carter makes a pass at Gay, but she resists. At poolside, Gay's mother and Carter's stepmother encourage their children's romance. On her twentieth birthday, Gay has a pool party at which she plays a record that Tom recorded the previous year. After Carter maliciously breaks the disc, Gay opens her presents and discovers that Carter has given her an engagement ring. Nonplussed by Carter's sudden proposal, Gay tells him that she does not love him. Smarting over Gay's rejection, Carter accuses Tom of courting Gay for her money. The party ends abruptly when Carter and Tom start a fistfight and tumble into the pool. Some time later, while playing golf with his father, Carter asks for his help in recruiting Prima and Smith to perform at the senior prom. Carter's father refuses and lectures his son about accepting responsibility for his actions. Tom, depressed that he has not seen Gay since the party, fails his biology test. Concerned about his friend's state of mind, Dog encourages Gay to reconcile with Tom. When Tom calls to arrange a meeting with Gay, Mrs. Sherridan objects to her daughter dating Tom because of his inability to offer her financial security. Nevertheless, Gay agrees to meet Tom at the beach to discuss their seemingly hopeless situation. While they are talking, they are surprised to hear Tom's record played over the car radio. After the record becomes a hit, Tom is booked on The Ed Sullivan Show on which Sullivan presents him with a gold record. Tom's success makes Mrs. Sherridan reconsider his prospects as a son-in-law. When the party planning council convenes before the prom, Carter shamefacedly admits that he was unable to convince Prima and Smith to play. Tom then volunteers to asks his new show business friends to perform. As a result, Bob Crosby, Freddy Martin, Mitch Miller, Connee Boswell, Toni Arden and Louis Prima and Keely Smith perform at the senior prom.
Director
David Lowell Rich
Cast
Jill Corey
Paul Hampton
Jimmie Komack
Barbara Bostock
Tom Laughlin
Frieda Inescort
Louis Prima
Keely Smith
Sam Botera And The Witnesses
Selene Walters
Francis De Sales
Peggy Moffitt
Ed Sullivan
Mitch Miller
Connee Boswell
Bob Crosby
Toni Arden
Freddy Martin And His Orchestra
José Melis
Les Elgart
Howard Miller
Al Renetsky
Howard Banchik
Art Gilbert
Brok Hansen
Patrick Colby
Dack Windsor
Susan Adams
Shari Robinson
Ken Fairbanks
Jimmy Murphy
Gene Nash
Cecile Rogers
Kaye Elhardt
Carol Byron
Della Sharman
Kay Deibel
Linne Ahlstrand
Leoda Richards
Joyce Terry
Anne Whitfield
Elaine Conte
Jody Saunders
Tim Lyon
Trent Dollar
Crew
Van Alexander
Carl Anderson
Harold Arlen
Otis Blackwell
Al Clark
Sidney Clifford
Lambert Day
E. Decurtis
B. G. Desylva
Jack Elliott
Doris Fisher
Don Gohman
Gil Grau
Hal Hackady
Hal Hackady
Fred Jackman [jr.]
Fred Karger
Herbert Kenwith
Ted Koehler
John Livadary
Johnny Mercer
Irving Moore
Bill Mure
Lee Pockriss
Lew Quadling
Allan Roberts
Harry Romm
Morris Stoloff
Peter Udell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Onscreen credits feature the following written acknowledgment: "Scenes at Cabrillo Beach through courtesy of California Department of Natural Resources Division of Beach and Parks." The film opens with an offscreen narrator extolling the virtues of the university and discussing the extracurricular activities of its students. According to a May 1958 Hollywood Reporter news item, dancer, choreographer Carol Haney was originally slated to star. A Hollywood Reporter production chart placed John Alderman in the cast, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.
Although Keely Smith and Louis Prima's onscreen credit reads "First Feature Motion Picture Appearance," Smith had previously appeared in Thunder Road (see below), and Prima had appeared in several films, as either himself or as a bandleader. According to an August 1958 Hollywood Reporter news item, Smith and Prima's performance was filmed at the lounge of the Las Vegas Sahara Hotel. In the film, however, their performance supposedly takes place at the senior prom.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1959
Released in United States 1959
