One of the earliest uses of the term in print is found several times in the June 1965 issue of Mad magazine in an article written by See more

Precursors and inspiration
Although both Columbia Pictures's Gidget (1959) and Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) have been cited as … See more

American International Pictures produced a series of twelve films that fall into the genre. With the exception of Sergeant Deadhead, Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley, all were related by recurring characters. For example, much of the cast in Bikini Beach appear in … See more

All seven of the major studios of the 1960s managed to release at least one film that would later be deemed part of the 'beach party' cycle, either big-budget affairs that they produced … See more

Music geared to a teenage audience
AIP's premiere Beach Party took the Gidget idea, removed the moral lesson and the parents, added more young talent with fewer clothes, and followed the studio's usual format of pandering to teenage filmgoers … See more

Stock actors
As mentioned above, in addition to Avalon and Funicello appearing in nearly every film, AIP employed … See more

Columbia Pictures
Columbia released the mostly surf-less Gidget Goes to Rome in August 1963, and rather than copying what Beach Party had started, the studio … See more