112 - UNTAMED YOUTH (5/18/1957; NR; 80m)

a.k.a. JUVENTUD INDOMABLE (Mexico)

Ad: "Youth Turned Rock-N-Roll Wild and the Punishment Farm That Makes Them Wilder!"
Ad: "Kids gone wrong, and the Farm's disgraceful penal abuse!"
Ad: "Punishment Farm for Teenage Cons!"
Ad: "Starring the girl built like a Platinum Powerhouse!"
Ad: "Life inside a Shocking Juvenile 'Punishment' Farm!
A grant-and-grab loophole that engulfs kids gone wrong!"
Ad: "They 'Calypso'! They 'Rock'! Every Night is Talent Night in the Recreation Hall! No guards in the Recreation Hall...but these dogs aren't pets!"
Ad: "Turns a Searing Spotlight on Teen-Age 'Cons' in a House of Correction!"
Ad: "Penny--only a kid, but one guard didn't think so!
Lillibet--what she did on the outside gave her a real "in" now!
Bong--has a gone guitar and he's gone real bad!
Baby--a one-mistake girl who learns plenty!
Duke--just waiting for a break!"

Plot: Two hitchhiking teens get busted and serve time with some others on a prison farm, featuring singing, dancing and picking cotton.

Prod: Aubrey Schenck
(Robinson Crusoe on Mars; Up Periscope)
Dir: Howard W. Koch
(Girl in Black Stockings; Born Reckless)
Scr: John C. Higgins (Robinson Crusoe on Mars)
Scr: Stephen Longstreet (The Jolson Story)
Sto: Stephen Longstreet (Stallion Road; The Secret Door)
Cin: Carl Guthrie (Bedtime for Bonzo; Joy Ride; X-15)
Ed: John F Schreyer (The Girl in Black Stockings; Born Reckless)
M/U: Gordon Bau (The Omega Man; Chamber of Horrors)
ADir: Art Loel (Mr. Roberts; Chamber of Horrors)
Set: Frank Miller (Sergeant Rutledge; The Hanging Tree)
Score: Les Baxter (The Pit and the Pendulum; Muscle Beach Party)
Songs: Rolling Stone; Salamander; Go, Go Calypso; Oobala Baby (by Mamie); Cottonpicker (by Cochran)

Penny Lowe / Mamie Van Doren*
Janey Lowe / Lori Nelson
(*801-Revenge of the Creature; H01-The Day The World Ended)
Tropp / John Russell (The Fighting Coast Guard; Rio Bravo)
Bob Steele / Don Burnett (Jailhouse Rock; Tea and Sympathy)
Bong / Eddie Cochran (The Girl Can't Help It; Go, Johnny, Go!)
Judge Steele / Lurene Tuttle (811-Parts: The Clonus Horror; Psycho)
Baby / Yvonne Lime (809-I Was A Teenage Werewolf; Rainmaker)
Lillibet / Jean Carmen (Monster of Piedras Blancas; Born Reckless)
Mitch / Robert Foulk (409-The Indestructible Man; Hell on Wheels)
Duke / Wayne Taylor (Motorcycle Gang; Reform School Girl)
Ralph / Jerry Barclay (Young and Dangerous; War of the Satellites)
Landis / Glenn Dixon (Jungle Heat; Voodoo Island; The Dalton Girls)
Angelo / Keith Richards (When Worlds Collide)
Arkie / Valerie Reynolds (In the Mood)
Pinky / Wally Brown (Zombies on Broadway)
Margarita / Lucita (Speed Crazy; Miracle in the Rain)
and Michael Emmet
(*406-Attack of the Giant Leeches; 701-Night of the Blood Beast)

Classic line: "Don't hit me in the mouth again! You'll break my dental plate!"

Trivia: Born in 1933, young actress Joan Lucille Olander started work in Hollywood, after winning the Miss Palm Springs beauty contest, and getting the attention of folks at RKO Studios. She had small roles in 1950's Jet Pilot (released in 1957); 1951's Two Tickets to Broadway and Variety Footlights; and 1952's His Kind of Woman. In 1953, Joan signed with Universal-International and became MAMIE VAN DOREN, appearing in The All American and Forbidden, both starring Tony Curtis, and hoping to become the next Marilyn Monroe (or at least Jayne Mansfield) who had achieved success just a couple years earlier.

In 1954, she did a costume picture called Yankee Pasha with Jeff Chandler, and a mule-starring comedy called Francis Joins the WACs with Donald O'Connor. 1955 saw Ain't Misbehavin' with Rory Calhoun and Piper Laurie; a Western musical comedy called The Second Greatest Sex with George Nader (he'd later star in 107-ROBOT MONSTER); and Running Wild, a rock'n'roll bad girl flick with Keenan Wynn (who'd later appear in 706-LASERBLAST). In 1956, after doing another Western, Star in the Dust, Mamie and her then husband RAY ANTHONY's (co-star of 601-GIRLS TOWN) son Perry was born. She began freelancing outside U-I, and did The Girl in the Black Stockings and UNTAMED YOUTH, both directed by Howard Koch, who signed her to a new contract. Untamed Youth was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but this only increased the film's popularity. In 1957, she had a small part in Teacher's Pet, which starred Clark Gable and Doris Day. In 1958, she made an Italian movie called The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina, and a rodeo melodrama entitled Born Reckless, which was directed by Koch and co-starred Jeanne Carmen.

1959 was Mamie's biggest year: High School Confidential featured drugs, rock'n'roll and a tight sweater; Guns, Girls and Gangsters with Lee Van Cleef (our own MASTER NINJA; see 322/324) and Gerald Mohr (602-INVASION USA); Vice Raid; The Beat Generation a.k.a. The Rebel Age; The Big Operator; and 601-GIRLS TOWN, the last three directed by Charles Haas. 1960 was a prolific year for Mamie too: Sex Kittens Go to College with Tuesday Weld, John Carradine (see 320-UNEARTHLY), and Vampira (Plan 9; 411-MAGIC SWORD); the amazing Private Lives of Adam and Eve (with Mickey Rooney as the Devil snake); and College Confidential.

In the 60's, the blonde bombshell sexpot stereotype went out of vogue, replaced by the skinny British Twiggy look, so Mamie's film career nose-dived: 1961's The Blonde from Buenos Aires; 1963's Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt and The Wild, Wild West (German); 1964's The Candidate (with Ted Knight from TV's Mary Tyler Moore Show); 1966's awful Las Vegas Hillbillies and the unintentionally hilarious The Navy Vs. the Night Monsters (which featured walking trees); and 1968's Voyage to Planet of Prehistoric Women (directed by Peter Bogdanovich).

Mamie's now semi-retired from film, but has made a few like 1971's The Arizona Kid, 1986's Free Ride, and 1993's King B. You might have even seen her appearance on the 1994 MST3000 Turkey Day bumpers hosted by Adam West (see 604-ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE). You can read about her life in her autobiography "Playing the Field," a pun on the fact that she found baseball players attractive (as well as other male types).

Fans can write to The Mamie Van Doren Fan Club, 8340 Rush St., Rosemead, CA 91770-3617 or visit Mamie Van Doren's Home Page.

Last Updated: 6/20/1999

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