The Private Lives of Adam and Eve

Last updated
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
Privatelivesadameve.JPG
Directed by Mickey Rooney
Albert Zugsmith
Written by Robert Hill
Based onstory by George Kennett
Produced byRed Doff
executive
Albert Zugsmith
Starring Mickey Rooney
Mamie Van Doren
Fay Spain
Mel Tormé
Martin Milner
Tuesday Weld
Cecil Kellaway
Paul Anka
Cinematography Philip H. Lathrop
Edited byEddie Broussard
Music by Van Alexander
Production
companies
Albert Zugsmith Productions
Fryman Enterprises
Famous Players
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • January 20, 1960 (1960-01-20)(United States)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Private Lives of Adam and Eve is a 1960 Spectacolor comedy film starring Mickey Rooney (who also co-directed), and Mamie Van Doren. It is an American B-movie in which the plot revolves around a modern couple who dream that they are Adam and Eve. Others of their acquaintance assume the roles of various characters from the Book of Genesis during the fantasy sequences.

Contents

Plot

A bus heading toward Reno, Nevada, is being driven by Doc Bayles, whose passengers include a traveling salesman (Hal Sanders) and a runaway teen (Vangie Harper).

Feuding couples begin boarding. A waitress, Evie Simms, wants to go to Reno to divorce her husband Ad, having caught him kissing Lil Lewis, a neighbor. Lil wants a divorce from her own husband, casino boss Nick Lewis, who tries to catch up to the bus in a broken-down car belonging to Pinkie Parker, a beatnik.

A jealous Nick commandeers the bus when Doc briefly gets off and then inadvertently drives Ad off a cliff, nearly killing him. When a raging storm heads everyone's way, they take shelter in a church. Ad and Evie fall asleep and seem to have the same dream, that they are in the original Garden of Eden, facing temptations from the Devil that could affect the future of all mankind.

When they wake up, the storm has passed. The travelers pair off, Ad with Evie, and Lil with Nick, and Vangie with Pinkie, to see where the road takes them next.

Cast

Production

In July 1957, Albert Zugsmith announced he would make a film about Adam and Eve as part of a multi-picture deal he had at MGM. George Peck was reported as working on the script. [1] It was then reported that Richard Matheson would write a script based on a treatment by Robert Smith. [2] Its working title was Flesh and the Devil. [3]

The movie wound up not being made at MGM. It was a co-production between Famous Artists, the company of Albert Zugsmith, and Fryman, the company of Mickey Rooney and Red Doff; Universal distributed. Filming started on 7 July 1959. [4]

Auditions were held for the seven dancers in the film. African American dancer Barbara Walden was the selected. She was told, however, that during the dance scenes she could not touch Rooney. [5] Later, it was noted one of Walden’s dance scenes was so “torrid” in the final film that it was cut from the US version, but kept for the European markets. [6]

Shooting was temporarily suspended when Rooney came down with German measles. [7] Shooting finished in August. [8]

"I pick my titles to get 'em into theatres", said Zugsmith. "Thousands of exhibitors say amen to that." [9]

Paul Anka released the title song as a single. [10]

Release

Universal planned to premiere the film simultaneously in all towns in the United States called "Paradise". However this was abandoned when it was discovered that there were only nine such towns; eight had a population of less than 500 and only two had movie theatres. [11]

The National Legion of Decency gave the film a "Class C" or "condemned" rating, saying it was "blasphemous and sacrilegious" and resorts to "indecencies and pornography" that are "blatant violations of Judeo-Christian standards of modesty and decency." [12]

The film was released nationally on 11 January 1961. [13]

The Los Angeles Times said the cast was "professional" but that the script wasn't "too bright ... an unpleasant combination of scraps of professional piety and masses of suggestive buffoonery." [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Love Finds Andy Hardy</i> 1938 film by George B. Seitz

Love Finds Andy Hardy is a 1938 American romantic comedy film that tells the story of a teenage boy who becomes entangled with three different girls all at the same time. It stars Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford, Mary Howard and Gene Reynolds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mickey Rooney</span> American actor (1920–2014)

Mickey Rooney was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era. He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career ultimately marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized the mainstream United States self-image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Stack</span> American actor (1919–2003)

Robert Stack was an American actor and television host. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Captain Rex Kramer in Airplane! (1980).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamie Van Doren</span> American actress (born 1931)

Mamie Van Doren is an American actress, singer, model, and sex symbol who rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. A blonde bombshell, she is one of the "Three M's" along with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, who were friends and contemporaries. In 1953, Van Doren, then named Joan Lucille Olander, signed a seven-year contract with Universal, which hoped that she would be their version of Monroe. During her time at Universal, she starred in teen dramas, exploitation films, musical, and comedy films among other genres. She has married five times, and had intimate affairs with many other Hollywood actors. She was one of the leading sex symbols in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvette Mimieux</span> American actress (1942–2022)

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was an American film and television actress who was a major star of the 1960s and 1970s. Her breakout role was in The Time Machine (1960). She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards during her acting career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Beth Hughes</span> American actress

Mary Elizabeth Hughes was an American film, television, and stage actress best known for her roles in B movies.

<i>How to Stuff a Wild Bikini</i> 1965 film by William Asher

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 Pathécolor beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie was directed by William Asher and features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams. It was written by Asher and Leo Townsend. The film features a brief appearance by Frankie Avalon and includes Buster Keaton in one of his last roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Burke</span> American actor (1908–1984)

Walter Lawrence Burke was an American character actor of stage, film, and television whose career in entertainment spanned over a half century. Although he was a native of New York, Burke's Irish ancestry often led to his being cast in roles as an Irishman or Englishman. His small stature and distinctive voice and face also made him easily recognizable to audiences even when he was performing in minor supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael O'Shea (actor)</span> American actor (1906–1973)

Edward Francis Michael Patrick Joseph O'Shea was an American actor, who appeared on the stage, in feature films, and television in a career that spanned between the 1940s and early 1970s. He also was a comedian, musician, band leader, and performed on radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Zugsmith</span> Director, producer and screenwriter (1910–1993)

Albert Zugsmith was an American film producer, film director and screenwriter who specialized in low-budget exploitation films through the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>High School Confidential!</i> (film) 1958 film by Jack Arnold

High School Confidential! is a 1958 American crime drama film directed by Jack Arnold, starring Mamie Van Doren, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, Jackie Coogan, Diane Jergens and Michael Landon.

<i>Baby Face Nelson</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Don Siegel

Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 American film noir crime film based on the real-life 1930s gangster, directed by Don Siegel, co-written by Daniel Mainwaring—who also wrote the screenplay for Siegel's 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers—and starring Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon as Dillinger, Anthony Caruso, Jack Elam, John Hoyt and Elisha Cook Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Alexander</span> American musician

Van Alexander was an American bandleader, arranger, and composer.

<i>Strike Up the Band</i> (film) 1940 American musical film by Busby Berkeley

Strike Up the Band is a 1940 American musical film produced by the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by Busby Berkeley and stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, in the second of a series of musicals they co-starred in, after Babes in Arms, all directed by Berkeley. The story written for the 1927 stage musical Strike Up the Band, and its successful 1930 Broadway revision, bear no resemblance to this film, aside from the title song.

<i>Sex Kittens Go to College</i> 1960 film by Albert Zugsmith

Sex Kittens Go to College is a 1960 American comedy film by Allied Artists Pictures, produced and directed by Albert Zugsmith and starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld and Mijanou Bardot. The film was also released in its European print with an additional nine-minute dream sequence showcasing the robot Thinko with four striptease dancers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Miller (actor)</span> American actor, director and songwriter

Sidney L. Miller was an American actor, director and songwriter.

<i>Killer McCoy</i> 1947 American film about a boxer directed by Roy Rowland

Killer McCoy is a 1947 American sports drama film about a boxer starring Mickey Rooney. It is a remake of The Crowd Roars (1938). The picture was directed by Roy Rowland with a supporting cast featuring Brian Donlevy, Ann Blyth, James Dunn, Tom Tully, and Sam Levene.

<i>Platinum High School</i> 1960 film

Platinum High School is a 1960 American crime drama romance film directed by Charles Haas and starring Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore and Dan Duryea. It was based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Irving Shulman.

Stella Garcia is an American actress who appeared in the films The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, Change of Habit, The Last Movie, and Joe Kidd.

Barbara Walden founded one of the first American cosmetic companies offering products for Black women to be sold in major department stores. She was inspired to create these cosmetics after discovering a lack of suitable makeup during her Hollywood dancing and acting career.

References

  1. Schallert, Edwin (June 25, 1957). "Adam and Eve Will Get Film Attention; Cram Option Deal Reported". Los Angeles Times. p. 25.
  2. "U.-I. WILL REMAKE 'IMITATION OF LIFE': Plan Film Based on Fannie Hurst Book—Gladys Cooper in Separate Tables Virginia Mayo in Westernwork=The". New York Times. 11 July 1957. p. 20.
  3. A. H. Weiler (1 June 1958). "PASSING PICTURE SCENE: Robert Ruark's Well at Ras Daga – Two for Miss Gellhorn – Addenda". The New York Times. p. X5.
  4. Scheuer, Philip K. (June 5, 1959). "Rooney to Rejoin Albert Zugsmith: 'Platinum High School' Vehicle; Trade Paper Raps High Prices". Los Angeles Times. p. A9.
  5. Taylor, Angela (14 Jul 1978). "She Shares Beauty Secrets with Blacks". Intelligencer Journal (PA). p. 19. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  6. Bacon, James (29 Dec 1959). "Hollywood Bares More for Export". Enterprise-Journal (McComb, MS). p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
  7. "Hit by Measles". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 12, 1959. p. 8.
  8. Scheuer, Philip K. (Aug 30, 1959). "MASS VS. CLASS: Sordid Films Mar Art's New Freedom Fast-Buck Boys Hurting Industry". Los Angeles Times. p. E1.
  9. "Entertainment: "Zugsmith Success Story Is Unusual"". Los Angeles Times. Nov 28, 1959. p. 12.
  10. Ryon, Art. (Mar 4, 1960). "HAM ON RYON: Around Town on the Tellertype". Los Angeles Times. p. B5.
  11. "Paradise Lost". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Jan 10, 1960. p. H9.
  12. "U-I FILM 'CONDEMNED': ' Private Lives of Adam and Eve' Hit by Catholic Unit". New York Times. Mar 3, 1960. p. 26.
  13. "'Adam, Eve' Will Arrive". Los Angeles Times. Jan 7, 1961. p. B2.
  14. Stinson, Charles (Jan 14, 1961). "Genesis Burlesqued in 'Adam and Eve'". Los Angeles Times. p. B7.