Muscle Beach Party - Cultural References

Cultural References

  • Don Rickles' character name "Jack Fanny" is based on then-popular bodybuilder and gym entrepreneur (and usually sharp-dressed) Vic Tanny. The forename "Jack" might also be a reference to another popular fitness instructor, bodybuilder, and gym-entrepreneur, Jack LaLanne.
  • Julie's remark to an angry Dee Dee, "Have you tried Miltown?" is in reference to the drug Miltown by Wallace Laboratories, a carbamate derivative used as an anxiolytic drug - it was the best-selling minor tranquilizer at the time.
  • Cappy's Place in this film (and Big Daddy's club in the preceding Beach Party) is a reference to Southern California beach coffeehouses in general and Cafe Frankenstein in particular.
  • This is the second and last time Avalon or any other "teenager" in the cast smokes cigarettes onscreen in the series - the Surgeon General's report on smoking was released on January 11, 1964, while Muscle Beach Party was being filmed.

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