LOVE & KISSES was unearthed by your tireless correspondent after wracking my noggin over what to say about Rio Bravo that hadn’t been mined to Agua Verde & back by a thousand other people. Unearthing info on its co-star Ricky Nelson brought forth this sliver of fools gold from far away 1965.

Just out of high school, ‘Buzzy Pringle’ (Nelson) marries his girlfriend ‘Rosemary’ (still a Junior) stunning his parents, who are further discombobulated (in sitcom/romcom style) to have the newlyweds live with them. Buzzy’s old man ‘Jeff’ (Jack Kelly) has a birds & bees talk with his son, a last-minute Hail Mary since Buzzy and Rosemary are both virgins (duh, because it’s a 1965 comedy with Ricky Nelson). The ‘highlight’—being high is a suggestion—comes during a dream sequence where Buzzy imagines Rosemary doing a (mild) burlesque number in a strip club, and a brawl ensues. Now back to the buildup in Vietnam…

Despite Ricky’s acting, 1959’s Rio Bravo was a hit (rumor says John Wayne had something to do with it) and he went on to back Jack Lemmon in 1960’s The Wackiest Ship In The Army, which stayed afloat even with Nelson’s thespian contribution. While this was going on Ricky was still working with & for his parents on The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet, an Americana TV fixture for 14 seasons and 435 episodes. Ozzie caught a play written by Anita Rowe Block, and bought the rights, despite it having a Broadway run of just 13 performances. He produced, wrote & directed this vehicle for Rick, which came out during the last season of their show. Rick’s wife of two years, Kristen, 20, was cast as his teen bride, and Oz raided the TV troupe to toss in brother David and Skip Young (aka ‘Wally Plumstead’) as bystanders in the strip club fight.

A few years earlier Ricky had been hotter than a comet with pop classics like “Poor Little Fool”, “Travelin’ Man” and “Hello Mary Lou”. In 1960 the world held 9,000 chapters of the Ricky Nelson International Fan Club. When the Beatles invaded in ’64, Rick was one of the casualties, so Ozzie had hopes this might bring back the magic. Alas, too late and way too little: no one went, even in a year with a catbox of dodo comedies. I was/am a fan of singing Ricky (love those three songs mentioned above), so giving this (pretty bad) movie a thumbs down doesn’t make me feel like much of a pal (at “the malt shop”). *

87 minutes, with Jerry Van Dyke (UNacceptable!), Pert Kelton, Howard McNear, Barry Livingstone and Alvy Moore. The aged (don’t look at me, kid) will know that McNear, Livingstone and Moore played crucial roles in The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons and Green Acres. Jack Kelly had co-starred in Maverick. He was 38 here, dad to 25-year-old ‘teenager’ Rick. This was in the same year afflicted by Van Dyke’s legendary My Mother the Car, a one-season crash and burn: you had be there… I truly hope that someone out there takes notice of this and smiles.

*  Competing for cluelessness in 1965—John Goldfarb Please Come Home! ,The Family Jewels, Dr. Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine, Harum Scarum, McHale’s Navy Joins The Air Force, How To Stuff A Wild Bikini, Beach Blanket Bingo, Village Of The Giants, Ski Party, Sergeant Deadhead.  They ALL were seen by more people than harmless, woebegone Love & Kisses.

Ricky did blaze the trail for teen idol’s doing Duke duty: Frankie Avalon defending The Alamo, Fabian heading “way up” North To Alaska.