I recently rewatched Bye Bye Birdie, the 1963 movie starring a 22 year-old Ann-Margret playing a 16 year-old teenager (and yes, she pulls it off, magnificently). She starred along with a strong cast including Dick Van Dyke (in his first movie role), Janet Leigh, Maureen Stapleton, Paul Lynde and Ed Sullivan – because the climax of the comedy-musical takes place on the The Ed Sullivan Show, of course.
If you think this movie sounds dated, you need to reacquaint yourself with it by borrowing the DVD from your local library (it’s there) and see it again. It is the ultimate time capsule into America in the 1960s before Nixon and during the JFK era, before it all went dark with the assassination that jolted our idealism. Because of its timing, arriving right before the Beatles, it captures America’s innocence of the postwar era just before Vietnam began taking up more and more of the headlines.
And best of all, it’s about Elvis Presley being drafted by the U.S. Army and how it affected teenagers back in the 60s. Except it is not Elvis Presley. Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, reportedly did not want his most famous client making a movie about a character based on himself. So in the original 1960 musical written for the stage by Michael Stewart, the Elvis character’s name was changed to Conrad Birdie.
You watch the opening scene of Bye Bye Birdie and a young Ann-Margret stands alone facing the camera to sing the theme song, Bye Bye Birdie. We’re not yet sure who Birdie is or why she is singing to him. It is a very innocent and youthful plea. But then, as the story gets told and sorted out in typical musical format, it works. It’s intriguing. It’s great!
Listen to the same song bookended at the end of the movie as the credits roll and you see it is a very different performance by Ann-Margret. This is no longer a heartbroken teenager singing to the camera and to us. This is someone who now sings as a woman who realizes she has power! She has sex appeal and her performance is a lot sexier as she belts out the song. It’s tougher, it’s grittier and she no longer seems heartbroken about Birdie leaving her and all the other teenage girls of America for the U.S. Army. She is defiantly sending him away. She no longer needs him or his charisma or his fame. Instead, she has learned that with her looks and her wiles, she has power and the confidence to select the right man. And in the movie, that is Bobby Rydell who, in a fit of jealousy, climbs onto the Ed Sullivan stage and promptly knocks out Birdie (Elvis) with a single punch to the jaw.
So, Ann-Margret’s character, Kim McAfee, is no longer so innocent or gullible or dependent. Now she is confident and realizes who she is or who she is capable of becoming. It’s fun to watch because with all the taboos in making a family movie back in 1963, everything had to be relatively innocent.
According to Josh Larsen, film critic, “Ann-Margret makes one thing clear every second she’s on screen in Bye Bye Birdie: no matter how hokey, forcibly madcap, or just plain dumb the material gets, she’s coming out of this thing a star.”
If you saw the movie as a kid, you need to rewatch it, Why? Because you forgot about it and it is worth a second look this many years later. But there are certain touchstones we cannot forget about – A Hard Day’s Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Raging Bull, Close Encounters, Taxi Driver, I could go on. No, I am not putting Bye Bye Birdie in the same league with these movies. But it is an insight into seeing the America that predated all the auteurs/directors of the New Hollywood era of the late 60s and 70s. Yes, we did lose our innocence and tougher and more realistic movies were being produced as the independent film era began in earnest.
A day after I rewatched Bye Bye Birdie, I happened to watch an old DVD of the Best of Dean Martin Show. To my surprise, Ann-Margret was featured a few times on his show which ran from 1965 to 1974. Their singing duets are a joy to watch and they share a special chemistry even though she was 29 and he was 53 at the time.
Ann-Margret Olsson! What a gem! America’s sweetheart, she was born in Sweden in 1941. She came here and everyone knows (wink-wink) she was among those to bed Elvis when they filmed Viva Las Vegas in 1964.
Partly due to her being viewed as a singer and entertainer and not as much as a serious actress, she did not always get the prime roles that were going to newer and up-and-coming actresses by the late 60s and early 70s: by this point, she was considered a 60s actress. She continued to alternate between TV show appearances, “Ann-Margret Specials” but she has been appearing in movies or TV ever since. In recent years she has appeared in CSI, Ray Donovan and The Kominsky Method starring Alan Arkin and Michael Douglas. She has been active for 61 years on stage, in TV and in the movies.
But what I love about her is she is one of those un-Americans who comes over here and teaches us all what Americanism is all about. Not about the immigrant experience: but about the way she assimilates and becomes more American than many of us!
She has a long history of supporting our troops and making them feel special through her performances with the USO. Even today, she is still vocal about veterans benefits and reminding us to remember those who served. When I googled Ann-Margret veterans, there were so many accounts and pictures of her speaking out about our fallen troops and those who served dating back to her first appearances with Bob Hope back in the 1960s.
Ann-Marget’s filmography includes:
Pocketful of Miracles
State Fair
Viva Las Vegas
The Cincinnati Kid
Carnal Knowledge
Tommy
The Villain
The Train Robbers
Middle Age Crazy
Grumpy Old Men
Any Given Sunday
And many more for a total of 56 movies
She was the surprise in her 20th film, Carnal Knowledge as she played the key, pivotal role of Bobbie, Jack Nicholson’s mystery lover; it earned her the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress.
According to Wikipedia, she has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards, winning in 2010 for a guest role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
At 82, she still looks great; in fact, she has released a new recording, Born To Be Wild. It includes a collaboration with Pete Townshend of the Who. He wrote, “Being offered the opportunity to work with Ann-Margret…was just too romantic to pass. Ann-Margret’s work on the Tommy movie back in 1974…was a joy from beginning to end. Her sonorous voice, her Scandinavian beauty, her sense of humour, her stamina and her strength all shone through.”
Ann-Margret’s response? “Reading the quote from my dear friend Pete Townshend brought back such great memories.” Other guest musicians on the new album include Joe Perry, Sonny Landreth, Steve Cropper, The Oak Ridge Boys, Paul Shaffer, Rick Wakeman, Robben Ford and the Fuzztones.
Not bad for the kid from Sweden who came over to America and took on some great roles in American cinema. Still rockin’ it. Yeah.
Chris Ebel
7/18/23
Photo credit: Last.fm