"The Cool Ones"

The Valley Music Theatre in Woodland Hills is seen as a music venue about a hour into "The Cool Ones" (Warner Bros., 1967). The marquee is advertising "Cliff and Hallie," the latest pop duo played by Gil Peterson and Debbie Watson.

Also featured in this very dated "uncool" rock and roll rom-com are Roddy McDowall, Phil Harris, Nita Talbot, Robert Coote, George Furth, Mrs. Miller, Glen Campbell, The Leaves and T.J. and The Fourmations. Gene Nelson directed. The cinematography was Floyd Crosby.   

 

 

 

The theatre from across the road. Well, we don't see anything of the auditorium. They cut from this to closeups of Gil and Debbie singing with a montage behind them of shots we've seen earlier.

 

 

 

Some of the entourage coming out the stage door to the limo. The two new stars have had a breakup -- he learns that sleazy music promoter Roddy McDowall had told her to engineer a romance. 

 

 

 

Some of the crowd on the ramp. 

 

 

Gil is spotted by the girls.  

 

Running for it. 

 

Debbie at the top. "Hey, wait for me. It's real -- I really do love you."

 

 

The scene ends with them reconciled in a process shot at the back of a bus. Remind you of another bus shot? This came out eight months before Mike Nichols' "The Graduate."

See the page about the Valley Music Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information and photos. It opened in 1964 and was demolished in 2006.  

On the plus side, the Sunset Tower is featured. Lots of scenes were shot in the Palm Springs area. And we get some great footage when our two stars go up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway -- and so a musical number en route! 

On IMDb: "The Cool Ones"

 

Katherine Ross and Dustin Hoffman at the back of that other bus in 1967.