There’s really no room for your career to grow when you’re just one of the blonds in Hollywood that is at the bottom of the feeding chain: Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and, somewhere near the bottom, women like Eva Six. Whether they had talent or not made no difference; they were on screen to make the audience think of Marilyn on a low budget. They were bleached blonds stuffed in clothes too tight. They survived in B movies or worse. They don’t’ have cult followings. They never really parlayed their fame into riches unless they married it.
I have no idea what became of Eva Six, but she’d now be around 73 years old. Let’s hope her life turned out as she’d hoped even if fame was fleeting. It’s always sad to see someone age who believed momentary fame was going to be their golden ticket. I used to see far to many people with that blank Hollywood stare waiting for checks at the Hollywood post office.
The only site I found with any “significant” information about Eva is here. And I'm guessing Eva had nothing to do with the quote in the ad extolling the virtues of Wate-On. Call me crazy, but it's just a hunch.
(SOURCE: 'TEEN, June 1964)
Frankly, until I was looking at this ad, I wouldn’t have even remembered her. Actually I still don’t remember her, but I do remember going to see the movie that she appeared in, Bikini Beach. I remember going to see many of the Beach Party movies in the early ‘60s. Popcorn fun with a bunch of kids on a Saturday.
You’ll notice in the ad for Bikini Beach that “exciting new actress” Eva is not even listed in the credits. I’m guessing her moments on screen were fleeting, as was fame. And I’m guessing her appearance in this ad was her agents idea of promotion.
(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)
As to Wate-On, I haven’t a clue. I do recall ads that guaranteed you’d put on weight if you used their products. Boys would no longer be weaklings forced to eat sand; girls would fill out in all the right places, not the wrong places. You might as well just sell elixir from the back of a wagon and be done with it. Medical quackery is the same today as it was thousands of years ago. These days some of it’s wrapped in labels bearing the names of pharmaceutical corporations and strangely they still get “stars” to hawk the stuff to us. The same old tricks keep working over and over again. Someone signs a contract to allow their image to be used for false advertising and suckers line up to buy it. Folks, this is why education is so important. Never ever believe what an advertiser tells you. NEVER!
Click here to see another Wate-On ad featuring Eva. And here's an add without Eva.
(SOURCE: 'TEEN, September 1964)
Quick, find Eva in the trailer.
Hate to ruin this over a year later, but Eva Six did not appear in "Bikini Beach". That's why she isn't billed in the poster above. She WAS featured on the poster for the similarly titled "Operation Bikini", a surreal war movie with Frankie Avalon released in early 1963, just months before the whole "Beach Party" craze kicked off.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that Wate On ran an add that was deceptive. Oh wait, what am I saying?
DeleteThanks for the update!