Teen Idols and Exploitation movies were synonymous with each other in the 1950's. Something about Rock n' Roll and mixed up youth had wild appeal for the mass market, or at least the marketing departments of movie studios who were seeing a precipitous drop in attendance for traditional movies.
Paul Anka, riding the crest of a very popular wave in the 1950's as a singer-songwriter, got his feet wet in film via an MGM project called Girls Town, which starred sex-bomb Mamie van Doren heading a cast which included the likes of Mel Torme` and Cathy Crosby.
Anka wrote the film's title theme as well as including two songs, one being Lonely Boy which Anka plugged via this interview done by MGM to promote the film.
A slice of history which became part of the backbone of our culture from the 1950's on. But on July 24, 1959 when this Promotional Radio program aired, it was still reasonably new and youth was still the object of derision.
How times have changed . . . .or not.
