{"id":4238,"date":"2018-04-24T16:06:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T16:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixtiescinema.com\/?p=4238"},"modified":"2018-04-24T16:06:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T16:06:16","slug":"49-years-ago-today-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/24\/49-years-ago-today-2\/","title":{"rendered":"49 Years Ago Today…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium<\/em> opened. One of a very few movies starring Suzanne Pleshette that I like (others being Rome Adventure<\/em> and The Birds<\/em>). Heard that she thought herself a bigger and more importnat movie star than she actually was. Inspired by a New Yorker<\/em> cartoon and a television documentary, the amusing film directed by Mel Stuart starred Ian McShane as a charming womanizing tour guide who shuffles a group of wacky American tourists (Pleshette, Mildred Natwick, Michael Constantine, Sandy Baron, Norman, Fell, Reva Rose, etc.) around Europe.\u00a0 Drive-In Dream Girl Hilarie Thompson was cast as the perky Shelly Ferguson (described by Thompson as being \u201ca silly little girl trying to be hip\u201d). Her parents played by Murray Hamilton and Peggy Cass bring Shelly along on their vacation to keep her from having sex with her boyfriend back home. But to their chagrin, Shelly falls for a young hippie named Bo (Luke Halpin) in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Recalling making the movie, Hilarie Thompson said in Drive-In Dream Girls<\/em><\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was complete magic but Mel Stuart was a tough director. He was very hard on poor Luke Halpin. I felt badly for Luke who was a sweet guy. I never had any trouble with tyrants so Mel and I got along fine. To be fair to Mel, he must have been going crazy traveling across Europe with a troupe of actors. Stan Margulies was the producer and he was a wonderful man.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Making If It\u2019s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium<\/em> was incredible because we filmed throughout Europe for three months. I was nineteen at the time and had not moved out of my parents\u2019 home yet. They flew me to England all by myself. We started there and went to Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Venice, and Rome. It was first class all the way and an unbelievable experience. Everybody was delightful to work with. I hung out mostly with the younger cast members but I did enjoy the older actors as well. I was particularly friendly with Sandy Baron. He was very serious and intense about his work. Marty Ingels was just having a good old time and Michael Constantine was a darling man\u2014I loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n