JAMES DARREN--PICTURE SLEEVE + 45--(BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG)--PS--PIC--SLV

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Jimmy Darren* – Because They're Young James Darren - Because They're Young album cover Label: Colpix Records – CP 142 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM Country: US Released: 1960 Genre: Pop Style: Vocal A Because They're Young Arranged By – Ernie Freeman Conductor – Bob Mersey* Written-By – Schroeder*, Costa*, Gold* 2:30 B Tears In My Eyes Arranged By, Conductor – George Duning Written-By – Friend*, Nieves* 1:43
Because They're Young is a 1960 American drama film directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Dick Clark as Neil Hendry, an American high-school teacher who tries to make a difference in the lives of his students. The film co-stars Tuesday Weld, Michael Callan, Warren Berlinger, Roberta Shore, Doug McClure, Victoria Shaw, and Stephen Talbot. The screenplay was based on Harrison High, a 1959 novel by John Farris.
Musicians Duane Eddy and James Darren appear in cameo roles, and the film's title song became the biggest hit record of Eddy's career. Bobby Rydell's "Swingin' School" is featured prominently in the film's soundtrack, though Rydell does not appear in the film.
Plot When novice history teacher Neil Hendry arrives at Harrison High to undertake his first teaching assignment, he is escorted to his classroom by Joan Dietrich, the secretary to Harrison's principal, Mr. Donlan. Among Neil's students are Buddy McCalla, whose mother Frances hides her promiscuity from her son; Anne Gregor, whose sexual misstep the previous summer with incipient juvenile delinquent Griff Rimer has sullied her reputation; Ricky Summers, whose love for fellow student Jim prompts both sets of parents to warn their offspring about premarital sex; and Griff, whose leering glances at Anne disrupt Neil's class. After the first day of school, Donlan cautions Neil about becoming involved in the students' personal problems and states that all disciplinary issues will be dealt with by the principal.
Neil offers to drive Joan home, and when they stop at the market to buy groceries, she is surprised to discover that Neil's nine-year-old nephew Eric is living with him. Griff, who works at the market, is warned by Chris, the butcher, to stop stealing cigarettes because he is capable of "bigger things."
After dropping Joan off, Neil drives home, where his landlady, Mrs. Wellenberg, is taking care of Eric. When Eric proudly shows Neil, a former college football star whose career was ended by a car accident, a scrapbook of Neil's football victories assembled by Eric's late parents, Neil gruffly slams the book shut, sending Eric running to his room in tears. Neil then tells Mrs. Wellenberg that Eric's parents died in an automobile accident on the day they drove to Neil's school to watch him play, and that Eric has been living with Neil's aunt and uncle until he could finish practice teaching and set up a home for the boy. Remorseful, Neil apologizes to Eric, who tearfully hugs him.
Even though Neil has developed an aversion to football, he takes Eric to a game and asks Joan to accompany them. Afterward, Neil tells Joan about the accident, adding that he holds himself responsible because he was driving. Ever since, Neil explains, he has tried to pattern himself after his brother, an exemplary principal who was devoted to his students. However, Neil was censured as a student teacher for his involvement with his students, and consequently, the court would only give him temporary custody of Eric.
One day, Neil keeps football player Buddy after school to tutor him in history and is surprised when Buddy asks him for advice about his football plays. Neil is at first reticent, but when Buddy explains that he needs an athletic scholarship to attend college because his father walked out on the family and his mother is unable to earn enough money for tuition, Neil relents and offers to coach him.
Neil convinces the honor society committee to invite the entire student body to their annual dance, and on the night of the event, young toughs from Conway High wait outside to harass the Harrison students. When an overly amorous Jim makes sexual advances to Ricky, she recalls her parents' admonition and pushes him away. Buddy, who has been fixed up with Anne, shyly confides his difficulties with English class, prompting Anne to offer to help him. When Patcher, the leader of the Conway toughs, arrives and tries to crash the dance, Griff, a former Conway student, confronts him, and Patcher retreats. Afterward, the Harrison students view Griff with respect. After the dance, Joan criticizes Neil for disregarding Donlan's rules and giving too much of himself to his students, then confides that she was in love with an idealistic teacher like Neil who was killed by one of his students.
On the day that report cards are distributed, Griff is rewarded for his hard work with a slate of good grades. That night, he stops by Anne's house. Anne, who has been avoiding Griff, is reluctant to invite him in until he says he has been trying to change for her. Dropping her guard, Anne invites him inside. When he forces himself on her, she at first responds, but then asks him to leave. Embittered, Griff seeks out Chris and is surprised to find Patcher at Chris's apartment collecting a bundle of money from a robbery. Griff then asks to be included on the next job.
Later, Jim invites Griff to join him and Buddy for a weekend at his family's house on the lake. The date coincides with the night of Chris's planned robbery, and when Griff tries to back out, Chris insists that he follow through. On the evening of the robbery, Griff waits in the getaway truck while Chris knocks out the watchman and Patcher disables the alarm. Patcher botches the job, however, and sets off the alarm, and when the guard regains consciousness, he shoots and wounds Chris. Panicked, Griff drives off and ditches the truck, then takes refuge at Harrison High to escape the police.
Meanwhile, Jim's car breaks down on the way to the lake, forcing the boys to return home. As Buddy climbs the steps to his apartment, he hears his mother's drunken voice as she flirts with a man she picked up at a bar. Buddy, who idolizes his mother, is traumatized by her promiscuity and runs away, dropping his sweater in the hallway.
The next day, Mrs. McCalla, having discovered Buddy's discarded sweater, goes to Neil for help in finding her son. Anne, who has gone to school to rehearse for the class play, is surprised when she is approached by Buddy, who incoherently laments that his mother "is dirty." Griff then appears and charges that Anne is dirty, too. Enraged, Buddy attacks Griff and the boys fight. Neil, who has traced Buddy to the rehearsal, arrives just as Buddy pummels Griff and runs off. Afterward, Donlan summons Neil to his office, where Griff's father threatens to press charges against the school for his son's beating. To appease Rimer, Donlan suspends Neil and promises to expel Buddy.
Ricky, meanwhile, has found Anne's bloodied book on the school floor and shows it to Joan. Surmising that Anne saw the fight, Joan urges her to speak up for Buddy. Anne then breaks down, saying that the incident will further sully her reputation and ruin any chance she may have for a scholarship. Buddy, now desperate, finally goes to see Neil, and after his mother breaks down and apologizes, they reconcile. Joan then brings Anne to Neil's, and she agrees to tell Donlan the truth.
Jim, who has heard of Anne's predicament, realizes that premarital sex could have ruined his and Ricky's life and apologizes to Ricky for pressuring her. When Neil and Anne arrive at Donlan's office, they learn that Griff has already told Donlan the truth, sparing Anne her confession.
In the hallway, Patcher, who has followed Griff to the school, confronts him with a drawn switchblade. Griff runs up the stairs, and when Patcher starts to follow, Neil tries to stop him but is knocked unconscious. As the two boys fight in the biology lab, Neil revives and sounds the fire alarm, then tells Donlan to call the police. Neil finds Griff just after Patcher has stabbed him, and as Neil comforts the wounded Griff, Patcher flees into the hallway, where he is apprehended by the police. Because Neil and Donlan agree to testify on Griff's behalf, he is spared a jail sentence and placed on probation instead.
Cast Dick Clark – Neil Hendry Michael Callan – Griff Rimer Tuesday Weld – Ann Gregor Victoria Shaw – Joan Dietrich Roberta Shore – Ricky Summers Warren Berlinger – Buddy McCalla Doug McClure – Jim Linda Watkins – Frances McCalla Chris Robinson – Patcher Rudy Bond – Chris Wendell Holmes – Principal Donlan Philip Coolidge – Mr. Rimer Bart Patton – Kramer Stephen Talbot – Eric James Darren – Himself Shirley Mitchell – Mrs. Summers Duane Eddy and the Rebels – Themselves Production Original novel The novel Harrison High was published in 1959 when its author John Farris was 22.[1] He wrote it at the age of 20 while a student at the University of Missouri, and it was based on his high-school experiences in Memphis, though Harrison High is fictional.[2]
The New York Times likened the book to "an interminable adolescent bull session."[3]
Development Film rights were bought by the Drexel Film Corporation in April 1959, and Drexel arranged to make the film through Columbia. Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, signed to play the lead.[4]
Jerry Bresler, who had a multi-picture deal with Columbia, was assigned to produce and he hired James Gunn to write a script.[5] Paul Wendkos signed to direct in June.[6]
"Most pictures about teenagers are wrong," said Clark, "They are older people's concepts of how teenagers act... I doubt if there ever can be a truly honest portrayal in films. Not all girls are beautiful and all boys handsome, as they are in films... [But] the script is fairly true to life. Most teenagers are normal."[7]
The cast included several young actors under contract to Columbia, including Michael Callan. Warren Berlinger, who played Buddy McCalla, had just recently appeared in Blue Denim.
Shooting Filming started on August 12, 1959.[8] The campus and classroom scenes were shot at Hoover High School in Glendale, California.
Clark later wrote in his memoirs that making the film was "an extraordinary experience. Columbia really laid it on; they rented a house in Bel-Air owned by Mercedes McCambridge, provided a maid, a butler and a chauffeur, and gave me a hundred dollars a day in expenses."[9]

James William Ercolani (June 8, 1936 – September 2, 2024), known by his stage name James Darren, was an American television and film actor, television director, and singer. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had notable starring and supporting roles in films including Gidget (1959) and its sequels, The Gene Krupa Story (1959), All the Young Men (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Diamond Head (1962). As a teen pop singer, he achieved hit singles including "Goodbye Cruel World" in 1961. He later became more active in television, starring as Dr. Anthony Newman in the science fiction series The Time Tunnel (1966–1967). He appeared in the regular role of Officer James Corrigan in the police drama T. J. Hooker (1983–1986) and in the recurring role of Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1998–1999).
Early life James William Ercolani was born in Philadelphia, on June 8, 1936.[1][2] He was of Italian descent.[citation needed] He grew up in South Philadelphia.[3]
Darren wanted to be an actor and studied in New York City with Stella Adler for a number of years. He would also occasionally sing although he later said "I wasn't really a singer. I was a kid in Philly whose dad would take him to bars and nightclubs and I would get up and sing two songs."[4][5]
Career Darren was discovered by talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick after he got some photographs taken by Maurice Seymour to show potential agents:
His secretary, a woman by the name of Yvonne Bouvier, asked me if I was interested in getting into film. I said yeah, I was. She said I know someone you should meet. She set up a meeting between me and Joyce Selznick, who worked for Screen Gems. I went down to 1650 Broadway, the Brill Building. On my way to a meeting with Joyce, we just happened to get on the elevator at the same time. She kept staring at me. I never met her. She never met me. We got off at the same floor and walked to the same office. That was our meeting. Joyce brought me over to Columbia Pictures about a week later and got me a contract there.[6]
Columbia Columbia signed Darren to a long-term contract in July 1956. A few weeks later he was filming his first film, Rumble on the Docks (1956), a low-budget "B" movie produced by Sam Katzman, where Darren played the lead.[7][8] Darren's appearance was well received and he got a lot of fan mail – second at the studio only to Kim Novak.[8]
Darren guest starred on an episode of TV's The Web ("Kill and Run") then Columbia gave him a support role in an "A" picture,[citation needed] the comedy Operation Mad Ball (1957), starring Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs.[1]
He had support roles in two films directed by Phil Karlson: The Brothers Rico (1957), a film noir, playing the brother of Richard Conte; and Gunman's Walk (1958), a Western with Van Heflin and Tab Hunter. In between he was second billed in another movie for Katzman, The Tijuana Story (1957), although his role was relatively small.[1][additional citation(s) needed]
Gidget and singing
With Bob Hope and Jo Stafford, 1961
With Shelley Fabares in The Donna Reed Show, 1959
Evy Norlund and James Darren on their honeymoon in Rome in 1960 Darren was third billed in the surf film, Gidget (1959), starring Sandra Dee and Cliff Robertson, playing Moondoggie, essentially the film's leading man. He also sang the title track. "They were thinking about having someone do the vocal and I would lip sync", he recalled. "I told them I could do it. So we went into one of the sound stages and I sang 'Gidget'. They said, 'He sings fine,' then I did all the other songs."[1][4]
The film was a hit with teen audiences and so was the song. Darren wound up recording a string of pop hits for Colpix Records, the biggest of which was "Goodbye Cruel World" (No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[9] He also recorded this song in Italian, as "Addio Mondo Crudele", which was very successful in Europe. His follow-ups also became hits: "Her Royal Majesty" (No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962) and "Conscience" (No. 11, 1962). He is also featured in one of the Scopitone series of pop-music video jukebox films ("Because You're Mine").
Twice, in 1959 and 1961, Darren played teen idols on episodes of The Donna Reed Show.[10][11] He did an episode of The Lineup (1959).
Darren was third billed in a series of films for Columbia: The Gene Krupa Story (1959), a biopic with Sal Mineo; All the Young Men (1960), a Korean War movie with Alan Ladd and Sidney Poitier; and Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) with Burl Ives and Shelley Winters, which was a sequel to Knock On Any Door (1949). He had a cameo as himself in a teen film, Because They're Young (1960), singing the title track.
Darren had a supporting role in the World War II film The Guns of Navarone (1961), a huge hit at the box office. However, Darren later said "The people handling my career at that point didn't really take advantage of it."[12] Also popular was Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) where Darren reprised his role as Moondoggie; he had a new Gidget (Deborah Walley) and was given top billing.[1]
Darren had a good support role in a melodrama, Diamond Head (1962) with Charlton Heston.[1] He played Moondoggie a third time in Gidget Goes to Rome (1962) which he later said he "hated... I didn't want to do it. I thought that I'd be doing those for the rest of my life."[1][12] He sang the title track for Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963).
He also did voice-over work for Screen Gems' Hanna-Barbera animation unit. He was caricatured as teen idol "Jimmy Darrock" on an episode of The Flintstones, and was the singing voice of Yogi Bear in the theatrical feature, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (released 1964), on the song "Ven-e, Ven-o, Ven-a".[1][additional citation(s) needed]
Darren's seven-year contract with Columbia expired in 1963, and he did not renew it. His recording agreement with Colpix remained in force, and Colpix issued new records into 1965. That same year he changed labels, signing with Warner Bros. Records where he had a Top-40 hit ("All", No. 35, 1967).
Universal In 1963 Darren signed a seven-picture deal with Universal, starting with The Lively Set (1963).[13] That teamed him with Pamela Tiffin, who was also in For Those Who Think Young (1964), a teen film Darren made for United Artists.
Irwin Allen Darren guest-starred on an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as an Android Omar, that was produced by Irwin Allen.[citation needed] Allen then cast Darren in the lead of a series, as impulsive scientist and adventurer Tony Newman on the science fiction series The Time Tunnel (1966–1967) with Robert Colbert[1] and Lee Meriwether. When the series ended, Allen shot a pilot for a new series starring Darren, The Man from the 25th Century, but it was not picked up.[citation needed]
Darren then went to Europe to make Venus in Furs (1969)[1] for Jess Franco then was reunited with Allen in City Beneath the Sea (1971).[citation needed]
TV guest star In the 1970s, Darren performed regularly in night clubs. He focused on guest starring on TV series, such as Love, American Style; S.W.A.T.; Police Woman; Black Sheep Squadron; The Feather and Father Gang; Charlie's Angels; Police Story; Hawaii Five-O; Vegas; The Love Boat; and Fantasy Island.
He had a role in the TV movie The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975) and the film The Boss' Son (1978).
In the early 1980s Darren appeared on Scruples (1981) and One Day at a Time.
Portrait of a Legend In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Darren was the host of Portrait of a Legend, a weekly show in which he would conduct an interview with a popular musician about their career interspersed with classic performance footage of that artist. Artists who appeared included Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Sly Stone, and Herb Alpert. The show appeared mostly on PBS.[14]
TJ Hooker and directing
Darren in 2015 From 1983 to 1986 Darren had a regular role as Officer James Corrigan on the television police drama T. J. Hooker.[3]
"Every career has its hills and valleys", Darren said in 1983. "The most important thing is that you are happy with you. Not anybody's career, no one that I know of, has always been climbing. It always levels out and you want to make sure you have good investments and financial security and bread on the table. If projects aren't coming to you, then you seek them out and you try to develop and put projects together."[15]
He directed some episodes and launched a career as a director, notably of action-based series, including Hunter, The A-Team, Silk Stalkings, Renegade, and Nowhere Man, as well as dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.[16][1]
He continued to act on such shows as Raven.
Deep Space Nine In 1998, Darren achieved popularity anew as a singer through his appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the role of holographic crooner and adviser Vic Fontaine.[1] His role in Deep Space Nine inspired his return to singing.[17] Many of his vocal performances on the show were re-recorded for the album This One's from the Heart (1999).[18] The album shows Darren, a close friend of Frank Sinatra,[19] singing in the Sinatra style.[1] The 2001 follow-up Because of You showed similar inspiration from Tony Bennett.
Daren's later appearances include Random Acts (2001)[citation needed] and Lucky (2017).[