The Lennon Sisters sang this “coming of age” song on the Lawrence Welk Show in 1956. Kathy, on the left, was thirteen going on fourteen. Peggy, on the right, was fifteen going on sixteen. Eldest sister Dianne, aka Dee Dee, was sixteen going on seventeen, and Janet was ten.
“Thirteen Going on Fourteen” hasn’t aged well, but the Lennons, being girls singing about girls, made it a cute little song. I can imagine Welk thought it was perfect for them when he heard the single recorded by the Crew Cuts. Today, a quartet of men in their mid-20’s singing about a 13-year-old girl being “a pretty little flower, ready to bloom,” comes across as rather creepy.
Written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning, what’s most interesting about “Thirteen Going on Fourteen” historically is that it predates Rodgers and Hammersteins’ “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” by three years.
The girls made Welk’s show, bringing in younger viewers he otherwise wouldn’t have had. I read Leslie’s copy of the Lennon Sisters book, “The Secret of Holiday Island.” The first tragic Lennon murder by a deranged fan was their father Bill.
On Facebook, Angela Cartwright occasionally writes about the filming of “The Sound of Music.” Nicholas Hammond is also in the movie, and I saw him at a show four years ago, while “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was still playing in theaters. When I mentioned to him that he was sitting in the same spot where Angela had been the previous year, he pulled out his phone and called her. He chuckled and said, “Angela wants to know if I’m making any money.” I laughed and said, “Tell her yes, I’m about to pay you for an autograph.” I was actually mostly interested in talking to Hammond about playing Peter Parker in the 1970’s Spider-Man TV show. He said the series was how he first connected with Tarantino. Quentin had Nicholas appear at his theater, the New Beverly Cinema, for a showing of the movie-length pilot episode.
I adored the Lennon Sisters! I had a Dell book and paper dolls. Peggy was my favorite. I had no idea the “older” ones were that young.
You probably already know that ice-blue-eyed Charmian Carr hurt her foot while leaping from bench to bench, but they left it in. I don’t think she realized it till afterward. She also had an “intetesting” relationship with Christopher Plummer during the filming.