Surfing was still a strange and exotic art in 1961, when Mike Nader, Duane King, and Larry Shaw escaped their troubled homes for the beach at Malibu. Becoming acolytes to the dashing, lawless Miki Dora, the three boys found themselves at the crest of a craze sparked by one of the girl surfers on the scene, whose father wrote the novel Gidget about her obsession. Sheila Weller revisits an underground culture of big waves and wild times, which ended in a blaze of Hollywood decadence, drugs, and death.
- 2/7/2011
- Vanity Fair
Surfing filmmaker Bud Browne has died at his home in San Luis Obispo, California. He was 69.
A former Venice Beach lifeguard, Browne was dubbed `the father of surf films' after capturing the sport's top names in action in the 1950s.
His Hawaiian Surfing Movies is a cult film for surfing enthusiasts.
Between 1953 and 1964, Browne released a new surf film each year - filmed mostly in Hawaii and Australia. These included Cat on a Hot Foam Board and Gun Ho! and captured icons like Miki Dora, Dewey Weber and Gerry Lopez in action.
The director also developed equipment which revolutionised surf movies.
His films and fearless techniques inspired surf movie's great moviemakers, including The Endless Summer's Bruce Brown, who paid tribute to his mentor in the Los Angeles Times.
He says, "It was a big deal to go to Bud's movies and to see if you were in it."...
A former Venice Beach lifeguard, Browne was dubbed `the father of surf films' after capturing the sport's top names in action in the 1950s.
His Hawaiian Surfing Movies is a cult film for surfing enthusiasts.
Between 1953 and 1964, Browne released a new surf film each year - filmed mostly in Hawaii and Australia. These included Cat on a Hot Foam Board and Gun Ho! and captured icons like Miki Dora, Dewey Weber and Gerry Lopez in action.
The director also developed equipment which revolutionised surf movies.
His films and fearless techniques inspired surf movie's great moviemakers, including The Endless Summer's Bruce Brown, who paid tribute to his mentor in the Los Angeles Times.
He says, "It was a big deal to go to Bud's movies and to see if you were in it."...
- 7/29/2008
- WENN
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