Celeste Yarnall Movies
The only child of a Navy Commander, American actress Celeste Yarnell was given her first name because (as the actress told TV Guide in 1968) her mother thought she was "celestial." Cashing in early on her cool-blonde beauty, Yarnell was the last winner of the Miss Rheingold crown (the contest was sponsored by a New York-based brewery), a fashion model, and a bit actress in the years before she met her future husband, Sheldon Silverstein, at a Hollywood party. Silverstein became her manager and schemed to turn his new client into the next Raquel Welch by squiring her around at the Cannes Film Festival. The result was a slew of magazine cover appearances and the starring role in a British-Spanish "nudie" jungle movie titled Eve (1968), which showed Yarnell's physical attributes, if not her acting skills, to good advantage. She later appeared in Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) opposite Elvis Presley, but the bulk of Yarnell's work in the late '60s was on TV shows like It Takes a Thief, Land of the Giants, and Star Trek. Yarnell never truly got past the "This Year's Blonde" stage, and by the '70s was being featured in blood-spattered horror pictures and Philippine-made adventure quickies. Like many former starlets, Celeste Yarnell left the business for the more financially rewarding -- and less exploitative -- world of real estate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Professor Julius F. Kelp (Jerry Lewis) is an addle-brained, absent-minded chemistry instructor always incurring the wrath of the university administration by continually blowing up the classroom laboratory. The shy guy has his eyes on the student body of Stella (Stella Stevens). When a football-playing bully humiliates him, Kelp tries to concoct a chemical to help him gain physical strength and stature. The potion turns him into the handsome, hard-edged nightclub singer named Buddy Love. The mild-mannered professor's alter ego becomes a self-absorbed campus favorite at the Purple Pit, a hangout for hip cats and kittens. Stella falls for the enigmatic entertainer who wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy delivery and cool demeanor. Buddy mixes it up with the bartender (Buddy Lester), who is instructed on how to mix the latest drinks by the professor-turned-party animal. The drawback of the potion is that it wears off at the most embarrassing an inopportune times for Buddy, turning him back into the helpless Kelp. Buddy performs at the annual student dance, and while on the dais, the elixir starts to wear off. The students and staff watch in amazement as he changes back into the professor. He gives an impassioned plea that people must learn to like themselves before others can like them in return. Stella still wants to be the teacher's pet, and the two make future plans together. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, (more)
