Pcinemadelica Pspecial

Today's feature is an oddity. Before Dick Clark made Psych-Out, he'd pitched Freak Out USA to Paramount. Scripted by Betty Tusher, who'd work on Psych-Out, it told the story of a night on The Strip through the eyes of a nubile, innocent hippie chick runaway (a favorite theme of thinking men everywhere). Slated to helm the movie was Bob Rafelson, who'd worked on a handful of TV shows, including The Monkees. Also attached at script stage were Mamie Van Doren as "mom"; Will Geer (pre-Grandpa Walton), fresh from counter-culture cult movie The President's Analyst; Sterling Hayden - then in career slump - as "the cop", with the younger generation represented by Jack Nicholson (then filming Hell's Angels On Wheels), Marty Balin, and Louise Malone (who'd play Today in 1968's Revolution). Other roles were to be filled by Real Hippies off the street.

The movie got lost in pre-production, but Clark had already assembled the soundtrack album, and sold the package to Sidewalk. The rest is history, and history, as Randolph Hearst said, is bunk.