I’m goin’ to Surf City to find ‘Jan and Dean’

January 15, 2011   ·   1 Comments

By Dale M. King

My wife got me the perfect present for Christmas – a CD of songs by Jan and Dean, the popular 1960s-era duo who gained fame by latching on to the musical fads of that era – surfing, fast driving and dating just the right girl.  They and the Beach Boys shared much in common – both sang the same type of songs, they hailed from the same area of California and their music featured a signature falsetto voice. (In the case of J&D, it was Dean.)

I have lately bombarded my wife with Jan and Dean trivia to the point that if I even mention their names, I get “the look.”  And I immediately shut up.

But there are things about these two guys that I think are important to even the young people of today. (So, honey, if you’re reading this, you’d better stop right here.)

First, it was with some degree of pride that I noticed the Beach Boys are going to be performing at the Hard Rock Casino.  That’s great.  Surfin’ music still rules.

So why, you might ask, am I harping on Jan and Dean?  Well, my wife and I were browsing through a thrift store a few months ago when I found an old VHS copy of movie called “Dead man’s Curve.” It’s actually a made-for-TV film from 1978 that tells the story of Jan Berry and Dean Torrance – and I actually remember seeing it years ago.

The title of the film, which is actually the name of a Jan and Dean song, tells the grim story of a couple of hot rod kids – one in a Corvette, the other in a Jaguar XKE – who challenge each other to a drag race along a section of California highway that ends at a place called Dead man’s Curve – an actual location, so I’m told. In the song, the driver of the XKE is apparently killed, and Jan, in a shaky voice, tells an attending doctor, “I’ll never forget that horrible night.”

Well, apparently he did forget it, because in April of 1966, Jan Berry smashed his Corvette into the back of a parked truck on a road located about two miles from Dead man’s Curve.  Berry suffered severe head and body injuries that left him practically brain dead and paralyzed on the right side.  The movie tells the dramatic story of how medical personnel and his girlfriend spent a half-dozen years nursing him back to health.  And while he and Dean did manage to perform again (that’s the film’s climax) sometime around 1973, he never fully recovered and died at age 62 in 2004.  Dean Torrance, who is now about 70, is still alive and spends his time around Huntington Beach, Calif., a surfin’ Mecca made famous in the song, “Surfin’ Safari.” (“In Huntington and Malibu, they’re shooting the pier….”)

Actually, that’s not the point of this column.  (Judy, if you are reading this, you’d REALLY better stop now.)  Among the many Jan and Dean songs that resurfaced in the move – and are on the CD – is one called “Sidewalk Surfin.’”  The tune was actually a lift from the Beach Boys’ song, “Catch a Wave,” but Jan and Dean adapted the words to refer to skateboarding.  (“Grab your board and go sidewalk surfin’ with me,” the song starts).

It occurred to me that sidewalk surfing – or skateboarding, if you will – lives on today, more than 40 years after Jan and Dean stopped recording.  I see kids skateboarding through the neighborhood. There’s a skateboard park in Boca Raton, for example. And who can forget the skateboard that Marty McFly carried with him constantly in the film, “Back to the Future?”

Check out YouTube and you can actually see old films of Jan and Dean, who incorporated skateboarding into their act.

I think Jan and Dean should be commended for promoting the sport.  I can’t think of any other song that idolizes skateboarding as much as theirs. I think that everyone who rides a skateboard should remember the pair who double-handedly turned sidewalk surfin’ into a worldwide recreational phenomenon.

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