John Ashley--Little Lou (1961)

     As you view this clip...notice the voice narration and the last credit before the clip goes off.

      That voice belongs to John Ashley, who also produced the show, which was by far his biggest claim to fame.

       That doesn't mean however that he wasn't a busy man. While on a vacation in California in 1956,  a friend from Oklahoma State University got him onto the set of the John Wayne  movie The Conquerer, and Wayne steered him toward a job in television in the William Castle series Men of Annapolis. A year later, Ashley was at the offices of American International Pictures to pick up his girlfriend, who was auditioning for a part in the company's Dragstrip Girl. AIP house writer Lou Rusoff saw Ashley waiting in the hall and decided the young man was the type AIP was looking for to play the male lead in the movie!! (He must have been really photogenic....)

     This began a career in the movies, but someone picked up on the fact that he had a voice as well, and for about 5 years put out singles, mostly in a rockabilly style. They went nowhere, but are of interest all the same. Ashley has had a very busy career with some TV and lots of  "B" movies. The most famous of those are the "Beach Party" movies of the early and middle 60's. (Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.). Sometimes in the mid/late 70's, he began a career as a producer and in 1983, landed the gig as producer of the A-Team. He's stayed very busy since then producing movies and television. But with a handful of singles, we remember Ashley as a singer......