The Psychedelic Free Love Era Captured by Ewa Aulin in CANDY

And what a cast: MARLON BRANDO, RINGO STARR, JAMES COBURN, RICHARD BURTON, WALTER MATTHAU, ANITA PALLENBERG, JOHN ASTIN! If you have a LSD flashback- hey, you knew what you were taking! Don't blame us

In 1966, when there were a lot less TV channels, MISS TEEN INTERNATIONAL was won by 16 year old Ewa Aulin in an internationally broadcast pagent. All over the world she became an instant sensation. Magazines and newspapers begged for articles, she did her first film DON JUAN IN SICILY and that film had lines around the block to see it. The Hays code was finished in the U.S., the age of consent in Europe was 14 and the free love era was peaking. The pill had given women the power to have sex without fear of pregnancy and sex hit the world as if it had never existed before. For a few years women had sex the way men did, for fun and pleasure.

Here is a rare photo of Ewa passing on her crown at the age of 17 and already a sex symbol in Europe from her movies. She is the one rolling her eyes upwards.

Europe was inclusive when it came to the drug and sex scene. All ages were swept in- young and old. In America that was not the case. Vietnam and the draft divided generations in the states and that wouldn’t change until the disco era. CANDY was embraced by all Europe, but in the states only the young went to see it.

Buck Henry wrote the script, you know him for THE GRADUATE and GET SMART. I got to spend a day with him when researching my first play THE BETTY PAGE STORY

Buck had known Bettie in the 1950’s and since at the time of my play her whereabouts were still unknown he graciously talked to me about her. I had never done a play before but he took out time to help.

The script was based on a notorious best seller by Terry Southern that had shocked the world. No one actually thought it could ever be made into a film.

CANDY today I believe is the most under-rated movie of the 1960’s. CANDY captured a moment in 1968 and is very much a psychedelic classic. Ewa retired from acting at the age of 24, she had never really wanted to be an actress, married a rich Baron and became a schoolteacher. Watch CANDY here:

Behind the paywall: DEATH LAID AN EGG aka PLUCKED

This was her psychedelic giallo thriller, about a mutant chicken. It too, is a product of its times. It has about 10 minutes of giallo trailers before the movie begins.