Film
Get Yourself a College Girl
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
A 1964 musical comedy about a sheltered music student who writes pop songs in secret, risking expulsion when her double life is discovered. It's a breezy, colorful film wrapped around a string of musical performances—think less plot and more showcase for the era's recording talent. For viewers who love the earnest charm of '60s pop culture and don't mind thin stories if the music's good.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy breezy 1960s musicals where catchy pop songs and sunny, mildly cheeky campus romps matter more than plot logic.
Skip it if you want sharp, grounded comedy or a story with real stakes, since this is light, frothy and happy to coast on its musical numbers and period gloss.
What it asks of you: Under ninety minutes, it moves briskly and stays bright throughout, so it needs only a willingness to sit back and let the songs carry the day.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Viva Las Vegas1964
Elvis and Ann-Margret ignite the screen with chemistry that carries you through a paper-thin plot about a racecar driver courting a swimming instructor. The musical numbers are effervescent and the energy never flags.
But The story is genuinely negligible—plot just happens between songs. If you need character development or emotional stakes, you'll be frustrated.

Bye Bye Birdie1963
A musical about a pop star's final concert before military service, stuffed with charm, great songs, and stellar performances from Dick Van Dyke and Ann-Margret. It's energetic, colorful, and genuinely funny in ways that hold up.
But The whole thing hinges on 1960s sensibilities about teenage culture and military service that can feel a little dated or corny to modern eyes.

The Girl Most Likely1958
A delightful musical about a young woman torn between three suitors and a career, with a dreamy Technicolor palette and excellent numbers. Jane Powell anchors it with star power and genuine warmth.
But It's deeply pre-feminist in its framing—career versus marriage is treated as an actual dilemma rather than a false choice, which grates now.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Get Yourself a College Girl
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Viva Maria!1965
Both films wrap serious subject matter (social climbing, political upheaval) in a lightweight musical comedy tone, treating potential tragedy as fodder for entertainment and charm.
Two women named Maria meet in Mexico during a revolution and become con artists, spies, and lovers of adventure. Directed by Louis Malle with Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale, it's gorgeously shot, politically rowdier, and far more sophisticated than its plot sounds.
But It's in French with subtitles, and the pacing is deliberately languid—if you're expecting the bouncy energy of American '60s musicals, you'll find something stranger and slower.

More like this (8)
The Music Man1962
A musical about a charming con man in a small Iowa town, based on the legendary stage show. Robert Preston and Shirley Jones spark off each other, and the songs are genuinely terrific.
But It's quite long and deliberately theatrical in a way that can feel stagey if you're not in the mood for that register.

Singin' in the Rain1952
Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in a Hollywood musical about adapting to talking pictures. The choreography is revelatory, the humor is sharp, and it's a stone-cold masterpiece that everyone should see.
But It's almost too famous and beloved—watching it can feel like being told something you already know you're supposed to think.

Funny Girl1968
Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in a lavish, entertaining musical with great songs and a star performance that justifies the hype. It's big and theatrical and earnest about wanting to make you feel something.
But Streisand's performance can be a lot—if you don't buy into her particular style of belting and emoting, it'll wear you out fast.

The Pleasure Seekers1964
Three American women find romance and adventure in Madrid in this light, colorful musical with Ann-Margaret and Carol Lynley. It's basically a vacation for your brain—gorgeous locations, cheerful songs, no weight whatsoever.
But The plot is gossamer-thin and the characterization minimal. You're watching this for the vibe and the music, period.

Pajama Party1964
A teenage pajama party that spirals into musical numbers and mild comic chaos, featuring Annette Funicello and a young Tommy Kirk. It's pure '60s teenage fluff with a genuine warmth underneath.
But It's deeply, aggressively of its era—the gender roles and teenage attitudes are so period-specific they might play as unintentional comedy rather than intended charm.

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini1966
A horror-comedy musical about a ghost trying to earn her wings by playing matchmaker at a beach house. It's wonderfully weird and dumb in a way that's somehow endearing, plus there are actual memorable songs.
But It's genuinely confused about what movie it wants to be—horror, comedy, and musical don't quite gel, and the tonal whiplash might frustrate rather than delight you.

Confessions of a Pop Performer1975
Both use pop music and romantic confusion as the engine for a story that's really about performance, youth, and the gap between respectable society and what people actually do for fun.
A British sex comedy about a traveling salesman navigating working-class romance and workplace chaos. Crude and energetic in a completely different way, with absurdist humor that's often clever and always unhinged.
But It's raunchy, it's male-gazey, and it leans hard into a brand of British sex comedy that aged poorly in some respects and offensively in others. Also genuinely lowbrow compared to the earnest charm of its American cousin.

The Phantom of the Opera1990
Both center on a talented young performer's secret passion that threatens to derail her proper life; both are fundamentally about the seductive power of artistry and rebellion dressed in beautiful production design.
A TV miniseries adaptation of Lloyd Webber's phenomenon, with Bill Nighy as a surprisingly tragic Phantom and decent production values. It's luxurious and self-serious in a way that lets you see what the musical meant to people who loved it.
But It's very '80s in its styling and takes itself with utmost earnestness—there's no winking at the Gothic melodrama, which can feel overwrought if you're not primed to surrender to it completely.

People
Cast
Mary Ann MobleyTeresa 'Terry' Taylor
Joan O'BrienMarge Endicott
Nancy SinatraLynne
Chris NoelSue Ann Mobley
Chad EverettGary Underwood
Willard WatermanSenator Hubert Morrison
Fabrizio MioniArmand
James MillhollinGordon- Paul ToddRay
- Donnie BrooksDonnie
- Hortense PetraDonna, the Photographer
Dorothy NeumannMartha Stone, the school dean
Directing
- Eddie SaetaAssistant Director
- Sidney MillerDirector
Writing
- Robert E. KentWriter
Production
- Robert G. StoneProducer
- Sam KatzmanProducer
- Robert G. StoneProduction Coordinator