SPYWITNESS

By Joel Stratte-McClure
 
Think the late 1960s are synonymous only with Vietnam, Woodstock , free love and flower power? The children-packed audience at the premiere of “A Plumm Summer” in Westwood on Sunday got the inside scoop about another key happening: the abduction and recovery of Froggy Doo, a popular puppet on TV in Montana in 1968.
 
“It’s crazy but true that with everything going on in the country at the time the FBI sent agents to find Froggy Doo,” Henry Winkler remarked after a green-carpet cast photo with William Baldwin, Brenda Strong, Lisa Guerrero, Chris J. Kelly and Owen Pearce. “What a great way to introduce today’s kids to that zany era.”
 
“It’s a family film and parents will totally dig the retro throwback to ‘60s movies, cars, language and styles,” added Baldwin as the 52-year-old Froggy Doo marionette and Herb McAllister, his magician/ventriloquist TV partner from 1955-1977, admired green-frosted cupcakes at the Napa Valley Grille after party.
 
“The story is iconic to rural America and portrays a simpler past that many of us identify with,” said “Desperate Housewives” Strong as Tommy Thayer from Kiss strolled by. “To some Froggy Doo was a much bigger deal than Woodstock .”
 
Right on!