In 1962, Brown came up with the story idea that would become “The Endless Summer.” His feature would focus on two young surfers traveling the globe and following the summer season while chasing down the perfect wave. It would be a fantasy come true for any surfer.

By Randal Hill
Guest Columnist

Editor’s Note: Randal C. Hill, Brandon, Ore., is a retired English teacher with a master’s degree. While attending college in Long Beach, Calif., he worked as a DJ at two radio stations. Later, he taught language arts at Fairvalley High School in Covina, Calif., where he offered “The Rock and Roll Years,” an elective fine arts class that featured invited guest speakers: Jan and Dean Bobby Vee, Freddy Cannon, to name a few. He has extensive writing credits including the first three editions of the House of Collectibles’ The Official Price Gide to Collectible Rock Records, which was reviewed on NBC’s Today show. He has done numerous personality profiles of rock and pop artists for the record-collector magazine Goldmine.

The indefatigable Bruce Brown wasn’t about to give up on his movie project. After being rebuffed by Hollywood distributors, Brown chose to throw himself wholeheartedly into getting the documentary, “The Endless Summer,” out to the general public, even though it could spell financial ruin for him.

Brown was born in San Francisco in 1938 and grew up in Long Beach. After high school, he joined the Navy and was assigned to a base in Hawaii, where he filmed fellow surfers with an 8mm movie camera. Back home in California, he became a beach lifeguard and an amateur filmmaker. Beginning in the late 1950s, he created five short 16mm surfing movies in five years, screening them later to rapt audiences at local high schools and rented halls.

In 1962, Brown came up with the story idea that would become “The Endless Summer.” His feature would focus on two young surfers traveling the globe and following the summer season while chasing down the perfect wave. It would be a fantasy come true for any surfer.

The story would star two top-notch local wave jockeys — Robert August, 18, and Mike Hynson, 20. (Both had appeared in some of Brown’s earlier works.) August had been a straight-A student body president at Huntington Beach High School; Hynson was a cocky “loose cannon” trying to stay one step ahead of his draft board.

The three departed Los Angeles in November 1963 and returned three months later after crossing the equator four times and visiting eight foreign lands. August and Hynson became surfboard makers while the moviemaker set about editing approximately 9 miles of celluloid. (Armed with a 20-pound windup 16mm camera, Brown had a meager 50 feet of film available for each shoot before having to reload.)

Roadblocks loomed large for Brown when he finished his movie. In 1964, when he approached Tinseltown movie distributors, they all but laughed in Bruce’s face. While “The Endless Summer” did feature incredible surfing scenes, Brown’s friendly, wisecracking narration and a decent instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals surf band, the distributors opined that it simply wasn’t “commercial” enough to go nationwide. But, in his heart, its creator knew his feature would appeal to surfers and non-surfers alike.

Brown took matters into his own hands, aware that this option involved a huge financial gamble. He and a partner borrowed $50,000 (about $300,000 in today’s money) to enlarge the film to 35mm. He rented a theater in landlocked Wichita, Kan., in the dead of winter. “The Endless Summer” sold out each of its showings for two straight weeks.

Movie world bean counters, however, continued to shrug their shoulders.

Brown then persuaded a Manhattan theater to give “The Endless Summer” a one-week tryout. It ran for a year, with about 20% of attendees being repeat ticket buyers. The movie was picked up for national (and, later, worldwide) distribution, eventually earning $20 million.

“The Endless Summer” became a cultural turning point and the most influential documentary ever about surfing.