Timeless surfing documentary still resonates, encouraging viewers to live a life fulfilled
By Dianna Troyer
Summer is a celebratory season for a central Idaho resident Bob Bagley, reminding him of his work on a groundbreaking, whimsical, and timeless surfing documentary, “The Endless Summer.”
“It’s a remarkable film,” said Bagley, who lives in Mackay in the Lost River Valley. “Even non-surfers who saw it told us it changed their lives and inspired them to have a spirit of adventure, to live a life fulfilled, and pursue their dreams whatever they might be.”
Nearly six decades after its worldwide distribution in 1966, the film still resonates with audiences.
“When it’s shown in small theaters and for charity benefits, audiences still sell out. Many fans say they’ve watched ‘The Endless Summer’ dozens of times over the years.”
Bagley worked as a business manager, still photographer and cinematographer on the production with Bruce Brown, a friend he had known since junior high school in southern California. Brown directed and filmed the oceanic odyssey.
“Bruce was a master storyteller with his trailblazing approach for making a documentary,” Bagley said. “To connect with his audiences, he blended action, spectacular scenery, personalized profiles of the surfers, witty personalized narration, and a whimsical musical soundtrack.”
Brown shot about 9 miles of film to chronicle renowned California surfers Robert August and Mike Hynson as they searched for the perfect wave throughout the northern and southern hemispheres, surfing in an everlasting, or endless summer in New Zealand, Tahiti, shark-filled seas of Australia, Hawaii, and Africa.
Initially, “The Endless Summer” was released in 1964 as a 90-minute 16mm lecture film with Brown narrating it.
“It was a major success and appealed to general audiences as well as surfers,” Bagley said. “After two years of sold-out showings in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia and South Africa, Brown dreamed of releasing it as a theatrical film. Executives at major studios, however, did not share his dream.”
Refusing to be discouraged, Brown spent more than a year persuading them until it was finally distributed successfully worldwide.
Timeless name and poster
Along with maintaining its appeal with audiences, “The Endless Summer” continues to have name recognition worldwide because Brown marketed licenses and branded the name.
“Amazingly it still has legs with more than 225 licenses for products like T-shirts, posters, beer, wine and even restaurants and bars,” Bagley said.
The vibrant colorful poster promoting the film was made from one of Bagley’s black-and-white photos and is equally timeless. It is exhibited as a cultural icon in several national museums.
Bagley photographed Brown, Hynson, and August holding their boards while gazing at the surf and horizon at Dana Point’s Salt Creek Beach Park about 45 miles south of Los Angeles.
“My photo was part of an advertisement for a surf wear company that provided wardrobe for Robert and Mike to wear during their worldwide expedition,” Bagley said.
A surfing magazine’s art director, John Van Hamersveld, was hired to create the poster. He used Day-Glo colors to make a golden sun, pink sky, and orange beach.
“He created a timeless masterpiece,” Bagley said.
The poster is still exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Modern History, the New York Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
50th anniversary, reminiscing about the back story
At ongoing celebrations of “The Endless Summer,” Bagley is often asked to share the backstory of how the film was made and distributed.
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of its release in 2016, the Surfing Heritage Foundation hosted a celebration in Huntington Beach, California.
“It was a wonderful reunion for all of us involved with the film,” Bagley said. “I made a video and was honored, flattered and humbled when Bruce asked me to speak about our partnership at that event and others.”
A year later in 2017, Brown died at age 80 at his home.
“Unfortunately, many individuals who were involved in the making of ‘The Endless Summer’ have passed away,” said Bagley, 88. “Our publicist Paul, Robert and I are the only ones who remain.”
In 2023, Bagley spoke on behalf of Brown at the Dana Point Film Festival honoring the film. “More than 1,200 people attended an outdoor screening of a remastered version of the film at Salt Creek, where I took the poster photo. It was great.”
Bagley recalled how his business partnership with Brown evolved from their friendship during junior high school in the Long Beach area, where they shared a love of surfing. After high school, they both served in the Navy.
Bagley joined the Naval Air Reserve, where he was trained in photography. “I’ve always loved photography and still have the Bolex camera my parents gave me for high school graduation.”
Meanwhile, Brown was assigned to a dry-docked submarine in Hawaii, where he finished his job duties in the morning and surfed afterward. Realizing he enjoyed cinematography; he began filming surfers.
After their tour of duty ended, the longtime friends eventually reunited back in California. Bagley found a job at a camera store in Huntington Beach selling equipment and taking commercial still photos. Brown worked at the shop of surfing pioneer Dale Velzy in Manhattan Beach.
To promote his business and the fledging sport of surfing, Velzy agreed to back Brown to make films about the sport. “Knowing my job experience in commercial photography and movie equipment, Bruce asked me to make a list of equipment to make the movie and convince Dale what was needed. Dale paid for the equipment and agreed to pay for five airfares to Hawaii and extremely minimal location expenses.”
Brown made popular films, “Slippery When Wet,” “Surf Crazy,” “Barefoot Adventure” and “Surfing Hollow Days.”
Encouraged by their success, Brown decided to make his best film ever and take two years to produce it. To raise sufficient funds, he compiled his previous films and made his fifth film, “Water Logged.”
“In 1963, he persuaded me to quit my job and help him. While Bruce was filming Mike and Robert around the world, he sent me to Hawaii to film the winter big wave action on the North Shore.”
Meanwhile, the surfing trio searched for waves along Africa’s coast.
“Finally at Cape St. Francis, South Africa, they found the perfect wave on Bruce’s birthday, December 1, 1963. It was a blessing and completed the film’s theme and story line… searching for and finally finding the perfect wave.”
With filming complete, it took more than six months to edit more than 50,000 feet of film to the final 90-minute movie, “The Endless Summer.”
“Although Bruce’s wife, Pat, was instrumental in the creation of this legendary film, she was not originally enthusiastic about that title, but it turned out to be a perfect name.”
Despite its successful two-year showing as a narrated movie, executives with major film distribution companies thought it was merely a niche production for surfers.
“To prove them wrong, Brown decided to show his film in Wichita, Kansas, with a large population far away from an ocean. Despite snowstorms in January 1965, it sold out for two weeks at the Sunset Theater.”
Distributors still weren’t impressed, so Brown borrowed $50,000, enlarged the film up to 35mm, created a new legal music score, rented a theater in lower Manhattan and with help of a friend, Paul Allen, promoted the film like a major studio release.
“It sold out for more than a year—57 weeks, so finally in 1966, film executives distributed it nationwide and worldwide.”
The next adventures
With the surfing film’s success, Brown and Bagley turned their cinematic sights to their new hobby of motorcycle racing. In 1970, Brown persuaded Steve McQueen, an avid racer, to make an action documentary “On Any Sunday.” It was nominated for a 1972 Academy Award for best documentary.
Gaining a reputation for making adventure films, Bagley and Brown caught the attention of film executives. ABC hired them to produce several segments of “Wide World of Sports,” including a 100-mile desert motorcycle race and the grueling Baja 1000.
“We became known as the ‘mission impossible’ production team, solving all kinds of logistical problems while filming a variety of segments for ‘Wide World of Sports’,” Bagley said. “I never went to college, but I wouldn’t trade what I learned from Brown for any college degree.”
About a decade later, Brown retired. Bagley continued his career and became a freelance producer, director, and cinematographer. He said his experiences with Brown prepared him to become a production executive and senior vice president with Trans World International (TWI), the world’s largest independent provider of sports programming.
After more than 20 years with TWI, Bagley retired, moved to Idaho and purchased a working cattle ranch.
“I eventually decided I was better suited as a producer/director than a cowboy,” he said, smiling.
Still a visual storyteller, endless memories
Since moving to Mackay in 1992, Bagley has continued his love of visual storytelling. He has produced and directed projects for upscale resorts, Idaho’s Department Tourism and a variety of infomercials and commercials for local businesses. He has also served as a Mackay City Councilman, President of Lost River Valley Arts Council and is President of Lost River Economic Development.
For Bagley, endless memories of his seven-decade friendship with Brown still linger. He treasures several mementos, including “The Endless Summer” and “On Any Sunday” posters, as well as an “American Gladiator” poster from his TWI career.
Another memento is an orange and yellow special edition “On Any Sunday” helmet, with a simple inscription from Brown – “For my Pal Bob! Aloha Bruce Brown.”
Bagley reminisces about one of Brown’s most generous gestures, referencing a database listing people’s job titles for films. In the credits for “The Endless Summer,” Bagley’s credit read Additional Photography by… and for “On Any Sunday,” Cameraman and Production Manager.
“Years after the success of both ‘The Endless Summer’ and ‘On Any Sunday,’ Brown changed my credits in the Motion Picture Database listings to a producer. That was pretty special. It shows what kind of guy he was. Without question, Bruce Brown is my most memorable character, mentor and friend.” MSN
