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Fort Lauderdale travelblog: From Girl Happy to the Orange Bowl

Before the 2004 Sooners made the Orange Bowl, all I knew about Fort Lauderdale, I learned on “Girl Happy.”

Yep, the Elvis movie from 1965. Elvis. Shelley Fabares. Mary Ann Mobley. Gary Crosby. The great Harold Stone (Frank Nitti in “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”). Nita Talbot from Hogan’s Heroes. Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family”).

Not exactly “Citizen Kane,” but it’ll do on a Friday night when you’re 13 and ESPN was only a twinkle in your eye.

Fort Lauderdale seemed like such a cool place in the film. A bunch of art deco motels set along Fort Lauderdale Beach.