Wouldn't most of you teenagers have loved to have traded places with me as I spent an afternoon at Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica watching Herman and his Hermits on the set of their feature-length movie There's No Place Like Space.
      Producer San Katzman, who used Herman's Hermits first in the picture, When The Boys Meet The Girls, with Connie Francis and Harv Presnell, has built this movie entirely around the group. He's having the boys play themselves.
      Pretty Shelley Fabares, who was Elvis Presley's leading lady in MGM's Girl Happy, provides the romantic spark in young Herman's life when he and his Hermits arrive in Los Angeles in advance of a concert at the Rose Bowl.
      Herman and the Hermits meet Shelley, who persuades them to entertain at a society garden party given by her mother, Hortense Petri, who actually is Mrs. Sam Katzman. The climax comes when some 200 teenagers crash the party. And believe it or not kids, they actually got paid for it.
      During a break in the shooting, I chatted with Herman, Derek Leckenby, Karl Green, Keith Hopwood and Barry Whitwam. In a year these boys have turned out five hit singles and two top-selling albums for MGM records. They hope to have a new hit in "I Got A Feeling" a song which is a highlight of the picture.
      The boys are all much younger than The Beatles, all 17 or 18. All come from Manchester, England, and all still live with their parents.
      I asked Karl Green, "Are any of the boys engaged to be married?"
      "No," he laughed, "we are so busy and we move around so much that we don't even have time to go steady."
      Next I talked to Peter, or rather Herman, who didn't quite agree with Karl about the impossibility of steady dating.
      "I have about three special girls, whom I see a lot of," he confided.
      "Do you enjoy turning actor in this film and playing yourself?" I asked.
      "I'm not really playing myself," he laughed. "I wouldn't do a lot of things that I do in this picture. For instance, I'd never sing directly to a girl, one of those 'I Love You, Darling' numbers."
      "Why not?" I asked.
      Herman grinned sheepishly. "I'd be too embarrassed," he answered.
      I asked Herman what kind of films When The Boys Meet The Girls and There's No Place Like Space were and was he planning to go into acting rather than singing?
      Herman explained: "These films are not the usual 'pop' films which, to me anyway, are the scourge of the earth. I hate them. Appearing in those films is no achievement. I'd like to go on doing films, although I have no definite ambition to be a movie singer, actor or comedian. I'd just like to do parts which suit me and do them well.
      Herman is a big success here in the U.S. but in his native England he has not had the same kind of luck. "We would really love to be as big a success here (Britain) as we have been in the States," he says.
      He is not very much interested in money, although he says he is not adverse to making money. "It's just personal satisfaction I'm really after. I admit that I was a fool at first with money on all sorts of mad things."
      However his outlook on money has since changed. "Now I'm much more careful with money. I take a great deal of interest in percentages, investments, and bank rates, etc."
      I don't know whether it was planned or just happened but Herman has projected a sort of "little boy" image here in America contrary to his "image" in England. Herman told me that in England "they won't put up with it" so in his homeland he has to drop his little boy image. But once he finds himself Stateside again the little boy in him pours forth.
      As always when one interviews the Hermits, the subject of girls manages to come up. All five of the boys agree that American girls are more friendly than their English counterparts. But since they have to return to England, the boys rather timidly admit that English girls are more sophisticated than American girls.
      In addition to girls Herman has several things which is currently mad about. The first of these is the color red. Herman just loves it and everything that he buys seems to be of the color red.
      The other things that Herman is fond of are the huge number of fans and especially those who scream and yell at the personal appearances of the Hermits.
      American and British television differ considerably and during the course of their career the Hermits have had much opportunity to sample both. Herman guested on the Danny Kaye Show, Ed Sullivan and hosted Hullabaloo among others. When I asked their favorite American TV show, Herman thought for a moment and answered: "The commercials."
      How does Herman feel about being named one of England's ten best-dressed men?
      "Everybody laughed at me," he replied.

      Would Herman like to live in America?
      "No, because there are too many fights," he answered. "Actually I love my home in England too much."
      Does he have a favorite American performer?
      "Yes, Elvis Presley. When we were doing a concert in Hawaii I got to meet Elvis who was there at the time making his movie, Hawaiian Paradise." He then confidentally predicted: "I think I can become a better actor than Elvis."
      As I wrote earlier, Herman can drop his little boy image at will and he did when he sounded off with some comments which no doubt will make some people's hair stand on end.
      The first thing Herman finds wrong is the condition of the English "pop" scene. "All our good groups are leaving the country because it's such a sick scene. In England to earn 300 pounds a night you have to travel miles around. But here in America I have earned as much as 8,000 pounds in one night. So why shouldn't I come to America? Nothing much is happening in England.
      "Look at The Kinks for example. They started fantastically well but they're just another group now with a 100 yard sprint to catch up to the Big Two - The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
      "We're just a group, so why shouldn't we go to America where we are an English group?
      Does Herman have a solution for this so called "sick scene" in England?
      "We need something new, something as big as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. They are the kings of the theaters and Georgie Fame is the king of the clubs. As for The Byrds, we've got many groups as good as them. They're just a second-hand Rolling Stones."
      The Hermits achieved their popularity with today's screamers in the relatively short time of a year, although they strummed, drummed and wailed alongside The Beatles and other British groups before the current craze grabbed teenagers.
      "We came along at just the right time," declares Peter (Herman). "We were the right age and we recorded just the right kind of songs to appeal to people in our age bracket. I call them singalong songs."
      The Hermits' first hit record was released in the U.S. last January. "We don't use the term rock n' roll," he says, "We call it 'pop' music."
      In his clipped British accent ("I don't seem to have it when I sing") Peter says that all five of the Hermits read music. "It helps a lot," he says.
      Peter Noone (Herman) began his career combining acting with singing lessons at the Manchester School of Music. "At 14 I was studying music theory," he explains. "After a long day with the classics I would go home and lose myself in lighter stuff like rhythm and blues."
      Herman grinned and continued. "Now I listen to heavier music for relaxation. It is sort of like reversing the process, I guess."
      Of today's principal singing stars, Herman's favorite is Tony Bennett. "He's the greatest," he opines.
      The other Hermits as everybody knows are Karl Green, 18; Barry Whitwam, 18; Derek (Lek) Leckenby, 20; and Keith Hopwood, 18.
      Green worked as an apprentice engraver before he joined The Heartbeats, the forerunner of Herman's Hermits. Derek Leckenby attended Manchester University, failed his exams and became a Hermit. Whitwam entered show business at 13, playing at a club. Keith Hopwood worked for a telephone company before being asked to join the Hermits.
      Peter, who became 18 on November 5, is still growing. "At 14 I looked like a midget," he laughed. He likes the life that he is leading. "I've been around the world, we all live well, and hope the type of music we play and sing will last a long time."
      The popular quintet had been on the road and working for a long time and it had been some time since they'd been able to get home and spend time with their parents and families. So what was their solution?
      All five of the Hermits sent tickets to their parents and treated them to a vacation in California. They were given the Royal Treatment at MGM, and like their offspring, they were particularly fascinated by the western sets for A Man Called Shenandoah. Cowboys are apparently still big in Great Britain.
      During the making of There's No Place Like Space, the group moved into the same diggings in Benedict Canyon previously tenanted by The Beatles. They only found one thing left over from this group - the fans.
      Herman says that one of the guards got tipsy one night and let a group of estactic young girls get into the house. With typical British hospitality, the Hermits turned the whole thing into a swinging party. But during the confusion, one of The Animals, who were there at the time, walked through a sliding glass door he thought was open.
      Herman says luckily he wasn't seriously cut in the accident. The girls had a fantastic time and probably will always remember their meeting with The Hermits and The Animals.