Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film
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“Like Marlon Brando . . . in the culture,” D. K. Holm, “Nocturnal Emissions” column, Movie Poop Shoot website, 9/27/04.
“I figure if it’s good . . . the world,” RM to Jackie Brooks, “Assessment of X-Rated Movies,” The State, 8/5/79.
Crying over Casablanca: RM to Karin Winegar, “Porn King: Russ Meyer Still Up-front with Films and ‘Fillies,’ ” Minneapolis Star, 7/2/79.
“Meyer’s life . . . as Churchill’s,” Roger Ebert, “The Immoral Mr. Meyer,” Playboy, vol. 42, no. 6, 6/95.
“Who’d know more . . . is mine,” RM to Alison Mayes, Calgary Herald, 9/6/95.
“Everyone . . . story,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
RM boots in Ireland story: Harvey Fenton, “Thanks for the Mammaries: Russ Meyer,” Flesh & Blood Compendium, Fab Press, 2003 (UK).
“Never let the chink in your armor be exposed,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“It’s not supposed . . . the last,” Lux Interior to Randy Harward, “Got Cramps?” Salt Lake City Weekly online, 10/21/04.
“Is there . . . paintings,” Roger Ebert to Nancy Spiller, The West, 12/27/87.
“In the end . . . lust and guilt,” Gordon Burn, “Rising Below Vulgarity,” Sight and Sound, vol. 6, issue 12, 12/96.
“It could be . . . America,” David Thomson, “Big Bosoms, Square Jaws—The Tale of a Red-Blooded American,” The Independent, UK, 9/26/04.
OK, so I fibbed a bit: The fantastic Jimmy Wages can’t be located on a “scratchy old 45,” as his few recordings for Sun were never released. But most of them can be found on a 1995 CD, Let’s Bop: Sun Rockabilly Volume 1, AVI Records.
Lux Interior would like it known that he considers Russ Meyer to be “the American Tinto Brass.”
1. Mother Meyer and the Poor Dear
JM interviews: Manny Diez, Tura Satana, Paula Parker, Fred Beiersdorf, Jane Hower, Warren Harding, Dolores Fox, Richard Brummer, Betty Meyer, Jim Ryan, Charles Sumners, Charles Napier, Jean-Pierre Jackson, Kitten Natividad, Lou Filipovitch, Darlene Filipovitch, Pete Filipovitch, Martha Robins, David K. Frasier, Raven de la Croix, Tom McGowan, George Costello, Erica Gavin, George Carhl, Harry Downard, Joe Longo, Dixie Evans.
“The question always. . . . Yes!” RM to John Waters, Shock Value, see Bibliography.
Example of RM denying mother’s dimensions: Russ Meyer, der König des Sexfilms.
RM’s whispering paranoia: JM interview with Bruce Pasternack.
“Mother influence . . . did was right,” RM to Kristine McKenna, “The Big Boob Theory,” Los Angeles, 6/2000.
“She was a very God-fearing . . . success in me,” RM to Farnum Gray, “Skin-Flick King Recalls Career Low,” Atlanta Journal, 1/12/73.
“Anything I achieved was because of her,” RM to Maggie White, “The King of the Nudies,” Downtowner, no. 31, 4/30/79.
RM middle name: State of California birth certificate (and amended version) for Russ Meyer.
“I hope they both die!” E! True Hollywood Story documentary, ACB/RM.
“He was a bastard . . . a damn,” RM, E! True Hollywood Story documentary (see Filmography).
“When I was young . . . Job’s turkey,” RM to Archer Winsten, “Russ & Friends Come to Town,” New York Post, 5/12/79.
Meyer on Vixen and brother Judd scene: “The most animalistic sequence that I’ve put in a picture,” RM to Paul Fishbein, “Interview: Russ Meyer,” Adult Video News, vol. 1, no. 4, 6/83.
“I love farting . . . fart any day,” RM to Alan Platt, “Uncle Dirty,” Soho Weekly News, 5/24/79.
Brownout over Denver: JM interview with David K. Frasier.
“Sexually I was a late bloomer,” RM to Steve Hogner, “Russ Meyer: The Amiable Bear of Erotic Cinema,” Austin Statesman-American, 5/5/75.
“I make Al Capp cartoons come to life,” RM to Murry Frymer, “ ‘Ultra Vixens’ is an Assault to the Senses.” San Jose Mercury-News, 9/23/79.
“If she moved . . . was enormous,” RM to Cory Turczyn, “T&A Q&A,” Pop Cult website interview, 2002. Interview done 1995.
“I used to . . . her shrine,” RM to William L. Kahrl, “Peep Show Becomes Fine Art: The Transmogrification of Russ Meyer,” World’s Fair, vol. 2, no. 4, Fall 1982.
“From then on . . . looking for,” RM to Hope Urban, “Russ Meyer,” Velvet Hammer Burlesque souvenir program, 2/14/95.
“Most people . . . with someone,” Kevin McGovern to Taylor Clark, “Panty Man,” Willamette Week, vol. 30, no. 51, 10/20/04.
Background on the UniveX camera: The UniveX Story, Cynthia A. Repinski, Centennial Photo Service, 1991.
RM trip to Catalina: Aljean Harmetz, “Oh, Those Beautiful Dolls!” New York Times, 12/21/69.
“It’s kind of a curious . . . the mattresses,” RM to Michael Holden, “Russ Meyer,” Loaded, no. 4, 1994 (UK).
“My heart jumped . . . beat accounting,” RM to R. Allen Leider, “Russ Meyer Thinks Big,” Porno Movie Girls, no. 1, 1976.
RM training with Ruttenberg: ACB/RM.
2. Sgt. Meyer
JM interviews: Charles Sumners, Tom McGowan, Warren Harding, Harry Downard, Floyce Sumners, Richard Brummers, Bill Tomko, Kay Hively, Jim Ryan, Jean-Pierre Jackson, Alaina Capri.
General background on RM/the 166: ACB/RM; Darkness Visible/Patton’s G.I. Photographers/Photo by Signal Corps; and the Shooting War/At Risk documentaries (see Filmography).
“I really didn’t want the war to end . . . to approach,” RM to Ted Mahar, “Russ Meyer: Part Patriarch, Part Pariah,” The Oregonian, 11/3/88.
“The excitement . . . of fear, really,” RM in Shooting War documentary.
“I’m probably the greatest voyeur of them all,” RM to Jon Casimir, “King Leer: A Life,” Sydney Morning Herald, 9/3/90.
“Nothing can match . . . that yet,” Meyer to Aljean Harmetz, “Oh, Those Beautiful Dolls!” New York Times, 12/21/69.
RM not shooting the faces of the dead: Shooting War.
“He would always . . . cut that scene,’ ” RM to D. K. Holm, Steve Fugett, Pat Holmes, Cinemonkey, vol. 5, no. 2, Spring 1979.
“Destiny wonderfully upon us,” RM, ACB/RM.
Stars and Stripes RM article info, ACB/RM.
“It really shook us . . . were scared,” RM, At Risk documentary.
“In the war . . . wondrous game,” RM to R. Allen Leider, “RM Thinks Big,” Porno Movie Girls no. 1, 1976.
“It was like something . . . sitting in the back,” RM to Philip Thomas, “Russ Meyer,” Empire no. 70, 4/95.
“The quail . . . used to say,” RM, “My Friend Cleavage,” Oui, vol. 5, no. 8, August 1976.
“A newfound tingling . . . burst asunder,” ACB/RM.
“Rather play cards,” RM to Dale Ashmun, “Mondo Russo: Russ Meyer Interview,” Film Threat, no. 15, 1988.
“Comprised . . . mission instead,” E. M. Nathanson, new afterword to The Dirty Dozen, Regenesis Press, 2002.
“Knees had turned to jelly,” “damn careful,” RM at UCLA Dolls panel, quoted from “Russ Meyer, Roger Ebert and ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,’ ” Movie Talk from the Front Lines, Jerry Roberts and Steven Gaydos, editors. Meyer also relates the story in the At Risk documentary, putting Charlie Sumners in the middle of the action.
“Last good war,” RM to Karin Winegar, “Porn King: Russ Meyer Still Up-Front with Films and ‘Fillies,’ ” Minneapolis Star, 7/2/79.
“I love finding . . . a broad,” RM to Tonmy Mastroianni, “Beneath the Valley of the Skin Flicker,” Cleveland Press, 8/23/79.
“By and large . . . embrace them,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“I am a rabid anti-Communist,” RM to Roger Ebert, “Why Meyer Is King of the Skin Flicks,” Chicago Sun-Times, 2/16/69.
“Vicious capitalist,” RM to Ellen Goosenberg, “Supervixen Russ Meyer,” The Drummer, 7/29/75.
“Meyer uses his productions . . . the war,” Roger Ebert, “The Immoral Mr. Meyer,” Playboy, vol. 42, no. 6, 6/95.
“Working with Russ . . . a whorehouse,” Charles Napier to Nathaniel Thompson, Mon
do Digital website.
“I have never . . . never can,” RM to Aljean Harmetz, “Oh, Those Beautiful Dolls!” New York Times, 12/21/69.
3. Tittyboom or Bust
JM interviews: Evelyn West, Tura Satana, Tempest Storm, Dixie Evans, Jim Ryan, Arv Miller, Betty Meyer.
“Tits are a means to an end,” RM to Doug Royalty, “Oral Treats Lighten Meyer’s Load,” The Daily Illini, 6/19/79 1016.
“couldn’t begin . . . certainly suffice,” ACB/RM.
“Sturdy jockstrap,” ACB/RM.
“I went at it . . . nothing would stop me,” RM to Dale Ashmun, “Mondo Russo: Russ Meyer Interview,” Film Threat, no. 15, 1988.
“Industrial films . . . do everything,” RM to J. Cook, “Look at All the Naked Ladies,” Forbes, vol. 122, no. 92, 9/18/78 39.
“Browbeat”/“Betty and RM not living happily ever after,” ACB/RM.
“What you lack in ability you’ll make for in enthusiasm,” RM, countless interviews, such as “Hellcats for a Modern World,” Beth Accomando, Hypno, vol. 4, issue 5, 1995.
RM on “cheesecake”: Glamour Camera.
“Nearly fainting”/“Back then it was done sneakily, and as a result it was more exciting, because it was hidden and outrageous,” John Bowers quoted in It’s a Man’s World: Men’s Adventure Magazines, the Postwar Pulps, Adam Parfrey, Feral House, 2003.
“Usually a Viennese guy” . . . “a briefcase full of sets” . . . “They were contact pictures of an individual girl, shot by one of his photographers,” Bruce Jay Friedman, It’s a Man’s World.
“Often completely disagree with the editor’s choice,” RM, Photographing Glamour.
“Freak with a forty-inch bosom” . . . “I did not have to accept . . . of Eastman” . . . “God didn’t make boobs too big for my business,” Tempest Storm with Bill Boyd, The Lady Is a Vamp.
“Cross between a retired lightweight . . . racetrack tout,” “Who knows . . . my spiel,” “a small-but-rich uranium mine for the trio that shot it,” Roger Turrell, “Portrait of a Burlesque Producer,” Adam, vol. 3, no. 1, 1958.
“He had this great hype . . . girls in shorts,” RM to David K. Frasier, DFA.
“I liked him personally, he was honest,” ibid.
“Without DeCenzie . . . go ahead,” ibid.
“Through the breast of Tempest Storm,” ibid.
“I shot pictures . . . the girl’s box,” ibid.
“Took the seed”/“on Eastman Kodak’s linoleum,” RM to Dan Scapperotti, “50s Legend Russ Meyer,” Femme Fatales, vol. 6, no. 10/11, 4/98.
“The power a woman packs between her legs,” Pete DeCenzie as quoted by RM, Bill Mooney, “Russ Meyer: Up the Valley of the Beyond,” BB Gun, 1998.
“The chief called me . . . riot act to me,” RM to David K. Frasier, DFA.
“Bob Antz . . . needle Walker,” ibid.
“Antz normally . . . gave it to me,” ibid.
“When I showed this film to DeCenzie, he shit,” ibid.
“What really got him . . . ‘Oh my God,’ ” ibid.
RM on French Peep Show pasties: Arv Miller, “Between the Valley of My Ultravixens,” Part One, Fling, vol. 31, no. 6, issue 159, 3/90.
Additional background on DeCenzie, French Peep Show: “Some of My Breast Kept Secrets: An Interview with Russ Meyer,” Paul Sherman, Filmfax, no. 28, 8–9/91.
“Pete entrusted it . . . his friends,” RM to David K. Frasier, DFA.
Yvonne DeCenzie “hostile,” RM to Ashmun, “Mondo Russo.”
“I took pictures . . . my first wife,” RM to David K. Frasier, DFA.
“I remember thinking . . . good idea,” RM to M. J. Simpson, “American Peep Show,” Total Film, 2/97 (UK).
“Peeler’s retriever,” ACB/RM.
“I felt a little strange . . . like a lady,” Lilly La Mont quoted by RM, Jonathan Ross RM documentary, see Filmography.
4. Love and Kisses, Eve Meyer
JM interviews: Floyce Sumners, Dolores Fox, Hugh Hefner, E. E. “Mick” Nathanson, June Wilkinson.
“I just don’t . . . a fantasy,” RM to Gil King, “A Chat with Russ Meyer,” Swank.
“Don’t just stand . . . hanging out,” Eve Turner quoted by RM, ACB/RM, vol 1.
“A face to sink a thousand Dungeness crab boats,” “conically maddening,” ACB/RM, vol 3.
“She was really pissed at me,” RM to Sergei Hasenecz and Charles Schneider, “A Clean Breast: Titillating Talk with Russ Meyer,” Cad: A Handbook for Heels.
“Eve was a great intimidator,” Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! laser disc audio commentary.
“A national institution,” RM to Hasenecz and Schneider, Cad: A Handbook for Heels.
“Like a tall tree,” “gang-tackling my jockeys from the outset,” ACB/RM, vols. 1 and 3.
At first, Eve . . . was downright nasty,” RM in Fling, 1961, exact date/issue unknown, quoted by Sullivan, Glamour Girls.
“From Eve . . . it closeness,” RM, The Glamour Camera of Russ Meyer.
Meyer honeymoon story: JM interview with Dave Ewing.
“When you were through shooting . . . her bones,” RM to Steve Sullivan, Eve Meyer chapter, Va Va Voom!
“It was so good for our marriage,” RM to Hasenecz and Schneider, Cad: A Handbook for Heels.
“Obtained some of the most exciting pictures,” RM, Glamour Camera.
“The salt dug . . . bloody knees and all,” Eve Meyer to Larry Teenan, “How Eve Meyer Was Changed into Cheesecake,” Modern Man, vol. 8, no. 3, 9/58.
“I’d ride her ass to get her to pose,” RM to Joel Judd, “Big Tits and Square Jaws,” Gent, 5/86.
“Photosexual,” “I got so I just hated . . . without Russ’s camera,” Eve Meyer to Jane Wilson, “What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Business Like This, Eve? (Well, Maybe Crying All the Way to the Bank),” Los Angeles Times West magazine, 5/9/71.
“the first man . . . a nude woman,” Gay Talese, Thy Neighbor’s Wife, Dell, 1981.
“The fifties were not Happy Days . . . in the United States,” Robert Patrick to Michael Dale, “Robert Patrick’s ‘Hollywood at Sunset’ Premieres with TOSOS II Theatre Company,” Internet article, 3/4/04.
“Hef’s genius was to associate sex with upward mobility,” Paul Gebhard to Gretchen Edgren, The Playboy Book: Forty Years, General Publishing Group, 1994.
“I am clearly . . . the primary one,” “I stress the bosom . . . ‘this is woman,’ ” RM, Photographing Glamour.
Eve and Ava: JM interviews with David Frasier, Jim Ryan.
“Sneer like Elvis,” RM as quoted by Yvette Vickers, John O’Dowd, “Yvette Vickers: On Music, Movies . . . and Men,” Psychotronic Video, no. 39.
“Did it for the money . . . being ridiculous,” RM to Steve Sullivan, Diane Webber chapter, Va Va Voom!
“This is the third girl . . . this is it!” RM, “Beauty and the Bust,” Adam, vol. 3, no. 1, 1958.
Additional background on Wilkinson: “June Wilkinson: The Goddess’ Magic Endures,” Best of Glamour Girls Then and Now, vol. 2, Winter 1997.
“Begun to develop . . . don’t go together,” June Wilkinson to Ian Johnston, “June Wilkinson,” Psychotronic, no. 20, Spring 1995.
“The most photographed nude in America,” Steve Sullivan, Va Va Voom!
“A smart modern building located in Van Nuys,” “You’ve got to remember . . . two big balls of fat,” “No bone structure . . . need support,” “Beauty and the Bust,” Adam, vol. 3, no. 1, 1958.
“My glamour . . . heartily concur,” RM, Glamour Camera.
“The abortion racket . . . a real crime,” RM to Dale Ashmun, Film Threat, no. 15, 1988.
“A jolting documentary,” The Desperate Women pressbook, author’s collection.
“The Immoral Mr. Teas changed . . . forever,” Ed Wood, Jr, A Study in the Motivation of Censorship, Sex & the Movies, Edusex Press, 1973.
I believe the very first Eve magazine cover—she’s credited as Eve Turner—is Night and Day, 11/52 (half a cover, actually, as Nigh
t and Day always split their covers between two models).
5. The Immoral Mr. Meyer
JM interviews: Irving Blum, E. E. “Mick” Nathanson, Don Couch, June Wilkinson, Ed Lasko, Dave Frasier, Jim Ryan.
Meyer has stated on a few occasions that the shoot he did for Giant snagged him the cover of Life magazine; the only Giant cover for Life I found does not feature a Meyer photograph.
RM repeatedly claimed that the inspiration for Teas was a “voyeur” girlie picture layout for Playboy; I could not find it. Possibly it was done for another men’s magazine.
“Each film must begin . . . the hard-on,” RM to Gregory Poe, “Russ Meyer,” Exposure, no. 3–4, 1989.
“It took a freeway . . . the theater,” Pete DeCenzie to Roger Turrell, “Portrait of a Burlesque Producer,” Adam, vol. 3, no. 1, 1958.
“The man on the street . . . curlers in her hair,” RM to Candice Russell, “This Man Has Wild Fantasies,” Miami Herald, 11/30/75.
“Pete DeCenzie supplied the fire, the urge, the desire,” RM to unknown, Wildest Films, vol. 1, no. 5, 1966.
“Was always in love . . . ultimate gamesman,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“Bong films,” RM to Phyliss Braden Lowe, “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Meyer,” Poparts/Supplement to PSU Vanguard.
“Teas is the kind of guy . . . a year,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“Teas had a satanic beard . . . the role,” RM to Burton H. Wolfe, “King of the Nudie Movies,” True, 3/69.
“When nothing more . . . begging for more,” Kenneth Turan, “ ‘Immoral Mr. Teas’ in Retrospect,” Washington Post, 3/23/73.
“Preacher-seducer,” “based on a man permitting business associates to use his apartment for clandestine affairs,” from 1961 UPI article by Jerry Reynolds, publication and exact date unknown.
“Itinerant carnival people,” David F. Friedman to David Chute, “Wages of Sin,” first half of two-part article, Film Comment, vol. 22, no. 4, 7–8/86.
“films that showed . . . advertising pitch,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“There’s a lot of promise but never . . . fulfillment. They would always cut to the curtain blowing,” RM quoted by Luke Ford, Internet biography, lukeford.com. (It should be noted that Meyer himself cuts away from a sex scene to a curtain in Lorna.)