“I told my wife . . . Absolutely,’ ” RM to Chris Willman, “Return of the Ultrapussycats,” Los Angeles Times, 12/11/94.
8. Klieg Eyes on a Dry Lake Bed
JM Interviews: Tura Satana, Ted V, Mikels, Peter Young, Haji, Erica Gavin, George Costello, Richard Brummer, Lori Williams, Susan Bernard, Gil Haimson, John Waters.
Harold Lloyd’s 3D pictures of Tura Satana: Harold Lloyd’s Hollywood Nudes in 3D! Suzanne Lloyd, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2004. Note: Despite Lloyd’s expertise as a stereo photographer, the stereo effects in this book are poorly executed, so don’t expect much in the way of 3D.
“I personally prefer . . . the superwoman,” RM to Jerry Stein, “Films Starring Flesh,” Cincinnati Post & Times Star, 3/24/73.
“Varla is the most honest . . . the scariest,” Richard Corliss, “Thanks for the Mammaries,” Time online, 8/2/02.
“This is where Varla . . . on the Westside,” Tura Satana, The Kick-Ass Life of Tura Satana, unpublished manuscript, reprinted by permission.
“If I could help . . . I would,” ibid.
“It is in . . . this degradation,” ibid.
“I made a vow . . . not the rapist,” ibid.
“I saw myself . . . entertainment industry,” ibid.
“Stripping wasn’t . . . the way up,” Tura Satana, “How a G-String Saved Me from Gin,” Cabaret, 1/57.
“A lot of girls . . . or hairbrush,” Haji to Matt Maranian, “The Best of the Breast! Russ Meyer’s Vixens Speak,” Boing Boing, no. 14, 1995.
“I had men kicking . . . out of the men?’ ” RM to Nathan Rabin, 1995 interview, The Tenacity of the Cockroach.
“One lung and he refused to stop,” RM to Sergei Hasenecz and Charles Schneider, Cad.
“He started getting on the sauce . . . steam engine,” ibid.
“By the end . . . supernatural,” Jim Morton, Research: Incredibly Strange Films.
“A geometrically stark . . . Roadrunner cartoon,” Julian Stringer, “Exposing Intimacy in Russ Meyer’s Motorpsycho! And Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” The Road Movie Book.
“Just boring out of their sockets,” RM, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! laser disc commentary.
“He’d put a million . . . you blinking,” Stuart Lancaster to Kris Gilpin, Interview: Stuart Lancaster, Draculina, no. 11, 1990.
“So unctuously proud you want to throw up,” RM, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! laser disc commentary.
“One of the most unrelenting . . . a mean Meyer,” Lewis Black, “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Staying Abreast with Russ Meyer,” Austin Chronicle, 6/9/95.
“Human Chevys,” Julian Stringer, “Exposing Intimacy in Russ Meyer’s ‘Motorpsycho!’ And ‘Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’ ” The Road Movie Book.
“You don’t know whether . . . don’t care!” Joe Bob Briggs, “Russ Meyer,” syndicated column, exact publication unknown, 7/4/02.
“Meyer’s character’s . . . are attributes,” Myron Meisel, “Over, Around, Through and Beyond the Valley of the Super-Meyers,” Reader: Los Angeles Weekly, vol. 1, no. 14, 1979.
“One never gets . . . emotions of reality,” David K. Frasier, Russ Meyer: the Life and Films.
“For the first time . . . her bare hands,” RM quoted by Arthur Knight and Hollis Alpert, “History of Sex in Cinema,” Playboy, vol. 14, no. 1, 6/67.
“It just died . . . one cared,” RM, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! laser disc commentary.
“People complained when I didn’t show Tura Satana’s big tits naked,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“My films are like a reptile . . . on the ankle,” RM to Kenneth Turan, “Russ Meyer, Almost an American Institution,” Washington Post, 11/9/76.
“Largely because a punk-rock . . . references to it,” RM to Jan Golab, “Return from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” Los Angeles, vol. 31, no. 12, 12/86.
“Lesbians and fags are crazy about it,” RM to Barney Hoskins, “Thanks for the Memories,” New Musical Express, 1/22/83 62.
“Russ was a little . . . in those days,” Haji to Matt Maranian, “The Best of the Breast! Russ Meyer’s Vixens Speak,” Boing Boing, no. 14, 1995.
“I really made . . . in another film,” RM, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! laser disc commentary
“She and I made . . . really with me,” ibid.
“You don’t have to be a namby pamby you can still have balls and be feminine,” Tura Satana to Susan Barrows, “Tura,” Tease, no. 5, 1995. Satana said the almost exact same words to me as well.
9. Shit Floats
JM Interviews: John Waters, Alaina Capri, John Furlong, George Costello, Jack Lucas, Ken Swofford, Haji, Richard Brummer, Igo Kantor, Lavelle Roby, Gordon McLeod, Jim Ryan.
Background on Babette Bardot: “The New Bardot,” Dale Roberts, Dapper, vol. 5, no. 4, 4/69.
For more (albeit in a non-Meyer context) of the fantastic Pat Barrington/Barringer, see Something Weird’s DVD of two William Rotsler films, Agony of Love/The Girl with the Hungry Eyes.
Candy Morrison (aka Angela Carter, aka Vivianne Cornoyer or Moyer) layouts (all? by RM), Fling, 1/67, 3/67, 1/70.
“My films have a lot . . . damned movie again,” RM to Jim Goad, “Just a Couple of Boobs Talking,” Los Angeles Reader, 1/12/90.
“By the time we got . . . cost $12,000,” RM to David Frasier, DFA.
“Max Factor’s ‘Light Egyptian,’ ” RM to Steve Hogner, “Russ Meyer: The Amiable Bear of Erotic Cinema,” Austin Statesman-American, 5/5/75.
“Undoubtedly the most voluptuous . . . in a film,” Roger Ebert, “Russ Meyer: King of the Nudies,” Film Comment, Jan.–Feb. 1973.
“There seems to be something subtly sadistic going on here,” ibid.
“A quickie,” RM to Vince Staten, “Russ Meyer Reflects on his Pneumatic Career,” Louisville Courier Journal, 5/6/89.
L.A. Times refusing How Much Loving ads: Burton H. Wolfe, “King of the Nudie Movies,” True, 3/69.
“My people don’t make love, they compete,” said RM to David Hale, “ ‘A Dirty Old Man’: Russ Meyer Goes Beyond Valley of Skin-Flicks,” Fresno Bee, 3/18/77.
“Order is restored . . . maintains cosmic order,” David K. Frasier, Russ Meyer: The Life and Films.
“Driven to be a whore . . . her husband,” ibid.
“Lose the jockstrap . . . Hurl it in the corner!” plus details of the Stuart Lancaster exit: Kris Gilpin, “Interview; Stuart Lancaster,” Draculina, no. 11, 1990.
“He turned livid . . . pretty heavy,” Stuart Lancaster to John Donnelly, “Stuart Lancaster.”
“Hatchet job,” RM to John Hartl, “ ‘King Leer’ Back with a Downer Called ‘Up!’ ” Seattle Times, 1/23/77.
“I used to defend . . . to anything,” RM to Ron White, “Exploit? Of Course Art Exploits,” San Antonio Sunday Express-News, 10/17/76.
“When people meet me . . . what they want,” RM to Ellen Goosenberg, “Supervixen Russ Meyer,” The Drummer, 7/29/75.
It should be noted that “Primitive” by the Groupies (quoted at the head of the chapter) is credited to the Groupies and Nick Venet.
10. The Look of Love
JM interviews: Erica Gavin, George Costello, Harrison Page, Haji, Jim Ryan, Richard Brummer, Garth Pillsbury, Jacqueline Pillsbury, Pete Slater, Pete Gall, David F. Friedman, John Waters, “Colonel” Rob Shaffner.
Opening scene based on Burton H. Wolfe’s excellent article “King of the Nudie Movies,” True, 3/69; “From ‘Vixen’ to Vindication: Erica Gavin Interviewed,” Danny Peary, Velvet Light Trap, Fall 1976; and author interviews.
Background on Erica Gavin: “Erica Gavin: To Hell and Back,” Steve Sullivan, Glamour Girls Then and Now, Spring–Summer 2002. An incredible article documenting in detail Gavin’s tortured life.
“The Great American Dream . . . greedy pussy,” RM, Vixen laser disc commentary.
“Basically this is a woman . . . the Communists,” Erica Gavin, E! True Hollywood Story documentary (see Filmography).
“Banging pussies” .
. . “two scissors,” Gavin to Sullivan, “Erica Gavin: To Hell and Back.”
“Once you become . . . fool around with you,” ibid.
“She’s a healer . . . through sex,” RM, Jonathan Ross documentary (see Filmography).
“This was the basis . . . the raincoat brigade,” RM to Arv Miller, “Russ Meyer: Between the Valleys of My Ultravixens,” Part Three, Fling, no. 161, 7/90.
“The film that put Meyer on easy street,” RM to Dan Scapperotti, “50s Legend Russ Meyer,” Femme Fatales, vol. 6, no. 10/11, 4/98.
“It was a barn-burner,” RM to Arv Miller, “Russ Meyer: Between the Valleys of My Ultravixens,” vol. 31, no. 5, Fling, 1990.
“She . . . the reason I’m here,” numerous interviews, such as this one with Stan Berkowitz, “18—Count ’Em—18 Couplings and an X-Rating: Russ Meyer in Hollywood,” UCLA Daily Bruin, 1/7/70.
“The whole business will be ruined,” RM to Burton H. Wolfe, “King of the Nudie Movies,” True, 3/69.
“Open-faced oyster . . . roping spermatozoa,” RM to Craig Reid, “Russ Meyer,” Adam, vol. 25, no. 5, 5/81.
“It is hard today . . . Bonnie and Clyde?” Steven M. Lovelady, “King Leer: ‘Nudie’ Filmmaker, Russ Meyer, Scrambles to Outshock Big Studios,” Wall Street Journal, 4/24/68.
“Jim, we got to make the sexiest film ever made,” RM to Arv Miller, “Russ Meyer: Between the Valleys of My Ultravixens,” Part Three, Fling, no. 159, 3/90.
“They’re all built . . . think about it,” RM to Arv Miller, “Russ Meyer: Between the Valleys of My Ultravixens,” no. 160, 7/90.
“I wanted a girl to come on like the Superchief,” RM to Dan Scapperotti, “50s Legend Russ Meyer.”
“Almost every day,” Erica Gavin to Steve Sullivan, “Erica Gavin: To Hell and Back.”
“Down deep inside . . . to fuck her,” ibid.
“White folks” . . . “well read” . . . “a good income” . . . “needed a good dose of the Negro to be able to understand their problems,” RM, Vixen laser disc commentary.
Vixen trailer attendance: Roger Ebert, “Why Meyer Is King of the Skin Flicks,” Chicago Sun-Times, 2/16/69.
“Nearly broke me,” RM to Turan and Zito, Sinema.
“A sexual steeplechase,” RM to Maureen Koch, “Inter/View with Russ.
Meyer and Edy Williams, Andy Warhol’s Interview, no. 19, 2/72.
“Skull and crossbones,” RM to Lee Beaupre, “Can’t Risk Investors Coin Anymore Russ Meyer Cancels $400,000 ‘Foxy’; Raps ‘Schlock’ Films as Spoilsports,” Variety, 271, vol. 8, no. 5, 7/4/73.
Oscar Brotman and Vixen: Dorothy Storck, “Director Russ Meyer: He Sees Everything with the Naked Eye,” Chicago Today American, 2/15/69.
“The movie cesspool of Chicago,” Gene Siskel, “Next: ‘Karate Rape in Harlem,’ ” Chicago Tribune, 12/2/73.
“The best film . . . skin flick,” Roger Ebert, “Vixen,” Chicago Sun-Times, 2/24/69.
“Ludicrously topical,” William Wolf, “Russ Meyer’s ‘Vixen,’ ” Cue, vol. 38, no. 20, 5/17/69.
“The most wholesome dirty movie of the year,” Unknown, “Vixen” Playboy, vol. 16, no. 8, 8/69.
“The look of calculated . . . Garbo or Dietrich,” Kenneth Turan, “ ‘Vixen’: Top of the ‘Skin Flick’ Heap,” Washington Post, 8/13/69.
“This is the first time . . . position of respectability,” RM to unknown, “Russ Meyer Extends Mileage His Esoterica Erotica Pics,” Hollywood Reporter, 4/29/69.
“How come it took you so long to get it?” Carlos Starling quoted in “Halts ‘RM’s Vixen’ After Receiving Summons,” author unknown, Boxoffice, vol. 95, no. 26, 10/13/69.
“An obscene, lewd . . . with a Mountie,” National Decency Reporter, vol. 6, no. 9–10, 8–9/69.
“Why don’t you leave town you dirty old man?” “Lawyers Attack Obscenity Law,” Otis Perkins, Florida Times-Union, 10/8/69.
Illiana Drive-In details: “Jury Rules ‘Vixen’ Obscene,” Bill Acton, Danville Commercial News, 4/16/70.
Center Theater details: “Movie Obscenity Conviction Appealed,” author unknown, National Decency Reporter, vol. 7, no. 5–6, 5–6/70.
Prosecuted 23 times: RM to Middleman, “Russ Meyer and His Boobs,” Video Trade Weekly, no. 58, 1/13/83.
“Censorship is the wrong . . . persecution!” RM to Ron Chepesiuk, “Hollywood or Bust,” Gallery, 3/91.
“A history of making war against the bare breast,” Binstein and Bowden, Trust Me: Charles Keating and the Missing Billions.
“Hamilton County . . . bust time,” RM to Craig Reid, “Interview/Russ Meyer,” Adam, vol. 25, no. 5, 5/81.
“I was arrested so many times . . . the iron hotel,” RM, Vixen laser disc commentary. For the record, none of Meyer’s associates could recall RM ever being arrested.
“Amish shunning,” Binstein and Bowden, Trust Me: Charles Keating and the Missing Billions.
“Never saw a lawsuit he didn’t like,” ibid.
“Anyone who ever tells you . . . ever come across,” ibid.
“That criminal,” Charles Keating to author unknown, “Appeals to Public—Keating Assails Courts’ Stand on Smut,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/10/71.
“I’m only one guy . . . have public decency,” Charles Keating to Gloria Anderson, “Who Charles Keating Thinks He Is,” Cincinnati Enquirer Magazine, date unknown.
“Provided a vehicle . . . play it again?’ ” Larry Flynt, An Unseemly Man.
“A scatological . . . of revulsion,” Richard L. Gordon, “The Other Keating: Crusader in the Fight Against Pornography,” Cincinnati, 6/70.
“It is my preference . . . by police,” “Russ Meyer’s ‘Vixen’ seized in Cincinnati,” Boxoffice, vol. 95, no. 25, 10/6/69.
The Guild Arts Theater details: “ ‘Vixen’ Seized, Hearing Is Continued,” author unknown, Cincinnati Post, 9/23/69.
“I’m violently . . . social significance,” RM to Virgina Kay, “Virginia Kay Byline,” Chicago Daily News, 2/13/69.
“Strangely enough most of the litigation . . . being harassed,” RM to Bill Ornstein, “Russ Meyer Finds Sex Censorship Mostly Racial,” Hollywood Reporter, vol. 210, no. 6, 3/3/70.
“The difficulty was . . . state attorney’s office,” Elmer Gertz, E! True Hollywood Story documentary (see Filmography).
“Simon Leis . . . bespeaks evil!” RM to Gary Morris, “An Interview with Russ Meyer,” Bright Lights, 4/96.
“We were up against a judge whose son was the prosecutor!” RM, Vixen laser disc commentary.
“Will be happy . . . of the country,” National Decency Reporter, Vol. 6, no. 9–10, 9–10/69.
“Mr. Keating intimidates people,” Elmer Gertz as reported by Libby Lackman, “Judge to Decide Whether to Stop Movie ‘Vixen,’ ” The Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/27/69.
“Billy Budd–Christlike” . . . “Unrealistic hoax” . . . “male lust” . . . “one of the major causes of marital discord,” author unknown, “You Be the Judge,” National Decency Reporter, 11–12/69.
“Cancer on society” . . . “unscrupulous men who have taken advantage of lack of censorship and capitalized on it” . . . “will infest society with a disease which will kill it,” “ ‘Vixen’ Obscene, Judge Leis Rules,” author unknown, Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/18/69.
“Set a precedent . . . of Americans,” author unknown, “Presidential Commission—For or Against Obscenity?” National Decency Reporter, 11–12/69.
“Purported acts . . . 14th Amendments,” quoted in “High Court Upholds ‘Vixen’ Censorship,” author unknown, Cincinnati Post & Times Star, 7/21/71.
1984 attempted Vixen screening: “Second Copy of ‘Vixen’ Confiscated,” author unknown, Cincinnati Post & Times Star, 9/24/69.
Rape allegations, Flynt/Keating: Binstein and Bowden, Trust Me.
“Ah, the redeeming social value,” Thurgood Marshall quoted by Jon Lewis, Hollywood v. Hard Core.
“He fought the big . . . American citizen,” David Friedman, E! True Hollywood Story documentary (see Filmograph
y).
“In the final analysis . . . up to something,” Turan and Zito, Sinema.
Current Simon Leis hijinks, see also: “Hustler Owner May Face Charges,” Denise Wilson, Cincinnati Post, 6/18/03.
“I think he’s probably done more . . . any other person,” Jimmy Flynt to France Griggs Sloat, “An Army of One,” Xavier magazine, Fall 2004.
“No clear recollection,” e-mail correspondence with author.
“Peer down the blouses of secretaries he has hired” . . . “unexpected” . . . “huge new breasts,” Binstein and Bowden, Trust Me.
11. The Watusi Gun-Bearer
JM interviews: Tom McGowan, Jim Ryan, Charles Napier, Richard Brummer, Burt Santos, Robert Pergament.
“All that counts . . . get it out,” RM to David Lees and Stan Berkowitz, “Russ Meyer, One-Man Movie Machine Is at It Again,” Los Angeles Times Calendar, 1/7/79.
“Who cares about acting . . . on berserk,” “I Love Uschi: Thanks for the Mammaries,” Mike Accomando, Something Weird Blue Book, no. 1, 1997.
“Who else can say . . . Bigfoot?” ibid.
“I’m living . . . and why?” Uschi Digard to Kern Williams, Journal News, Hamilton, Ohio, 4/26/75.
“We’ve been together ever since that day,” Uschi Digard to Otto Dekom, Morning News, Wilmington, Delaware, 12/21/76.
“The dedication of a Watusi gun-bearer,” RM to Arv Miller, “Russ Meyer: Between the Valleys of My Ultravixens,” Part Two, no. 160, 7/90.
“She’d run over bare coals . . . that kind of chick,” RM to Sergei Hasenecz and Charles Schneider, Cad.
“I made my reputation . . . was simulated,” Uschi Digard to unknown, Celebrity Sleuth, issue and date unknown.
“Had a great love affair,” RM to Dan Scapperotti, “50s Legend Russ Meyer,” Femme Fatales, vol. 6, no. 10/11, 4/98.
“One of the most aggressive sex partners anyone could hope to find,” ibid, also on RM’s Supervixens laser disc commentary.
“Like Chill Wills, only fatter,” RM to Ross and Stan Berkowitz, “Russ Meyer, One-Man Movie Machine Is at It Again.”
“Symbolically act out . . . air of mysticism,” RM to Mark Baddeley, “Thanks for the Mammary,” Video, 3/83 (UK).
Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film Page 49