Thanks for the memories

ok, this is just a short post which neatly ties together a couple of the things that I've mentioned so far in this blog. Well, one of them to this post. On wednesday I went to see Maria McKee in concert which was awesome. She played a cover of a track which I knew, though I'd forgotten what it was or what film it was from. The track that she played was In The Long Run, originally done by The Carrie Nations for the film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Two things should now enter your head. Russ Meyer and breasts. That's the man.

 Anyway, since the gig I haven't been able to get the song or the image of Maria McKee and long time cohort Susan Otten (who has the most amazing brown eyes and looks like Kim Deal) out of my head. So maybe this post is a kind of indulgent catharsis.

 Now, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is about a female rock group who get sucked into the seedy underbelly of rock n roll in the bright lights of Hollywood. There's even a mad promoter who gives a nod to Phil Spector. Originally the film was supposed to be a sequel to Valley of the Dolls, but ended up being practically a spoof of it. But like all of Russ Meyer's films there's a healthy sprinkling of sex. Mostly breast related.

 

(apologies for the dodgy dubbing) 

 

The other thing I'd like to get off my chest (a-ha!) is my first experience with Russ Meyer's films. When young, innocent and probably drunk, myself and a few friends (I can't remember the friends, but I'm sure they were there and it limits the sadness of this tale) I went to see Supervixens and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens in the Grosvenor cinema in Glasgow. What a double bill! (ouch!) I was pretty naive way back then and these two films were a bit of an eye-opener. In fact I guess I was pretty shocked given that my upbringing was fairly sedate and middle class. However, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens gave me an experience that I'd rather forget. In the film there's a woman called Junkyard Sal played by June Mack. She's involved in a sexual scene or two, which is fair enough. But it wasn't that that got me, it was her face. It's kind of diamond shaped, or looked like it in the film and for some reason I started retching. I was nearly physically sick in the cinema just because I was looking at a woman's face. Even with my eyes closed it was still an effort not to vomit. Having googled said woman, I can't really understand why it would have such a physical effect on me, in fact, on reflection, I don't think I've had a physical reaction as severe from a film (apart from maybe at Steve Martin's Parenthood when he falls off the horse......I uncontrollably laughed for ten minutes in the same cinema, I kid you not).

 

I should probably investigate a bit more about Russ Meyer - there doesn't seem to be a reason for his large breast obsession - but as I said, this is kind of a short, self-indulgent post. I hope my co-contributors don't mind

It's funny how events of today can send you back many years, I guess that's the power of music and film.

 

mp3 - In The Long Run - The Carrie Nations

buy - DVD / CD

 

 

tags: Russ Meyer, Beyond the valley of the dolls, The carrie nations, Maria Mckee, Supervixens, breasts