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by
Hope Urban
This interview
was originally published
in the February 14, 1995 Velvet Hammer
souvenir programme.
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Velvet
Hammer: Let me ask you specifically
about one of your performers who is quite well-known, Tura Satana.
Russ
Meyer: That film [Faster Pussycat,
Kill! Kill!] has been extremely successful. About a year ago, we brought
it out in re-release. The Book-of-the-Month Club is now handling my films,
which always raises eyebrows.
Velvet
Hammer: How did you find her and
what can you tell us about her?
Russ Meyer:
Well, I made a film after the nudie craze because the Texas sherrifs were
getting after films, not just mine, but a lot. So I decided I would make
a film dealing with violence. That was a film called Motor Psycho. There
was a very voluptulous girl by the name of Haji and I used her in a number
of other films. She was a good dancer, she was a good stripper. I did
well with it, it was about three bad boys and I decided to do one with
three bad girls. I knew Haji would be good as one of them, so I said “Do
you know anybody else?” She suggested Tura, she used to dance with
her, at a good joint down on La Cienega, when they had good strip parlors.
That’s how I found Tura Satana, she did a great job, ’cause
she’s done some judo and things of that nature. Of course, a girl
with a lot of abundance upstairs, but had acting ability as well. I've
found that women who are beautiful and voluptuous, by and large, have
a kin for being actresses as well.
Velvet Hammer:
Do you know, if in her real life, did she practise some of the things
in the films? I mean, did she beat up men for fun?
Russ Meyer:
She could. There was some man, she was working in New York in a club,
was the story she told, this guy was apparently tailing her around. So
he gained entrance into her apartment. He came at her and she just grabbed
him by his arm and tossed him right out. Straight through the window,
back out into the street. She’s not someone to mess around with.
Another time they were working and a couple of Mexican chaps came in there
and tried to roughhouse her to see if they could pilfer anything and she
immediately just took them and wiped them out.
Velvet
Hammer: How did you like working
with Roger Ebert on that?
Russ Meyer:
I was just with him the other day, he was down here in town. I hired him
as a writer, he liked boobs just as much as I did. [laughter] He does!
His wife watches him closely, but we used to fool around a lot. One of
his prerequisites was that he, uh, wanted to, this was when he was a fledgling
critic, he would have conditions. For example, he wanted to have screen
writer’s money, no salary, and he wanted to drink with that, he doesn't
drink now, and he liked to have a lot of good booze and good food. Of
course, at the end of the week he would have to have a girl with outrageous
proportions. Definitely the girls I was with, like Kitten Natavidad, who
was one of the last great strippers, he always had these big Scandinavian
girls with big boobs.
the
end!
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