Russ
Meyer by Hope
Urban
This interview was originally published in the
February 14, 1995 Velvet Hammer souvenir programme.
Russ
Meyer: I think old
burlesque cannot be rejuvenated. With all this real hardnosed stuff
these girls have to do, and they make a lot of money, you know,
working in clubs throughout the United States and Canada. Their work
is not burlesque at all. I mean, they’re out there trying to
sell tips and their stuff, by and large, is based in rock stuff. To
find anybody left, I have a good friend who would like to, has done
it in other places like the Market Street Cinema in San Francisco.
They make an attempt at it, certainly they do, but it ends up to be
people enjoying favors, touching the women. And they, of course,
extract money from these guys, they’re kind of half-wits,
that’s what’s going now. If you come across a real good
burlesque show, I think you'd have trouble attracting any kind of
audience.
Velvet Hammer:
Seeing as how “The Immoral Mr. Teas” was one of your first
successes, do you think the days of tease were better than today's
honesty?
Russ
Meyer: We started it
all. No one had gotten into that kind of thing at all. I decided to
make a movie about a little old guy that undressed women with his
eyes.
Velvet Hammer:
What year was that?
Russ
Meyer: It was 1958. It
was a big, big success. There were a lot of copies, but it
didn’t do a damn thing for burlesque. Nothing whatsoever. I have
known some burlesque girls, one of which was Miss St. Louis. She was
a remarkable beauty and she would work in theaters that no longer
exist. And they were run by showmen, in a sense, guys like Dave
Friedman. He was a real sincere guy about trying to put a gal across
in some sort of presentation. And the other one was Tempest Storm.
She lasted longer because she would work in Vegas and Reno theaters.
The person who really did the most for burlesque was Peter DeCenzie.
He had the last really good burlesque show to my knowledge.
Velvet Hammer:
Where was that?
Russ
Meyer: In Oakland, it
was called the El Rey Burlesque. Peter DeCenzie was a very serious
guy when it came to putting on these shows. They were all handled
with orchestras and pushers, they called them, guys selling popcorn,
candy and so-called “sexy” pictures.
Velvet Hammer:
So it was a big show....
Russ
Meyer: It was a big
show. It had, like, 8 strippers and then, in this instance, that's
how I got to know him, I was shooting pictures for magazines and
girls. He was very open to the idea of making a film, which is called
“French Peep Show.” There are a few 16mm prints around. It
was shot as the show was presented, first in 16, then later blown up
to 35mm. Tempest Storm happened to be the lead, there were 8 more
very beautiful women. They played with an orchestra.
