The Grindhouse Era, Part 5: Nudie Costume Comedies

(and more)

So far we have looked at the nudie cuties as they dominated grindhouse fare in the first third of the 1960s. Bachelor Tom Peeping (1962), starring Patty Casse, is another movie that lays claim to showing nudists in their natural habitat.

Nude on the Moon (1962) was also solidly in that tradition even though they moved the nudists from Florida to outer space, which really isn’t that much of a stretch. That one featured:

Lacey Kelly



Marietta

But there are two points to make: 1) nudie cuties were not the only exploitation movies shown in grind houses in the early 60’s and 2) nudie cuties stayed popular at least into the early 1970’s. 

A good example of grittier grindhouse movies in the early 60’s was Girl In Trouble (1963), about a country gal who loses her way in the big city and winds up a sex worker.  The blond and buxom Tammy Clarke played the title character in her only appearance on the screen.  Love the hair-do.

If we look for nudie costume comedies like those that Harry Novak made in 1970, we see much the same thing that same year with The Joys of Jezebel.  And like Harry, the producer of Joys was wise enough to hire

Dixie Donovan



and Ruth Liben

to bathe and dance and pretend to bed a willing young man.

In the same genre of nudie costume comedy - perhaps its earliest example - is Sinderella and the Golden Bra (1964).  The send up here is Sinderella loses not her golden slippers but her golden bra on her way out the door at the royal ball.  This gives the love-stricken prince a chance to find Sinderella by forcing every maiden in the land to try on the precious under-garment.  Good premise to a movie meant for the grindhouse audience, but the execution is terrible.  Let me tell you why.

Real early in the movie is a village fair, complete with a topless belly dancer, played by Jackie De Witt. That is good news.  Jackie also plays one of the village maidens, forced by royal decree to try on the bra. That is even better news, because the bra is much too small for her.  Much.

But then starts the bad news. 

Althea Currier plays one of the maidens and yes, indeed, she also tries on the bra, but she turns her back to the camera.  Althea Currier… topless as usual… with her back…to the camera.  What in THE fuck? 

Perhaps you think she asked for too much to appear topless, but there she is an earlier scene, appearing as a lady-in-waiting, with not a stitch on above her waist.

So she was uninhibited as an aristocrat but bashful as a peasant?  Tis a mystery. 

That is bad execution #1.

Bad execution #2 is the casting of the other village maidens; they were not, shall we say, the most delectable women in Hollywood and would not have been in the top tier of any good-sized village.  The movie credits and IMDb give us the names of these maidens, but who is who escapes me.  That is too bad because one actress credited as a Village Maiden, Donna Anderson, had major roles in Inherit The Wind and On The Beach.  You can find a lot of pictures of her on the web,

 and a comparison of images suggests that of all the village maidens, number 2 looks the most like her, but nothing is certain. (I numbered the maidens in order of appearance; Althea was #1)

Playing Sinderella is the one-movie wonder, Suzanne Sybele.  She is a nice enough looking woman, but you can see why both Althea Currier and Jackie De Witt failed to squeeze into a bra made for her.

And when you see her act, you will understand why this is her only film credit.

One last note about Sinderella: it is a fairy godfather who gets her ready for the royal ball, not a godmother.  And this godfather is played not by Brando or De Niro but by Sydney Lassick.  You might be asking. "Who is Sydney Lassick?" but you will recognize him if you have seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  He played Cheswick and he did a great job as a looney.