gavcrimson

“Me Vanderhorn, You Jane ”

2012-02-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

Harrison Marks’ regular Howard Nelson doing his bit for ‘Men’s Lib’ on the cover of Forum in 1978

Cartoonized Clyda Rosen

2012-02-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

Well if being turned into a cartoon is good enough for Mary Millington then its good enough for Israel’s sexiest, bustiest and hairiest export to 1970s British smut, Ms. Clyda Rosen…..shalom!!

Mary Milling- ‘toon’

2012-02-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

Mary Millington in Cartoon form, thanks to the services of www.cartoonize.net, who might not be too happy at some of the images I’ve recently been running through their website, lol.

Naked As Nature Intended – the lost scene

2012-01-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

The infamous shower scene cut from the UK release of Naked as Nature Intended in 1961 but retained for the American version. Why do I get the impression that whoever wrote the narration for the American version didn’t care much for women…..or Stonehenge?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xns5mg_pamela-green-cut-scene-from-naked-as-nature-intended_shortfilms

Review: Beauty and the Beast (late 1950s, Stanley Long/Arnold L Miller)

2012-01-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Naked women and gorillas have always held their own peculiar fascination for sexploitation filmmakers and audiences alike, from the 1950s came Ron Ormond’s Untamed Mistress (1956) in which a love triangle between a great white hunter, a voluptuous native girl and a gorilla is played out against the backdrop of a safari and culminates in the discovery of topless Afro-American women dancing for the amusement of a tribe of gorillas. While the porno chic era brought us the quirky NYC lensed ‘Ape Over Love’ (1974) a pornographic visualisation of the Kinks’ song Apeman, in which a lonely Manhattan dog walker (Harry Reems) escapes his humdrum existence by fantasizing that he is a gorilla, a plot premise that leads to various hardcore sex scenes of Reems fucking in a gorilla costume, whilst the aforementioned ‘Apeman’ plays on the soundtrack without permission (the director of Ape Over Love seems to have been something of a Kinks aficionado, as their then highly obscure 1969 B-Side ‘King Kong’ also finds its way onto the film’s soundtrack). In more recent years indie filmmaker Jan Manthey has also been fond of including the odd gorilla into his British sex film homages, clearly great minds think alike….

Soho of the 1950s is where Britain’s first contribution to the girl and the gorilla sexploitation subgenre would take shape, thanks to Stanley Long and his cohort Arnold Louis Miller. Long had a great, finger on the pulse, sensibility when it came to the British sex film, to the degree that his subsequent films and successes virtually tell the entire story of the genre, from the nudist camp era of the early 1960s to the moralising, tut, tut and leer approach of the decade’s end, typified by Long’s The Wife Swappers, to the out and out comedy approach that Long’s Adventures of a… series lead the way with in the mid-Seventies. Long was there right at the genre’s humble beginnings in the late 1950’s too, shooting 8mm glamour films designed for home viewing and battling it out in this market with George Harrison Marks for the hearts, minds and money of your average 8mm glamour film loving punter. The Long and Miller team were highly prolific, if the numbering system they used on their 8mm boxes is accurate then Beauty and the Beast was their 114th glamour film. By this time you suspect that Long and Miller as well as Harrison Marks were beginning to see a long-term future for themselves in filmmaking, and started making more elaborate productions with storylines, sets and cinematic aspirations beyond merely filming the local glamour models undressing. Another likely reason for these men upping their game is that they no longer had this market to themselves, with the likes of Pete Walker and various other, now long forgotten also-rans, producing their own glamour films. Amidst an increasingly crowded market, a glamour film with decent production values and a photographer’s eye for nude women would help it stand out among a glut of similar films, as of course would sticking a randy, rampaging gorilla into one of your films.

Beauty and the Beast begins like a zillion other 8mm glamour films, as a stripper takes to the stage, shaking her thing, and orgasmically tugging at the stage’s curtains. Suddenly she is distracted from her act by something in the darkness, something that causes her to have a screaming fit. As I’ve long ago given away the film’s premise, it is going to be no surprise for anyone to discover that the ‘something’ I’m talking about turns out to be a gorilla who has found his way into the club, and much to her horror gets up on stage with her. Evidently her act has stirred up his animal passions, since he is soon beating his chest and making a grab for her. She momentarily manages to distract him by continuing on with her striptease routine, allowing him to have a feel of her thigh as well, but despite or perhaps because of this it is not long before he is all worked up again and inadvertently helping her along with her act by tearing off a few of her clothes. Things become even saucier when the gorilla takes to fondling her onstage then throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and disappearing into the night … presumably they both lived happily ever after.

Don’t for a minute question what a gorilla was doing in a Soho strip club? or why nobody in the club bothers to come to the poor girl’s aid? Despite the 8mm box hyping the film’s ‘horrific realism’ Beauty and the Beast clearly has nothing in common with anyone’s idea of reality and instead exists in a wonderfully cuckoo world of its own. Although the 8mm glamour films represent Long’s very first beginnings as a filmmaker, stare long enough at this thing and you’ll see flash forwards to just about every aspect of Long’s future career, its premise is as laugh out loud funny as anything in an ‘Adventures’ film, there are effective flirtations with the horror genre, and the Miller/Long teams’ eye for an absurd spectacle later used to greater effect in their mondo movies London in the Raw and Primitive London, is also present. Come to think about it the contents of Beauty and the Beast wouldn’t be all that out of place in either of those last two films, since according to its credits and publicity materials, Beauty and the Beast is a filmed version of a stage act that the two leads ‘Desiree and Pierre’ were regularly performing at the Casino De Paris strip club around the time the film was released (several adverts for the Casino De Paris, which was located in Soho’s Denman Street, can be seen here)

The stage origins of this double-act tend to explain Desiree’s hammy attempts at acting. You can’t accuse this gal of holding back, but while mimicking the wild, horrified expressions of women she has seen on one too many horror film posters, and waving her hands about was no doubt a necessity when having to convey terror to the guys at the back of a packed strip club, the same mannerisms just look hilariously over the top when brought to film. Pierre on the other hand obviously had his randy gorilla act down to a tee by the time it got before the camera. Huge close ups of him fill the screen as he obscenely flicks a huge tongue out of that gorilla mask. Goodness knows what he looked like under that costume but in gorilla mode he is nothing short of a perverted gargoyle that any legit horror film of the period would be proud to showcase. The actual nudity in the Beauty and the Beast is quite mild for a glamour film of the time with Desiree managing to keep hold of her nipple tassels and knickers throughout (although she does obligingly bare her boobs for the photo used on the 8mm box). Maybe Long and Miller felt they’d be pushing things a little too far by having her play the film topless, keeping in mind that any leery behaviour or physical interaction between women and men was pretty much unheard of in late 50s glamour films, let alone between a woman and a gorilla.

The gorilla costume itself isn’t half bad as such things go, on a par with the one used in Konga, and a darn sight less embarrassing than the dreaded moth woman outfit that Long was at pains to shoot for The Blood Beast Terror nearly a decade later.

Be warned though, 8mm glamour films and their dirtier, illegal 8mm stag film counterparts from this period still exert their power over the inquisitive, watching them fills your head with questions about the people onscreen, questions that deep down you know you’re unlikely to ever get answers to. Just who were these people? What twists and turns in life brought them to the X-rated moments from it that we see captured on film? And what did they do with the rest of their lives? Could Desiree now be seeing out her days in an old people’s home, telling a carer about the time she danced topless on stage with a gorilla, a carer who never in a million years will imagine she is telling the truth. And wherefore art thou Pierre?, did all the years playing out this routine finally cause him to crack, resulting in him recreating the end of King Kong by climbing to the top of the Windmill Theatre in his gorilla suit and trying to swat imaginary airplanes as a crowd of men in dirty mackintoshes watched on from below. Okay, so I doubt the reality of it was THAT interesting, but I for one would love to know what happened to this double act after they hung up their bra, G-string and a gorilla costume….answers on a postcard please.

Let’s face it, back then the neon jungle of Soho really was a godsend to the filmmakers of this period, providing them with a great, sleazy backdrop for their horror and sex films and various ‘once seen never forgotten’ theatrical sights, from the monkey business on show here, to the weirdo acts in Primitive London, and the show stopping stripper and a dead, stuffed fox routine in Harold Baim’s Get ‘Em Off. Let’s be grateful then that people like Stanley Long were around to film all this, otherwise would anyone today truly believe that a man once made a living by dressing as a gorilla, groping strippers and throwing them over his shoulder. The film itself survives to prove that, yes indeed; once upon a time someone really did occupy this unlikely position in life. Viva Pierre, wherever you are!!

Christmas with Suzy Mandel 2011

2011-12-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

Just back from a two week holiday in Arizona, staying with Suzy Mandel. We had a blast, visiting tombstone, tortilla flat, and covering lots of Arizona miles in Suzy’s Buick, fun times were in abundance, I also got to buy myself a big ol’ cowboy hat and meet some of Suzy’s colourful friends in AZ. Suzy really is very, very special to me and has bought so much happiness to my life, everyone should have a friend like her and hopefully I’ll be able to pop over to AZ again next year!!!

Flicker Flashbacks December

2011-12-21T04:44:00.000-08:00

The last of our vintage cinema listings takes us back to the chilly Decembers of 1969, 1970 and 1971 where the cold weather provided certain cinema goers with a legitimate reason for wearing those dirty macs for once.

Harrison Marks the 1963-64 clippings

2011-11-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Muswell, here are several newspaper clippings charting the misadventures of George Harrison Marks during 1963 and 64, evidently a hectic period that saw Marks go through his first obscenity trial, his second marriage and see clips from one of his films go out on ITV (“two viewers phoned congratulations, and one phoned to ask where he could get the film”). The clippings date from when it was falsely believed that Marks and Pamela Green had been married, hence references to Vivienne Warren being his third wife when in fact she was Mrs Harrison Marks the second.

Muswell also mentions this about Vivienne Warren:

“The second wedding article mentions Vivienne's sister Vicki Martin. Vicki was also a model and actress and under the name Valerie Mewes was a protégé of Stephen Ward and close friend of Ruth Ellis. She and Ellis both worked at Murrays Club in Soho where Ward later recruited Christine Keeler.
Vicki died in a car crash in 1955(about a month before Ruth Ellis, who also knew Ward, apparently shot her lover) the circumstances of the crash have never been fully explained.
Small world eh!”

Flicker Flashbacks November

2011-11-15T02:38:00.001-08:00

Our penultimate vintage cinema listings are from November 1968 and 1973.

Cinema Marquees in the Strangest of Places

2011-11-09T02:49:00.000-08:00

Vintage footage of cinema marquees have been turning up in the most unlikeliest of places recently, last week’s Film 2011 included a quick glimpse of the Leicester Square Jacey Cinema playing a double-bill of Exposed and The Yes Girls in a piece about the release of the original Straw Dogs (to tie in with the obligatory bad remake). This was topped only by a BBC2 documentary on Lulu, which included footage of Naked As Nature Intended playing the Cameo Moulin cinema, meant to visualise early 1960s London, though I’d wager a bet that Lulu never went to the Cameo Moulin cinema to watch a nuddy film.

The Return of ‘Don’t Open Till Christmas’

2011-11-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

Don’t Open Till Christmas-a film which I’ll admit has held a peculiar fascination for me over the years- is getting an authorised US DVD release from Mondo Macabro in December, it has already had a DVD release in the UK a few years ago and there have been a few unauthorised DVD releases in the states (if was considered a ‘public domain’ title for a while) however this release boasts a “Brand new anamorphic transfer from original negative” so is likely to be a big improvement-PQ wise- on its previous DVD incarnations. Blimey, who’ve have thought we’d ever get to see Don’t Open Till Christmas in HD.

Heres the blurb:
“DANGER AFTER DARK is proud to announce that it will be the exclusive North American distributor for UK-based MONDO MACABRO, the film label dedicated to “the wild side of world cinema.” To celebrate this momentous partnership, MONDO MACABRO presents the holiday release of "DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS," the classic British slasher that was heavily cut at the time of its release - now re-mastered in HD and uncut for the first time ever with over 70 minutes of extras! The “ho-ho-ho horror” slays your DVD collection when it streets December 6, 2011 with a S.R.P. of $24.99.
DANGER AFTER DARK is excited to bring one of the premiere, specialty film labels into our distribution family, “ says Derek Curk, President of Danger After Dark . “MONDO MACABRO’s fearless dedication to finding, preserving and unleashing unconventional, provocative movies fits DANGER AFTER DARK’s drive to provide an outlet for MONDO, to get their films to their very loyal fan-base."

MONDO MACABRO and DANGER AFTER DARK have had a relationship for years and it’s a great pleasure for us to cement that with a distribution deal, “ says Andy Starke, President of UK-based MONDO MACABRO. “ It's fantastic to have found a home at a company that is not only knowledgeable about cult, underground and alternative cinema - but are fans too"

DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS," directed by and starring Edmund Purdom, celebrates Christmas time in London - a season of good will to all men and full of joyous celebrations, quality family time and luxurious presents. This year, it's also time for a masked maniac to be let loose on the streets. His intended victims are chosen at random but they all have one thing in common: they are dressed in the flowing white beard and bright red robes of Santa Claus! With fourteen Santa Clauses already dead and only three killing days left until Christmas, the police are baffled as the horrific death toll continues to rise. From the producers of "Pieces" and "Slaughter High," this rarely-seen flick features very graphic and disturbing violence - including castration, mutilation - and some phenomenal nudity, courtesy of Pat Astley (Mr. Grace’s nurse from “Are You Being Served?”). Suffice it to say, your holidays will never be the same again!”

The extras look like they’re restricted to the already released ‘Making of a Horror Film’ behind the scenes promotional film from 1984 and the 2005 Dick Randall documentary , but then again the surviving cast and crew members aren’t exactly into singing the film’s praises these days. I did a lengthy review of the film for a forthcoming book on British horror films of the 1980s and managed to get some very entertaining quotes from former porn star Paula Meadows about her brief appearance in the film. She was quite game, but someone else who was involved with the production gave me their phone number and asked me to call them about the film, only when I gave them a call they angrily denied having worked on the film “I didn’t do Don’t Open Till Christmas”. Needless to say the ensuing conversation was a rather strange and brief affair!!

Gorilla Conditions

2011-11-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Naughty Old Kong, Stanley Long’s contribution to the ‘girl and the gorilla’ sexploitation sub-genre, made for the 8mm market in the late 1950s.

Mary Millington meets Mr Bean (sort of)

2011-11-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

An almost life size cut-out of Mary Millington in Queen of the Blues, sadly obscured in this photo by a young Mr Bean (credit to original uploader).

Hokushin photo

Suzy Mandel – Weekend Magazine 1977

2011-10-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

‘Thigh’s the Limit’ from Weekend magazine March 9-15 1977

Sandra Turnbull’s True Blue Confessions

2011-10-23T02:41:00.000-07:00

Clipping from a 1979 red top courtesy of RBT Foot. It would be interesting to find out more about this Sandra Turnbull character and the extent of her own modelling career, RBT Foot has pointed out that she bears a close resemblance to a woman who briefly appears as a stripper in one of the early scenes in Come Play With Me (billed in the end credits as ‘Deidre Costello’)

Easy Listening with Sue Longhurst

2011-10-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Rescued from a charity shop where it was gathering dust amidst records by the usual charity shop favourites (Max Bygraves, Des O’Connor, Mrs. Mills etc) here is the cover of ‘Stereo Special’ from 1971, featuring Sue Longhurst prior to her appearances in such seminal X-Rated fare as Confessions of a Window Cleaner, Secrets of a Door to Door Salesman and Can I Come Too. Its actually an album by The Hiltonaires, a Jamaican band obviously held in such low esteem by the record label that they don’t even get a mention on the cover, kicked off it in favour of two Sue Longhursts and boasts of the record being in stereo.

The record itself is an energetic non-stop medley of covers of things like House of the Rising Sun, Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da and Lili the Pink (sic), it’s the sort of music Larry Taylor’s character in The Wife Swappers would put on the record player to impress the birds, that’s if they weren’t already falling over him due to his manly ability to break out ice cubes. Groovy, baby!!!

West End Jungle meets Times Square

2011-10-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Some vintage footage of Times Square, shown in a documentary on the ‘Yesterday’ channel last week, reveals our very own West End Jungle once played 42nd Street’s Lyric theatre, as second feature to Paul Newman in Hud, a peculiar double-bill if ever there was one. The film titles on the other cinema marquees- including one for The Terror with Boris Karloff- indicates this footage was from 1963.

Review: UNACCUSTOMED AS I AM (circa 1973, Harrison Marks)

2011-10-02T02:42:00.000-07:00

In 1968 Harrison Marks told Titbits magazine that he’d turned down a fortune to shoot explicit films for the continental market. A claim that is now questionable given that the simultaneous existence of ‘Sexy Strip’ and ‘Volcano’ shows that stronger –if not exactly blue- versions of his films were being shot for overseas release during that period. By the early 1970s the allure of a suitcase full of deutschmarks must have been too much to resist, and a business agreement with German porn magnate Charlie Brown would result in Marks often shooting two versions of the same film, a black and white softcore version for the UK, and a colour hardcore version released in Germany on Brown’s Tabu label. Part of this cloak and dagger set-up would have had to involve Marks (or more likely a go between) transporting prints of the hardcore films from London to Tabu headquarters in Germany, avoiding the ever-watchful eye of British customs in the process. A situation that is likely to have given Marks the inspiration for making UNACCUSTOMED AS I AM, an 8mm sex film about smuggling 8mm sex films through customs. In fact, Marks was evidentially so tickled by this premise that he made at least three films boasting the same storyline, the black and white softcore Unaccustomed, a colour hardcore version released by Brown as ‘Die Lollos’, and a further colour hardcore production called ‘Duty Free’.

Like all these three films, Unaccustomed opens at an airport, a setting evoked by brief shots of planes hastily filmed from a departure lounge, and a cheap but efficient Custom’s desk set. At the desk the customs officer (Peter Vernon) is met by a motley crew of travellers, there is Howard Nelson –hiding his features under a pair of dark glasses-, another chap who is sporting a Tommy Cooper fez, and Clyda Rosen. Despite being the most normal looking of this bunch it is Clyda who receives all the attention from the customs officer. Clyda has time on her hands -quite literally- as the customs man pulling back her sleeve reveals several watches on her wrist. For that Clyda gets hauled out of the queue and into an inspection room. As Clyda has something even further incriminating hidden in her suitcase she uses her feminine wiles to fuck her way out of the tricky situation. With Mr. Customs highly responsive to her sexual advances, soon he is going down on her before Clyda throws her legs in the air, allowing Mr. Customs to have her right there on the inspection room table. For comic relief there are regular cutaways to Howard and his fez wearing chum waiting at the desk, complaining to each other and blissfully unaware of the naughty reason for the hold up.

The erotic draw of Unaccustomed As I Am rests entirely on the casting of the Israel born Miss Rosen, aka Vietta Taff, aka Vietta Manning, whose huge breasts and extremely hairy pussy is a sight still worshipped on the internet to this day. Like Mary Millington, Clyda was a tiny thing - 4' 10" or thereabouts – whose diminutive stature belied a true sexual dynamo, one whose enthusiasm for onscreen sex often left her male co-stars looking overwhelmed, and more than a little exhausted, by the experience. Clyda’s career would be no ‘blink and she’s gone’ affair either, and incredibly she was still appearing in pornography well into the 1990s, her appeal undiminished by age or these latter day sexploits being recorded on the less glamourous medium of videotape.

“Big tits sell” was reportedly one of Marks’ mottos during this period of filmmaking, and in Unaccustomed As I Am, Marks demonstrates just how well he knew his market, with energetic sex scenes that place heavy emphasis on boobplay, with Clyda’s breasts kissed and fondled throughout, much to the enjoyment of her male co-stars and Clyda herself. The 8mm to DVD transfer of the film under review here comes complete with its own unintended effect when during a sex scene the 8mm image momentary burns up, causing the film to blur, freeze, before flickering back to life and allowing Clyda to continue bonking away, giving the impression the scene is so hot it has literally caused the very celluloid it has been printed on to burn. In reality the print damage is of course merely testament to the original 8mm copy having had a well-loved existence, its previous owners having no doubt screened the film many times over, slowed it down, and studied it intensely. And who can blame them?, the sight of the film in its original 8mm context i.e. with Clyda projected life-size onto the wall of a heavy breather- must have been awesome.

The second part of Unaccustomed As I Am sees Clyda return home to her waiting boyfriend, who is overjoyed the contents of the suitcase have made it home safety. In an amusing touch the suitcase turns out to be jam packed with Harrison Marks films, a proud pan of the suitcase’s contents revealing the 8mm boxes of such epics as The Wrong Habit, Apartment 69, The Girl Upstairs and Medium Rare. Clyda and her boyfriend then have a celebratory fuck- a sex scene shot on Marks’ very own bed. To spice things up the boyfriend opts to stick one of the 8mm films onto the projector, only to find it is more of a distraction than an added turn on. The film within a film sequence turns out to be a wickedly funny parody of a bad 8mm sex film, featuring a man in a Batman type cowl fucking a woman on a couch. 8mm sex films were rife for parody at the time in mainstream films like ‘Freelance’ and ‘O Lucky Man!’, although here Marks arguably provides the 8mm sex film parody to end them all. Watching it you can just picture Marks suffering through several piece of shit 8mm sex films made by others, in order to secretly check out the competition, shaking his head, pouring himself a drink, then pouring himself another drink, before having an electric light bulb above the head moment and coming up with the idea of treating such feeble 8mm efforts to the piss-take treatment in one of his own films.

The resultant sequence is rich in deliberately unerotic detail, both performers overact throughout, the woman breaking into overdone expressions of sexual ecstasy for no particular reason, while the masked man constantly breaks the fourth wall by turning away from the sex to pull idiotic faces at the viewer and give ‘OK’ hand gestures to them. Everything that you imagine could be wretched about an 8mm sex film is gleefully reproduced here. A close-up reveals the masked man has kept his socks on, he initially forgets to take his underpants off as well, then when he does ends up wildly bouncing on top of the woman in a ridiculous and exaggerated manner. Further laughs are provided by the fact that the masked man character is clearly meant to be gay, and occasionally forgets he is playing a heterosexual by mincing, pouting and camping it up before returning to engage in further badly mimed sex with the woman. The punch line to the sequence, and the whole film, sees the masked man lose his Batman cowl revealing him to be none other than the customs officer. Lending Unaccustomed As I Am its ‘No Sex Please, We’re British’ type twist that the film’s straight-laced, authoritarian figure is in fact knee deep in the type of smut he is meant to be keeping an eye out to confiscate. Its a sequence that also showcases the hitherto unknown comedic ability of Peter Vernon, a veteran hardcore performer in films by Marks and John Lindsay. Vernon looks to be having a ball here, sending up his day job and displaying a Robin Askwith-like ability to elicit belly laughs out of softcore slapstick.

It feels quite daring of Marks to have thrown in an elaborate parody of an 8mm sex film slap bang in the middle of a real one. Given that unlike Freelance and O Lucky Man!, Unaccustomed As I Am is obliged to deliver the dirty movie goods as well, and finds itself juggling sex scenes played entirely for laughs, alongside sequences shot erotically straight that Marks intended as a turn on. Fortunately for once Marks got to have his cake and eat it with Unaccustomed As I Am, simultaneously having some fun at the expense of his inept competition while at the same time keeping hold of his crown as the king of the 8mm black and white sex film by delivering a great example of the sexy, good time that such things can be. Unaccustomed’s mixture of sex, big breasts and its scope for comedy and self-referential elements proving a combination that obviously fully engaged Marks’ imagination and interest throughout its construction. The fact that Unaccustomed As I Am also captures Clyda Rosen in all her horny, hairy, hebraic glory, is the film’s cherry on the cake, and makes its rediscovery a special cause for celebration among Little Miss Clyda’s many fans.

“Big Tits Sell”

Flicker Flashbacks October

2011-10-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

A look at what was playing the fleapits in October 1968, 69, 1970 and 1971.

The 9 Ages of Nakedness premiere

2011-09-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

Photos from the premiere of ‘The 9 Ages of Nakedness’ from Kine Weekly magazine (July 26, 1969)

Review: Sexy Strip (1967) and Macabre (1968, Harrison Marks)

2011-09-23T00:50:00.000-07:00

Monique Deveraux was a sight no man could ever forget, a jet black haired German beauty with a supremely 1960s beehive, and rather less common for her era a set of surgically enhanced breasts, Monique definitely left an impression on George Harrison Marks. ‘If you are looking for a beautiful face here it is, if you are looking for personality, it’s here, maybe you’re a leg man? Monique foots the bill’ Marks enthusiastically wrote on the back of the 8mm box of Magnificent Monique, one of several 8mm films he made of her. ‘Harrison Marks says he has discovered the greatest’ the box proudly triumphs.

Actually there does appear to be evidence that Marks wasn’t the first glamour photographer to get his hands on her. Billed as plain old Monique she appeared in anonymously made 8mm glamour films like ‘Massage’ and ‘Daughter of Venus’. Everything one remembers about Monique, the hair, the boobs, those equally large fake eyelashes and the drawn on beauty spot are all present and correct in these early films, but the flat, unimaginative filmmaking on display hardly does her justice, and it would take Marks’ talent behind the camera to truly make Monique magnificent.

In his 8mm film CASBAR, Monique is a topless genie let out of the lamp by a pith helmet wearing British adventurer, only for her to transform into an old witch in the film’s closing moments. Funnier still is THE WONDERBED. Hailing from a period when Marks obviously felt stronger material needed a flimsy, socially redeeming justification for its existence, The Wonderbed finds Marks espousing the value of healthy exercise in order to show Monique working out in the nude. Throughout the film Marks can barely contain his bemusement at having to use exercise demonstrations as an excuse to show off Monique’s boobs and crotch. “Your entire torso consists of a series of different muscles each requiring particular attention”, an intertitle proclaims in a mock serious fashion before the film cheekily cuts to a close-up of Monique’s pubes.

By the time of SEXY STRIP (1967) Marks clearly felt Monique could carry a film all by herself and dispenses of such silly gimmickry. Sexy Strip draws on footage Marks shot of Monique that eventually filled up two separate 8mm films. ‘Volcano’, released in black and white in the UK, was the less explicit of the two films and mostly allows Monique to keep her knickers on, whilst Sexy Strip –released in Germany in colour- offered Monique’s countrymen a lengthy look at her full frontally nude. Both these films are quite literally ‘glamour home movies’, and were shot in Marks’ own front room. A quintessential late 1960s bachelor pad, it boasts such of the period trappings as a soda syphon and a lava lamb –a huge close-up of which opens ‘Volcano’, presumably as a visual pun on the title. Personal items flesh out the décor, portraits of Marks’ favourite models adorn the walls, there is a well-stocked bar, and ornament statues of cats are everywhere (Marks being a cat lover and connoisseur of all things feline). And of course what bigger indication do we need that we are at Marks’ own gaff than the fact that there is a semi-naked fraulein seductively pacing about the place, undressing out of lingerie and smoking a big cigar. Marks throws in enormous close ups of Monique rolling that cigar around in her mouth, the phallic symbolism of which is outrageously blatant for a 1967 film. Sexy Strip is essentially a late 60s version of the nude posing films that kick-started Marks’ film career nearly a decade earlier, only a lot less asexual in tone. Raunchy camera placing, an intimate setting, and Monique’s enthusiastic cigar sucking reactions to being erotised on film, all contribute to an extremely pre- coital feel to the piece. By the film’s end Monique is naked on a couch and Marks’ camera practically mounting her as she signs off the film with one last cigar smoke filled breath and a provocative wink to the camera. Although it is unclear whether Monique was among the 1000 beautiful women Marks modestly claimed to have slept with over the years, the besotted nature of Magnificent Monique’s box notes and the aura of late night lust evoked in Sexy Strip, do put forth a convincing case for the pair of them having fucked each other’s brains out the moment the camera stopped rolling on the film. Whatever went on behind the scenes, in Sexy Strip Marks vividly brings Monique’s sex appeal to life in a way that the hacks who cranked out Daughter of Venus could only dream of.

(‘Sexy Strip’ was once screened on German TV in a full colour version as part of “Liebe Sunde” a sex magazine show that occasionally threw in clips from old glamour and stag films for a dash of nostalgia, although the only known commercial DVD release of the film is in black and white.)

Even in simple striptease affairs like Sexy Strip, Monique sticks in the memory as being quite different to any Harrison Marks model that had come before. While able to be as playfully girlie as the best of them, her enjoyment of cigars and knowledge of her way around a bar in Sexy Strip, gives the impression of her also being ‘one of the boys’ and it is easy to imagine Monique holding her own in late night drinking and smoking sessions with Marks or challenging Marks’ bodybuilder friend Howard ‘Vanderhorn’ Nelson to arm wrestling competitions in between glamour shoots. There is certainly a dash of Faster Pussycat Kill, Kill era sexual aggressiveness about Monique, a side to her that Marks played up in a few of his films. In his feature film The Nine Ages of Nakedness (1969) he cast her as an outer space dominatrix, and in Pattern of Evil aka Fornicon, aka Blue Perfume aka Don’t Change Hands (1967), she is female sadist and murder suspect Greta Marr who gets the tables turned on her in the film’s climax when she is placed on a medieval torture-rack by the hero. Now considered a lost film, Pattern of Evil was financed by shady American characters, possibly connected to New York’s Swank magazine, and as was the case with the majority of his feature films Marks ended up with a bum deal and saw little profit from the film. Stills from Pattern of Evil, which are allot easier to find than the film itself, suggest a ‘hands across the ocean’ affair that wedded Marks’ eye for female talent and uniquely British approach to sexploitation with what was floating New York’s boat at the time, which meant the ‘Olga’ films and the roughie output of Stan Borden and Distribpix. S&M, medieval themed orgies, and women in leather supervising dungeon tortures are what drives the wheels of Pattern of Evil according to the stills.

Back on the 8mm market, Marks made the similar themed MACABRE (1968) that reunites two of Pattern of Evil’s stars, Monique and Howard Nelson. In fact Macabre bears such a close resemblance to stills from Pattern of Evil that there has been some confusion over the years as to whether Macabre was merely a scene from the film released as a standalone short, or an entirely separate entity that Marks put together with leftover costumes, props and cast members from the feature film. Having now seen Macabre I feel inclined to go for the latter option. Stylistically it has the look of something shot for the 8mm market, a big giveaway being that the two performers avoid anything but the most rudimentary dialogue exchanges, which surely wouldn’t be the case if this were a stray clip from a narrative film.

In Macabre, Howard Nelson plays a door to door salesman paying a house call on Monique. Howard is immediately distracted from his sales pitch by a copy of 1960s femdom magazine ‘Bizarre Life’ on her coffee table, followed by Monique flashing a tit in his direction , two sights which Howard reacts to with nervousness bordering on fear. The worse is yet to come as Monique spikes Howard’s drink, causing him to pass out. Cue a quick dissolve, followed by Howard waking up shirtless and tied to a rack in a torture dungeon. Monique has undergone a costume change herself, and re-emerges dressed in leather and wielding a whip, much to Howard’s horror. Macabre then turns severe, with Monique whipping the bejesus out of Howard, blood flying in his face and his torso and features quickly becoming a barely distinguishable blur of muscle and blood, all intercut with Monique cracking the whip with such vigour that Marks goes in for a close up of her chest just as it looks like her cleavage might pop out of that leather outfit. Evidentially Monique didn’t spend as much effort in tying Howard down as she does whipping him, as Howard manages to break free of the rack and pursues his leather clad tormentor around the dungeon. In spite of Howard’s bodybuilder frame, he and Monique seem like an equal match for each other as they wrestle about the floor of the dungeon. With Howard weakened from the whipping however it is Monique who eventually gains the upper hand, throwing an oversized skull at Howard which leaves him with a massive head wound and vomiting up a mouthful of blood.

The violence in Macabre is the real turn up for the books here- given that there is little else in Marks’ career to suggest he was a gorehound- yet Macabre positively revels in hurling stage blood over its lead actor. Curiously the nudity in the film is extremely light by Marks’ standards and plays second fiddle to the sadism, indicating the film was an attempt by Marks to diversify and court the leather, blood and whips crowd that Pattern of Evil was seemingly aimed at. Whilst the gore in Macabre is ultimately over the top and unrealistic in a H.G. Lewis fashion, it is a textbook example of how the unregulated 8mm film world could often be more daring than the censor controlled British feature films of the time were able to be. Compare and contrast Macabre with Tigon’s horror film Curse of the Crimson Altar- made the same year- whose dungeon scenes are somewhat Marks-ian in their utilization of out of work glamour models and musclemen, but whose attempts at sadism inevitably fell foul of the censors and look tame indeed compared to what Marks was getting away with here.

Macabre might be an atypical production for Marks- no men with fake comedy moustaches or Stuart Samuels looking shocked at the sight of naked birds are on display here- buts it is perfectly cast. Monique truly bares her claws, in a way that can be jarring especially if your mental image of her is informed by the cute, alluring creature you encounter in Sexy Strip and Volcano, still it is hard to deny that she is every bit as spectacular in her kinky boots and skin tight leather gear. Howard Nelson also seems to be in his element, looking every inch like the star of a 1960s Italian peplum and cast in a role that sees him play out the bodybuilder fantasy of being envisioned as the shirtless, muscular hero able to break free of his chains and take on his tormentor.

On the basis of Macabre, Pattern of Evil- which tantalisingly offers the prospect of a feature length version of this kinky diversion in Marks’ career- could well turn out to be a doozy should it one day escape from its current obscurity.

Flicker Flashbacks September

2011-09-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

A lack of September issues of Continental Film Review means there is only one vintage cinema listing this month, from September 1970.

A Blast of the Ask

2011-08-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Heres “This Space is Reserved for You”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xksfk6_robin-askwith-this-space-is-reserved-for-you_music

the B-Side to Robin Askwith’s only real stab at the pop charts from 1977. The single charted at 39- despite the fact that his name is spelt wrong (‘Robin Aswith’) on the single itself- leading to the A Side ‘Confessions’ being performed by Askwith on Marc Bolam’s show Marc, as immortalised on Youtube here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAlvVUwfKbU

For more Askwith fun check out this blog about the man and his movies:
http://robinaskwithmoviereviews.blogspot.com/

Mary Millington - Strobe Type Photos

2011-08-28T09:22:00.001-07:00

Exactly when and where these were taken in unknown, although they possibly could have been photographed at June Palmer’s Strobe Studios at the outset of Mary’s glamour modelling career. Photos courtesy of RBT Foot.

Sordid Soho revisited

2011-08-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Originally written up on the site in May 2010, this vintage 8mm glamour film made in London in the 1960s now has unintended historic interest as the film intercuts exterior shots of the era’s strip clubs with an unseen punter paying a visit to the flats of several strippers. A film so sordid even one of the women in the film wears dark glasses!!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xko6zg_sordid-soho-1960s_shortfilms

Special thanks to bygoneguy at bygonemedia.com for transferring this film from 8mm.

Mary Millington - A Life Less Ordinary

2011-08-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

So August 19th comes around again, marking 32 years since Mary Millington died. Its a date I skipped over giving attention to last year, and yet so much has gone on this year-both good, bad and ugly- that it is hard not to be drawn to the significance of the date this time around.

As we sail into the 21st century, now is certainly as good a time as any to preserve what we can of 20th century pop culture, and I do genuinely feel that Mary Millington is worth remembering. Kudos then to Simon Sheridan, someone who has done a lot to keep her legacy in the public eye, recently having been the driving force in getting her key films –and Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair- out on DVD, thus giving the uninitiated the chance to see the sort of cinema he has been bigging up in print for the last several years. Whatever else can be said about the British sex film era, few of its players could be accused of being dull. The genre offers up an endlessly fascinating array of sexy starlets, poorly paid screenwriters cranking out scripts in bedsits and university study halls, wealthy city businessmen who had money in these films but always insisted on keeping their names off the credits, slumming thespians who’d become too identified with one sitcom role, and producers and directors whose films often mirrored their off screen activities as crumpet chasers and/or obsessive voyeurs. None of these characters however epitomises the British sex film quite like Mary Millington, a woman whose entire career would be played out during it, her rise to fame paralleling the peak of the genre’s popularity in the mid-1970s and her death in 1979 signalling the final elbow for this period of filmmaking. It is impossible to separate the woman from her era, with any mental image of her inevitably bringing with it such unmistakably 1970s trappings as the funky platform boots she wears in Betrayed, the blue eye shadow she sports in The Playbirds’ sauna scenes, and the Emmanuelle T-Shirt and oversized sunglasses compo modelled by her in the opening of I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight. In the past it has been suggested she was the genre’s Marilyn Monroe, and whilst the Monroe comparisons might not hold up under close scrutiny, at least it provides a damn sight more dignified comparison than having her explained as “the Jordan of her generation”.

Aside from merely titillating the masses, Millington’s career would see her break taboos, challenge the status quo regarding the portrayal of sex and nudity in British society, become militantly anti-censorship and actively mouth back to the law and the prudes of the period, and then get crucified for it.

Just as the “Confessions” films took on the Carry On series in the mid-1970s, and by adding sex and nudity to the British comedy mix, eventually overtook them in popularity because of this, so too the top shelf publications of David Sullivan were similarly upping the ante in terms of explicitness and blowing away the old fashioned competition in the process. Prior to Sullivan’s assault on the top shelf magazines like Mayfair still clung to the 1950s Playboy model of being a men’s lifestyle magazine. Mayfair’s mixture of tasteful nude shoots, fiction, cartoon funnies and old WW2 stories suggesting contents aimed at a gentleman’s club mentality, a fact emphasized by that magazine’s chosen title. Sullivan’s magazines had no time for such social niceties, offered little pretence to being anything other than pornography and were aimed squarely at an 18-30 working class male audience. A demographic Sullivan instinctively understood, after all having been born in 1949 on a council estate he certainly qualified as being one himself. Millington –who first appeared in Sullivan magazines in 1975- became the perfect muse for this new style of porn magazine and instantly clicked with its target audience. The magazines themselves offer the best proof of this, open up any Sullivan magazine from this period and you’re likely to see her pictured draped over joe public, be it busmen, dustmen, electricians or taxi drivers, generally accompanied by made up sex stories that spoke to the working class libido as much as any ‘Confessions of a…’ or ‘Adventures of a..’ film. All of which succeeded in making Millington a far more believable and accessible fantasy figure to the everyman than the superficially similar Fiona Richmond. As her friend/dialogue coach/hanger-on John M. East once remarked “to the upper classes they didn’t know her, but (to) the ordinary working men she was their masturbatory idol”. This erotic spark between Millington and her audience, and certainly the size of her popularity with them, was destined never to be equalled by the numerous other models whose faces and personalities would be splashed over Sullivan’s magazines in the years to follow. The lifeless, nude gyrations of her would-be-successors in 1981’s desperate, cash-in film “Mary Millington’s World Striptease Extravaganza”, only illustrate how hard her appeal was to replicate.

History largely suggests the claims within Sullivan’s magazines to be fighting censorship on their punters behalf was all phoney baloney. These days Sullivan readily admits to have only been interested in publishing “the strongest possible material without breaking the law”, and falling foul of Britain’s obscene publications act on a regular basis was clearly not among his ambitions in life. For all their explicitness, ultimately his magazines are likely to be remembered for what they falsely promised rather than what they actually delivered. Claims in the magazines that they would soon be ‘going hardcore’ were never followed through and it is routinely pointed out that his film productions never lived up to the ludicrous hype (“the only blue film made in Britain”, “makes Linda Lovelace look like Noddy”) that preceded them. The list of exaggerations and fibs in Sullivan’s magazines was as long as Big John English’s cock. Yet there can be no doubt that Millington herself had a firm belief in the anti-censorship ideology of his magazines, and took people’s right to view, produce and publish pornographic material on as her own personal cause. A difference of opinion on this matter would see cracks appearing in the both the personal and professional sides to the Sullivan/Millington relationship. While Sullivan clearly had no desire to antagonise the authorities, Millington relished any opportunity to do so, provocatively appearing as a policewoman in The Playbirds- a film that continually makes the police force look stupid and incompetent- and offering quotes to journalists like “I hate policemen, their truncheons are always bigger than their cocks”. Predictably police harassment, tax difficulties, and just about every other problem the establishment could throw her way ensued. By 1977 she was in court on obscenity charges, only to be found not guilty, an incident that victoriously opens her 1979 biography ‘The Amazing Mary Millington’. If the book is anything to go by her fight against censorship had become an obsession by this point. It’s a subject she returns to in the book over and over and over again, even going so far as reprinting 40 pages of a report commissioned by David Webb’s campaign to reform the obscene publications act as an appendix. Right till the very end she was still pleading the case for this cause. One of several of her suicide notes- likely written as a lethal cocktail of anafranil, alcohol and paracetamol were taking effect- comments ‘I do hope so much porn is legal one day, they called me obscene names for being in possession of it- I can’t go through anymore’. Chances are that sentiments like those were some the last thoughts to ever go through that tormented mind.

For a person who has been dead over 30 years, Millington’s life and career is still offering up its fair share of new surprises, twists and revelations. As I mentioned at the start of this piece this has been a busy year for Millington archaeology, an especially exciting find was ‘Wild Lovers’, a hither to unknown 8mm sex film from her pre-fame days, a find that pour moi offered the double thrill of uncovering a forgotten film of hers and also played to my interest in tracking down and documenting truly obscure examples of British filmmaking. On a somewhat more lowbrow note, the names of several famous people who quite literally bought the dear girl’s affections i.e. are likely to have ‘known’ her in her capacity as a high class prostitute, have also come to my attention, as has the identity of the “Capital Radio DJ Boyfriend”. Explosive information indeed, although good sense tells me not to use it, given that it might be seen as tacky or muckraking to bring this information to the internet, not to mention have whatever mischief the disclosure of this info would undoubtedly cause boomerang back on me in the form of libel action. Even so it does leave a bad taste in the mouth to think that she is likely to be remembered in the history books as a “70s porn star who became addicted to cocaine and committed suicide”, while other individuals get to keep their family friendly, light entertainment reputations intact, and their public in the dark about their involvement with drugs or having paid for the services of Miss Bohrloch herself. Of course even if I could name names, I doubt many would thank me for the mental images they’d evoke, suffice to say there is good reason why a number of these famous gents HAD to pay for sex. On several occasions after being told of her celebrity clients’ identities, my initial reaction has been “I hope they paid her well”.

For all of the insider gossip, rare photos and a lost film that have come to light this year, 2011 is turning out to be a bumpy year for several Mary Millington fans. Discretion prevents me from going into detail about a lot of the madness that has/is being played out privately, but in the last few months I’ve seen friends and fellow Millington aficionados conned, threatened and hurt mainly at the hands of freaks, fantasists, and persons with an disingenuous interest in her. The most extreme example of this saw a Millington connoisseur of my acquaintance having to call her old foes the police after receiving death threats from one human nightmare masquerading as a seller of film memorabilia. At times it feels like I’ve been on a ghost train ride-‘Mary Millington’s House of Horrors’ if you will- and shunted around views of one horrific incident after another that are currently being played out in other people’s lives. Part of me wonders whether Mary would get a slight kick out her ability to still cause controversy and thirty odd years after her death get to be the subject of a film, death threats and a police investigation, at the same time she doesn’t come across as the type who would have suffered fools gladly, and I’m in little doubt that she would choke on her Campari and Lemonade if she were around to hear a few of the stories from the last twelve months. It’s a testament to these peoples’ dedication to her that their interest and fandom in her remains undiminished despite all the shit storm of troubles recently thrown their way by a few bad eggs.

Today Millington has a far greater presence on the internet than ever before, with fan sites and forums springing up and encouraging people to dig out old magazines and get long forgotten 8mm films and photo-shoots of hers back into circulation. Hopefully these sites will continue to grow, educate, titillate, entertain and allow Mary to cast her sexy spell over the internet, while in the process stoking the memories of those who remember her first time around, and winning her new fans too, because well…….there really is something about Mary Millington.

Flicker Flashbacks August

2011-08-08T04:24:00.001-07:00

Vintage cinema listings from August 1968, 1969 and 1970

John Lindsay’s The Hot Girls

2011-08-08T04:16:00.000-07:00

A lost classic or a right crock of shit? Here is some pictorial evidence of this long unseen 1974 film. Admittedly these stills do push it towards being the latter, but I’d still buy a copy if anyone was crazy enough to dig this one out and let it loose on DVD.

Names of the performers (where known) are contained in the jpeg names

Heather Deeley in ‘Pink Orgasm’ (1975)

2011-07-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

The gospel according to David Hamilton Grant; a biblical themed clip from his never completed film ‘Pink Orgasm’ starring Heather Deeley as Eve and Steve Amber as Adam.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xk19mf_heather-deeley-in-pink-orgasm-1975_shortfilms

…..and just to put a face to the name here are screenshots of David Hamilton Grant, the only man ever imprisoned for distributing a video nasty, pictured circa 1978. Grant is the one with the beard and braces BTW.

Mary Millington at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival

2011-07-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Mary at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival
Brief clip, no audio
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xk50s6_mary-millington-at-the-1978-cannes-film-festival_shortfilms

Night, After Night After Night- trailer

2011-07-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

a trailer for Lindsay Shonteff's horror classic “Night, After Night After Night” has surfaced on Youtube. Goodness knows where they found this but as you might expect its a suitably lurid affair with a great voiceover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clWubEF04CM

star of The Nine Ages of Nakedness (and former Mrs. Russell Gay) in the news again

2011-07-19T23:01:00.001-07:00

Patricia Kluge, a long ago star of The Nine Ages of Nakedness and former Mrs. Russell Gay is in the news again, albeit for all the wrong reasons. References to her being an ‘ex-porn star’ seem a laughable exaggeration, especially if that still from Nine Ages is the worst thing they could drag up on her, then again what do you expect from the Daily Mail. Predictably they take a moralising tut-tut approach to her background, but anyone who appeared in The Nine Ages of Nakedness and once stuck her tit in a prawn cocktail is ok in my book.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007961/Patricia-Kluge-Fall-belly-dancer-billionairess-How-ex-cloakroom-girl-porn-star-married-Americas-richest-man-went-bankrupt.html

her bit part in The Nine Ages of Nakedness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ0jhkwtlKY

Typo of the week has to go to africianseer.com who claim: “Mrs Kruge starred in the adult film 'The Nine Acres of Nakedness”

Flicker Flashbacks July

2011-07-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

Vintage cinema listings from July 1968, 69, 70 and 72

Doing Rude Things (1995) trailer

2011-07-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjm84l_doing-rude-things-1995-trailer_shortfilms

trailer for a 1995 documentary about british sexcoms based on David McGillivray’s book of the same name.

Secrets of a Door to Door Salesman (1973) trailer

2011-07-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjm8av_secrets-of-a-door-to-door-salesman-1973-trailer_shortfilms

trailer for the 1973 british sexcom from the director of Village of the Damned. The trailer is absent from the recent DVD release of the film but made it onto World of Video 2000’s VHS release of Video Blue aka The Double Exposure of Holly (1977).

Howard Nelson in Minder

2011-06-22T04:03:00.000-07:00

While watching an episode of Minder on ITV4 recently I was surprised to spot the late, great Howard “Vanderhorn” Nelson pop up as a boxer. The episode “No Way to treat a Daley” was from 1993, so this was a good few years after his last film credit, 1978’s Carry On Emmannuelle, and his 1982 appearance as a spanking milkman in Harrison Marks’ New Janus magazine. However I’m unsure whether this appearance represented a belated return to acting, or whether Howard did more TV extra work in the 1980s and 1990s that has gone under the radar. His character is allocated a name, Bill “Flying Dutchman” Van Dyke, but no dialogue and in terms of screen time its a strictly ‘blink and you’ll miss him’ appearance, or in the context of his role “blink and he’s been knocked out”. The last few photos are of The Horn’ in his 1970s heyday, being roughed up by a 1970s housewife (credit to original uploader)

Flicker Flashbacks June

2011-06-02T23:03:00.001-07:00

Ye olde cinema listings from June 1967, 68, 69, 1970 and 1971.

Review: Wild Lovers (Mary Millington/Mountain Films)

2011-05-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

‘Lost’ 8mm films starring Mary Millington might not turn up as regular as buses, but of late they have been appearing with agreeable frequency; what with “Sex Is My Business” surfacing in 2008 and “Special Assignment” turning up in 2009. Now, two years on from Special Assignment, “Wild Lovers” another previously thought lost 8mm short film starring Mary has been traced and transferred to DVD.

This softcore 8mm epic wasn’t made by any of the usual suspects like Harrison Marks or John Lindsay, and its origins proved to be far more obscure and undocumented. While we are sailing into very uncharted cinematic territory here-and a degree of guesswork has had to come into play during my research-a bit of detective work into Wild Lovers has thrown up an intriguing and unlikely connection between Mary Millington and the company that would become the pre-cert video label Mountain Video, as well as Mountain’s own, hitherto unknown, involvement in 1970s pornography.

These days Mountain are best remembered for their video era output, and released a truly eclectic mixture of low-budget horror, concert films, Star Trek episodes and such British sex film milestones as Eskimo Nell and The Wife Swappers onto video during the early 80s. Way before becoming a video label however, Mountain had been a huge player in the 8mm distribution world. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Mountain issued many popular titles on 8mm in the UK, including cut-down films from the RKO back catalogue and vintage Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy comedy shorts. Mountain also had a secretive hand in the 8mm skin flick business, but preferred to keep this side of their output separate from their mainstream releases, and used other company names to sell adult 8mm titles to the general public. Mountain were aka “Elysium” films, but bar a brief period in 1972 when they were calling themselves “Impact Films”, Mountain’s most common company alias was “Unique Films” which was the name they used to advertise in magazines like Continental Film Review and Cinema X. Mountain favoured acquiring their line of adult titles from established 8mm filmmakers rather than to make these films themselves, notably picking up the rights to the Heritage range of 8mm glamour films from Pete Walker when Walker left the 8mm glamour film business behind for a career in feature film directing.

Mountain did occasionally though produce their own material; as was the case in the early 1970s when they commissioned around forty 8mm adult short films that they released under the series title “Impact Double X Home Movies”. This is where Mary Millington enters into the equation, as in her pre-fame days she appeared in least two of the Impact Double X titles, “Wild Lovers” and “Love Games”. Chances are that these two films were not the highest paying gigs of her early career, as Mountain’s miserly budgets for these productions reportedly barely covered the director and cast members’ fees.

When Mountain made the transition from an 8mm film label to a video company in the late 70s, the Impact Double X titles were largely forgotten about in the process. Only three films from the series “Emmanuelle from Bangkok”, “Hot Flesh” (aka The Orgy) and “The Handyman” were committed to video by Mountain Video. Compiled into one 24 minute featurette, those three titles-complete with dubbed on narration- were issued as a video called “Emmanuelle and Friends” by Mountain in 1980. Wild Lovers wasn’t so lucky, and has remained in the pornographic wilderness for over thirty years, that is until now.

Wild Lovers certainly deserves an award for the unlikeliest premise for an 8mm sex film, since the film centres around a game of “spirit of the glass”. The players of the game, which include a bearded guy, Mary, and two other girls, clearly must have made contact with a dirty minded ghost, as the glass wildly moves in all directions, spelling out rude words in the process. Erotically inspired by this, the foursome are soon pairing off and creeping away from the table. Mary and the bearded guy are the first to leave the séance, and rather than feeling an otherworldly presence, just end up feeling each other. In their absence the two remaining girls opt for a spot of lesbian hanky panky over continuing on with the séance. Both couples are however reunited for the film’s grand finale which sees all four cast members humping away in the lounge.

On the basis of Wild Lovers and the films on the Emmanuelle and Friends video, Mountain were exploring similar sexploitation terrain on 8mm that director Derek Ford was pursuing with feature films like The Wife Swappers and Suburban Wives. Suburban settings and the sexploits of frustrated housewives, middle class swingers and au pairs appear to be the hallmarks of the Impact Double X Films. No matter what the premise, whether it be a séance, a card game or even a gardening assignment, all roads lead to group sex in the Impact Double X Films’ world. You half expect The Wife Swappers’ Larry Taylor to pop up in Wild Lovers, modelling a godawful cravat and offering to help Mary prepare a Campari and Lemonade by breaking out a few ice cubes. Visually Wild Lovers is overwhelmingly early 70s in appearance, from the loud décor of the lounge that the majority of the action takes place in, right down to the sole male actor sporting a Joy of Sex beard and the obligatory British sex film Y-Fronts.

The primitive nature of the filmmaking on display also holds its own fascination, since Wild Lovers gives the impression of having been put together by somebody with only the basic knowledge of directing and editing. Jump cuts constantly appear within scenes, shots of actors taking direction are left in, a brief snippet of one scene is accidently spliced into the middle of another, in an almost subliminal fashion. The end credits crudely employ stop motion techniques to spell out “The End” with playing cards. It speaks volumes about Mary’s sex appeal that even in these threadbare surroundings she remains a captivating onscreen presence, straight from the opening sight of her in the film, which is of a close-up of her distinct, bright red painted fingernails. Like Sex Is My Business, Wild Lovers may be something of an ‘ensemble’ piece with numerous other nude bodies simulating sex for a pay-packet, but it is Mary’s performance that you remember from the film, and her presence alone lends Wild Lovers its unintended historic importance.

Exactly who directed Wild Lovers is an unresolved question mark at present, and might be one Millington mystery that has been lost to time, given that Mountain is known to have hired several different filmmakers to shoot the Impact Double X Home Movies for them. The only person whose name has ever been brought up in relation to these films is Ken Williams, who possibly directed the films that make up Emmanuelle and Friends, something which puts him in the frame for having helmed Wild Lovers too. Williams was a glamour photographer turned 8mm filmmaker in the Harrison Marks/Russell Gay tradition. A close personal friend of Marks, Williams was actually married to former Marks model Gina Graham (aka Chris Williams). The idea that Wild Lovers was the work of a glamour photographer is given credence by the fact that its lounge setting appeared in several glamour magazine shoots in the early 70s. Williams’ connection to Harrison Marks could be key to explaining why a number of Marks’ female models- not to mention male regulars like Peter Vernon and Howard “Vanderhorn” Nelson- often turn up in these Impact Double X titles as well.

The re-discovery of Wild Lovers was a tale in itself, and was chiefly played out during a frantic weekend that saw lots of scheming taking place between myself and several other excited aficionados over the best way of going about acquiring a copy of the film. This was followed by a few weeks of suspense and speculation about whether Mary would turn out to be in the film or not, since Mountain were known to illustrate the Impact Double X 8mm boxes with stills that didn’t always correspond to the films themselves. During quieter moments in this period my thoughts inevitably drifted to Mary Millington herself and what her reaction would be to all these antics. Personally, I’d like to think Mary would be equally flattered and amused that she still gets to be the centre of attention once in a while, not to mention the fact that -all these years after her death- she still has such dedicated male groupies!!!

Special thanks have to go to Sgt.Rock who has been crucial in bringing Wild Lovers back into circulation and is currently selling copies of the film -and various other 8mm smut he has helped rescue from obscurity- on ebay. The likelihood is that none of these films would have seen the light of day again were it not for Sgt. Rock being the driving force in transferring them from 8mm to DVD, so if this sort of thing rocks your boat, the Sarge’s efforts are well worth your support I’m also indebted to “Muswell” whose prior research into Mountain Films and encyclopaedic knowledge of all things 8mm I’ve drawn on for this review. Hats off to both you two good eggs, let’s hope it’s not long before another Mary 8mm film is resurrected from the British sex film boneyard.

Millington rarity ‘Wild Lovers’ resurfaces

2011-05-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Two years after ‘Special Assignment’ another previously thought lost 8mm film starring Mary Millington has been traced and transferred to DVD.

‘Wild Lovers’ centres around a game of spirit of the glass, however rather than feeling an otherworldly presence, the players of this game, including a bearded guy, Mary and two other girls just end up feeling each other.
This 8mm epic wasn’t made by any of the usual suspects like Harrison Marks or John Lindsay, and its origins are very obscure but I’ll try and do a bit of research into the film and get working on a more detailed review of it soon.

In the meantime the film has been brought back into circulation by Sgt. Rock aka Goldenclassicsmedia who is currently selling copies of the film and various other 8mm smut he has helped rescue from obscurity on ebay. Chances are none of these films would have seen the light of day were it not for him being the driving force in transferring them from 8mm to DVD, so if this sort of thing rocks your boat, the Sarge’s efforts are well worth your support
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/goldenclassicmedia/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Mary Millington blog updates

2011-05-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a collector allowing me to repost some of his material, its been a busy few weeks at the Mary Millington blog, and several rare photosets have now been posted on the blog. Follow this link to check out the latest updates, and thanks again to the person who allowed me to use those photos at the blog.
http://marymillington.blogspot.com/

Flicker Flashbacks May

2011-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

The sleaze that was doing the rounds in May 1968 and May 1969.

Review: The House of Orchids (1982, Derek Ford)

2011-04-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

The House of Orchids aka For Members Only, Sexo Intimo, High Society Club (1982)

The House of Orchids was one of several films born out of Derek Ford taking busman’s holiday trips to Europe after the bottom fell out of the British film market at the end of the seventies. Ford’s initial foray into European filmmaking was Erotic Fantasies (1978) aka Symphony of Love, a wild mishmash of scenes shot by Luigi Batzella and scenes shot by Ford- all scored to out of copyright classical music-and resulting in a film that almost defies description. Later in 1985 Ford got a gig in Sweden working as assistant director on Blood Tracks, a horror film cheapie that also features Ford in a Hitchcockian cameo, popping up as a location scout for a heavy metal band.

The House of Orchids is the only Ford film from his European period that he had total directorial control over, and one of the least seen of this bunch. Theatrically screened in Italy in November 1983- and later released on video in Italy and Germany- the film looks to have never made it to English language territories, despite an English dubbed version being advertised in Variety in the early 1980s and later shopped around for distribution under the saucy re-title “For Members Only”. Ford actually shot the film in 1981/82, in-between having to relinquish the directorial reigns of Riding High in 1981 and being fired from Don’t Open Till Christmas in 1984.

The House of Orchids sees Ford swap his usual haunts of Soho and Maldon, Essex for Venice, Italy. The scenery might be noticeably different, but Ford’s song remains the same and The House of Orchids features all the usual Fordian themes of swinging, respectable middle-class types being tempted into leading hedonistic double-lives and the moral repercussions of such a move.

The “House of Orchids” of the title turns out to be a swing club catering to the well-to-do women of Venice. The mysterious club issues invitations to selected women that include a code to open the club’s electric doors. Entirely run by futuristic movie type mod con devices, The House of Orchids appears to have no staff or any occupants bar the invited females. Once inside the club, pre-recorded messages encourage the women to strip off, bathe in the club’s pool and recount their problems, which begets sexually themed flashbacks. The reoccurring theme to the women’s tales of woe is male figures that have gradually become the bane of the women’s existence. Dena is a meek bookshop owner whose life is controlled by her ill, bullying father who issues verbal abuse from his deathbed and makes her life miserable. Susie Randall is a vivacious sex bomb frustrated by her relationship with a Howard Nelson type bodybuilder who prefers pumping iron than anything else and barely bats an eyelid when she interrupts his weightlifting by parading nude in front of him. Sandra Ross is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who is fucking his secretary. A phone call between Mrs Ross and her husband ends with her screaming “bastardo” down the phone. Out of all the Orchid women Marisa has it worse, a flashback finds her making love to a stud whilst being watched by an elderly creep who is hidden behind a two-way mirror. Afterwards the old man forces her to grip money between her teeth, then in a shocking moment punches her straight in the face. Susie- the most inquisitive of the bunch- begins trailing the other women home from the club and doing her own investigation into their problems. Hooking up with Dena, Susie lures her away from her dull bookshop job and her evil father, and takes her on a gondolier ride of sexual discovery.

Catching the eye of a shop assistant, Susie enjoys an impromptu sexual encounter with the man in a backroom of the store while Dena watches on. Initially shocked by this type of behaviour Dena soon loses her inhibitions leading to a memorable scene in a glass making factory, where Dena ends up nude on a table and having a glass replica made of her bust by the factory’s only too willing to help male workforce.

Evidently Ford shot the film around the time of the Carnevale di Venezia (indicating a late February shooting schedule), an event akin to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Whether or not this was merely just good timing or pre-planned, Ford takes full advantage of the atmosphere with long shots of the festivities acting as great spectacle, giving the film the appearance of a bigger budgeted production than it probably was. The on-going festivities also add unexpected character to nothing-special dialogue scenes, in which revellers casually walk around in the background wearing face masks, dressed as clowns or sporting skull faced spectre disguises. Compared to the exquisite Venice exteriors the House of Orchids club itself is a tacky wonder to behold. Essentially just a sauna boasting an ugly 1980s colour scheme and excessively decorated by fake plants, it resembles a bargain basement garden centre rather than a sex hang-out for the very wealthy. In fairness one scene in the film does find Susie complaining about the overkill of plastic plants in the place, indicating that the cheapness of the club set was an intended effect.

Inevitably The House of Orchids club changes the lives of all the women who enter through its doors. For Sandra there is a positive outcome, when Susie coerces Sandra’s husband into watching Sandra stripping behind Marisa’s two way mirror, reigniting his long dormant passion for his wife and saving their relationship in the process. For others there is a tragic price to pay for entertaining this world, including the blood-splattered demise of one of the women.

The House of Orchids is the long lost Italian cousin of Ford’s earlier films Suburban Wives (1971) and Commuter Husbands (1972), in which Ford’s sympathies rested entirely with his female characters, and whose narratives generally saw sexist men having the tables turned on them. Male characters are notably side-lined further in The House of Orchids and either serve the purpose of one scene sexual encounters or only register on account of their vileness, the sickly father, the adulteress husband, the old fart who punches Marisa in the face. Even a more traditional male love interest for Susie- introduced towards the end of the film- makes little of an impression compared to the deepening bond and sexual tension between Susie and Dena which remains the film’s real focus.

These unusual takes on gender roles, especially coming from a male director working in the sexploitation field, is likely due to the influence that Ford’s wife Valerie M. Ford had on his career. An active collaborator in Ford’s on and off screen sexploits, Valerie participated in both Derek’s swinging activities as well as acting as wardrobe mistress, make-up lady and assistant on his British films. While Valerie doesn’t appear to have been directly involved in The House of Orchids, their relationship no doubt gave Ford a female perspective on the sexually offbeat circles the Fords moved in, lending a touch of authenticity to the female characters and their encounters with the dare club environment that is depicted here. Ford displays a good eye in regards to his casting. His stars- Sonia Otero, Marina Miller, Ibis Gardner and Elisabeth Ray- are all stunningly beautiful women and good enough actresses to cause you to emotionally invest in their characters’ mixed fortunes. Quite an achievement, considering that Otero was mainly known as a nude model for the likes of Playmen and only had a couple of Italian exploitation films under her belt, while the other three leads appear to have never acted before or since.

At the same time The House of Orchids does offer further fuel to the theory that the more Derek Ford’s career went on the more he began to treat the cinema as his own private swing club, with the resultant films being a means to document and play out his off-screen fetishes. The swinging concept at the centre of The House of Orchids certainly appears to have fired off Ford’s imagination and none of the sex scenes in the film are what you would call vanilla in tone. Aside from her glass making excursion, Dena enlivens a dinner for Susie’s male friends by stripping off, being blindfolded by Susie and laying naked on the dinner table, offering herself up as the main course. By far the funniest scene in the film is allocated to Sandra who finds herself being tied to a bed by a male admirer. When her husband calls her up on the phone both she and her male friend take it in turns to casually chat to her hubby whilst they make love. His rage on the other end of the line only adding to their passion. The fact that the Ford oeuvre wouldn’t have been that well known in Italy gives him the opportunity to indulge in a bit of self-plagiarism here as well, by revisiting scenarios from his earlier films. Susie steals the show at a swinger’s party by performing a spirited dance/striptease routine that recalls a similar exhibitionist’s display at a party in Groupie Girl. Sandra gets dirty phone calls from an unseen man- a la the masochist housewife in The Wife Swappers- who encourages her to go with passing men. Plus, in a charming throwback to the days of the sex education film, Ford opens the film by having its plot related to a bunch of bored students by their professor. A man whose blackboard explanations and scholarly appearance invite obvious comparisons to The Wife Swappers’ inept, cue card reading host.

In retrospect The House of Orchids seems like a crossroads in Ford’s career, on one hand the ample female nudity and sex scenes make this a logical extension of his earlier British films. On the other hand, having female characters as the leads and shooting the film from their perspective points the way forward to Ford’s later career as an author of books aimed at a female audience. Ford’s books Panic on Sunset (1988) and The Casting Couch (1990), clearly being targeted at an over 40s bored housewives demographic with their sub-Jackie Collins mixture of sex, scandal and Hollywood gossip.

Ford remains something of a tragic figure of the British sex film era, never finding critical acceptance or reaping great financial rewards during his prolific career. Going off the memories of friends and associates, as well as the Hollywood preoccupations of his books, it looks to have been a point of frustration for Ford that his career never progressed to A-List films. Ford’s friend retired porn actress turned erotic illustrator Paula Meadows is of the opinion that deep down Ford was a disappointed man who felt he’d never achieved his full potential. Passing away in the mid-1990s Ford never lived long enough to see his forgotten films dusted off, screened at the NFT and tentatively embraced by the intelligentsia, accolades currently being bestowed on such fellow travellers as Stanley Long, Pete Walker and Arnold Louis Miller.

Perhaps it is just as well then that The House of Orchids and Ford’s demented horror opus “Attack of the Killer Computer” (1989) have recently resurfaced on the film collector’s circuit. Viewed together they represent a real return to form from Ford and make the case that he wasn’t quite the spent force that the below-par “What’s Up” films or the hackwork nature of the majority of his 1980s and 1990s output would suggest. For all his mainstream aspirations both these films offer up evidence that Derek Ford was at his most entertaining as a filmmaker when working in unabashed exploitation mode and –like the heroines of The House of Orchids- pursuing his obsessions for good or ill.

A Fistful of Intimate Games stills

2011-04-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

The stars of Intimate Games in action!!! (scans courtesy of RBT Foot)

Flicker Flashbacks April

2011-04-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

What was playing the fleshpots in April 1969, 1970 and 1972

Derek Ford's For Members Only (trailer)

2011-04-01T03:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhx0a6_derek-ford-s-for-members-only-1983-trailer_shortfilms NSFW trailer for Derek Ford’s 1983 film The House of Orchids aka For Members Only. A Derek Ford film about a dare club and outwardly respectable people leading kinky double lives? What were the chances of that.

Mary Millington - Early Strobe-esque photo

2011-04-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

A mystery photo from the earlier part of her career, it comes from a set that is similar to the photos of her that were posed for amateur photographers at places like June Palmer’s Strobe Studios. However the creative use of light and shade in this set would suggest the work of a professional photographer. The fact that the pictures show her prior to having any work done on her teeth suggests it pre-dates her meeting David Sullivan in 1975.

Mary Millington on the set of Alien

2011-03-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

A gallery of Mary pictures, including two of her taken on the set of ‘Alien’. Such a shame that no one thought to take a photo of her draped around the Alien itself.

http://www.strangethingsarehappening.com/marymillington.html

Flicker Flashbacks March

2011-03-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Vintage cinema listings from March 1969, 1970 and 1971. 1969 sees “Godzilla Vs The Thing” in Morecambe and “Sex Can be Difficult” in Portsmouth. In 1971 “I Had My Brother’s Wife” in Manchester and its bottoms up for Legend of the Witches at the Charing Cross Jacey in 1970.

Review: Miss Frankenstein (19??)

2011-02-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

A “lonely castle” is the suitably atmospheric setting of this horror themed 8mm glamour film from the late 1960s/early 70s. The lonely castle is home to an equally lonely hunchback, who looks as if he has stumbled in from the set of an Andy Milligan film. In a desperate bid for some female company the hunchback has knocked together a nude woman in his laboratory. After a quick blast of electricity Miss Frankenstein (Lisa Brent) is brought to life, only adhering to horror film lore the attractive female creation wants nothing to do with her unattractive creator. Strolling around the lab in the nude, its not long before Miss Frankenstein gets the hump with her hunchbacked love interest. Spurning his advances she instead resorts to the drastic measure of drinking a potion that turns her into a zombie!! A decision that means the hunchback is in for a night of terror rather than titillation as Miss Frankenstein -now sporting the appearance of a skull faced corpse- pursues him around the lab.

According to the enigmatic 8mm film collector and archivist “Muswell”, Miss Frankenstein was the work of an East London outfit calling themselves “Collectors Club”, who distributed 8mm copies of classic silent movies as well as producing a number of glamour films in the late 60s and 1970s. The filmmakers’ tenuous connection to mainstream cinema may explain why Miss Frankenstein’s cinematic aspirations go beyond the simple filmed striptease content of many 8mm glamour films. Were you to approach Miss Frankenstein blind you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching an amateur, fan made horror short that had had some female nudity grafted onto it, to ensure the film an audience beyond living room screenings for the director’s friends and family. Considering that Miss Frankenstein was in fact a commercial sexploitation venture, whose horror elements were merely an indulgence, the filmmakers make an honorable -if somewhat cash strapped- attempt at shoehorning a homage to horror cinema of yore into the 8mm glamour format. The use of traditional horror film iconography, the gothic castle, the idiot hunchback, the skull faced apparition etc, suggesting a particular allegiance to the silent and Universal eras of the fright film.

The only notably phony element is the Mad Doctor equipment used to bring Miss Frankenstein back to life, which includes what is obviously two plastic bottles painted black and a sparkler, meaning that Miss Frankenstein comes to life with more of a whimper than a bang.

As for Miss Frankenstein herself, Lisa Brent makes for quite an eye opening sight both in her undressed state and as a skull faced corpse. In both guises Brent manages to expose more flesh than the average glamour model of the period (if you were to try and date the film in terms of nudity, the full frontal shots of Ms. Brent would suggest we’re talking the late sixties here, given that glamour films made in the earlier 1960s tended to shy away from full disclosure.) For all the naked flesh on display, ultimately Brent’s not-unappealing nudity ends up playing second fiddle to the horror film antics. An approach that makes the film differ from the outputs of say Russell Gay or Harrison Marks, whose glamour photographer’s eyes always lead them to emphasize their nude female subjects first and foremost- no matter what crazy spectacle they’d chosen to parachute them into. Harrison Marks would himself venture into similar territory to Miss Frankenstein with his 1973 short “Dolly Mixture”, a far more explicit production that also has its own horny hunchback and a nude female creation. If anything though Miss Frankenstein has more in common with the 8mm glamour film work of Arthur Howell whose vehicles for his partner June Palmer like the sci-fi themed ‘June in Orbit’ and the oater ‘Calamity June’ often get similarly carried away with their elaborate film homages, to the degree that its easy to forget the nudity in those films were there real raison d’etre.

The aforementioned “Muswell” is responsible for resurrecting Miss Frankenstein for the internet age, ensuring that another curio of sex and horror filmmaking from times gone by is preserved for posterity. Muswell has also tinted various shots in the film to match their mood, mirroring similar treatment afforded to the kind of silent horror efforts that the makers of Miss Frankenstein clearly worshipped at the altar of themselves.

Update 3/3/2011

A bit more info from Muss:
“I originally bought the film new circa 1970 so you have the date right. The Gothic Mansion is in fact a house called Sarum Chase which is still standing at the junction of West Hampstead road and Platts Lane in Hampstead London. You can see it on google street view but there were boards around it when they did their photography.”

A Very Blue Photo of Mary Millington

2011-02-20T03:09:00.000-08:00

A pre-fame photo of MM taken at June Palmer’s Strobe Studios in the early 1970s, posed for under her married name Mary Maxted (photo courtesy of ‘BigBeard’)

Flicker Flashbacks: February

2011-02-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Cinema Listings from February 1966, 1968 and 1971: 1966 sees Antony Balch presenting “Men and Women” and the Compton Cinema Club playing host to “Love Play Between Friends”. While in 1971 “Come Back Peter” comes to the Cameo Royal and Andy Milligan’s “The Filthy Five” are in Walthamstow.

Mystery Glamour Studio

2011-02-03T22:22:00.000-08:00

I’ve been sent a few old glamour pictures and asked if I can find out more about the photographer and his studio. Any ideas? the pictures and the message that were sent to me are below.

"The bed with the lampshade still in its polythene wrapping, the metal grillwork used as a backdrop,and the drinks cabinet - they all come from a late 60s/early 70s studio that supplied photos to the likes of Fiesta, Spick & Span, and provided nearly all the shots that were used in the SBS titles like Cloud and Mentor.

That drinks cabinet also appears in a little-known 8mm glamour film, starring Vicky Ashley, called Baby It's Hot Outside, probably dating from around 1969.

The distinctive thing about this studio is that it produced a huge number of shots of models that appear to have had a few too many from the drinks cabinet. Can anybody reading this throwany light on where this studio was, and who ran it ???"

Sexplorer 1980s video cover

2011-01-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

A Monika Ringwald look-a-like on a 1980s video release of The Sexplorer, not looking too pleased at having to sport a joke shop space gun and Mr. Spock ears.

The Playbirds - Tie-In Novelisation

2011-01-24T23:05:00.000-08:00

The Novelisation of “The Playbirds” featuring MM and Pat Astley as themselves, Gloria Brittain pretending to be Busty Bibi Forbes and Howard Nelson pretending to be a werewolf.

The novelisation was also published in magazine form with the same cover. The magazine version contains many more explicit photos but omits the book’s final chapters in favour of a “to find out how the story ends go see the film currently playing at…” type blurb.

Flicker-Flashbacks: January

2011-01-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Cinema listings from January 1970, 71, 72 and 74, courtesy of the back pages of Continental Film Review. Jan 1970 sees a Harrison Marks/Luchino Visconti double-bill in Brighton and Alexis Kanner paired up with a German sex education film at the Cinephone, while Jan 1971 sees Andy Milligan’s “Kiss Me, Kiss, Me” let loose in Croydon and ‘She Lost Her You Know What’ in Birmingham.

(from Jan 1970)

The Four Dimensions of Monika Ringwald

2011-01-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

British Sex Cinema’s favourite fraulein, posing as “June Rutherford” in Titbits magazine (No.4625, October 24-30, 1974).

Continental Film Review Feb 1979

2011-01-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

Mary Millington promoting “The Playbirds” in the pages of Continental Film Review (No. 4, Vol.27). By sheer coincidence the cover of this issue features sometime Millington co-star Rosemary England, complete with drawn on knickers so CFR could use the picture for its cover.

Early Pete Walker

2011-01-13T23:38:00.000-08:00

As posts here have been rather Millington-centric recently, for a change of pace here are download links to three early 8mm shorts by Frightmare director Pete Walker. Don’t go expecting any mad priests or driller killers in these films though, instead they offer up 1960s planes, trains and dolly birds.

MISS BRITT HAMPSHIRE and MISS TERRY GRAHAM are fairly basic, no nonsense examples of 8mm glamour filmmaking. The latter possibly having interest beyond its tits and bums content on account of some 1960s exterior work including shots of what Paddington Train Station looked like back then.

TOP MODELS OF THE YEAR is a compilation of several Walker 8mm titles and showcases a few slightly more ambitious efforts. Clips from “Miss Donna Marlow” even use early stop motion effects to undress Miss Marlowe (Walker’s real life girlfriend) and “The Prisoner” -which is sadly unrelated to the Patrick McGoohan series- sees Walker flirt with some pre-House of Whipcord kinkyness. The highlight of Top Models of the Year though, has to be the clips from “Aeronautical Nude” in which Ann Walker (no relation) manages to perform a striptease whilst piloting a light aircraft!!! They don’t make ‘em like this anymore!!! (Downloads courtesy of ‘Sgt. Rock’)

http://rapidshare.com/files/437790131/Miss_Britt_Hampshire.avi

http://rapidshare.com/files/437791696/Top_Models_of_the_Year.avi

http://rapidshare.com/files/438238585/Miss_Terry_Graham_0.avi

Mary Millington in Beautiful Britons

2011-01-13T00:35:00.000-08:00

Some of Mary’s early appearances in the Beautiful Britons range of magazines (scans courtesy of RBT Foot)

Keep It Up Downstairs novelisation

2011-01-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

Bet you won’t see scenes like this in the new version of Upstairs, Downstairs (scans courtesy of RBT Foot)

Mary Millington in Titbits (June 2nd, 1977)

2010-12-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

MM making an appearance in Titbits magazine (June 2nd-8th 1977)

(scans courtesy of RBT Foot)

Theres Something About Mary Millington

2010-12-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

Namely a new blog about her, with a slightly updated version of the bio from this blog and an emphasis on her early, pre-Sullivan shoots. Check it out http://marymillington.blogspot.com/

The Playbirds- 1980s video cover

2010-12-19T23:29:00.000-08:00

A 1980s video release of The Playbirds re-titled ‘Secrets of a Playbird’. All of the films released on this label were re-titled to incorporate ‘Secrets of…’ into their titles. The American film CB Hustlers was re-titled ‘Secrets of Lady Truckers’ while David Galaxy became ‘Secrets of a Sexy Game’. (scans courtesy of RBT.Foot)

Margaret Nolan is loose

2010-12-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

As an early Christmas treat then, here are the download links to two of Margaret Nolan’s early 8mm films; “Meet the Fabulous Vicky Kennedy” and the Russell Gay directed “Sexational”. Special thanks to Sgt.Rock for uploading these films to Rapidshare, and a Happy Christmas to all the readers of this blog. Gav C.

http://rapidshare.com/files/433778008/Meet_the_Fabulous_Vicky_Kennedy.avi

http://rapidshare.com/files/433778204/Sexational.avi

Ewhurst Manor Caper

2010-11-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Article from an early sixties issue of american girlie magazine “Caper”, documenting a GHM shoot at Ewhurst Manor. Judging by the Martian costumes on the girls, and the presence of his second wife Vivienne Warren in those pictures, it looks like these were taken during the making of the 8mm film “Visit from Venus”, which the Marks website dates as being filmed in 1964. Ewhurst was a popular location for many of the glamour photographers of that era, up until the house was bulldozed in 1970 (credit to original scanner)

Naked(er) as Nature Intended

2010-11-08T04:31:00.000-08:00

I recently managed to get hold of the US version of Naked As Nature Intended (1961), and was pleasantly surprised to find a very different version of the film than the one I’d previously encountered on video in the UK. In fact it turns out the film was completely re-worked for its American release by Crown International. Not only was the narration re-voiced for the American market, but the US version also draws on ‘stronger’ takes than appear in the UK version, and more tantalizingly includes all of the footage cut from the film’s British release version by the censor John Trevelyan in 1961. Material that was generally thought of as being lost, since the film’s original negatives-which are held by the BFI- were cut, and the censored footage was also missing from subsequent UK video releases.

Officially the only BBFC cuts made to the film, re-printed in and quoted here from John Hamilton’s book about Tony Tenser, were:

“Reel 5
Remove all shots of girls on beach when they are seen front view, naked or virtually naked, full length.
Remove shot of Pamela posing on the edge of the water, with a filmy scarf in her hair.

Reel 6
Remove all shots of girls, both before and during the game with a ball, when they are seen naked front view, full length”.

Of course this doesn’t really tell the whole story, since back then allot of censorship took place at a script or post-production stage, and its been well documented that even before the ‘official’ censorship began, Trevelyan nixed a couple of scenes from NANI. Trevelyan seems to have been especially fixated by the idea that the film was “really” about lesbianism, and on the basis of the material cut from the UK version but reinstated for the American release, he seems to have been more concerned with removing that perceived aspect to the film rather than the nudity itself. Its very hard not to turn Trevelyan into a figure of fun in all of this and portray him as some kind of doddery old fool, shifting through nudist films for any lesbian subtexts and accidental full frontal shots. In fairness we are talking here about a film in which two of the main female characters work as petrol pump attendants, don’t appear to have boyfriends and go on nudist holidays together, so maybe Trevelyan was onto something. Also according to one of my more colourful sources of info for that era there was a bit of chatter within the industry about someone connected to the film (in a none directorial capacity). Now whether “those rumours” about this person were true or not, if this gossip did reach Trevelyan’s ears it would explain why he was so on the look out for any lesbian leanings to the film.

Anyway these are the differences I’ve been able to spot by comparing the British and American versions.

-The US opening credits are different to those in British version, no doubt this was mainly done to accommodate a re-title (the American version is merely known as ‘As Nature Intended’, somewhat ironic that a version with more nudity should remove the ‘n’ word from its title). The American version of the credits also drops the narration credit for Guy Kingsley Poynter, and presents GHM’s ‘directed by’ credit in standard bold lettering (the British version uses a reproduction of his signature.) The American version also shortens Pam’s long, pre-title walk to the camera.

-In the UK version the opening scene showing Petrina working as a secretary is missing close-ups of her legs and shots of her boss trying to cop an eyeful of them. This presumably was originally meant to visualize the line in the British version “that reminds me of that definition, even a girl who can’t add up can certainly distract” but of course the shot got cut from the UK version and the line re-voiced for the American version.

-The “shower scene” is cut out entirely from the UK version but remains in the US release. Originally meant to appear in the film in-between the scene of Bridget and Angela leaving the petrol station and the scene of Pam and Petrina picking up Jackie at her parent’s house, it basically consists of Pam emerging from a shower (demonstrating the same quick use of a towel to cover herself that also comes in handy during the later beach scenes) and chatting with Petrina over tea about their upcoming holiday. Trevelyan’s justification for cutting the scene was that it features nudity outside of its ‘proper’ nudist camp context, and since the two girls are shown living together; “there could be a connotation that they’re lesbians” Trevelyan is said to have told GHM. Something that clearly went over the head of the American narrator who seems more amused by the tea drinking (“very British… those British”) and uses the scene as a platform for sexist wisecracks about women being unable to read maps.

-In the US version the scene with Bridget and Angela undressing in a field shows both women topless, albeit briefly. In the UK version the shot of Angela cuts away just as her top is about to come off, while the shot of Bridget taking her top off pans down just as her top is coming off (the US version uses a stronger version of this shot which sees Bridget go topless before the camera pans down.)

- The “payoff” at the end of the scene in the boat, in which Jackie Salt falls overboard, gets rescued then is dried off by Pam and Petrina, is different in the two versions. In the UK version the two women dry her off while, absurdly, she still has her clothes on. On the other hand the US version uses a take in which Jackie is topless and Pam and Petrina are rubbing her breasts. Something that no doubt gave further ammo to Trevelyan’s theory about the characters being lesbians. Even Marks’ production manager had doubts whether this scene would pass the British censor, reportedly telling Marks during filming “They won't wear it, George, women rubbing each other down!”. Presumably they filmed clothed and unclothed versions of the scene in the (correct) belief that the censor would refuse to pass the unclothed take.

- The scene on the beach prior to Pam meeting Bridget and Angela, originally includes a shot of Petrina with her top off, which is in the US version but is cut out of the UK one. Presumably this shot was removed by Trevelyan because it once again shows nudity outside of a nudist camp.

- Given the amount of cuts made to the film before the characters even reach the nudist camp, its quite surprising then to find that the scenes on the nudist beach and in the camp itself seem to have been mostly passed uncut. Confusingly all of the material the BBFC’s records suggests was cut (“shots of girls on beach when they are seen front view, naked or virtually naked, shot of Pamela posing on the edge of the water, with a filmy scarf in her hair.. Etc, etc”) is still in the UK version, suggesting that those cuts were either never made or appealed at some point? The only cut made to the film during the nudist camp sequences, effects the shots of Pam riding nude on a swing, which is briefly seen in the UK version, but goes on allot longer in the US version and from angles that show more than Trevelyan was clearly prepared to pass in 1961.

While NANI is never likely to be regarded as the most exciting film ever made, the added bits and bobs of nudity do give the film more of a pulse. Plus the sustained nudity throughout makes the film play more like a typical American nudie of the era, as opposed to the British version which keeps its audience in suspense with around 40 minutes of travelogue before showing nudity of any kind. What really distinguishes the American version from the British one however is the narration. Whereas the UK narration comes across like something out of a Pathe news reel with a couple of GHM’s old music hall one liners thrown in, the American narration is far more obvious in its sexploitation motives.

In particular there is lots of leery ‘carrot on the stick’ type comments to the audience, during the nothing special opening scenes showing the girls working 9 to 5 jobs, emphasizing that the girls will end up taking their clothes off at a nudist camp.. eventually. The unnamed American narrator actually soon becomes bored by having to talk over all the British travelogue footage and “introduces” his British friend Cedric to chat through several sequences, at which point the narration actually reverts back to the original Guy Kingsley Poynter narration. Even so our American narrator cant help but occasionally chipping to take the piss, remarking “Oh, thats a good one” after one of the film’s bad puns and “I’ll treasure that information” after some Kingsley Poynter titbit about Cornwall which is of bugger all interest to Americans.

Given the American narration track was put together by Crown International rather than Marks himself, this version can hardly be considered true to Marks’ original vision, and I suppose a ‘Director’s Cut’ version of the film would include the UK narration track and all of the censored material put back in. Still at least the American version has preserved the material cut from the film, and its existence suggests that they might be versions of other 1960s British horror and sexploitation films existing overseas that managed to sneak back in footage cut from the UK releases. We can but hope.

Sue Bond in Titbits (1975)

2010-11-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

Sue Bond interviewed in Titbits magazine (no. 4550, April 24-30th 1975), waiting for the call to do Bond or Chekov, in-between her day job of “character” parts in sitcoms and pantos.

Mary Millington in New Direction (Volume 5, Number 8)

2010-11-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

Mary in New Direction magazine (Volume 5, Number 8), this magazine seems to have been published around Christmas 1975, but the fact that Mary was exclusively under contract to Sullivan’s magazines from mid-1975 onwards would indicate that the shoot itself must have taken place earlier that year, or possibly even at some point in 1974?

Article link
Page One
http://img44.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=63510_mmnewdir2led_Scanned_0_123_507lo.jpg
Page Two
http://img192.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=63512_mmnewdir3tled_Scanned__123_159lo.jpg
Page Three
http://img259.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=63654_mmnewdir4tled_Scanne_123_104lo.jpg

One other thought. Reading the magazine in its entirety, I cant help but notice the differences in this example of mid-seventies era New Direction, compared to the early seventies issues at which point the magazine was fairly literate and had quite an underground magazine sensibility to it. Sadly the magazine had clearly had a facelift at some point, and a few years down the line it just reads like a poor imitation of David Sullivan’s magazines. Even following the Sullivan model of made-up fantasy stories (the Millington one is a typical example), a nominal female editor and umpteen number of contact ads. If nothing else it illustrates the influence Sullivan’s more explicit approach to publishing was having on the top shelf industry, and forcing the competition to drop their more interesting, old approach and ape his style instead.

TWEMFEST (Cliff Twemlow screening)

2010-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

The Cliff Twemlow rarity Moonstalker aka Predator: The Quietus (1988), is due to be screened as part of this year’s Salford Film Festival, along with the behind the scenes footage of Twemlow’s aborted film version of his book The Pike.

I’ve never seen either Moonstalker or the Pike footage, so will definitely be attending this. If anyone else is interested in this free screening, here is the publicity blurb and contact information….

“TWEMFEST - A Celebration of Cliff Twemlow

is proud to present

MOONSTALKER

plus Documentary Short - THE PIKE

SUNDAY 14 NOVEMBER - 2pm

at the Kings Arms, Bloom Street, Salford, M3 6AN
0161 832 3605

Admission Free

CP Lee
c.lee@salford.ac.uk
0161 295 6058”

Tom, Michael, George and the Yarmouth Branch of the Women’s Institute

2010-10-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

A quick heads up for this Peeping Tom documentary on Radio 4 next week:

“Tom, Michael and George
Tuesday 02 November11:30am - 12:00pmBBC Radio 4
To mark the 50th anniversary of the notoriously controversial British thriller Peeping Tom, Toby Jones examines the effect of this disturbing tale of glamour-photographer-turned-serial-killer on the careers of two people - director Michael Powell and real-life glamour photographer George Harrison Marks. With contributions from the director's son Columba Powell, actress Shirley Anne Field and director Michael Winner, himself no stranger to controversy.”

Some of Marks’ 8mm films starring Pamela Green are also due to receive a screening by the Yarmouth Branch of the Women’s Institute!!!
("We'll show the two 'tamest' first and leave it up to the ladies if they want to watch more")
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9134000/9134461.stm

Cover Girl Killer revisited

2010-10-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the recent DVD release of Terry Bishop’s 1959 film Cover Girl Killer (on a double-bill with another Bishop film ‘Life in Danger’, starring Derren Nesbitt), here are a couple of thoughts on this former late night TV favourite.

I can’t actually recall reading any take on the film written in recent times which doesn’t make the comparison between Cover Girl Killer and the later, more explicit Mary Millington vehicle The Playbirds. I’m guilty of this myself, opening my IMDB review of it in 2000 with “Nineteen years before Mary Millington crossed paths with a misogynist murderer bearing a grudge against bust models in The Playbirds, B-movie actress Felicity Young (Play it Cool) had to deal with the late Fifties counterpart in this enjoyable Butcher's Film Distributors programmer.” In reality, given that no one involved with The Playbirds seems to have ever even heard of Cover Girl Killer, and also bearing in mind that some of the characters and incidents in The Playbirds are based on real life, the similarities between the two films do seem to be merely a coincidence. Still British cinema’s closet obsession with the murky world of pornography can probably be traced back to late 1950s B films like this, as well as The Shakedown and The Flesh is Weak.

I first encountered Cover Girl Killer back in the 1990s, when ITV were pretty much showing it and a bunch of other films made by “Butchers Films” in rotation. Butchers productions were cheap, homegrown, crime themed efforts, shot in the late fifties and early sixties, and with ideal second feature running times of just over an hour. Viewed on a weekly TV basis like that, allot of those Butchers films do now tend to blur together in the memory. No doubt due to Butcher’s reoccurring stock company of British character actor types plus a token American or Canadian actor in the lead, as well as plots which always seemed to feature a hero who was a journalist, have at least one scene that takes place in a sleazy nightclub, and whose villains were either London gangsters or for a touch of cold war era flavour Russian spies.

Cover Girl Killer and Life in Danger remain though standout efforts by director Terry Bishop, albeit for somewhat different reasons. Life in Danger is a rarity in the sense that its storyline goes beyond being your typical Butchers film fodder and actually has something important to say about the dangers of small town prejudice and reactionary attitudes (unfortunately its a little difficult to say how without giving too much of that film’s plot away). Cover Girl Killer on the other hand sticks in the memory for having its feet firmly on the peddle of sensationalism, and is rich in bold, lurid dialogue like “surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so called entertainment” that would seem more suited to adorning an exploitation film poster than emerging from the mouths of actors. It would be nice to see more of Bishop’s filmography, if only to judge which of these films’ approach is more typical of his career. The socially concerned one of Life in Danger or the tabloidish route of Cover Girl Killer. Either way a peek into his filmography suggests Bishop never escaped the low-budget rut. Upon his death in 1981, he had spent most of the previous decade directing health industrials, and it seems helming episodes of ITC series like Danger Man and Sir Francis Drake in the early 1960s was as good as his career ever got.

Cover Girl Killer opens with its titular character, a scheming porn hating psychopath, loitering outside a strip club and clearly up to no good. Dressed in the dirty mac attire of a raincoat, pebble glasses and a cheap wig the Cover Girl Killer is played by future Steptoe and Son star, Harry H Corbett who remains unrecognizable here from his later TV incarnation. Motivated by the “unsavoury obsessions of his twisted mind” and a need to “give back man his dignity to free him from the prison of lustful images that foul his mind and his sanity” the puritanical psycho initially poses as ‘Mr. Spendozer’, a supposed TV series director, in order to bump off models who have appeared on the cover of “Wow” a cheesecake magazine. Canadian born Spencer Teakle plays his unwitting nemesis, John Mason, a fish out of water innocent who has recently inherited a Windmill theatre type night club and the magazine Wow, from his uncle, both of which form the source of the Cover Girl Killer's rage against smut.

After initially suspected of being the murderer himself, Mason helps out the police who are being constantly outwitted by `The Man' (as Corbett’s character is billed in the credits). While the police actively encourage Mason to publish his cheesecake mag in order to lure the killer out into the open, unbeknownst to them the killer is actually working his way through Wow back issues in order to find his next victim. Still sporting his bewigged Spendozer guise, the Cover Girl Killer lures bikini model Joy (Christina Gregg) to a studio by posing as a Sun Cream commercial director, but when she peels down to a bikini the Cover Girl Killer can hold back his disgust no longer, complaining that “your nudity means nothing to me” before strangling her.

Eventually showgirl June (Felicity Young), who Mason has been trying to woo, agrees to pose for the cover of Wow in order to lay a trap for the killer. Not that the Cover Girl Killer has done with tricks to fool the police yet. His final, most devious scheme, involves him posing as a film producer and going to a showbiz agent with plans to make a movie version of his own killings. This results in a casting call during which a down on his luck actor, who has turned up for the audition dressed as the Spendozer character, is nabbed for the murders by the police, allowing the real killer a chance to get at June.

Its easy to forget these days that prior to Steptoe, Harry H Corbett enjoyed a reputation as an up and coming method actor and at the outset of his career was even being heralded as Britain’s answer to Marlon Brando. Unfortunately such was the popularity of Steptoe that he quickly became completely identified with the role, and forever typecast as a comedy actor, something which as we now know was a source of bitterness for the actor throughout the rest of his life. His early reputation is something you almost have to take on good faith these days, given that most of his acting triumphs were won on the stage, and that there are few films that showcase him very well as a serious actor. Of his earlier films, his performance as a gangster in The Shakedown is noticeably over the top, and his northern accent in Muriel Box’s adaptation of Charles Dyer’s Rattle of a Simple Man is to these manucian ears at least, pretty ropey to put it mildly. Cover Girl Killer could of easily been just another one-note psycho killer role for Corbett, thankfully the film makers were clever enough to turn the character into quite the master of disguise. Something which also allows Corbett room to pull off a number of memorable character turns within the one role. The superbly creepy Mr. Spendozer soon gives way to the outwardly more respectable looking, but equally dodgy film producer guise of “Mr. Spiller”. In an even more audacious twist the killer also pops up at police headquarters at one point posing as “Mr. Fairchild” a bowler hat wearing toff, who tries to throw the police off his trail by giving them an ID of the killer based on the Spendozer guise. Whilst allowing Corbett to flex his acting muscles this host of bizarre characters the Cover Girl Killer wheels out also introduces an intriguing guessing game to the film as to which, if any, of these personas are closest to the
nameless killer’s real identity.

Just like its psychopathic master of disguise the film itself seems to be comprised of several different, contradictory personalities. At times the film seems to have quite a sense of humour about itself, and could almost be described as a black comedy. Check out the scene in which the lead detective, commenting on a bikini clad victim initially suspected to have been a suicide case, asks the pathologist “Doc, if you were to do yourself in at 1 O’clock in the morning, would you put on a bikini”. A line that regular Butchers player Victor Brooks somehow manages to deliver straight-faced, but which its hard to believe wasn’t written by someone with a slight smirk on their face. At other times however Cover Girl Killer seems to suffer from delusions of grandeur, as if its makers considered themselves worthy of greatness and a film like this beneath them. The script is full of cheap quips about the supposed illiteracy and -nudge, nudge, wink, wink- poor eyesight of readers of cheesecake magazines like Wow, as if the makers of films with titles like Cover Girl Killer had the right to look down on anyone. At its most moralizing the film introduces scenes whose sole purpose is to paint unflattering portraits of the victims’ husbands and fathers- who inevitably are revealed to be sad ineffectual men, a drunk husband living out a bed sit existence whose wife left him to pursue a modeling career, and a wheelchair bound father who let his daughter go into girlie magazine modeling to earn some extra cash for herself. At these moments the film seems to take on the guise of a chauvinistic public information film, pointing the finger at these weak men and citing their inability to control the women in their lives as the reason for their loved ones’ demise.

Even more intriguing than the film’s mood swings from saucy humour to tut-tut moralizing, is its fixation for turning the camera round on the cheap film world that the film itself sprung from. The supporting characters all have an air of being taken from real life about them. All are very much the sort of characters you’d expect to have had to rub shoulders with in the British B movie world of the late 1950s, from Gregg’s talentless bikini model who pathetically prides herself on being “Miss Torquay 1959” to the unscrupulous showbiz agent who comes across as the prototype of Eskimo Nell’s Benny U Murdoch and proclaims “I'm all for the good old X-certificate if you can get it”. Most touching of all is the nobody actor who turns up at the fake audition only to suffer the double humiliation of not only being mistaken by the police for a killer, but also failing to be recognized by them as an actor. “I haven’t worked for six months” he pleads with the police, trying to explain away why his face isn’t familiar to them, before going on to try and regain some hurt pride by claiming “I worked for two years at the Old Vic”

Its particularly ironic then that a film which paints such a self-loathing picture of the British B movie world as a place of depressed nobody actors, talentless starlets and X certificate fixated filmmakers, should now stand as one of its most entertaining and most seen examples. Don’t let this put you off though, if anything these candid insider elements make Cover Girl Killer even more fascinating now, given that the times and places these lowly characters inhabited have now long gone. Its contradictory attitude of distain and fascination for the burgeoning market in cheesecake magazines and films with ‘the good old X certificate’ slapped on them, now can be seen as reflecting the anxiety of those pre-permissive society times, and the “sex and horror are the new gods” quote entirely accurate given that the rise of nudist films, Hammer horror, the Profumo affair and the critical crucifixion of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom lay just around the corner.

For what is essentially a cheap B movie, Cover Girl Killer really has had a amazingly long shelf life, from a regular late night TV attraction during the 1980s and 1990s (Back in 2000 I wrote that “The Cover Girl Killer now enjoys a second life as a stable of late night television, guaranteeing that the Ghost of the Cover Girl Killer will haunt insomniacs and the curious for many years to come” ) to now being back for a third time to haunt these insomniacs and the curious on DVD as well. As the Cover Girl Killer himself might have begrudgingly noted, surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so called DVD entertainment as well.

Cover Girl Killer poster from
www.wrongsideoftheart.com/

Mary Millington’s signature

2010-10-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

As a brief follow on to the post about Mary’s Fan Club, and as a way of illustrating the differences between authentic Millington signatures and the fakes, here are two examples of what Mary’s real signature should look like. (Pictures courtesy of AFN33)

Harrison Marks- Europe’s Mr. Sex

2010-10-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

An epic, two part interview with GHM circa 1972 bourn out of a heavy drinking session (as mentioned in the text, and dare I say, also quite obvious by the pictures) and covering his life and work up to that point.

Pat Astley’s Partial Nymphomania

2010-10-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the efforts of several collectors the rare Pat Astley short Nymphomania has recently resurfaced on the internet. Directed by Harrison Marks and unseen since being sold on 8mm through David Sullivan’s magazines toward the end of the 1970s, Nymphomania appears to have been filmed back to back with another Marks short "Dr Sex" (written up on the blog back in march, and downloadable from this link http://rapidshare.com/files/384652912/Dr.Sex.avi, given that the two films share the same sets, as well as Pat and her female co-star.
Whereas Dr Sex saw a dodgy dentist getting too hands on with a female patient, Nymphomania presents the all-female flip side with a female nurse getting touchy feely with a patient. Having been cast for the umpteenth time as a nurse in Dr Sex, Pat gets a rare chance to hang up her nurse’s outfit here and play the patient, in a role that also entails her having a dentist’s light shined on her privates!!.

Unfortunately the 8mm copy of Nymphomania that has surfaced is incomplete and only runs around two minutes (the full version probably clocks in at 7-10 minutes). Still its nice to see another Marks rarity turn up and with the added bonus of the film featuring Blackpool Pat at the outset of her career. Hopefully the full version will re-surface at some point, in the meantime here is what has currently surfaced of it. Many thanks to Moon raker plus Bygoneguy at http://www.bygonemedia.com/ for dusting off this elusive piece of Pat’s filmography and bringing it into the internet age.

Download Link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?hy5qxisw4gsrry4

Mary Millington -were you in her club?

2010-09-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Ads for the Original Mary Millington Fan Club. The personally signed pictures given out through the fan club now appear to have been fakes. (pictures courtesy of RBT Foot)

‘signed’ fan club picture (the autograph is actually a fake)

Update: as a brief follow on to this post, and as a way of illustrating the differences between authentic Millington signatures and the fakes, here are two examples of what Mary’s real signature should look like.

http://afn33-marymillington.blogspot.com/2010/05/mary-small-time-girl-who-made-it-big.html

Harrison Marks - Glamor Photography magazine (1967)

2010-09-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Some articles on Marks and his films taken from a 1967 American publication “Glamor Photography”. These pieces must have done wonders for Marks’ ego, assuming of course he didn’t just write them himself!!

Mary Millington -Great Rock N’ Roll Swindle poster

2010-09-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

Poster for TGRRS emphasizing Mary’s appearance. On the off chance that anyone happens to have this poster and is interested in selling it, let me know, a music collector acquaintance of mine would definitely be interested in buying one of these.

The Case of the Naked Ironing Lady

2010-08-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

As a quick follow on to the 8mm glamour piece from yesterday I’ve been informed that the star of Bunny Blue Belles’ film Use a Hot Iron who “clearly had a bit of a career in these things and also pops up in several other Bunny Blue Belles productions like “Dreamy Plaything”” is in fact called Kim Foster, and was a former hairdresser turned late 1950s glamour model. Aside from her 8mm film outings she also appeared in Ben's Books titles like Silky and Strip Lingerie and graced the cover of the August 1959 edition of Spick. Many thanks to the source of this info, who wishes to remain anonymous, and who also supplied these photos of Ms. Foster.

A Fistful of 8mm Glamour Films

2010-08-24T00:45:00.000-07:00

Birthed in the late 1950s the 8mm British glamour film was the logical extension of the popular nudie magazines of the time. Its no real surprise then that the films themselves mostly emanated from the same source, with many of the key pioneers of the nudie magazine, Harrison Marks, Russell Gay, Stanley Long and Ken Williams laying down their photographic cameras and becoming rookie filmmakers to turn out countless examples of these short b/w films of their models undressing. Several DVDs worth of new (to me anyway!) examples of the genre came my way recently, and while they span the 1960s and 1970s and were the work of different filmmakers they warrant I feel a collective write-up, offering as they do a loose history of 8mm titillation and a peek into the changing face of what was socially acceptable in adult material during these eras.

The earliest examples of 8mm films by Marks, Gay, Long and Williams are if truth be known little more than filmed documents of one of their magazines' photo-shoots with models undressing and posing in the nude and whose main historic interest now lies in their capturing famous models of the era -like Pamela Green and June Palmer- on film. Because these films kept firmly within the acceptable standards set by these filmmaker’s own magazines, which emphasized boobs and bums but avoided full frontal nudity, these 8mm short films soon became common sights in newsagents in the West End and even more unlikely places “the market was vast because all the photographic shops stocked these things” remarked Harrison Marks in 1997 “Dixons were my main customers”. Of course real pornography did exist in Britain at the time, Ivor Cooke turned out numerous raw, taboo themed stag films throughout the 1960s, and some sources even have it that Harrison Marks himself was directing hardcore on the sly during the early sixties. Such productions however were totally illegal and therefore filmed and shown in the most cloak and dagger circumstances possible and certainly never allowed to intrude on mainstream sensibilities in the way that the 8mm glamour film would….. nor would they ever be sold in Dixons!!.

As the craze for these short black and white films of women undressing began to take off, many companies like Top Hat, Herald, Ultima and Windmill Films sprung up to cater to this new niche for the nude. Titles like PENTHOUSE STRIP (Unique Films), BED BOOK AND CANDLE (KLF ) and NIGHT CLUB QUEEN are fairly listless examples of the early glamour film, and in spite of the location specific title of the latter were all filmed on basic sets.

With comedy and sex being so deeply intertwined in British culture via Max Miller, George Formby and Donald McGill, its no surprise that when the 8mm glamour film finally started to develop its own personality it generally chose to serve up titillation whilst tickling the funny bone. PEEPING TOM (circa early 60s) nicks its title from Michael Powell and proves that years before Robin Askwith took up the mop and bucket a window cleaner was the No.1 occupation for getting an eyeful of a stripping housewife. Not to mention an invitation to comedic trouble as befalls the peeping window cleaner here, who gets caught by her husband and then falls through his ladder whilst trying to make a quick get-away. HONEYMOON NIGHT (Playtime films, late 60s) features glamour model Samantha Bond as part of a just married couple spending their honeymoon in a hotel and much of the running time taken up by Bond undressing in the bathroom while her husband waits in their bedroom. In a scenario used in countless sit-coms and stage farces Bond then forgets which room number she is in, goes into the wrong room and gets in bed with a weirdo who chases her about the hotel before being punched out by her hubby. Bond, a stunning redhead who would go onto to appear in Lindsay Shonteff’s Permissive, now runs her own model agency and has the dubious honour of being the woman who discovered Jordan- we all have our crosses to bear.

Other 8mm films eschew any basis in reality and come across as equally dirty mac daydreams sprung to life and unintentional surrealist filmmaking. NUDE COCKTAIL features a naked barmaid serving drinks to a clothed female customer who upon discovering she has left her purse at home pays for her drinks with her clothes. Bunny Blue Belles films whose logo was a rudely suggestive drawing of a rabbit (it actually looks like an ejaculating cock) contributed USE A HOT IRON to the surrealist 8mm glamour film genre in which a woman loses her clothes while attempting to do the ironing, then in a scene that should come with its own “don’t try this at home” warning, runs an iron over her breasts to test how hot the iron is!!

The female lead in Use a Hot Iron clearly had a bit of a career in these things and also pops up in several other Bunny Blue Belles productions like “Dreamy Plaything”. If truth be known though only a handful of actress/models from these films ever progressed to much more beyond further sexploitation gigs. One who did was Sue Bond, now best known for her three year stint on the Benny Hill Show and her subsequent sitcom and panto roles. Sue had a background in the late 1960s glamour scene, modeling nude for magazines like “Terrific” and acting in several Harrison Marks 8mm films. “It came as quite a shock the first time I realized a director had selected me for my profile than my portrayal” she complained to Titbits magazine in 1975 “after all its not exactly what your dreams are made of”, today Sue is reportedly even more guarded about this side of her career, even going so far as to deny her participation in such material. Just as well then that we have AUDITION NIGHT (Expo Films) which conveniently serves as a visualization of Sue’s humble nudie beginnings, and sees Sue-who is billed on the 8mm box under the name ‘Heidi Kessler’- auditioning for a disinterested magazine publisher. As well as a showcase for Ms. Bond’s assets, Audition Night also sees the filmmakers both simultaneously play up and parody the public’s image of smut peddlers. The blokish magazine publisher Sue shakes her boobs at is made up like a caricature of a soho sleazebucket, chain smoking his way through several cigarettes, hiding behind dark glasses and barely acknowledging Sue in favour of reading a copy of ‘Men Only’ much to the annoyance of S.B. Its only in the film’s closing moments do we discover the reason for his apathy towards her. As Sue suddenly notices a curtain twitching in his office he quickly springs into action attempting to shoo her out of the room before the curtain comes down revealing several photographers who have been snapping away during her nude audition.

Bond, Sue Bond working undercover in the 8mm glamour film world as “Heidi Kessler”

While Sue may well have progressed beyond 8mm films and been given an entry into sitcom and panto land, such later career achievements pale in comparison to the mainstream successes of Margaret Nolan, who after a brief two year glamour modeling stint as “Vicky Kennedy” would enjoy roles in big budget films featuring The Beatles and James Bond, be immortalized as Dawn Brakes in Carry on Girls and unlike Sue Bond could also lay claim to have been taken seriously as an actress with roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Crown Court that were far removed from her glamour and even Carry On image. Two of Margaret’s early 8mm glamour film calling cards to the industry -Dawn Brakes’ early breaks if you will- were SEXATIONAL and the aptly named PRESENTING THE FABULOUS VICKY KENNEDY (Star Films). The latter is immediately of collector interest as it is in colour, whereas most of the filmed footage of Margaret’s glamour period is in black and white. A pity then that its so indifferently filmed and poorly lit, and on the basis of the film it would seem that Star Films were one of the more low-rent of the 8mm glamour outfits. The film itself which follows Margaret in and out of a shower and ends with her posing nude on a bed, even includes full frontal shots, albeit briefly and probably the result of filmmaking incompetence rather than any serious desire to challenge the status quo on the use of full nudity in 8mm films.

Sexational, likely to have been filmed by Russell Gay, is in black and white and similarly limited in terms of onscreen action, yet is infinitely superior, and goes to show the difference an established glamour photographer behind the camera can make. Gay uses a variety of imaginative costume and set changes, as well as a generous amount of long shots, pans and close-ups to draw out Margaret’s looks, personality and allure on camera. The result is an 8mm glamour film whose natural sexiness has held up well through the ages and the successful marriage of a model with sex appeal by the bucket load and a photographer who knows how to utilize it. Like many of the girls captured in these films Margaret was also a smoker and signs off the film by producing a cigarette, being given a light off screen (likely by Gay himself) and blowing smoke seductively at the camera. A memorable reminder of a time when fagging it onscreen was seen as a sexy and glamorous thing to do, and lending an obviously post-coital feel to the films closing moments.

Margaret Nolan in ‘Sexational’ and as and in “Presenting the Fabulous Vicky Kennedy”

Future horror filmmaker Pete Walker also began his career in the world of 8mm glamour films, shooting an estimated 400 to 500 glamour shorts in the mid to late sixties and boasting that none of these films took more than half an hour to make. Watch some of these films today and you’ll be amazed it took Pete as long as half an hour. Still as his 8mm glamour career continued there are slow signs of -if not exactly a cinematic great in the making- then some interest in filmmaking beyond shooting simple stripteases. This transition is reflected in TOP MODELS OF THE YEAR, a self-produced compilation of Walker’s 8mm films which also displays Walker’s tenancy for billing his models with “Miss” before their names as if they were being introduced at a high society ball rather than about to take their clothes off for an 8mm film. Clips from “Miss Britt Hampshire” and “Miss Yvonne Bennett and Miss Maria Thomas” suggests routine glamour films, on the other hand “Miss Donna Marlowe” uses some primitive stop motion effects to undress Miss Marlowe (Walker’s real life girlfriend at the time). Every time she plucks a flower, part of her clothing magically disappears, still embarrassed as she is by this the girl just can’t stop plucking. Even funnier are clips from Walker’s “Aeronautical Nude”, starring Miss Ann Walker as a pilot who somehow manages to perform a striptease while supposedly flying and landing a light aircraft. The film ends with Ann awkwardly emerging from the plane backwards (obviously in order to avoid any full frontal shots) and with a royally puzzled expression that suggests someone waiting for her director to yell cut and get her down.

Miss Ann Walker suffers for her art in Aeronautical Nude.

For Walker the 8mm films seem to have been at best a means of making money and a way of learning the basics of filmmaking in order to progress to better things. He is famously quoted as later saying “I didn’t want to be known as a tit man…. I didn’t want to be Harrison Marks”. Marks on the other hand was clearly in the sex industry for the duration and would fully inject his own personality and drunken memories of his music hall forefathers into his productions. Marks’ ROSE’S BUSTIN' OUT ALL OVER (circa 1964), contains the sort of double-entendre in its title that Max Miller would have been proud to deliver. Rather than featuring anyone called Rose the film actually stars model Maxine King, who while attractive is hardly busting out all over. Only as the film progresses does the title make any sense as Maxine goes for a nude walkabout in a garden to admire the roses in bloom, hence Roses busting out all over!! Marks’ sense of humour is even more in evidence in STRICTLY FOR BACHELORS (1968). Coming across as a piss take on TV advertising and cookery shows aimed at women, Strictly for Bachelors purports to show women how to bake a Christmas cake, and casts topless model Cindy Neal as a sexed up Fanny Cradock wannabe following onscreen advice and making a royal hash of it. A caption asking her to “take two cherries” has her pointing cluelessly to her nipples while another asking her to add a dash of napoleon brandy to the mix results in her drinking brandy while dressed as Napoleon. Neal is actually a real find, not only able to hold a candle to any of Marks’ greatest models in the looks department but also proving herself to be game for a laugh and a good comedienne here. There is a real sense that Neal and Marks had lots of fun making this, with Neal throwing eggs and flower around her mock kitchen set (it was actually filmed at Marks’ flat in St John’s Wood) and Marks throwing in some very rude visual gags like Neal kneading dough with her bum and the cherry topped cake eventually expanding to resemble a giant tit before exploding covering Neal with a sticky white substance. You get the impression that Marks may have worried he’d gone a little too overboard with the comedy here, since after the exploding cake gag the film ends on a more conventional, calmer note with Neal filmed posing nude amidst such bachelor pad essentials as a TV set and a Frank Sinatra LP, the film was after all Strictly for Bachelors.

As the sixties gave way to the 1970s the 8mm glamour film began turning towards soft core rather than mere nude posing. Harrison Marks first tested these waters with 8mm films like Tutti Fruit and Hot Teddy which feature off the wall stand-ins for sex acts with the former depicting Sue Roberts suggestively eating a banana while the latter sees Sue Bond madly humping a giant teddy bear. Marks finally made the transition to soft core shorts featuring real people with titles like PENNY AND PAUL a no-frills recording of a sex session between the busty Penny and a longhaired stud who’d go on to bonk his way through several more of Marks’ soft and hardcore shorts during the 1970s.

As with his early 8mm glamour films Marks’ soft core shorts quickly became more elongated affairs often running around 12-15 minutes and with elaborate plots that were an outlet for Marks’ comedy inclinations. By the time of Marks’ GOODNIGHT NURSE, which was filmed in 1972 and released in January 1973, Marks was shooting both b/w soft core versions of his films for the UK market and colour hardcore versions for Tabu’s Charlie Brown to distribute in Germany. The colour hardcore version of Goodnight Nurse which is called “The Happy Nurses” was written up by me back in June, and the soft version keeps pretty close to it in terms of plot, only with the action kept soft core and a few cast changes. Having entrusted the role of the doctor to a ubiquitous hardcore actor in The Happy Nurses, Marks himself steps into the role for Goodnight Nurse. Also present and correct is Howard Nelson, who reprises his role as a blacked-up fez wearing patient from The Happy Nurses. As this was a non-sex role Howard is soon wheeled away allowing Doctor Marks to have a quick fumble with one of the nurses. At the same time a patient who resembles a young hippie version of Marks, is checked in and soon becomes a target for the randy nurses. As in the Happy Nurses the patient is eventually revealed to be the new ward porter, news that the nurses react to by emptying a fruit bowl over him.

Harrison Marks and friend play doctors and nurses in Goodnight Nurse

According to a 1972 interview with Marks, Goodnight Nurse was inspired by his own hospitalization that year which predictably caused his mind to drift onto the subject of naughty nurses (tellingly he also wrote the script for Come Play With Me around this time as well). “The first week or two I didn’t pay much attention, I was too groggy to think about sex” he claimed “but when I felt a bit better, the old urge came back. I started to think about a bit of crumpet again”. Unfortunately for Marks the reality of the situation was rather less erotic than the film it inspired with the day nurses Marks was lusting after always replaced at 8’O Clock by “a pair of right dragons”. While one of the nurses did it seems go after Marks she wasn’t exactly Mary Millington, rather she was, in Marks’ own words “built like a brick built shithouse” and kept Marks up till 3am in the morning talking about sex until he eventually shooed her away by complaining “I am a bit tired”. One suspect she must have been really rough on the eye for him to turn down an offer of sex, and in a way its a testament to Marks’ overactive imagination that such an un-erotic sounding encounter could be turned into the randy farce that is Goodnight Nurse.

This in mind its tempting to speculate whether the chronologically final Marks’ films on the discs, BLOWJOB and NIGHT DREAMS have a similar basis in real life incidents that Marks sexed up in his imagination and then put on film. BLOWJOB features a punter contacting a prostitute from the back pages of a sex magazine and both of them going down on each other in scenes shot on Marks’ couch at his flat. In the comedic punch line the punter then rewards the woman with two one pound notes and she in turn offers him some green shield stamps!!! NIGHT DREAMS is Marks’ mock horror film which opens once again on his couch, and with a woman flicking through a book on horror films, with particular emphasis on pictures of Lugosi’s Dracula and Karloff’s Frankenstein. After this not so light reading she retires to bed only to suffer a nightmare, symbolized in the film by Karloff’s face superimposed over her tossing and turning in the nude. At the same time a mysterious stranger, initially seen only by shots of his gloved hands and feet, creeps around her apartment. Its all shot in a manner to suggest we’re building up to a full on horror outing, with lots of stereotypical horror imagery like a clock striking midnight, before the film reveals itself to have been a bit of a tease. Since when the woman wakes up she is greeted not by the sight of Dracula or Frankenstein but Harrison Marks himself, stripping off and jumping into bed with her, no doubt in order to offer her some “comfort” after her bad dream. A scene that also allows Marks to display a whole new side to his talents- his backside !!!

The Naked Harris of Harrison Marks

With titles like Blowjob the norm and even Marks himself flashing his Harris onscreen, the old style nude posing 8mm glamour film was clearly a thing of the past by this point. Some, such as original glamour girl Pamela Green may have felt that much of the artistry went out of the window in the 8mm glamour worlds’ clambering for a more upfront approach to sex. But with nudity by then common place in the tabloids and mainstream films as well as John Lindsay making blue movies more publicly visible thanks to his regular appearances in the tabloids and in court the 1970s were clearly marching to a more saucier beat. Changes that left the surviving 8mm filmmakers like Marks, Russell Gay and Ken Williams now free to depict the sort of explicit scenarios that a generation raised on the likes of Nude Cocktail and Use a Hot Iron had had to make do with merely visualizing in their minds as coy images of nude women serving cocktails or ironing in the all together flickered onscreen.

THE END !!!

Pat Astley by any other name

2010-08-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Pat Astley in Span magazine, billed as “Patricia Maynard” (pictures courtesy of AFN33). According to this IMDB poll
http://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Blackpool,%20Lancashire,%20England,%20UK
Pat rates as their 23rd most popular person born in Blackpool, so not quite as famous as Graham Nash or Zoë Ball then, but more popular than Lennie Bennett!!

Mary Millington takes an easy ride

2010-08-08T04:09:00.000-07:00

Harrison Marks - 1972 interview

2010-08-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

A bawdy Q and A with a Maximus era Harrison Marks, including how a 1972 hospital visit and an encounter with a randy nurse who was “built like a brick built shithouse” provided him with the inspiration to make Good Night Nurse, and possibly write the script for Come Play With Me (discussed here a good four years before it actually went before the cameras)

Zeta One with stripes on

2010-07-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

A funny typo from the 1990s video release of Zeta One

Not sure how you can mistake this:

For this:

Oy bloody vey -Alfie Bass on the making of Come Play With Me

2010-07-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

from 'Titbits', May 19th 1977

Here come “The Playbirds”

2010-07-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

Press release

“On 9 August 2010 Odeon Entertainment release the digitally-remastered widescreen edition of Mary Millington's cult 1978 sex thriller The Playbirds.

In her greatest film role, Mary plays a sexy policewoman secretly infiltrating the seedy world of pornography. In order to unmask a pathological killer who’s targeting the beautiful centrefolds of Playbirds magazine, Mary puts her life, and reputation, on the line by sleeping with millionaire publisher Harry Dougan (Alan Lake). The Chief Superintendant (Glynn Edwards) and Police Commissioner (Windsor Davies) are keeping a close eye on her, but time is running out fast. Now that Mary’s joined the blue squad, will she blow her cover?

One of the most fabled British sexploitation films of the 1970s finally gets a release on DVD, beautifully remastered from the original negatives. Based on the best-selling porn magazine and featuring star turns from Gavin Campbell (That’s Life!), Dudley Sutton (Lovejoy) and the luscious Suzy Mandel, The Playbirds is a murder thriller bursting with thrilling bodies!

‘Contains more flesh than the EEC beef mountain’ Western Mail

Special features include: Animated menus, an extensive stills gallery, Response (1974 short lesbian fantasy featuring Mary), Mary Millington's World Striptease Extravangza (1981), Odeon trailers and new booklet notes written by Simon Sheridan featuring an interview with director Willy Roe.”

And courtesy of Sgt Rock, a rare picture of Mary in the Mistral film Response and a Mistral Ad.

Review: The Happy Nurses (197?, Harrison Marks)

2010-06-22T22:40:00.001-07:00

Sometime in 1976 sex superstar Mary Millington ran into a spot of bother with the law after selling a policeman 8mm copies of Harrison Marks’ softcore Maximus films “Goodnight Nurse” and “The Danish Maid” at her Norbury sex shop, only to see the same copper return a few days later with some of his colleagues to raid the shop. And while the police never really needed a good reason to raid Mary’s shop, one can imagine she’d have been in even more hot water had she slipped him a copy of Marks’ The Happy Nurses, a hardcore “under the counter” production, which used the same sets, storyline and the more opened minded cast members-or should that be cast’s members- as Goodnight Nurse.

Released in Germany by Diamant Films, likely an offshoot of Charlie Brown’s Tabu company, the hospital ward set Happy Nurses opens with the hilariously off the wall sight of Marks’ muscle-bound stooge Howard ‘Vanderhorn’ Nelson, playing an irate foreign patient. A role Howard has been blacked up for, while the typical Vanderhorn disguise also includes a fez and a glue on goatee as an extra touch so people won’t know its him.
Clearly not a happy camper, and presumably suffering from a disease that turns you into a hybrid of Tommy Cooper and Al Jolson, Howard is quickly carted away by wheelchair by one of the staff, and while the Horn is away the doctors and nurses will play. With no patients around, the head doctor and one of the nurses seize the opportunity to screw each other senseless in his office. Elsewhere, a patient turns up on the ward and checks himself into a bed. No one actually bothers to enquire what is wrong with him, but there is a succession of randy nurses on hand to administer blowjobs and fuck him in bed, which while it might not cure his illness, presumably will cheer him up a bit.

Aside from Howard, the other familiar face in The Happy Nurses is Peter, the actor playing the doctor, who Marks also cast in his 8mm short ‘Hot Fingers’. Peter was clearly something of a player in the 1970s London hardcore scene, and pops up in numerous blue films by both Marks and John Lindsay. Slightly more mature looking than your average 70s porn actor, and distinguished by that and his wavy, Sid James type hairdo, he also had a small, uncredited role as -aptly enough- a stud for hire in Stanley Long’s film On the Game, from 1973.

After finishing off with the doctor, the nurse remembers she was meant to deliver an important letter to another of the nurses, and hurries off to find her, inadvertently walking in on her riding the patient. The letter reveals the man isn’t a patient and all, and it turns out he is actually the new ward porter who has been posing as a patient in order to get some free sex on the NHS. Left a not very happy nurse at the news of this deception, the nurse gets her own back by empting a fruit bowl over him, which knocks him out and leaves him with an apple stuck in his mouth. Actually given the spontaneous way sex seems to break out between doctors, nurses and patents in the film, its hard to make sense of why it matters whether he was a ward porter or a patient, still thats the NHS for you!!

Hyped by Tabu in their typically excitable, broken english manner as “a jewel for the broadminded … after this film you are bound to have a permanent itch, if not a quivering cunt”, Marks was definitely firing on all cylinders when he came up with this one, and a boozy sense of mirth is very much in evidence in the films mixture of horny blue movie action, Howard’s music hall like get-up and Marks’ penchant for working slapstick comedy and assorted silly gags into the dirty film equation. While the joke revelation about the ward porter might not be up to much, The Happy Nurses can lay claim to featuring the rudest, dirtiest sight gag Marks surely ever filmed, which entails poor Mr. Nelson being wheeled out again at the end of the film for the honour of suffering an even greater indignity than he does in Come Play With Me. Still moaning at the nurses while they are busy wanking off the ward porter in the next bed, Howard’s complaints are cut short mid-sentence when he is hit in the face by the ward porter’s misdirected spunk!! A freeze frame of Howard fuming and the (obviously fake) cum running down his face ends the film.

Actually this ending comes across -no pun intended- as a bit of an improvisation due, you suspect, to the porn actor running out of steam and failing to deliver the requisite money shot that by rights the film should have ended on, leaving Marks to substitute it with a belly laugh instead. A suspicion further fuelled by an earlier scene with the ward porter and one of the nurses also making use of the same porridge like substance, or whatever the heck it was that Marks used as a double for mansplat, that also ends up being squirted on Howard’s face for the film’s finale. Still while the porn actor doesn’t seem to have been able to deliver all the goods, Howard certainly went way beyond the call of duty for The Happy Nurses, blacking up, spending an afternoon being wheeled around and taking the porn equivalent of a custard pie to the face. Thus providing the film with its wickedly obscene, laugh out loud final moment, and ensuring that the Happy Nurses will live on as surely the only straight 8mm porn film to end with a blacked up, former bodybuilder being ejaculated on!!!

Happy Nurses German ad courtesy of http://www.bygonemedia.com/

Mary Millington - Vibrations Ad

2010-06-12T04:47:00.000-07:00

A pre-fame, pre-David Sullivan, Mary advertising her services to the amateur photography crowd as a “sexciting young professional model” in the pages of Vibrations magazine (Issue no.10, vol 3). Scan courtesy of AFN33.

Love the wording of the Ad, I bet her PO Box was soon bulging with letters from amateur snappers, bless. It would seen that Vibrations publishers must have taken note of the ad as well, and hired Mary for shoots themselves, as she pops up in Vibrations No.1 Vol.5 under the name “Sally Stevens”.

David Galaxy Comes Again!

2010-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Press release and DVD cover for the forthcoming Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair DVD:

"David Galaxy Comes Again! On 12 July 2010 Odeon Entertainment release the 'Special Edition' DVD of 1979's Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair . The film has been digitally remastered from the original negatives. Alan Lake plays David Galaxy, the playboy astrologer who beds beautiful young women as easily as he reads fortunes. His glamorous conquests include a high society debutante (sex superstar Mary Millington) and a busty beauty queen (real-life 'Miss Bournemouth' Rosemary England), but he soon finds himself on the wrong side of the law and not even his own horoscope can predict the future!

First released at the Eros cinema on Piccadilly Circus in June 1979, this saucy sex comedy follows in the footsteps of Come Play with Me and The Playbirds and features a supporting cast of classic British actors including Bernie Winters, Anthony Booth, Kenny Lynch and the legendary Diana Dors.

Bonus Features include:

Brand new animated DVD menus,

Queen of the Blues (1979),

an extensive stills gallery,

an edit of 1979's Arabian Knights , starring Rosemary England,

and new booklet notes written by Simon Sheridan."

“Life with George Harrison Marks”- A Chat with Louise Sinclair

2010-05-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to recently correspond with Louise S. Sinclair, who back in the 1970s worked as a glamour model and dated George Harrison Marks during the Spring of 1979. Louise is happy to reminisce about “those wonderful pre politically correct days of freedom” and her computer-like memory was able to fill in many of the blank spots I had about Marks’ life during that period. Her stories about him are equal parts comedy and tragedy, and provide a frank, but valuable, insight into Marks’ psyche, post Come Play With Me, at the very fag end of the 1970s. Many thanks to Louise for taking this trip down memory lane!!

“I was involved with George during 1979 when he resided in Red Lion Square and had a company called Helena Grant Associations. I became his lover aged 19 and when he telephoned my mother would jokingly say "granddad is on the phone" At that point George had spilt from (his third wife) Toni. I believe it had happened over a year previously. Toni seemed to be involved with a man called Arthur who aggravated George because his identity bracelet had diamonds and George's was plain gold.

George introduced me to his various friends including Milton and Jack as his mistress. I recall little about (Milton Reid), he seemed a fairly disinterested in people character and usually just nodded in my direction. I recall him looking very over weight and George being heavy, the two of them made quite a sight. George liked wearing a striped top which as I told him made him look like a deckchair on legs. I wasn't diplomatic as I was only 18 when I met George.

George was a very heavy smoker and drinker. He also loved dishes such as saukraut and polish sausages. His moods were volatile and I had a quarrel with him when somewhat hungover he demanded that I helped him clean his flat as Toni was expected. I was nursing a heavy cold and when George demanded that I got up and helped him empty ashtrays and remove empty vodka bottles I exploded with rage dressed and left. Toni arrived and seeing the condition he was in promptly confiscated his adored Burmese cats as she thought he was too drunk to care for them. I wrote George a sharp letter calling him a walking vodka bottle. He quickly contacted me to apologize for his thoughtless behaviour. George was quite stingy with money and rarely bought me a gift. He loved wearing bling jewellery and liked to relax in one of his many kaftans. George was a prolific reader and introduced me to Jackie Collins via Lovers and Gamblers. I was instantly hooked and sat reading quietly for hours while George drank smoked and snoozed. He often mentioned his daughter Josie and took us off to a hairdressers where we both had our hair cut and styled.

During this time George was involved in stronger glamour photography. He used to grumble that there was no art left in 60's style glamour - it was strictly open leg material. I was a glamour model but he never wanted me to involve myself in his hard core material. However it led to some amusing encounters. George once told me we had to get up as he was expecting a dishy male model for an audition. I leapt out of bed and hastily applied make up expecting a tall dark handsome hunk. I was very disillusioned to be greeted by a pale skinny young guy with blond hair and a washed out appearance. Perhaps his assets were concealed by his underwear.

I met Rex Peters who was a highly unpleasant little man and Ed Alexander whom seemed okay. George told me not to work with Rex as he was known for getting "forceful" with women. I didn't do any film or television work myself. I almost got slung out of a Health And Efficiency shoot because I was wearing too much make up and horror of horrors suspenders and nail polish. George almost cried with laughter over that episode.

Another time I visited Toni's flat in St Johns Wood to complete a movie. There were several of us and it was exhausting. That film Toni and her boyfriend did was so appalling it was scrapped according to George. It wouldn't surprise me as the shooting was haphazard to say the least. The films Toni and her boyfriend were making were very soft - no open leg or erections. I think they were trying for a Mayfair image. Everything was suggested but nothing happened apart from several very weary models. Toni also had a model there she was helping to get jobs in exchange for a 10% commission. Shooting continued throughout the day and when evening finally arrived I returned to George to find that he had thoughtfully prepared a meal and bath for me.

George had a great love of Vaudeville which I was too young to appreciate and he often compared my figure to that of Pamela Green. However by this time he was no Casanova as drinking had affected his virility. His amusing personality was his biggest asset to a young woman interested in having fun and aware that the relationship would go nowhere.

Saturdays were often spent wandering along Camden Passage where George knew quite a few of the dealers. Lunch was liquid and complemented by plenty of Marlboro cigarettes. When he moved to Stamford Hill he had an elderly couple in residence
downstairs. I believe the wife’s name was Dolly. The journey from East London to Stamford hill was very awkward and gradually our relationship petered out when I became involved with another man.

George was eccentric, amusing but ultimately somewhat afraid of deep intimacy with women. He was very distressed about the death of Mary Millington. I was with him when he received the news. His view was that the Inland Revenue had hounded her to suicide. David Sullivan was a man he felt contempt for. George told me that Sullivan enjoyed a daily breakfast of steak followed by a box of chocolates. He also claimed that Sullivan had collected the earnings from Come Play With Me as a major backer of the film. It seemed that he resented the success Sullivan was enjoying and certainly didn't want to play second fiddle to a man he viewed as an upstart.

George was going through a fairly quiet period at that point and seemed to enjoy most of his spare time lounging around the flat, playing with his cats and drinking vodka. In retrospect I would suspect he was quite depressed as he couldn't see a clear direction and he got bored doing the blue films.”

Review: Sordid Soho (196?, Director unknown)

2010-05-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sordid Soho is a 1960s 8mm glamour film with a West End Jungle vibe to it, that can certainly lay claim to living up to its title, coming across as it does like some sort of travelogue, or maybe even a training film, for the dirty mac brigade. Consisting mostly of shots of 1960s strip clubs in soho and several striptease routines, these appear to be seen from the point of view of a typical 60s Soho punter, whose face the film always keeps off screen, and who is only represented in the film by a shot of a finger pressing a stripper’s doorbell, and as a pair of feet as he makes his way up to her flat.

As it was aimed at the comparatively unregulated 8mm market Sordid Soho eschews the kind of bending over backwards to please the censor sermonizing that feature films like Primitive London and London in the Raw had to adhere to, and instead fills its 11 minute running time with what its faceless punter, and its audience, paid to see, namely the routines of several “naked lovelies” as the cartoonish 8mm box dubs them. Despite all the strip club marquees on display, the filmmakers clearly couldn’t get access to film in the clubs themselves, so all the strip routines take place in shabby upstairs flats, leaving the film to document, or at least recreate, the post-Wolfenden report set-up of girls using advertisements to lure punters up to their flats to watch them strip off, with the implication that “something more” might be on offer. A scenario that was portrayed in a tut-tut and leer fashion in West End Jungle, but which also crops up allot in low-brow horror films of the period like Corruption and The Mutations, where inevitably the girls come to a sticky end, or in the case of the latter film face to face with a deformed Tom Baker. Nothing so dramatic takes place here of course, despite shots of the punter creeping up the stairs looking like they’ve strayed from a horror film, and just in case we get the wrong impression the back of the 8mm box is at hand to reassure us that “we would point out that the girls in this film are models”, heaven forbid we should think they were real life strippers, or shock, horror, ladies of the night.

Sordid Soho is a creditless film, and one that leaves few clues for 21st century archeologists as to its makers’ identity, causing you to speculate whether the film was the work of an enthusiastic amateur, something shot by a person who had a real job in film and TV but had the time to slum it in Soho, or merely the output of one of the many n’er do well jack the lad characters who sprung up in the wake of Harrison Marks and Stanley Long’s success in the 8mm glamour film business. Certainly the film would like you to believe it was the work of a pervy punter who insisted on dragging a camera with him on his Soho prowls for strippers, although the fact that its shot with a degree of professionalism, and its makers clearly cranked out a few more films of this type (listed on the back of the 8mm box are “Her Day Off” and “Helga from Copenhagen”) suggests the truth is likely to be nearer the n’er do well, jack the lad characters option. Curiously the box also advises punters to “ask to see the other films in this series”, possibly indicating that this was designed to be sold in a chain of shops, or maybe just the one shop, rather than the mail order route.

The strip acts themselves are very of the period, with the b/w photography, emphasis on lingerie, bare breasts and bums and the avoidance of full frontal nudity in keeping with the mentality of the Harrison Marks and Arnold Louis Miller girlie magazines of the day. These scenes may have originally been Sordid Soho’s raison d’etre but today play second fiddle to the more historically interesting street footage, with the film obsessively documenting all the naughty sights and places 60’s Soho had to offer. The mixture of snapshots of shady businesses, a faceless protagonist and strip routines even pre-dates, and anticipates the Soho sequence in the beloved Brit sleaze favourite Take An Easy Ride by more than a decade.

Of course whether or not some of the films’ participants would be happy to be remembered on film as the epitome of Sordid Soho remains questionable, especially in the case of the girl who the filmmakers managed to persuade to remove everything bar her shades, which she keeps on throughout her routine. Still what better, or more hilarious, validation do you need of a film’s authentic sleaziness than the fact that even the people who appeared in it insisted on keeping their dark glasses on !!!

Pamela Green 1929-2010

2010-05-14T03:14:00.000-07:00

Received an email this morning from Yak El-Droubie, who runs her website, sadly informing me that Pamela Green passed away on Friday 7th May 2010 at the age of 81. Green of course was one of the most famous nude models of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and star of Naked As Nature Intended and Peeping Tom.

R.I.P Pam, Rita Landre and Princess Sonmar Harriks.

An online book of condolences can be found at http://www.pamela-green.co.uk/

Emmanuelle in Soho…comes again

2010-05-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

The next British sex-com to be getting the special edition DVD treatment is the David Sullivan produced Emmanuelle in Soho -a screamingly eighties mixture of big hair, bad acting and strippers in yellow raincoats, with Sullivan’s 1983 mud-fest Hellcats-Mud Wrestling included among the extras.

Press release:
"On 7 June 2010 Odeon Entertainment issue the first ever British DVD release of Emmanuelle in Soho. Set in London’s notorious red-light district, Emmanuelle in Soho exposes the salacious world of back-street striptease shows, pornographers and the infamous ‘casting couch’. Fame hungry Emmanuelle (Mandy Miller) does whatever it takes to make it big, even if that means signing up with London’s sleaziest porn agent (John M. East).Produced by David ‘Come Play with Me’ Sullivan, Emmanuelle in Soho features tragic beauty Julie Lee in her only starring role, ably assisted by a bevy of gorgeous girls, including eye-popping cameos from sex queens Linzi Drew and Marie Harper. Originally released in July 1981, the movie became the very last blockbuster of the British sex comedy era, running solidly for 35 weeks in London alone.

Special Features include:

* Hellcats - Mud Wrestling (1983)

* The 6-minute American prologue to Emmanuelle in Soho

* Additional footage shot by Ray Selfe for the hardcore version

* Booklet Notes by Simon Sheridan"

8mm Box of The Playbirds

2010-05-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

The original 8mm box release of The Playbirds from 1979 (pictures courtesy of ‘Sgt, Rock’)

All4nothing33’s Mary Millington posts

2010-05-11T04:10:00.000-07:00

Several posts taken from http://afn33-marymillington.blogspot.com/ whose site owner All4nothing33 has decided to discontinue and close the site, but has asked me to rip several posts and photos from it and re-post them here for posterity.

All4nothing33 at what was Private Shop Norbury London

All4nothing33 at ‘hardcore alley’ in Norbury (Allfornothing33 writes “My left arm touching the actual Police Station wall.”)

All4nothing33 visits Mary’s grave

(Allfornothing33 writes
“On Saturday the 27th September 2008 myself and my friend Kevin visited Mary's grave, on it we put a tribute, photos and some lovely flowers in honour of a truly lovely lady who died too soon.

This is the message my friend Kev and I put on her grave.

Mary you were a shining star,
We' look for you in the heavens but sadly your not there.
Maybe in another life' we' will see you again,
You were, and are the best,
Your ideals were true,
Though you were just not right for your time,
'We' wish to God that you were still here,
You would have been 62yrs old this year.
Millie you earned the fame
Those that persecuted and betrayed you should hang their heads in shame.
A quite lovely person you would have achieved more,
Mary Maxted the brightest star this universe ever saw)

Two of All4nothing33’s newspaper clippings

All4nothing33 in conversation with Mary’s friend

All4nothing33 writes “The following are the words of Mary's friend to me when in conversation with him “I remember once going around to her home to photograph her in a police woman's uniform for a forthcoming film. When I arrived a young couple were viewing the house which was up for sale at the time. They were extremely well spoken and left shortly after to go and talk to the young woman's mummy. Mary and I settled down to a drink and a chat before starting on the pictures and when we finished Mary started to dress, she had got as far as stockings and suspenders, her white shirt and police woman's jacket, both undone with her breasts fully exposed and her police hat on her head, when I heard the front doorbell. Almost instantly the door to the lounge was opened by the maid, and there stood the couple complete with mummy a stout mature smartly dressed woman with blue rinsed hair, all of them staring open mouthed at Mary's state of undress. The young woman stuttered and said in a faltering voice, "Ohhh I didn't know you were a policewoman". Mary replied giggling, "nooooo I'm not a policewomen, I'm an actress!" To the shocked onlookers. Mary wasn't in the least embarrassed, but I could have died.”

All4nothing33’s potted history of Mary’s life

(Allfornothing33 writes “The Life of Mary a British Icon.

Born Mary Ruth Quilter Nov 30th 1945 at the end of the second world war to a middle class family,her mother worked for the foreign office and her father was a biographer, she was illegitimate.Her father had a role in her younger life but disappeared out of her life as she grew older. Mary had an ordinary schooling, was reported as very mischievous. She left school to attend Reigate art school but could not manage the work so she left to start work as a veterinary nurse but again she was unable to do the necessary studying, as she said many years later in her book 'The Amazing Mary Millington' [1979]she was never academic.However she had a wonderful charisma and charmed all that met her.

Mary married at aged 18yrs to Bob Maxted and was to stay married throughout her short life She was given her big chance in life when she was offered a job in a boutique as the manageress, all the time doing part time modelling nude, glamour and porn. It was whilst she was employed at the boutique she began to love the trappings of fame and vowed one day to be in the public eye..

It was one chance adventure that gave her the break she needed. One day whilst out on her lunch break in a coffee shop she met Scottish photographer John Lindsay [he of hard core fame], it was not long before she stumbled into film and progressed to doing 'hard/core' particularly for Lindsay mostly abroad, under various pseudonyms.He loved Mary and introduced her to Porn Magnate David Sullivan [who is owner of Play/birds Whitehouse empire] He too loved Mary, they had a relationship even though Mary was married [as events turned out there was much ambivalence between Mary's husband and Sullivan even though Mary tried to keep both the relationship and the two men apart] Sullivan promoted and made Mary big in film and although she could not [by her own admission] sing or act, she was to progress to great things and become Millington [she had always been known as Maxted before meeting Sullivan]. Sullivan invented the name Millington to augment her career in the mags and said she was the sister of the then Whitehouse editor Doreen Millington [utter rubbish] but all the same it helped sell his mags.

Mary became renowned as a model and actress star of Sullivan's cinema release Come Play With Me [1977] the Brit comedy that outsold any sex/comedy of its era and is still today the biggest box office success in that genre.It ran twice and made twice as much money second time around.It ran alongside the first 'Superman' and at one point for six consecutive weeks even beat that. She starred in many other films before and after Sullivan's relationship with her, notably Queen of the Blues The Playbirds etc but none of them [although they were in fact successful] were to equal the success and fame of 'Come Play With Me'

Mary was a star of countless porn mags a fervent supporter of civil rights and firmly against the Obscene Publications law that she found was outdated and draconian She supported both animal and 'cancer 'charities. Her mother whom she doted on was suffering cancer throughout the early 70s when Mary was modelling etc.. herself to pay for her care[ a rare thing in those days as not many people had the money].She adored animals more so than humans and was involved with the Peoples Dispensary for sick animals [PDSA]. it is rumoured that Mary had a relationship a 'one night stand' with the then prime minister Harold Wilson, this has [as far as I know] never been denied by the British authorities. She also had 'relations' with the then Shah of Persia [Iran] for mega money and also some very notable and eminent figures..

Her fame and the fact the authorities felt challenged by Mary, indeed to police and government she was a constant embarrassment, they chased her time and time again trying to set her up.They sent letters and bills to her threatening imprisonment The taxman was chasing her for £1,000,000 and the police were after her, she had a pressing appointment in the Old Bailey court on obscenity charges. Also her husband had asked her for a divorce.Probably because of the constant pressure she developed major insecurities and had become hooked on cocaine and was a kleptomaniac often stealing things [not always valuable objects] but anything that she thought she wanted.[Note it is now thought by agony aunts psychologists etc.. who have dissected Mary's life that she stole things because she had a need to feel wanted and loved].

She began to despair with British Government and their measures to suppress her lifestyle, thought her life was a mess, feared the impending court case as she did not want to go to prison.She was hounded by the police who raided her shops with impunity the second they knew she was out of the area. They hit her hard in the pocket and prevented her advancing/promoting her mags by destroying them.

She was a liberated person with a relaxed view of censorship, she had a sexual openness and ideals that were not in keeping with the times. She strove for the legalisation of pornography, less stringent laws and better civil liberties, however the British Government was just too big for her. She had, had enough on the night of the 19 th August 1979 she rang John M East[her publicist] asked him to sing the song he always sang to her, ending in 'tomorrow', she said 'there will be no tomorrow John', the phone went dead.In the morning her husband found her dead in her bedroom she had taken analgesics. anti depressant capsules alcohol and passed away in her sleep.

RIP Mary Maxted [the name on her gravestone] her married name, buried South Holmwood, Surrey above her beloved mother.

Mary Millington the biggest box office draw of the 70s rich and famous [but never media mainstream because she was not right for her time]has according to the reverend of St Mary Magdalene church the smallest gravestone in the cemetery .Mindful of this and considering that she was the biggest star of the 1970s and could presumably afford the very best, why did she not have a splendid grave stone?. The truth is I honestly do not know!!

I believe Mary would have indeed one day [had she lived] become mainstream, she had the strength and charisma to mix in all societies and was a truly wonderful person.She was seen at charity events etc. with the likes of Arthur Askey [the one time comedian] Fenella Fielding and Moira Lister as well as other well known people, there, supporting her charities and furthering their causes.

It is I suppose worth notice that Mary 29 years on from all her battles where she was harangued persecuted and so willfully hurt by those in authority whom it has been proven had double standards by that I mean out of the public eye used her , bought her mags etc... the one and the same people police magistrates etc.. were then prosecuting her for her actions and beliefs in the Old Bailey courts. I believe it was always at the back of Mary's mind to expose these people as hypocrites indeed she had experienced that some of the same people who upheld the law also bought her magazines.

Mary was hounded and for what, look what porn is freely available today!.The films of Mary Millington are seen as nothing more than 'glorified nude Benny Hill sketches' despite at one time what David Sullivan maintained, indeed a good percentage of Mary's 'fellow actresses' in her films starred in Benny Hills sketches three I know of were 'Hills Angels'.

Abandoned in death by those that sought to gain from displaying her as a macabre show the contemptible way that they displayed her in order to get what they wanted, that includes the late John M East her manager and publicist who Mary seemed to worship in life.Shame on him and the many others who did the same.

Mary Ruth Maxted RIP with your beloved mother.The grave stone is inscribed simply 'REUNITED'

Ref :Watch the 1996 Channel 4 film Sex and Shame 'The Mary Millington Story' note what Colin Wills the journalist with the 'Sunday Mirror' says about Mary.
Read Simon Sheridan's remarkably frank unabridged book Come Play With Me 'The Life and Films of Mary Millington' 1999 Fab press
Read 'Come Play With Me' Kelefern productions 1978
Read The Amazing Mary Millington Futura 1979 co wrote by Mary Millington David Weldon [her one time probation officer].

With Compliments of All4nothing33)

Suzy Mandel magazine cover

2010-05-11T04:08:00.000-07:00

Another of Suzy’s many appearances on the cover of David Sullivan’s magazines around the time of Come Play with Me and The Playbirds (picture courtesy of ‘eyeronic’)

Howard “Vanderhorn” Nelson (1934-2007)

2010-04-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sad to report that Come Play With Me actor Howard
“Vanderhorn”
Nelson has gone to that great Bovington Manor in the sky, he actually died a few years ago, but his passing went unnoticed at the time, and it wasn’t until this week that I managed to get official confirmation of his death. Born in 1934, Howard was a champion bodybuilder in his youth, who entered the film world thanks to a part in chum Harrison Marks’ 1967 film Pattern of Evil, now considered a ‘lost’ film. Thereafter Howard became something of a fixture at Marks’ Studio, and in his films, going on to appear in two different roles in Marks’ 1969 feature film The Nine Ages of Nakedness and numerous 8mm shorts. “Vanderhorn” was a popular character name of Marks (a Baron Von Vanderhorn appears in the 8mm film Aphrodisia and Howard himself had played an Arthur Vanderhorn in Pattern of Evil) and was a name Howard would adopt as a nickname and sometimes acting pseudonym. Howard even appeared in non-sex character roles in Marks’ hardcore short films in the early seventies, he played one of the hippies at the customs’ desk in Die Lollos, Randy Toole’s roadie in Autogramme Stunde, and the photographer in Duty Free. Howard played these roles under a variety of fake wigs and dark glasses, presumably so people wouldn’t know it was him, although his ex-bodybuilder frame always tends to give the game away. Howard also appeared in soft core 8mm films made by Ken Williams’ Mountain Films Company like “Just the Job” and “Intimacy” (on account of starring Howard, and other Marks regulars like Peta Gareth, Williams’ 8mm films are sometimes erroneously written up as Harrison Marks productions)

Outside of the sex film world Howard turned up as a thug who beats up Linda Marlowe in Lindsay Shonteff’s Zapper’s Blade of Vengeance- a menacing turn that was a far cry from the comedic, asexual musclemen Howard usually played. Howard is probably best remembered though as the unfortunate Mr. Benjamin who gets “the full treatment” from Mary Millington in Come Play With Me, and as Harry “Mr. Super Muscle” Hernia, one of Suzanne Danielle’s many objects of desire in Carry on Emmannuelle, from 1978.

Still involved with Harrison Marks after Marks had made the transition from pornographer to spanking magazine publisher, Howard popped up as a spanking milkman in the second issue of Marks’ New Janus magazine in 1982. Latterly, Howard worked for a time at Lovejoy’s Bookshop, and was occasionally spotted around the Charing Cross Area. As a member of Harrison Marks’ quirky inner circle, you get the impression that Howard would have turned out to have been a real character and no doubt a goldmine of saucy movie anecdotes, sadly attempts made by several people to track him down for an interview came to nothing, and by 2007 time had run out. Howard 'Vanderhorn' Nelson was found dead at his home in Lambeth, South London on the 7th of December, 2007. According to the Met “the Coroner was satisfied that there was nothing suspicious about his death and that he had died of natural causes”. The police then made enquiries to trace Howard's family, but to date, have not found any immediate, surviving relatives.

RIP, the man they called “The Horn”.