‘My Friend Russ Meyer’ by Tom Porter

This was a post that I had originally planned to include in this years MEYER MONTH but didn’t get around to posting. Friend of Russ Meyer, and now a friend of mine, Tom Porter, wrote this blog post back in 2012 to celebrate what would have been the directors 90th birthday and I think it’s a nice little anecdote to include on what would have been the year that Russ turned 100. I obviously never met Russ, but absolutely live for these stories from his friends which I love and find so illuminating, and I hope it’ll make you smile too. Many thanks to Tom for letting me re-post his entry here, the original can be found on his site!

One of the true great joys in my life was to know and share laughter with the amazing, brilliant filmmaker Russell Albion Meyer. 

I was already a fan dating back to 1975 and Supervixens, and in awe of the Meyer ‘intensely personal and unique vision of the world,’ when we met in Las Vegas in 1989 and became friendly.  Over the next several years we saw each other many, many times.  Russ was a guest in my home in Washington DC, and I his guest numerous times in the Hollywood Hills and out in Palm Desert.

We enjoyed a great many meals, film screenings, nights on the town, and sundry adventures – including a rendezvous in Paris, and a day shooting cutaways in the Mojave Desert.  One of the great nights of all time was our dinner, twenty years ago tomorrow night, celebrating Russ’s 70th birthday.

I was staying at the Bel Air Hotel, and we’d arranged to celebrate in style on the premises. He drove across town, arriving late, and laden with armloads of artwork – Annie Fannie-style illustrations he called “Bust-oons” that he was having prepared for his long-awaited, by then much-unfinished masterpiece A Clean Breast.  He laid these out on the table at dinner.

We talked about the book, the production hassles, his can’t-miss film project ideas (a shot-for-shot remake of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! with LaToya Jackson, for instance), the usual recounting of amorous escapades, and life as an iconoclast in the company town.

Then we turned to his third marriage, to Edy Williams. It turned out the 1970 wedding had taken place on the premises, in the Garden of the Bel Air Hotel.  Russ’s tardiness arriving for dinner was due to his having rooted around in the garden on the way in, but he’d gotten lost; we agreed that after dinner we’d scout around to see if we couldn’t find the ‘scene of the crime’. Many glasses of wine later, that we did.

To stand under the stars at midnight, stumbling about on the rolling lawns of the Bel Air, while Russ rhapsodised about Edy Williams’ charms even as he brandished the rolled-up Bust-oons in the air, batting wildly at the stars, railing against her “shrewishness!” – “But I have no regrets, Sir – I have None At All !“.  Pure heaven.

Over many years’ time, Russ introduced me to a cavalcade of characters, among them Dave Friedman, Stuart Lancaster, James Anthony Ryan & Bert Santos, Charles Napier, John Lazar and others, as well as trusty Janice and his leading ladies Melissa Mounds, Haji and Tura Satana.  Here is a beautiful clip that provides a glimpse of the work, the spirit and joie de vivre of old RM (Lydia – sadly this link no longer works but I have found a video of a commercial for the program mentioned which I think is as close as I can get for now!).

I learned so much from this unique man.  And our friendship meant and still means very much to me.

Thanks for the memories.

Happy 90th Birthday, Russ.

MEYER MONTH – ‘Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film’ by Jimmy McDonough (2005) review by Carl Thomas

I really like Jimmy McDonough’s style; his writing is fast-paced, free of fluff and tells you what you need to know. He is completely unprejudiced and lets everyone else do the talking, especially when it comes to the final part of Meyer’s life. He obviously loves Meyer’s stuff as much as he does Andy Milligan’s (he wrote his biography as well), and really likes the women in Meyer’s movies, but then that’s the point, isn’t it? Meyer was all about the boobs!

After an introduction that teases you with a few details, McDonough runs through Meyer’s life and films more or less chronologically, from his early wartime and glamour photographer years, through to his descent into dementia at the very end. There are lots of details from people like David K. Frasier (who was a good friend to Meyer and did his own biography), Tura Satana, Tempest Storm, Charles Napier, Haji, etc., all adding their own flavour into the mix about how Meyer was a generous man, but an absolute bastard when making films; everything had to be just perfect, although there were times when Meyer appeared to relish in stirring it up for the hell of it. His three marriages are covered in detail, his union with Edy Williams being of most interest; McDonough lets Edy have her say and basically gives her all the jewel-studded rope she needs! There is a complete film guide at the back of the book, including the names of film scripts that were never made (Who Killed Bambi?, Blitzen, Vixen & Harry, etc.) and a modest colour picture section at the centre of the book.

It becomes obvious that Meyer was a very private man emotionally and the book touches on his controversial upbringing, hinting at potential incest or abuse issues concerning his dominating mother, Linda, and his unhinged sister, Lucinda (SIDE NOTE FROM LYDIA – Russ’ Mother was called Lydia and not Linda). The book also delves into Meyer’s life from the 1980s onward, when it was obvious that he was succumbing to dementia; this influenced the creation of the Pandora Peaks documentary, which should never really have been made. His violent relationship with Melissa Mounds is covered, as is the entry of the most controversial person in Meyer’s life: Janice Cowart. Janice is the one person who the courts gave power over Meyer to while he was ill. She stopped his friends from coming around and stripped his house of all memorabilia. I have to give power to McDonough here for being completely impartial and letting Cowart have her say about the matter. It is entirely up to the reader to work out if she was only acting in the interests of Meyer or if she was up to something more. Whatever, she now owns RM Films and is the reason why Meyer’s legacy is being treated, in my opinion, with complete disrespect.

If you are a fan of Russ Meyer (or a fan of sexploitation cinema), then you NEED to have this book in your collection. I could not put it down and was really sad once I’d finished it. Absolutely, definitely recommended!

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