B-Movie Aficionado Earns Lucrative Endorsement Contract
Well, not really....but I think I'm getting some schwag for my outre interests! Case in point: some of you might know from reading my other blog that I'm an aficionado of seriously weird, and ultra-cheezy B-movies. Making that little known tidbit a know factor lead to my receiving an email from Mel Marchessault of M80--a p.r. firm that specializes in online, grassroots marketing--that happens to be spearheadding the campaign for the DVD release of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and re-release of The Valley of the Dolls
Mel's email certainly sparked the Aficionado in me....
Now, if y'all aren't familiar with that Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, here's a clue why it's significant: it was a seriously campy, great big cheezeball of a Russ Meyer film that was a "sequel" (more like a riff) on the film version of Jaqueline Susann's perfect cheezeball of a novel The Valley of the Dolls (a wonderfully soap-operatic tale of three starlets and their bizarre lives in the limelight.I've read it regularly since my 20's and it never ceases to entertain.) In order for Russ pull out all the stops to turn a woman's potboiler into a guy's wet dream, he had to get a young gun to write the screenplay--and got a very young Roger Ebert to do the honors.
Yes, that Roger Ebert. He wasn't always high-brow, ya know...(then again, some might argue that the terms "high-brow" and "Ebert" together in a sentence constitute an oxymoron, but I'll pass on that judgement...)
Mel's supposed to be sending me DVDs of each of the films for me to give my thumbs up or down. The new version of each film is packed with loads of cheeze-tastic stuff like commentary on BVoD from Roger Ebert himself! (eek! this is just the kind of thing that Afficionados go for) as well as commentary from the Babes of the film, and some featurettes. The commentary on VoD is done by Barbara Parkins herself! (if y'all don't know Parkins, she starred on the first nighttime soap-opera, Peyton Place and was one of those small screen to big screen successes, kind of like Jennifer Aniston, only a bit edgier and pouty-er.)
Oddly enough, both films are, in some circles, considered Classics. VoD had a big-star cast (Patty Duke, Susan Hayward, Barbara Parkins, and Lee Grant; Joey Bishop and Georgie Jessel in cameos) and was a launching point for the late Sharon Tate. It was a Big Deal in its day (1967). BVoD (1970) was never a Big Deal in quite the same was as VoD--it was "big" for the Russ Meyer-ish reasons. And each film courted different audiences: VoD courted the sex-and-adventure starved female, while BVoD pandered to the voyeur in all males.
As soon as I get these little devils I'm firing up the popcorn popper, making sure I have a whole lot of butter (for the popcorn, silly!) and settling in to a nice evening of the best in cheezarific entertainment!
Update: I received the DVDs today. Thanks Mel!
Mel's email certainly sparked the Aficionado in me....
Now, if y'all aren't familiar with that Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, here's a clue why it's significant: it was a seriously campy, great big cheezeball of a Russ Meyer film that was a "sequel" (more like a riff) on the film version of Jaqueline Susann's perfect cheezeball of a novel The Valley of the Dolls (a wonderfully soap-operatic tale of three starlets and their bizarre lives in the limelight.I've read it regularly since my 20's and it never ceases to entertain.) In order for Russ pull out all the stops to turn a woman's potboiler into a guy's wet dream, he had to get a young gun to write the screenplay--and got a very young Roger Ebert to do the honors.
Yes, that Roger Ebert. He wasn't always high-brow, ya know...(then again, some might argue that the terms "high-brow" and "Ebert" together in a sentence constitute an oxymoron, but I'll pass on that judgement...)
Mel's supposed to be sending me DVDs of each of the films for me to give my thumbs up or down. The new version of each film is packed with loads of cheeze-tastic stuff like commentary on BVoD from Roger Ebert himself! (eek! this is just the kind of thing that Afficionados go for) as well as commentary from the Babes of the film, and some featurettes. The commentary on VoD is done by Barbara Parkins herself! (if y'all don't know Parkins, she starred on the first nighttime soap-opera, Peyton Place and was one of those small screen to big screen successes, kind of like Jennifer Aniston, only a bit edgier and pouty-er.)
Oddly enough, both films are, in some circles, considered Classics. VoD had a big-star cast (Patty Duke, Susan Hayward, Barbara Parkins, and Lee Grant; Joey Bishop and Georgie Jessel in cameos) and was a launching point for the late Sharon Tate. It was a Big Deal in its day (1967). BVoD (1970) was never a Big Deal in quite the same was as VoD--it was "big" for the Russ Meyer-ish reasons. And each film courted different audiences: VoD courted the sex-and-adventure starved female, while BVoD pandered to the voyeur in all males.
As soon as I get these little devils I'm firing up the popcorn popper, making sure I have a whole lot of butter (for the popcorn, silly!) and settling in to a nice evening of the best in cheezarific entertainment!
Update: I received the DVDs today. Thanks Mel!
posted by Tish Grier at 7:25 PM
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