Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Certain Girls Edition

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

Certain Girls Edition

What can I say? Nobody turns heads like certain girls!

Give 'em guns. Give 'em a location. Give 'em a purpose in life...

And they will give back unto you hours and hours of pure entertainment enjoyment. At least that's what the movie poster promises.

Sit back, relax, and let's take a look at what these girls have to offer on this Certain Girls Edition of Wonderland Burlesque's Let's Go To The Movies!

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Les Girls

(With a cast like that and a score by Cole Porter to boot, you wouldn't think this one could possibly miss. But it did! Turns out it was super expensive to make. According to MGM records the film made $2,415,000 in the US and Canada and $1,450,000 elsewhere, but because of its high production cost lost $1,635,000.)

"Join 'Les Girls' and see a world of entertainment!"

(The screenplay was loosely based on an article that appeared in The Atlantic - a memoir of Vera Caspary's time as a touring dancer. Capsary joked that she was the highest paid writer in the world, as she was paid $80,000 for writing just two words: 'Les Girls!')

(Kay Kendall won a Golden Globe for her role in this film. Kendall met actor Rex Harrison when the two appeared opposite one another in the film, The Constant Husband. They married. A few years later Kendall was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, information kept from Kendall, who mistakenly believed she was suffering from an iron deficiency. Rex Harrison cared for Kendall until her death at the age of 32.)

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The Harvey Girls

"MGM's musical romance of daring days!"

"It's the Harvey Girls vs. the wicked Alhambra Girls."

(This is about a bunch of waitresses who have a feud going with a bunch of dance hall girls.) 

(Originally conceived as a dramatic vehicle for Lana Turner, but after seeing the stage musical Oklahoma, it was decided to turn it into a musical for Judy Garland. Garland wanted to do a different picture opposite Fred Astaire, but was convinced this was a better vehicle.) 

"Hear Judy sing On The Atchison, Topeka and The Santa Fe"

(That song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.)

(Actress Ann Sothern was supposed to play the Angela Lansbury role, but bowed out due to  personal problems. Lucille Ball's name was also attached to the film at one point.)

(Despite Lansbury being able to sing quite well, her singing voice was dubbed by Virginia Rees. And she wasn't the only one to suffer such a fate. The film marked the film debut of Cyd Charisse, whose singing voice was also dubbed, by Marion Doenges.)

(Virginia O'Brien was pregnant at the time filming began, causing several scenes with Ray Bolger to be cut from the film, thus explaining why her character disappears halfway through the film.)

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Cuban Rebel Girls

"Straight from behind rebel lines!"

(Filmed in Cuba, this marks Flynn's final film appearance. Sympathetic to the Cuban Revolution, the actor spent many days in the company of Fidel Castro.)

"Errol Flynn stars as himself and presents..."

"Flynn's latest!"

"A dramatic moment in his mad dash thru life... bursting with romance and adventure!"

"Beverly Aadland as the young and beautiful girl who follows her lover into the thick of the Cuban Revolution!"

"Errol Flynn in his last picture. 

Filmed during the heaviest fighting of the Cuban revolution. 

"See Beverly Aadland, errol Flynn's 17 yr. old protégé in her first starring role.

(Beverly Aadland was, of course, the 50 year-old Flynn's girlfriend. She was only 17 and there by his side when he died of a heart attack that same year. )

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Gun Girls

"Girls without shame, defying society and law!"

"Gang girls on the loose."

(Jean Ann Lewis was better known as Eve Brent. She would go on to become the 12th actress to play Jane in a couple of Tarzan movies, as well as three episodes of the television show. She had a lengthy career. Films of note: 1980's Fade To Black and 1999's The Green Mile.)

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Prowl Girls

"Young girls embarrassed, degraded and deflowered in hippie-land's sex pads!"

(Hippie-land's sex pads? Sign me up!)

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Chained Girls

"Unnatural love of women for women! A daring film about lesbianism today!"

(From the producer of Glen Or Glenda, this exploitation film claims to use 'hidden camera' footage depicting a lesbian initiation. Daring stuff for the time - 1965. That ruse, the hidden camera, was frequently used to get around the censors.)

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The Beach Girls

"Look who just invaded Uncle Carl's beach house..."

(Jeana Tomisino is a native of Wisconsin who went on to notoriety as one of the three girls featured in ZZ Top's iconic Legs video, as well as, Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month in November of 1980.)

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Sweater Girls

"A hilarious look at the nifty 50's."

(Once 1973's American Graffiti became a hit, the 1950's became a hot commodity. This 1978 film features future Dallas star Charlene Tilton.)

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Calendar Girls

"One for every night of the year."

"Make an all-night date with some all-out chicks!"

(Great poster, but a film I could find out nothing about. Not even listed on IMDb.)

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The Single Girls

"Half-clad, all bad!"

"If they couldn't get him easy... the got him hard..."

(Great tag lines.)

(Claudia Jennings is primarily remembered as Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for November of 1969 and also Playmate of the Year for 1970. She appeared in seventeen B-movies before she died in a car accident in 1979.)

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The Festival Girls

"Hollywood stars go wild at The Riviera Film Festivals!"

"Completely uncut and uncensored."

Valentin out-bares the barest of Bardot!"

"Banned even in Europe!"

"The orgy scene makes LaDolce Vita's look like a Sunday school picnic!"

(Known as 'the German Jane Mansfield', Barbara Valentin would have a lengthy career in mostly exploitative films, though she also worked with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In the 1980's, she became a close friend of Freddy Mercury and stars in Queen's video of the song, It's A Hard Life. Indeed it was. Valentin died of a stroke in Munich at the age of 61.)

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Mama's Dirty Girls

"They fight dirty... they leave dirty..."

"Men were just meat to be used and abused!"

(I like these girls' attitude!)

(One of my favorite actresses of all-time is in this movie. Kewpie Doll-voiced Gloria Grahame stars as Mama. Grahame had a glorious career during Hollywood's golden age - twice nominated for an Academy Award, one win - which was sadly derailed when it was revealed she was sleeping with her 13 year-old stepson. She also fell victim to an obsession with her looks, going under the knife countless times, yielding evermore less than desired results. Ah, but you gotta love her!)

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Cemetery Girls

"They rise at night for more than a bite."

"Notice: Due to the unusual subject matter and explicit presentation of this motion picture, only mature adults should attend."

"Crazed women desperate for satisfaction."

(I don't know if the word 'mature' is the word that springs to mind when I think about who might be interested in actually seeing this movie.)

(Also known under the title Vampire Hookers, the film stars veteran film star John Carradine, who never met a paycheck he didn't cash!)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week!

Same time, same channel!

A Certain Girl - Warren Zevon