I have only received a couple comments from the actual people who make some of the uranium packed motion pictures I review here at the Cafe. One memorable one was a nice comment by Marco Werba who did the score for Dario Argento’s Giallo (a film I liked actually) and just the other day I got two comments from some of the people involved with the Ron Ormond film The Monster and the Stripper (aka The Exotic Ones)which I reviewed here last summer. Not only are the comments from people directly involved in the project but Ron Ormond’s son Tim, who played Timmy in the film, supplied us with loads of great trivia around the film and its makers. He seems like a real nice guy with a sense of old fashioned southern hospitality that the world needs more of. Thanks Tim for these great anecdotes. Also is a short comment from Diane Jordon who played one of the dancer’s in the film. I actually caught her in a screen capture for my post. It is posted here and she is the dancer to the left. Ormond’s films are not for everybody but I liked Monster and the Stripper. Good campy fun and you can tell the people are having fun making it. Posts coming eventually on Please Don’t Touch me and If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do. Both Diane and Tim are looking for their friend and co-star in the film Georgette Dante. I posted a picture of Georgette, who did great inb the film, next to the one of Diane. If you have any clue I will try to forward a message to Tim or Diane though I do not have their email. I will figure it out.  For now lets check out their comments and some new screen captures. Thanks Tim and Diane.

From Diane Jordon

Diane Jordon (on the left)                       Georette Dante                           Diane Jordon

I thought that your readers may be interested in an interview that I did that was published in the Summer 2009 #71 issue of VideoScope Magazine. In it, I talked about my my memories of making Monster and the Stripper. John O’Dowd, film journalist and author, wrote the article. I played one of the five chorus girls; I had one line and two costumes! In the photos above, I’m the one on the left, wearing the cone shaped bra and balloon hat! I am trying to get in touch with Pauletta Leeman, who was one of the chorus girls, too. She left Nashville not long after that and I’ve never been able to locate her. She was from Illinois…..that’s all I know! If anyone knows how to contact her, please let me know. Thanks! Diane

From Tim Ormond

I’m Tim O, I’ll check back sometime and leave a good comment, right now just saying that I’d also love to find Georgette and say hi. I did make a serious effort to find her some years back and could not. Georgette was like a sister, miss her. T

Here’s a link to my mom’s memorial page.

http://filmnashville.org/june

I’ll admit to Monster not being one of my favs, though it was a gas working on it. I fell in love (figuratively) with all the girls.

Diane I still keep in touch with. Kathy Binns (one of the dancer) I linked up with about 10 years back, she was a talent agent at the time. Both Diane and Kathy were and still are beautiful women.

Georgette was truly like an older sister of mine, I didn’t look at her as a hot babe, rather a friend, we’d pal around and have a good time. She arranged for me to travel (for a short time) with a carnival she was involved with, those were some interesting and unique memories.

One of the things my dad (and I love him for it) tried to do, was get me a signing career, (that’s my audition in the movie), but at the time I wasn’t interested in signing, plus couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, still can’t. Had I had the interest and talent, we, through my dad/mom had the ear of all the biggies in Nashville.

An interesting piece of trivia is the interiors were made at Trafco (today UMC) which was the media division of the Methodist church, they didn’t particularly appreciate the movie, duh… Flash forward to current years (actually 20 years ago or so) and precisely where Sleepy is in the cage, was where “Crook and Chase” was filmed at the Jim Owens (who bought the studio) studio.

I was in seventh heaven making the film, guess a little bit of a crown prince, surrounded by girls, my dad the director, my mom one of the stars and producers, high times, good memories.

Later, we did an insert of my mom walking down the steps (where she does her fan dance) on top of our house (on the roof), people thought we were nuts, guess we were in a bit. The reason for the fan dance, which had no place in the movie was my mom used to do it in her vaudeville act, so nostalgia.

Did fall in love for a time with Sonia Massey (who played the hippie dancer) the feelings were not returned, but I did see her again at college some years later. Got my share of dates just from the association.

Harris Martin played the painter, he published one of the early newsy mags in. His fav place to hang was Skull’s Rainbow Room.

Okay, got to run now… fun visiting memory lane.

And fyi… my dad and mom were two of the most wonderful people I have ever known, LARGE hearts. Monster wasn’t my dad’s best effort, but it’s still a great memory…

Talk later y’all.. T

One of the things my dad (and I love him for it) tried to do, was get me a signing career, (that’s my audition in the movie), but at the time I wasn’t interested in signing,

that should have read “singing”

Sure post away, having some fun remembering.

Let’s see about some other trivia.

The nice/girl turned bad was going to originally be played by a BABE out of Memphis, she couldn’t act, so my dad had to replace her. Donna (the nice girl) is the wife of Gene (in real life), he played “Bug Eye Baroney”. Great guy, when I last saw him YEARS and YEARS ago, he and Donna lived in Kentucky. He did a one man show at a dinner theater portraying Mark Twain… very good piece.

The Mulcays, the harmonica act, never fitted in any of the Ormond pictures, I believe my dad used them for two reasons. First, they were good and treasured friends from their Vaudeville days, second, if memory serves, the movie came up short of 90 minutes and we needed a quick way to length it. fyi.. the Mulcays were never even on set in Nashville, they filmed it in LA and sent in the footage… lol

Ed Moates, the detective remained our good friend and flying buddy for the remainder of my dad’s life, and WELL into my adult years after that. He was and probably still is the best pilot I know. We partnered with him on an airplane or two.

Ronnie Drake, who played the other detective was a great guy and my singing coach… He couldn’t act, I couldn’t sing, we made a great team. I remember giving him some acting lessons… he was the proverbial “I AM AN ACTOR”, that John (can’t think of last name) used to play on Saturday Night Live.

Jim Rose (he was one of the kids that my mom/bunny was asking what they did, his one line in the film…”nuthin”. He was my high school running buddy. He also appeared in “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do”.

We used to all (my dad/me/mom/Georgette/sometimes Pauletta Leeman) go to the premieres at the drive-ins, the marquee would read “stars in attendance”. One time we had Georgettes’s mom (also a stripper) come along. Someone shouted something from the crowd (don’t remember what, but some sex thing) and Georgette LITERALLY dove off the concession stand roof and began to fight for her mom. WOW.. a memory.

K.. that it for now. T

Pieces of trivia.

A girl named Jean had a crush on Sleepy, I remember here putting his makeup on and drooling. She and I didn’t like each other, believe we got into a big argument and I told her to FO.. she went and told my dad. I remember him looking at me and smiling.

Exteriors were shot at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tallohoma, TN home of one of the world’s largest wind tunnels.

Lynn Fontaine, the pretty red head stripper, was a REAL stripper, working the circuits in those days. She was a knock-out, but couldn’t talk (in an acting sense) those no (or few) lines.

Patty, the stripper who had light bulbs (not flaming tassels like Georgette) on her chest, was later shot (this is hearsay but think correct), by one of her boyfriends.

Still have the costume (but can’t fit into it) that I wore to take care of the monster.

My song (I’ve already admitted to not being able to carry a tune) has been cut significantly from the original (by me) when we made the video version.

I came up with the title “Monster and the Stripper”

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (or her team) was interested in the movie for their show, but said… “too much strippers, not enough monster”. I met her later at a convention, she had no knowledge of that.

A producer (with significant credentials) contacted me about doing a feature on the life of the Ormonds, but then out came “Ed Wood” and that ended our chance at Hollywood fame.

The yucky mess (representing a spittoon) poured into the mouth of the informer was actually corn syrup, coconut and brown food coloring, actually tasted pretty good. The bad guy hoodlum was Cecil Scaife, his son Joe Scaife was one of the producers for “Acky Breaky Heart”.

The guy that the swamp thing got in the opening credits was Luther Perkins, side man for Johnny Cash. I got to spend an evening with Johnny Cash (Lash LaRue and I were working on a project which Johnny/Waylon/Willie were to be part of) and gave him a copy of the film. He gave me a copy of his book, “The Man In Black”.

The women in the audience who gasped when Sleepy ate the chicken were our Realtor and a friend. She remained our Realtor for years.

Sleepy didn’t have the heart to kill the chicken, so Georgette did it off camera, then Sleepy held it up, as if he had done it.

Any questions, post ‘em, that’s all I can think of. T

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 9:26 pm and is filed under American Horror, Camp and Cheese Classic, Movie Makers, Actors, Artists, Musicians and Personas . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.