#muffy st jacques

[bitter69uk]

“The men sat in the next booth at the Brown Derby. My back was to them. Suddenly I perked up as I heard my name. “Liz Renay,” one of them said. “There’s a girl who had some tough breaks.” “She brought it on herself,” the other voice said. “Still … it’s kind of sad. She wasn’t just another one of those French pastries who come to Hollywood to look for fame. She had it. She has one of the most beautiful faces I ever saw. You know, she just missed being great.” I turned to get a look at the man who had just spoken. I recognized him as William Ornstein, a reporter for Hollywood Reporter. Ornstein spoke again: “Yeah, that Renay really could have made it big. She was on the way to becoming a superstar. Add a few good breaks and subtract a few of the bad ones and you know, she could have been Marilyn Monroe.”

/ From Liz Renay’s chatty, meandering autobiography My Face for the World to See (1971) /

Born on this day: the sublime Liz Renay (née Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, 14 April 1926 - 22 January 2007) – b-movie actress / burlesque queen / jailbird / naive outsider painter / gangster Mickey Cohen’s moll / “Streaking Grandmother” / authoress of multiple volumes of sordid memoirs (including My First 2,000 Men and Staying Young) / all-round kitsch icon and the woman hailed by John Waters as “my idea of total glamour.” For Waters’ fans, Renay is venerated for her performance as Muffy St Jacques in punk masterpiece Desperate Living (1977) - especially for her acidic delivery of lines like, "I was having an erotic dream!" and "I sleep in the room next door - naked!" She’s also memorable in The Thrill Killers (1964) and The Hard Road (1970).

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Cookie Mueller, Karen Gerwig, Susan Lowe and Liz Renay as Muffy St Jacques  in Desperate Living (1977).  Liz was born in Chandler, Arizona ran away from her evangelical parents at age 13, and fell in with gangster Mickey Cohen.  She was sentenced to two years prison for perjuring herself in Cohen’s tax evasion trial.  Upon release from prison she was half of the first mother/daughter strip show.  Her daughter killed herself on her 39th birthday.  As for an acting career, Liz had 27 acting credits, from a 1957 uncredited bit, to a 2004 video, including an episode of Adam 12 in 1972.

[thecompostpile]

I try to write about every movie I watched in 2020- Desperate Living

Desperate Living 

1/21/20

Today was my birthday and I had nothing really planned. So I decided to watch a movie and not just any movie because there is plenty of time to watch just any movie on streaming. I decided I was worth the 2.99 and was going to rent a John Waters movie. My plan was Pink Flamingo but it wasn’t streaming. John Waters is an interesting director to me for lots of reasons but he doesn’t have anything easily available on streaming. Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu never had anything, John Waters. 

Everything I know about him fascinates my thought and it is a shame I have not seen more of John Waters movies. I guess I have always known him as a person who commented on pop culture. I’ve seen him on old VH1 shows and his episode of The Simpsons. The first movie I ever saw by him was Hairspray when weirdly my entire 8th grade English class took a trip to go see Hairspray on Broadway and in doing so studied it for a long period of time. We watched the movie as well but I had no idea who John Waters was, they skipped those lessons. Imagine, if you will, one day we are teaching John Waters material like it is Shakespeare and forcing children in their teens to read and watch it. A beautiful dystopia

I ended up watching Desperate Living mostly because it was one of the few movies that were on streaming. The artwork for it is also pretty great so I was interested. I did do some research over them to see which one I might enjoy the most but I tried to read the lease about the plot to not ruin anything. It was 11 O’clock and I was caffeinated up and ready to go when I turned it on. 

Let’s start with the opening. Boys are playing baseball on a foliage covered yard in front of a beautiful house. We find out a man’s wife is just returning from the psych ward from a conversation between a doctor and her husband. A baseball goes through the window and Mink Stole proceeds to lose her mind for the rest of the movie. This is her best part though as she screams so many funny lines out at the top of her lungs overacting the shit out of every bit of it. 

This is what I have wanted every single John Waters movie to be it was out of this world. It was colorful and weird. It was creepy it was hilarious it just had a little bit of everything. I see where John Waters is coming from he is mocking these super serious melodramas and turning them to an extreme. If these characters are going to complain we are going to give them something to complain about.

I never thought I would say this I thought I would be too cool but it really is a gross movie. I thought I could withstand anything but this was awful. Which most of the time I found funny and it did get a reaction out of me but it seems like a cheap reaction. Sure, you are making the person watching feel some way but there is almost no work in it. Of course, they are going to react to barf or eating bugs. When I really enjoy it more is when he reaches farther for the gross joke like the princess with her nudist garbage man who has died but she keeps dragging around his dead body is something to get a feeling about. 

The way he works with color is also extremely interesting. Everything in this movie is so colorful. It grabs the eye. Everyone is wearing kooky colors and outfits. Mortville is a gross but weirdly colorful raddled town. Everyone in the town is going through tough times. Yet it manages to be interesting to look at. Especially the house of Mole McHenry and Muffy St Jacques. Which is better decorated than any of the college houses I have ever lived in, despite the people living in it eating rats the cat dragged in. 

What I find most interesting about John Waters is not how weird or gay he is but how he was able to make these cheap little movies that are very good. As I turned 27 today I set a goal to make a full-length movie by my 28th birthday or maybe making movies just isn’t my thing. One of the things that always stops me is not having the money or materials to make it. If John Waters could then hell I should be able too. I can write a script. I have a better camera on my phone then John Waters ever did. I need to put myself in his shoes and just try to make something for the sake of making them. Who cares about the outcome as long as you create something interesting.

[bitter69uk]

“The doorbell rang, I opened the door and there she was – my dream-come-true, four-hundred pounds of raw talent. I carefully invited Jean in, and the first thing she did was goose me to totally unnerve me. She asked for a drink and got it. She laughed and said she had no objections to nudity (“I’ve got a lot to show, honey”), would certainly dye her hair blonde (“Big deal. I’ve had blonde hair twice before”) and asked for a special chair that wouldn’t break when she sat on it. After listening to her give a hilarious reading from the script, we went over the contract, I gave her an advance on her salary, and it was settled.” / John Waters recalling his first encounter with Jean Hill when she auditioned for his film Desperate Living in the book Shock Value (1981) /

Born on this day: John Waters’ majestic “soul diva” Jean Hill (15 November 1946 – 21 August 2013), unforgettable as Grizelda in his 1977 bad taste classick Desperate Living. Pictured: Italian poster for Desperate Living (which was re-titled Punk Story in Italy!). The fierce Hill is centre, surrounded by fabulous co-stars Liz Renay (as Muffy St Jacques) and Mink Stole (as Peggy Gravel).

[bitter69uk]

The men sat in the next booth at the Brown Derby. My back was to them. Suddenly I perked up as I heard my name. 

“Liz Renay,” one of them said. “There’s a girl who had some tough breaks.” 

“She brought it on herself,” the other voice said. 

“Still … it’s kind of sad. She wasn’t just another one of those French pastries who come to Hollywood to look for fame. She had it. She has one of the most beautiful faces I ever saw. You know, she just missed being great.” 

I turned to get a look at the man who had just spoken. I recognized him as William Ornstein, a reporter for Hollywood Reporter. 

Ornstein spoke again: “Yeah, that Renay really could have made it big. She was on the way to becoming a superstar. Add a few good breaks and subtract a few of the bad ones and you know, she could have been Marilyn Monroe.” 

/ From My Face for the World to See (1971) / 

Died on this day: the vivacious Liz Renay (née Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, 14 April 1926 - 22 January 2007) – b-movie actress / burlesque queen / convicted felon / naive outsider painter / gangster Mickey Cohen’s moll / “Streaking Grandmother” / authoress of multiple volumes of sordid memoirs / all-round kitsch icon and the woman hailed by John Waters as “my idea of total glamour.” For Waters’ fans, Renay is venerated for her performance as Muffy St Jacques in punk masterpiece Desperate Living (1977) - especially for her acidic delivery of lines like, "I was having an erotic dream!" and "I sleep in the room next door - naked!" She’s also memorable in the 1964 exploitation shocker The Thrill Killers. Thanks to my friend Grant I’m currently reading Renay’s biography My Face for the World to See. Her writing style can best be summarized as “chatty.”

[bitter69uk]

“Liz Renay was my idea of total glamour.” John Waters 

Died on this day: the fabulous Liz Renay (née Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, 14 April 1926 - 22 January 2007) – b-movie actress / burlesque queen / convicted felon / naive outsider painter / gangster Mickey Cohen’s moll / “Streaking Grandmother” / authoress of multiple volumes of memoirs (including My Face for the World to See and How to Attract Men) and all-round kitsch icon. For John Waters fans, Renay is venerated for her performance as the vicious Muffy St Jacques in punk masterpiece Desperate Living (1977) - especially for her acidic delivery of lines like, "I was having an erotic dream!" and "I sleep in the room next door - naked!" She’s also memorable in the 1964 exploitation shocker The Thrill Killers.

[bitter69uk]

Happy International Lesbian Day! [8 October].

[bitter69uk]

“Liz Renay was my idea of total glamour.” John Waters Born on this day 95 years ago: the fabulous Liz Renay (née Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, 14 April 1926 - 22 January 2007) – b-movie actress / burlesque queen / convicted felon / naive outsider painter / gangster Mickey Cohen’s moll / “Streaking Grandmother” / authoress of multiple volumes of memoirs (including My Face for the World to See and How to Attract Men) and all-round kitsch icon. For John Waters fans, Renay is adored for her performance as the vicious Muffy St Jacques in punk masterpiece Desperate Living (1977) - especially for her acidic delivery of lines like, "I was having an erotic dream!" and "I sleep in the room next door - naked!"

[bitter69uk]

“Liz Renay was my idea of total glamour.” John Waters 

Died on this day 14 years ago: the fabulous Liz Renay (née Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, 14 April 1926 - 22 January 2007) – b-movie actress / burlesque queen / convicted felon / naive outsider painter / gangster Mickey Cohen’s moll / “Streaking Grandmother” / authoress of multiple volumes of memoirs (including My Face for the World to See and How to Attract Men) and all-round kitsch icon. For John Waters fans, Renay is adored for her performance as the vicious Muffy St Jacques in punk masterpiece Desperate Living (1977) - especially for her acidic delivery of lines like, "I was having an erotic dream!" and "I sleep in the room next door - naked!"

[bitter69uk]

The Thrill Killers (1964). Alternate title: The Maniacs Are Loose. Tagline: “Homicidal Maniacs on a Bloody Rampage!” I’m using this period of enforced social isolation to explore the weirder corners of YouTube for long forgotten and obscure movies. (My boyfriend is accompanying me only semi-willingly).    

Recently I’ve plunged into the gleefully low-brow wild, wild world of naïve outsider psychotronic auteur Ray Dennis Steckler (25 January 1938 – 7 January 2009). While The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964) was an entertainingly incoherent mess, surely dirt-cheap exploitation “roughie” The Thrill Killers - a precursor to the psycho killer slasher flick - is Steckler’s tour de force? (Full disclosure: I haven’t watched Rat Pfink A Boo-Boo (1966) yet). Yes, comparisons to Ed Wood Jr are merited, but to Steckler’s credit, in this instance at least he achieves genuine white-knuckle urgency.  It helps that Thrill Killers is only 69-minutes long, and that Steckler’s guiding principle seems to be: motivation? Backstories? Character development? Nuance? Who needs ‘em! Plus, there’s bongo music on the soundtrack, women with bouffant hairdos, cars with fins and glimpses of atomic-era Los Angeles! 

Thrill Killers follows three separate narratives that collide at the climax. Joe Saxon (Joseph Bardo) is an unsuccessful aspiring actor struggling in the Hollywood rat race, to the despair of his long-suffering wife Liz (glamour icon Liz Renay). Meanwhile, wild-eyed feral loner Mort "Mad Dog" Click (portrayed by Steckler himself under his fabulous acting pseudonym Cash Flagg) is embarking on a seemingly random killing spree. And then comes the news (relayed over a tinny transistor radio) that three ax-wielding psychotic murders have escaped from a high-security mental institution. While the violence is tame by modern standards (and mostly occurs just out of frame or in shadow), thanks to Steckler’s dynamic no-frills film-making it packs an unexpected jolt, with a visceral sense of panic and claustrophobia. Admittedly, the decapitated head bouncing down a flight of stairs is unintentionally funny. 

My favourite sequence: to ingratiate himself with the parasitic show biz community, Joe throws a lavish cocktail party at his home - which swiftly degenerates into an out-of-control bacchanal! Couples are gyrating frantically to loud twangy music. Hedonists are feeding each other bunches of grapes. One guy is wearing a toga. Alcoholic beverages are consumed. A girl gets pushed into the pool! Some delinquents drive a motorcycle through his living room! No wonder his wife is seething with disgust. Speaking of Liz Renay: surely any film featuring the b-movie actress / burlesque queen / convicted felon / naive outsider painter / gangster’s moll / authoress of multiple volumes of memoirs (including My Face for the World to See and How to Attract Men) and all-round super vixen is in is an instant camp classic simply by virtue of her presence? I thrilled to the shots of Renay running for her life through the woods in her tight cocktail dress, shrieking half-heartedly. For John Waters aficionados, Renay is synonymous with Muffy St Jacques in Desperate Living (1977). It must be said Waters elicited an infinitely superior performance out of her than Steckler (and weirdly, Renay looks considerably younger in Desperate Living). Renay is arguably upstaged, though, by Laura Benedict as Linda the café proprietress. In her sole film credit, the sultry and aloof Benedict is the embodiment of early sixties cool (winged Juliette Greco eyeliner, beatnik sweater, ironed hair) and is so imperturbably nonchalant she anticipates Aubrey Plaza. 

Watch The Thrill Killers on YouTube here.

Let’s face it: the puritanical, hypocritical and homophobic hellsite Tumblr has become a dying platform since it banned adult content in December 2018. I post here less and less. (I can’t even see my archive of “Likes” anymore!). Follow me instead on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or on my blog. Fuck Tumblr!