Russell Albion Meyer(March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter,cinematographer,and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successfulsexploitation filmsthat featuredcampyhumor, sly satire and large-breasted women, such asFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.Meyer often namedBeyond the Valley of the Dolls(1970) as his definitive work.
Russ Meyer | |
---|---|
Born | Russell Albion Meyer March 21, 1922 San Leandro,California,U.S. |
Died | September 18, 2004 Los Angeles,California, U.S. | (aged 82)
Years active | 1947–2001 |
Spouses |
Early years
editRuss Meyer was born inSan Leandro, California,the son of Lydia Lucinda (Hauck) and William Arthur Meyer, an Oakland police officer.[1][2][3]His parents were both ofGermandescent.[citation needed]Meyer's parents divorced soon after he was born, and Meyer was to have virtually no contact with his father during his life. When he was 14 years old, his motherpawnedher wedding ring in order to buy him an8 mm filmcamera. He made a number ofamateur filmsat the age of 15, and served during World War II as a U.S. Army combatcameramanfor the 166th Signal Photo Company, ultimately attaining the rank oftechnician third grade(equivalent tostaff sergeant).[4]
In the Army Meyer forged his strongest friendships, and he would later ask many of his fellow combat cameramen to work on his films. Much of Meyer's work during World War II can be seen innewsreelsand in the filmPatton(1970).[5]
On his return to civilian life, he was unable to secure cinematography work in Hollywood due to a lack of industry connections. He madeindustrial films,freelanced as a still photographer for mainstream films (includingGiant), and became a well-knownglamour photographerwhose work included some of the initial shoots forHugh Hefner'sPlayboymagazine. Meyer would go on to shoot threePlayboycenterfoldsduring the magazine's early years, including one of his then-wifeEve Meyerin 1955. He also shot a pictorial of then-wifeEdy Williamsin March 1973.[6]
Film career
editEarly films
editMeyer was the cinematographer for the 1950 Pete DeCenzie filmFrench Peep Show,and the 1954 Samuel Newman production,The Desperate Women,among the few Hollywood films to depict a woman dying from an illegal abortion in pre–Roe v. WadeAmerica,[7]the original version of which is believed lost.[8]
The Immoral Mr. Teasand "nudie cuties"
editHis first feature, the naughty comedyThe Immoral Mr. Teas(1959), cost $24,000 to produce and eventually grossed more than $1 million on the independent/exploitation circuit, enthroning Meyer as "King of the Nudies." It is considered one of the firstnudie-cuties.[9]
Russ Meyer was anauteurwho wrote, directed, edited, photographed and distributed all his own films. He was able to finance each new film from the proceeds of the earlier ones, and became very wealthy in the process.[10]
Meyer followedTeaswith some shorts,This Is My Body(1960) andThe Naked Camera,then made a second nudie cutie,Eve and the Handyman(1960). This starred Meyer's wife Eve and Anthony-James Ryan, both of whom would be crucial to the production of Meyer's films.
His next features wereErotica(1961) andWild Gals of the Naked West(1962). Audience reception ofWild Galswas lukewarm, and Meyer decided to change genres.
He did a documentary,Europe in the Raw(1963), and tried a comedy,Heavenly Bodies!(1963).[9]
He then directed a version ofFanny Hill(1964) in Europe.
Lornaand the "Gothic" period
editLorna(1964) marked the end of Meyer's "nudies" and his first foray into serious film making.
He followed this with three other similar films, and would call this his "Gothic"period:Mudhoney(1965),Motorpsycho(1965) andFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!(1965).
Lornawas very successful commercially, making almost a million dollars.Mudhoneywas more ambitious, based on a novel, and did not perform as well.Motorpsycho,about three men terrorising the countryside, was a big hit—so much so Meyer decided to make a film about three bad girls,Faster Pussycat.Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!was commercially underwhelming but would eventually be acclaimed as a cult classic. It has a following all over the world and has inspired countless imitations,music videosand tributes[citation needed].
Color melodramas
editMeyer made the popularmockumentaryMondo Topless(1966) with the remnants of his production company's assets and made two mildly successful colormelodramas:Common Law Cabin(1967) andGood Morning... and Goodbye!(1967).
Meyer made headlines once again[clarification needed]in 1968 with the controversialVixen!.Although itslesbianovertones are tame by today's standards, the film—envisaged by Meyer and longtime producer Jim Ryan as a reaction to provocative European art films—grossed millions on a five-figure budget and captured thezeitgeistjust asThe Immoral Mr. Teashad a decade earlier.
He followed it withFinders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!(1969), andCherry, Harry & Raquel!(1970), which utilized long montages of the California landscape (replete with anti-marijuanavoiceovers) andUschi Digarddancing in the desert as the film's "lost soul." These plot devices were necessitated after lead actress Linda Ashton left the shoot early, forcing Meyer to compensate for 20 minutes of unshot footage.[11]
20th Century Fox:Beyond the Valley of the DollsandThe Seven Minutes
editAfter the unexpected success ofColumbia Pictures' low-budgetEasy Rider,and impressed by Meyer's frugality and profitability,Richard D. ZanuckandDavid Brownof20th Century Foxsigned Meyer to produce and direct a proposed sequel toValley of the Dollsin 1969, fulfilling Meyer's longstanding ambition to direct for a major Hollywood studio. What eventually appeared wasBeyond the Valley of the Dolls(1970), scripted byChicago Sun-Timesfilm critic and longtime Meyer devoteeRoger Ebert.Ebert, who became the first film critic to receive thePulitzer Prize for Criticismin 1975, would remain a close friend and key artistic collaborator for the remainder of Meyer's life.
The film bears no relation to the novel or film adaptation's continuity, a development necessitated whenJacqueline Susannsued the studio after several drafts of her script were rejected. Many critics perceive the film as perhaps the greatest expression of his intentionally vapid surrealism, with Meyer going so far as to refer to it as his definitive work in several interviews. Others, such asVariety,saw it "as funny as a burning orphanage and a treat for the emotionally retarded."[12]Contractually stipulated to produce an R-rated film, the brutally violent climax (depicting adecapitation) ensured anX rating(eventually reclassified toNC-17in 1990). Despite gripes from the director after he attempted to recut the film to include more titillating scenes after the ratings debacle, it still earned $9 million domestically in the United States on a budget of $2.09 million.
The executives at Fox were delighted with the box office success ofDollsand signed a contract with Meyer to make three more films:The Seven Minutes,from abestsellerbyIrving Wallace;Everything in the Garden,from a play byEdward Albee;andThe Final Steal,from a 1966 novel byPeter George."We've discovered that he's very talented and cost conscious", said Zanuck. "He can put his finger on the commercial ingredients of a film and do it exceedingly well. We feel he can do more than undress people."[13]
Per his new contract, Meyer then made a faithful adaptation ofThe Seven Minutes(1971). Featuring loquacious courtroom scenes alongside little nudity, the comparatively subdued film was commercially unsuccessful, and his oeuvre would be disowned by the studio for decades after Zanuck and Brown departed to form an independent production company in 1972.
Return to independent film making
editRichard Zanuck, who brought Meyer to Fox, had moved to Warner Bros and there was some talk Meyer would make a film at that studio.[14]However, Meyer would never make a studio film again. He returned toexploitation-styleindependent cinema in 1973 with theblaxploitationperiod pieceBlack Snake,which was dismissed by critics and audiences as incoherent.
Foxy,a proposed vehicle for Edy Williams, was cancelled in the wake of theUnited States Supreme Court'sMiller v. Californiadecision in June 1973, which modified its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". His marriage to Williams subsequently disintegrated.[15]
"Those years were very confusing to me", said Meyer. "But instead of rushing off and throwing myself out the window, I was able to psychoanalyze myself and discern what was best for me. I looked myself square in the face and realized I couldn't do everything."[16]
In 1975, he releasedSupervixens,a return to the world of big bosoms, square jaws, and theSonoran Desertthat earned $8.2 million during its initial theatrical run in the United States on a shoestring budget.
Meyer's theatrical career ended with the release of the surrealUp!(1976) and 1979'sBeneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens,his most sexually graphic films. Film historians and fans have called these last three films "Bustoons" because his use of color andmise en scènerecalled larger-than-lifepop artsettings andcartoonishcharacters.[17]
In 1977,Malcolm McLarenhired Meyer to direct a film starringThe Sex Pistols.Meyer handed the scriptwriting duties over to Ebert, who, in collaboration with McLaren, produced a screenplay entitledWho Killed Bambi?According to Ebert, filming ended after a day and a half when the electricians walked off the set after McLaren was unable to pay them. (McLaren has claimed that the project was scrapped at the behest of the main financier and Meyer's erstwhile employer, 20th Century Fox, whose board of directors considered the prospect of a Meyer production to be untenable and incompatible with the insurgentfamily valuesethos in popular culture.) The project ultimately evolved intoThe Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
Later years
editDespite hardcorepornographic filmsovertaking Meyer's softcore market share, he retired from filmmaking in the late 1970s a very wealthy man.[17]
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Meyer announced several projects (including theDirty HarryparodyBlitzen, Vixen and Harry,ultimately thwarted by Meyer reneging on a profit-sharing agreement with envisaged lead actor and longtime collaboratorCharles Napier;a sequel toMondo Toplessprovisionally entitledMondo Topless, Too;and a color remake ofFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) that stalled indevelopment hell."I don't care about making another movie," he concluded in 1988. "I got all the money I'll ever need. You gotta be hungry to make a movie. I don't have the desire, the urge."[18]
Amid Meyer's cognitive decline, longtime collaborator Jim Ryan oversaw the 2001 direct-to-video release ofRuss Meyer's Pandora Peaks,featuring the nude glamour modelof the same name.(An analogous film featuring Meyer's then-partner Melissa Mounds was never completed.) Around the same time, he also participated inVoluptuous Vixens II,a made-for-video softcore production byPlayboy.Pandora Peaksinterpolated footage originally intended forThe Breast of Russ Meyer(1979-c. 2001), an unfinished "gargantuan, umpteen-hour anthology film" that would have encompassed précises of Meyer's earlier films, memoiristic documentary footage (including voluminous accounts of his Army service) andMondo Topless-style profiles of such performers as "Tundi" Horvath, Shawn "Baby Doll" Devereaux, Tami Roche and Kristine Mills.[19]In late 1985,Varietyreported that the film had "rapidly [approached] $2 million in production costs" and was "nearly 12 hours in length."[20]
Use of satire
editRuss Meyer was also adept at mocking moralstereotypesand flagrantlylampooningconservativeAmerican values.Many of his films feature a narrator who attempts to give the audience a "moral roadmap" of what they are watching. Like his contemporaryTerry Southern,Meyer realized that sex—as one of the few common interests among most humans—was a natural vehicle for satirizing values and conventions held by theGreatest Generation.According toRoger Ebertin acommentaryrecorded in 2003 for the DVD release ofBeyond the Valley of the Dolls,Meyer continually reiterated that this irreverence was the true secret to his artistic success.
Meyer was also known for his quick wit. While participating with Ebert in a panel discussion atYale University,he was confronted by an angry woman who accused him of being "nothing but abreast man."His immediate reply:" That's only the half of it. "[21]
The Meyer physical archetype
editRuss Meyer's lifelong unabashed fixation on large breasts featured prominently in all his films and is his best-known character trait both as an artist and as a person. His discoveries includeKitten Natividad,Erica Gavin,Lorna Maitland,Tura Satana,andUschi Digardamong many others. The majority of them were naturally large-breasted and he occasionally cast women in their first trimesters ofpregnancyas it enhanced their breast size even further.[22]
Rarely were there cosmetically enhanced breasts in any of his films untilUp!(1976) andBeneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens(1979). However, by the early 1980s, when surgical advancements had made the gargantuan breasts of Meyer's fantasies a reality, many felt he had started viewing the female body as simply a "tit transportation device"[23]and that his aesthetic vision was no longer attractive or vibrant. Darlene Gray, a natural 36H-22-33 from Great Britain who appeared inMondo Topless(1966), is said to be Russ Meyer's most busty discovery.[24]
The Russ Meyer female physical archetype is fairly complex to decipher. Firstly, it's not to be confused with today's surgically enhanced Hollywood porn starlets or even slim, naturally endowed actresses. Russ Meyer was almost as much about a shapely 1950ship-to-waist ratioor "wasp waist"as he was about very large breasts. The six-packabdominal musclesand built-up squarish appearance of modern Hollywood figures do not mesh with his pin-up aesthetic.[21][22][23]Secondly, he required that even his most busty actresses looked good braless; "gravity-defying" and "cantilevered"became two of his favorite expressions.[22]
In his films such asVixen!andCherry, Harry & Raquel!,some of the actresses do not have large (by Russ Meyer standards) breasts yet their chests are always accentuated by use of camera angles and well-constructed bras. Reportedly, Erica Gavin was cast as the lead inVixen!because her "smaller" bust would make the character "more relatable to women."[25]
He went on record numerous times to say thatAnita Ekbergwas the most beautiful woman he ever photographed and that her 39DD breasts were the biggest in A-list Hollywood history, dwarfing bothJayne MansfieldandSabrina.[26][27]Dolly Partonwas the only modern Hollywood actress Meyer ever expressed interest in working with.[28]
While he often referred to his actresses as "Junoesque" and "Amazonian",[23]this was probably more in their spirit than their actual physiques "[29]as Meyer rarely cast very tall or symmetrically built actresses with strong legs and large posteriors.
So while the general public could easily perceiveJane RussellorSophia Lorenas "Russ Meyer material", their balanced bodies did not mesh with Meyer's precise aesthetic preferences. "[30]And indeed, Meyer said many times that it wasGina Lollobrigida's smaller-breasted figure that he preferred visually over her larger-breasted, taller and bigger-hipped rival, Sophia Loren.[21]Thus, Meyer's oeuvre shows the viewer that while his actresses could easily be described as voluptuous, buxom and curvaceous, it's debatable to some if they were strapping, stately or even statuesque as Meyer readily proclaimed.[21][31]
The tallest actress Meyer ever cast in a lead was the 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in), slim-hipped, huge-breastedLorna Maitland[32](working with whom he admitted he found intimidating).[33][34]Nearly all the other women he featured were no taller than 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in).[35]Tura Satana's performance as Varla inFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!was Meyer's only true portrayal of the large, strong and aggressive Amazonian archetype in the classic visual sense.[35][36]
Female empowerment
editFilm historian and Meyer biographerJimmy McDonoughposits that Russ Meyer's usage of physically and sexually overwhelming female characters places him in his own separate genre.[23]He argues that despite portraying women as sex objects, Meyer nonetheless depicts them as more powerful than men and is therefore an inadvertentfeministfilmmaker.
In many of Meyer's films, women eventually defeat men, winning sexual fulfillment as their reward, e.g., Super Vixen (Supervixens), Margo Winchester (Up!) and Lavonia Shedd (Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens).[21]Even in the 1950s and 1960s, his films were sometimes centered on a woman's need and struggle for sexual satisfaction (Lorna,Good Morning and... Goodbye!andBeneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens).[21]Additionally, Russ Meyer's female characters were often allowed to express anger and violence towards men (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!andSupervixens).[23]
Yet in his research, McDonough also notes that Meyer's female characters were limited in how powerful they could appear;[37]often the female lead is raped (Up!andLorna) or brutally murdered (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,Supervixens,LornaandBlacksnake). While Russ Meyer may have championed powerful woman characters, he also forced them into violent and terrifying situations, making them prove their physical and mental strength against tremendous odds.[37]He also ensured that women's breasts were at least semi-exposed during these ordeals for comic or erotic effect.[38]Furthermore, according to frequent collaborator and longtime loverKitten Natividad,Meyer's love of dominant women extended to his personal life, and he was almost always in a tumultuous relationship.[39][40]
Personal and family life
editDuringWorld War II,according to Meyer, he was in a French brothel withErnest Hemingwaywho, upon finding out that Meyer was a virgin, offered him the prostitute of his choice. Meyer picked the one with the largest breasts.[22]
Despite his reputation, Meyer never employed thecasting couchduring his career's peak years (though that shifted during his post-1980 unfinished projects) and rarely had sex with any of his actresses.[22]He had no children, though there were rumored unsuccessful pregnancies with his second wifeEdy Williamsand last serious girlfriend, Melissa Mounds, who also was found guilty of assaulting him in 1999. There is a long-standing rumor among his closest friends and at least one biographer that he had a son in 1964 with a secret lover who he would refer to only as "Miss Mattress" or "Janet Buxton."[41]
Meyer was very upfront throughout his life about being too selfish to be a father or even a caring partner or husband. Yet he is also said to have been very generous with all his friends and acquaintances, and never isolated friends from one another. Biographers have attributed most of his brutish and eccentric nature to the fact that he was abandoned by his father, anOaklandpolice officer, and coddled by his mother, Lydia, who was married six times. Meyer had a half-sister, Lucinda, who was diagnosed in her 20s withparanoid schizophreniaand was committed to California State mental institutions until her death in 1999. Mental illness ran in his family and was something he secretly feared. During his entire life, Russ Meyer always spoke of his mother and sister with the highest reverence.[22]
Meyer was married to:
- Betty Valdovinos (born 1922, divorced)
- Eve Meyer(December 13, 1928 – March 27, 1977, died in theTenerife airport disaster)
- Edy Williams(born July 9, 1942, divorced)
Contrary to some accounts, Meyer was never married toKitten Natividad,his longtime companion and the star of his final two films.
Final years
editMeyer owned the rights to nearly all of his films and spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s making millions reselling his films on thehome videoandDVDmarket. He worked out of his Los Angeles home and usually took telephone orders in person. A major retrospective of his work was given at theBritish Film Institutewhich Meyer attended in 1982. The Chicago Film Festival honored his work in 1985, for which he also made a personal appearance, and many revival movie houses booked his films formidnight moviemarathons.
He also worked obsessively for over a decade on a massive three-volume autobiography, titledA Clean Breast.Finally printed in 2000, it features numerous excerpts of reviews, clever details of each of his films and countless photos anderoticmusings.
Starting in the mid-1990s, Meyer had frequent fits and bouts ofmemory loss.By 2000, he was diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease,and his health and well-being were thereafter looked after by Janice Cowart, his secretary and estate executor. That same year, with no wife or children to claim his wealth, Meyer willed that the majority of his money and estate would be sent to theMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centerin honor of his late mother.
Russ Meyer died at his home in theHollywood Hills(from complications ofpneumonia), on September 18, 2004, at the age of 82.[42]Meyer's grave is located at Stockton Rural Cemetery inSan Joaquin County, California.[43]
Filmography
edit- The French Peep Show(1950, short, cinematographer)
- The Desperate Women(1954, cinematographer)
- The Immoral Mr. Teas(1959)
- This Is My Body(1960, short), withDiane Webber[44]
- The Naked Camera(1961, short)
- Erotica(1961)
- Eve and the Handyman(1961)
- Wild Gals of the Naked West(1962)
- Europe in the Raw(1963)
- Heavenly Bodies!(1963, short)
- Skyscrapers & Brassieres(1963, short)
- Fanny Hill(1964)
- Lorna(1964)
- Mudhoney(1965)
- Motorpsycho(1965)
- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!(1965)
- Mondo Topless(1966, mockumentary)
- Common Law Cabin(1967)
- Good Morning and... Goodbye!(1967)
- Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers!(1968)
- Vixen!(1968)
- Cherry, Harry & Raquel!(1969)
- Beyond the Valley of the Dolls(1970)
- The Seven Minutes(1971)
- Foxy/Viva Foxy(1972/73, trailer only)
- Black Snake(1973)
- Supervixens(1975)
- Up!(1976)
- Who Killed Bambi?(1978, unfinished)
- Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens(1979)
- The Breast of Russ Meyer(1979-2001, mockumentary, unfinished)
- All the Way In!(1984, actor only)
- Amazon Women on the Moon(1987, actor only)
- Faster Pussycat: Don't Change That Song(1987, music video)
- Jean Park: Soultwister(1991, music video)
- Pandora Peaks(2001, mockumentary)
Notes
edit- ^McDonough 2004, p. 24.
- ^Russell A Meyer, Born 03/21/1922 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org
- ^McDonough, Jimmy (July 24, 2005)."Big Bosoms and Square Jaws".The New York Times.
- ^"Bonhams: A Russ Meyer group of memorabilia related to his Army career".
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 44.
- ^McDonough 2004, chapters 1–3.
- ^Schaefer, E. (1999).Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: a history of exploitation films, 1919–1959.Duke University Press.
- ^The Desperate WomenatIMDb
- ^abThomas, Kevin (November 30, 1969). "King of the Nudies on Biggest Film Caper Yet".Los Angeles Times.p. s18.
- ^McDonough 2004, Chapter 5.
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 246.
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 272.
- ^A.H. WEILER (February 17, 1970). "Meyer to Make 3 More Films for Fox".The New York Times.p. 34.
- ^"Alexis Smith to Stay With 'Follies'".Los Angeles Times.July 1, 1971. p. f12.
- ^EARL C. GOTTSCHALK JR. (July 16, 1973). "A Dirty Deal?: Pornography Ruling Causing Confusion and Chaos, Many Traditional Publishers and Filmmakers Say".The Wall Street Journal.p. 28.
- ^Kenneth Turan (November 9, 1976). "Russ Meyer, Almost An American Institution: Russ Meyer, Almost an American Institution".The Washington Post.p. B1.
- ^abGreen 2004.
- ^Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film.Crown. June 27, 2006.ISBN978-0-307-33844-0.
- ^Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film.Crown. June 27, 2006.ISBN978-0-307-33844-0.
- ^Frasier, David K. (June 28, 2010).Russ Meyer--The Life and Films: A Biography and a Comprehensive, Illustrated and Annotated Filmography and Bibliography.McFarland.ISBN978-0-7864-8063-0.
- ^abcdefWoods 2004.
- ^abcdefMeyer 2000.
- ^abcdeMcDonough 2004.
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 182.
- ^McDonough 2004, Chapter 10, p. 213.
- ^Sullivan, Steve (1995).VaVaVa Voom!: Glamour Girls of The Pinup Era.
- ^McDonough 2004, Chapter 4, p. 83.
- ^Frasier 1998.
- ^"McDonough 2004, Chapter 14. p. 321".
- ^McDonough 2004, Chapter 3.
- ^McDonough 2004, chapters 14–15.
- ^Meyer 2000, Volume 2, p. 165.
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 134.
- ^Ross, Glen (June 1987),Adult Video News,Volume 2, number 4.
- ^abMeyer 2000, Volume 1.
- ^McDonough 2004, Chapter 8.
- ^abMcDonough 2004, Chapter 8, p. 305.
- ^McDonough 2004, p. 238.
- ^McDonough 2004, chapters 14–16.
- ^Sullivan, Steve, "Kitten Natividad: Russ Meyer's Most Bodacious Babe",Glamour Girls Then and Now,number 11, 4-5/86, 8/17/90.
- ^Meyer 2000, Volume 3, p. 48.
- ^Martin, Douglas (September 23, 2004)."Russ Meyer, 82, a Filmmaker of Classics in a Lusty Genre, Dies".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 1,2008.
- ^Big Bosoms and Square Jaws
- ^Nathe, Margarite (2003)."Films".Let Them Eat Cheesecake.RetrievedAugust 5,2024.
References
edit- Frasier, David K. (1998).Russ Meyer: The Life and Films:A Biography and A Comprehensive, Illustrated, and Annotated Filmography and Bibliography.Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.ISBN0-7864-0472-8.
- Greene, Doyle (2004).Lips Hips Tits Power: The Films Of Russ Meyer.Persistence of Vision, Volume 4. New York: Creation Books.ISBN1-84068-095-4.
- McDonough, Jimmy (2005).Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film.London: Jonathan Cape.ISBN0-224-07250-1.
- Meyer, Russ (2000).A Clean Breast: The Life and Loves of Russ Meyer (3 volume set).(Under the pseudonym "Adolph Albion Schwartz" ). El Rio, Texas: Hauck Pub Co.ISBN0-9621797-2-8.
- Woods, Paul A. (2004).The Very Breast of Russ Meyer.London: Plexus Publishing.ISBN0-85965-309-9.
Further reading
edit- Jack Stevenson."Russ Meyer: The Movie Man Who Would Be King" in Jack Stevenson (ed),Fleshpot: Cinema's Sexual Myth Makers and Taboo Breakers.Manchester: Critical Vision/Headpress, 2002, pp; 163-175
- Vagg, Stephen (December 16, 2018)."The A to Z of Russ Meyer".Filmink.