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Purrr-fect:  A Conversation with Julie Newmar

Fourteen years ago I had my first major celebrity “meeting” when I had a brief encounter with classic femme fatal Julie Newmar, the six foot dancer, model and actress that found pop culture super stardom when she put on a leather cat suit to become the first actress ever to play the classic Batman villain Catwoman!  In August 2010 my personal pop culture journey came full circle when I encountered Julie Newmar again for a PCA interview.  Julie Newmar knows how to make an impression, and is still as beautiful, sultry and mysterious now as she was over forty years ago when she first lit the fan boys flames in productions such as The Monkees, Get Smart, The Beverly Hillbillies, Lil’ Abner, F Troop and, of course, Batman.  Don’t miss my interview with one of pop culture’s most famous sex symbols as I talk to Julie Newmar about her career, and about becoming Catwoman.

PCA’s comic book pick of the week!

Veronica #202

We first heard about him earlier this summer, but now Archie Comics’ newest character, Kevin Keller, has finally arrived in Riverdale via Veronica #202 in a fun and strangely sweet story by favorite Archie artist/writer Dan Parent!

When Veronica Lodge meets Jughead’s new friend Kevin Keller at Pop’s during a hamburger eating contest she falls head over heels in love with Riverdale’s newest hunk to the point that she is even willing to finally give old Archie Andrews up to Betty Cooper.   She knows that Kevin Keller is the man for her.  A blue eyed, blonde hair sensitive writer, Kevin Keller is the boy that she’s been dreaming of her whole life.  However there is one thing that Veronica doesn’t know.  Kevin Keller is gay.  Bemused by Veronica’s embarrassing plays for Kevin’s affections, Jughead manipulates the situation so that Veronica doesn’t find out that Kevin doesn’t swing that way until she’s totally made an idiot out of herself.  Will Veronica get her heart broken, or will she finally find out why every girl needs a best gay friend?

When Kevin Keller’s arrival in Riverdale first was announced earlier this summer, it gained both praise and criticism by different groups and received a lot of news coverage.  However, my only thoughts involved how Archie Comics would be able to realistically work a gay character into an all ages comic and make it natural without being creepy or preachy.   However my doubt was squashed by Dan Parent’s careful and clever storytelling.  The fact that Kevin Keller is gay is only an after thought to the Archie gang, and his sexual orientation only plays into the plot in the fact that it is the reason that he isn’t interested in Veronica’s advances.   Furthermore, Parent tactfully has Kevin texting his friend “William.”  We never really figure out who William is, but we can only assume that he is Kevin’s boyfriend from his old town.  Parent doesn’t banish Kevin to the normal gay stereotypes either.  Throughout the book Kevin chums with Jughead, but as another friend of mine who read this issue pointed out, some odd gay subtexts surrounds Jughead at times.  For instance, when Kevin saves Jughead from Ethel’s advances by saying “Girls chasing you to buddy?”  Jughead answers “Yeah.  Welcome to my curse.”  However, Parent uses this to his advantage, building the tension up to the final scene when Veronica finally learns that Kevin is gay, leading to what is possibly the all time funniest moment in Archie Comics history!  Veronica’s reaction is “laugh out loud” hilarious and a true testament to just how much Archie Comics have matured into the current century.

Perhaps one of the things I adore about this issue is the interplay between my two favorite Archie characters – Jughead and Veronica.  One of the greatest unrecognized rivalries in comic history, Jughead and Veronica are two characters that are so opposite that they grate on each others nerves.  We can all relate to their rivalry because we’ve all had to tolerate somebody in the same way that Jughead and Veronica have to tolerate each other.  As a result, their attempts to foil one another always makes for a fun read.  As for Kevin himself, Dan Parent creates a likeable and charming character.  With his befuddled reactions to the other Riverdale teenagers to his bottomless stomach, Kevin is a welcomed addition to the ever growing Riverdale gang.  According to Dan Parent, Kevin Keller will next appear in the Archie mega crossover event The New Kids which will introduce a whole host of new characters to the Archie Universe as Riverdale merges with another high school.

With all the media attention that Kevin Keller and Veronica #202 has gotten this summer hopefully readers who write Archie Comics off as “kids stuff” will pick up this issue and discover the new dynamic world of Archie Comics.  The art, stories and originality of Archie Comics has truly matured over the last couple of years and today Archie Comics are the comic world’s best kept secret.  Not just for kids anymore, they contain stories that will entertain the adults who grew up on the characters, but still are safe enough for the next generation of comic fans.  With Archie, Jughead and Betty celebrating their 70^th anniversary next year, officially making them pop culture’s oldest teenagers (take that Dick Clark), Archie and friends are going to be everywhere, including crossovers and collections being released by IDW, Darkhorse and DC, as well as a special series of Archie books being overseen by Stan Lee himself.  The introduction of Kevin Keller to Riverdale is the perfect jumping on point for comic fans.

Also worth checking out this week at your local comic book shop!

Freedom Fighters #1 – The dynamic team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray reunite The Freedom Fighters in their own on-going monthly series!  Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, Firebrand, The Human Bomb and Black Condor are enlisted by the US Government to locate a civil war era weapon of mass destruction in exchange for the kidnapped Vice President.  Just what is this weapon that lurks in the depth of mountains of Wyoming?

JSA All-Stars #10 – As Power Girl and Stargirl battle Paradoran Gods that are rampaging through downtown Los Angeles, something strange is happening with Maxine Hunkle in Turkey.  And who is the ghost that haunts the King, and what does she have to do with the guilt that is eating away at him?

Black Cat #3 – The Black Cat plays ball with the Russian mafia in an attempt to save her kidnapped mother….or does she?  Deals are made, trust is broken and the Black Cat finds herself, once again, in over her head.

The Secret Six #25 – The Secret Six breaks into two different teams.  As Bane and Jeannette form their own team made up of some familiar psychopaths; Scandal, Deadshot, Ragdoll and Black Alice seek to redeem Catman’s sanity with the aid of the mysterious Roshanna Chatterji.  Meanwhile, what good deed proves that Deadshot is nothing but a big old softie…and the return of Mockingbird???? 

Inferno #3 – Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales spin off continues as Grace Dante faces her own demons in hell, including her abusive lover and the man who killed her family in her search for a forgotten Grimms character from the earliest days of the series.

The Boys #46 –Hughie and Butcher have a heart to heart, Annie and the Highlander have a heart to heart, Queen Maeve’s story is revealed and the Butcher pulls the most manipulative and douchiest stunt on poor Hughie yet.  Poor Hughie!  Poor Annie!  Can things get any worse for these two star crossed lovers?

Join John LaZar and Dolly Read for a once in a lifetime "feaked out happening" as Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre does a back to back screening of "Valley of the Dolls" and "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"!

Do you live in the Los Angeles area?  You looking for a freaked out happening?  Well on Wednesday September 1^st the historic Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard is featuring a double feature screening of two  camp classics, Valley of the Dolls (1967) and one of my personal all time favorite films, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), in their continuing series celebrating the 75^th Anniversary of 20^th Century Fox Studios!  This special night of sex, drugs, music and debauchery will be hosted by none other then Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell himself, John LaZar along with special guests Dolly Read, who played Beyond the Valley of the Doll’s central character Kelly McNamara, and Beyond the Valley of the Doll’s law student straight man Harrison Page!

Patty Duke, Sharon Tate and Barbara Parkins camp it up in "Valley of the Dolls" (1967)

Based on the notorious novel by author Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls was released by 20^th Century Fox a year after the book’s publication.  Starring Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, Barbara Parkins and Susan Hayward, Valley of the Dolls has become one of the most beloved over the top unintentionally funny films of all time.  Valley of the Dolls tells about the rise and fall of three women from the New York theatre scene – Neely O’Hara, played by Patty Duke, who is a young and spunky breakout starlet who gets tangled in an rivalry with aging Broadway diva Helen Lawson, played by Susan Hayward; Anne Welles, a New England debutante who enters the world of fashion, only to find herself unable to deal with the pressure and reverting to drugs as a way to cope; and Jennifer North, played by Sharon Tate, who is a model who is unable to break away from her good looks and be respected for her other attributes.  Through their personal melodramas, the three women find that fame has a price, leading them to a dark road of drugs and other desperate acts in order to maintain and survive.  In the end one woman finds redemption, one madness and one death. 

Patty Duke reaches for her "dolls" as Neely O'Hara in once of the strangest performances of her career

Directed by Mark Robson, Valley of the Dolls has a strange surreal quality to it, primarily due to the fact that all the actors over act to the highest extreme.  Furthermore, in many cases art was imitating life in Valley of the Dolls.  The part of Helen Lawson was originally intended to be played by Judy Garland, who was fired from the film due to her own problems with drugs and alcohol.  Before leaving Garland stole her wardrobe and was seen wearing her Valley of the Dolls costumes in later stage shows.  Meanwhile, child protégé Patty Duke was having her own battle with alcohol and drugs at the time of filming.  Finally, Sharon Tate, who had her own personal hang ups about not being taken seriously by directors and producers due to her sex symbol status, was virtually reliving her own reality in the role of Jennifer North.  Tragically, just as Tate’s character would meet her tragic demise in the film, Tate would meet her demise two years later at the hands of the Manson Family.

Rightfully panned by critics during its release, Valley of the Dolls was still a box office success and has become a much loved guilty pleasure to film fans world wide.  However the best, and the strangest, was yet to come.

With the success of Valley of the Dolls, 20^th Century Fox wanted a sequel.  However, when Susann refused to provide a second story Fox studios did the unexpected by giving pornographer Russ Meyer full reign to do whatever he wanted as long as he produced a sequel in the same vein of the first tilm.  Instead of doing another serious drama, Meyer decided that his version of Dolls would be a parody of the first and he hired the most unlikeliest of cohorts, famed film critic Roger Ebert, to collaborate on a script with him.  Taking every single taboo they could possibly think of, including sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, extortion, lesbians, orgies, paraplegics, suicide, abortion, road rage, Nazis, transsexuality, bondage, decapitation, porn stars and much much more, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was born.  Learning of it’s conception, Suzann immediately set her lawyers on 20^th Century Fox, forcing the studio to put a disclaimer at the beginning of the film separating it from Valley of the Dolls, and having the studio put the slogan “This is not a sequel.  There has never been anything like it” in all the advertising.  However, the slogan described Beyond the Valley of the Dolls exactly and the film is a colorful and fast paced masterpiece of erotic fun! 

"BVD's" stars Dolly Read, Marcia McBloom and Cynthia Myers as The Carrie Nations

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls focuses on the journey of an all girl rock n’ roll band made up of lead singer Kelly McNamara, played by Dolly Read, bassist Casey Anderson, played by Cynthia Meyer and drummer Pet Danforth, played by Macia McBroom, who travel with their manager, and Kelly’s lover, Harris Allsworth to Los Angeles in search of fame, fortune, and Kelly’s long lost Aunt Susan.  When Susan introduces Kelly to record producer extraordinaire, the bizarre Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell, a power struggle between Z-Man and the jilted Harris begins as Z-Man takes the reigns of the group, renaming them The Carrie Nations, and turns them into stars.  As the three girls find love in Los Angeles, they discover that walking to close to excess will bring their own down falls.  The ending results in a drug induced orgy and massacre, as secrets are revealed and lives are lost in one of the strangest film endings ever.

Assembling a young and exciting cast of Hollywood swingers and Playboy models, Russ Meyer created a surreal vision of 1960’s Los Angeles hipster culture.  Dolly Read and John LaZar are the ying and yang that hold the film together, with Dolly being the focus character and LaZar being the puppet master that plays all of the characters off of one another.  Beyond the Valley of the Dolls also features Michael Blodgett as male gold digger Lance Rocke, Edy Williams as outrageous porn star Ashley St. Ives, Erica Gavin as lesbian fashion designer Roxanne, Harrison Page as straight man law student Emerson Thorne, Phyllis Davis as sweet and innocent Susan Lake, Charles Napier as square jawed business man Baxter Wolfe and James Inglehart as angry boxer Randy Black. 

Valley of the Dolls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls are camp masterpieces of extraordinary quality and have a rich history.  If you are in the Los Angles area don’t dare miss the opportunity to see both of these films in the historical Egyptian Theatre with three very special guests:

Dolly Read – Although she had a relatively short acting career in Hollywood, British beauty Dolly Read is most famous for her appearance as Playboy’s May Playmate of the Month in 1966.  However, with her wide eyed enthusiasm and wholesome good looks, Read beautifully brought Beyond the Valley of the Dolls heroine Kelly McNamara, a young girl who gets torn between love, greed, opportunity and the personal agendas of three men, to life in an unforgettable performance.   Marrying comedian Dick Martin in 1974, Read spent most of the 1970’s appearing as a celebrity contestant on a number of game shows, most notably Match Game, before retiring from show business in the early 1980s. 

John LaZar – As the unforgettable Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell, John LaZar gave a performance of a lifetime in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and became the glue that held the film together.  A classically trained actor from San Francisco, LaZar worked with Russ Meyer again in Supervixen (1975) and found further success in Roger Corman’s Death Stalker II (1987) and as Dr. Fez on the short lived cable series Click.  Currently LaZar is appearing in Alex Horwitz’s award winning horror short Alice Jacobs is Dead. 

Harrison Page – As one of the only untainted characters from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, the handsome wide smiled Harrison Page brought a certain morality to a film full of seedy characters and taboo topics.  Making his film debut in Russ Meyer’s classic Vixen! (1968), hailed as the first true pornography film, Harrison Page has had a long and successful career as a character actor in Hollywood, appearing in dozens of television favorites, including regular roles on Gimme a Break, Benson, Sledge Hammer, Ally McBeal, ER and JAG.   For more on Harrison Page check out is web-site at http://www.harrisonpage.com.

Believe me friends when I say that I wish I was in Los Angeles for this event.   This is a one night only opportunity that gets way at 7 pm at the historical Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  I wish I could be there.  If you can don’t dare miss it or you shall drink the black sperm of my vengence!

No comic book reviews this week kids because we are at

and you should be too! 

Check out all the details at http://www.fanexpocanada.com!

Hey there friends and readers! 

You may have noticed that material has been a bit scarce this week.  Well a big part of that is the fact that we are gearing up for Toronto’s FanExpo this coming weekend!  Every year fan boys, Trekkies, comic collectors, gamers, collectors, autograph seekers, and cosplayers of all shapes, sizes, agendas and walks of life come to Toronto in the thousands for three days of celebration of everything “geeky.”  This year will personally by my eleventh year at FanExpo, and PCA’s four year covering it as a part of the press!  It really is Canada’s greatest convention of this sort and a great opportunity to have encounters with your favorite stars as well as meet with other members from your own fan subculture!  Of course I hope that if you see me bopping around that you’ll stop to say hello.  PCA’s contributing writer Janet L. Hetherington will also be in attendance at her own table in artist alley, so make sure to stop by and say hello to her and her partner, comic artist Ronn Sutton, and check out all the great stuff that they have available.  If you are in Toronto you can not afford to miss FanExpo!  It runs Friday August 27^th to Sunday August 29^th at the Toronto International Convention Center on Front Street (just a few blocks away from Union Station).  Make sure to visit http://www.fanexpocanada.com/ for more details. 

Meanwhile, this August could be the busiest and most successful month that PCA has seen this year in regards to upcoming interviews!  I have been talking to some of pop culture’s biggest celebrities and some of my personal favorites in the last few weeks to the point that I am beginning to drown in tape!  I am really excited to be able to finally reveal some of the people we’ve been talking to and give you a sneak peek of who we have coming up in the weeks to come! 

John LaZar is coming to PCA in September 2011!

John LaZar – Only a few weeks ago I wrote a column asking for information on a number of “lost” pop culture icons that we were searching for.  Thanks to reader Tim Rowland we were able to locate actor John LaZar who played possibly my all time favorite film character, the enigmatic Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell in the Russ Meyer classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls!  John and I spoke a few weeks back about Dolls as well as his latest award winning short Alice Jacobs is Dead.  A native of San Francisco, John LaZar is a classically trained actor, martial artist, dancer and swords man who has had a long career in television, theatre and stage for over five decades. Although he will probably always be best known for his role as Z-Man, in which he had such famous lines as “It’s my happening and it freaks me out” and “You will drink the black sperm of my vengeance,” he is also fondly remembered for the role of Jarek in the Roger Corman cult classic Death Stalker II (1987) and for the role of Dr. Fez in the short lived cable series Click (1997).  Currently living in Los Angeles, John LaZar is a very funny and charismatic individual and everything that you would want him to be.  But guess what folks?  If you are in the Los Angeles area next week you can meet John LaZar yourself as he will be hosting the Valley of the Dolls/Beyond the Valley of the Dolls double feature at the legendary Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on September 1^st.  As part of the 75^th Anniversary Celebration of 20^th Century Fox Studios, John will be doing a question and answer session and a signing along with some other very special BVD guests.  More information on that right here later this weekend, and look for our interview with John LaZar following shortly thereafter in September! 

Ed Asner is coming to PCA in September 2010

Ed Asner – In his career television legend Ed Asner has won more Emmy Awards then any other actor in television.  Via his role as Lou Grant on the classic 70’s sit-com The Mary Tyler Moore Show and his own groundbreaking spin off series Lou Grant, as well as noteworthy appearances in Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man, Ed Asner has had sixteen Emmy nominations and brought home an astonishing eight Emmy statues.  Although a television mainstay for decades,  Ed Asner recently managed to break into the hearts of a whole new generation when he performed the voice of Carl Fredrickson in the Oscar winning animated film Up.  One of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood and one of the most respected members of the pop culture community, Ed Asner is also as controversial as beloved.  Fiery passionate about a number of political issues, Ed Asner is a man who speaks a certain hard edged truth and is not afraid to stand up for what he believes is right.  I was honored to talk to Ed Asner about his most famous roles, his politics and much more.  PCA’s interview with Ed Asner will be coming in September! 

Ernie Hudson is coming to PCA in September 2010!

Ernie Hudson –Actor/playwrite Ernie Hudson will probably always be best known for his breakout role as straight man Winston Zeddmore in the 80’s cult mega-hit Ghost Busters (1984).  However, Hudson has had a long career in film and television pre-dating Ghost Busters and continuing today where he has appeared in dozens of televisions most beloved programs as well as co-staring in hit films such as The Crow, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Miss Congeniality.  However Hudson probably gave his strongest performances in the role of Warden Leo Glynn in the powerful and controversial award winning HBO series Oz.  Gearing up for his upcoming appearance in the long awaited Ghost Busters III, Ernie Hudson is currently promoting his next film project Doonby co-starring John Schneider, set to be released in 2011.  PCA’s interview with Ernie Hudson will be coming in September! 

Julie Newmar is coming to PCA in September 2010!

Julie Newmar – In conjunction with her upcoming appearance this weekend at FanExpo, PCA is thrilled to be able to talk with Julie Newmar!  One of the legendary beauties of stage and screen, Julie Newmar has been the subject of many fan boy fantasies for generations for her various roles in many of pop culture’s biggest franchises.  Starting her career as a dancer on Broadway, Julie Newmar made her first mark on the stage by playing the role of sex bomb Stupefyin’ Jones in the Broadway production of Lil’ Abner, based on Al Capp’s legendary comic strip.  She became so attached to the part that she reprised the role in the 1959 film version of the production.  Although she had a colorful career as a Broadway star, pin up model and movie siren, Julie Newmar will, of course, always be remembered for playing the Catwoman in the campy 1960’s TV production of Batman staring Adam West and Burt Ward.  Although she was only one of three actresses that played the part on TV, she still remains the most popular and mot famous.  Julie Newmar also achieved cult status for playing Rhoda the Robot in the short lived comedy series My Living Doll, April Conquest in The Monkees, Miss Devlin (aka Satan) in The Twilight Zone episode Of Late I Think of Cliffordville and Eleen in the Star Trek episode Friday’s Child.  Our interview with Julie Newmar will be coming in September! 

Alan Young will be coming to PCA October 2011!

Alan Young – One of the most recognizable and warmest voices in pop culture, comedian Alan Young started his long career on radio in Canada in 1944 before moving his show to the US as a replacement for Eddie Cantor on NBC.  His popularity with audiences proved so great that he moved to ABC where he developed The Alan Young Show, which moved from radio to television in 1950, winning him a pair of Emmy Awards in 1951.   After making a notable appearance as Filby in the 1960 version of HG Welles’ The Time Machine, Alan Young hit comedy gold when he played straight man Wilbur Post to a talking horse in the classic sit-com Mr. Ed from 1961 to 1966.  In the 1970’s Young turned to voice acting and found his most iconic animated character when he brought Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge McDuck to life for the first time in 1983.  By putting a heavier emphasis on his natural slight Scottish accent, Alan Young remains to be the only actor who has voiced the classic feathered character.  However, many fans of 1980’s cartoons fondly remember Alan Young’s voice as that of robot 7-Zark-7, the narrator of Battle of the Planets.  Now retired from show business and living in Los Angeles, Alan Young will be coming to PCA in October! 

Anyways friends, as you see we have a busy time ahead of us at PCA, and lots to prepare for FanExpo this weekend in which there will surely be even more announcements to be made. 

Stay tuned because there is more to come, 

Sam Tweedle 

Pop Culture Addict

PCA reminds you that the world’s best movies are NOT in the new release section at Blockbuster!

Last week marked the fortieth anniversary of the tragic death of cult film actress Soledad Miranda who died at age 27 in a car crash

Eugenie de Sade (1974) – Forty years ago last week the world lost the beautiful and mysterious Spanish actress Soledad Miranda in a car crash that took her life at age 27. Although she never received critical acclaim nor did she ever find international success during her lifetime (only three films, in which she had either a supporting part or less, were ever released in North America during her lifetime) a new fascination and fan base has grown around the obscure movie siren in the last decade. In her relatively short career Soledad Miranda did everything from romantic comedies, sword and sandal pictures, medieval dramas  and even at least on early rock n’ roll film, yet today she is best known for her horror and exploitation films, most notably by controversial movie director Jess Franco who beautifully filmed her in such cult movie classics as Count Dracula and Vampyros Lesbos. However, none of Franco’s films captured the mysterious tragedy of Soledad Miranda more then his obscure thriller Eugenie de Sade. His second film with Soledad Miranda, Franco’s pet project was filmed in early 1970 but lay dormant until 1974, four years after Soledad Miranda’s death. Now, due to Soledad Miranda’s growing cult status, Eugenie de Sade has been rediscovered by fans on DVD and is easily one of her most beautiful, if not disturbing, films.

Loosely based on a story by the notorious Marquis de Sade, Soledad Miranda plays Eugenie, a shy and lonely girl who has been raised by her eccentric step father Albert Radeck de Franval, who is a noteworthy author of erotic fiction. Although forbidden to read the erotic books in her father’s library, Eugenie’s curiosity gets the better of her and one day she reads one, revealing a sexual awakening within her. Learning that she has read one of his books, de Franval introduces the highly influenced Eugenie to a world of sex and perversion as the pair partakes in a series of sexually charged murders, leading to their own incestual and obsessive relationship. However, things take a deadly turn for the worse when Eugenie meets a young musician and falls in love. As an investigational writer closes in on the truth behind Albert Radeck de Franval, Eugenie’s life gets torn apart in a sea of lust and love, perversion and pleasure and loyalty and fear teaching her that when you cross a certain moral line there is no coming back.

Although he normally filmed her as a far more confident and powerful figure, Franco presents Soledad Miranda as a more vulnerable figure in "Eugenie de Sade"

Eugenie de Sade could be one of Jess Franco’s best films despite a strange and confusing history. Known for uneven film making, Franco’s work often goes from being cheaply made to cinematically beautiful from picture to picture. Eugenie de Sade is easily one of Franco’s cheaper looking pictures. Using poor quality film and containing bad dubbing the picture quality is often jarring compared to that of his masterpieces such as The Diabolical Dr. Z, Venus in Furs and Vampyros Lesbos. However, despite the cheap quality of the production, Franco never shot Soledad Miranda so lovingly. The camera loves Miranda as much as Franco did, and her most breathtaking moments are captured within this film. Although she spends most of the film huddled in a fetal position, a certain sad, lonely, vulnerable sexiness is seen within the screen vixen. Franco is capturing a very different version of Soledad Miranda compared to the way he would film her in his other films in which she appeared to be far more aggressive and confident. In the role of Eugenie, the true tragic beauty of the alluring Soledad Miranda is masterfully captured.

Franco regular Paul Mueller gets a rare occasion to play the leading man as Soledad's evil and perverse father in "Eugenie de Sade" in one of his finest performances

For Eugenie de Sade Franco assembled a small and compact cast consisting of some of his sure fire regulars including Andres Morales as Eugene’s musician lover Paul, who would go on to play the romantic lead in Vampyros Lesbos and most notably German character actor Paul Muller as the evil and overbearing Albert Radeck de Franval. With nearly 250 film credits during his career, Muller was a regular in the horror industry in films by Franco and Mario Bava, and appeared in the majority of Soledad Miranda’s films for Jess Franco. However, Eugenie de Sade is one of the rare times that Paul Muller was given the chance to star as the leading man in the film. With his sharp pointed features and Eurotrash intensity, Muller gives the performance of his career as the evil and perverse gentleman killer. Jess Franco himself even appears in the plum role of investigative writer Attlia Tanner who’s interview with Eugenie frames the film.

Jess Franco, in the role of Attlia Tanner, made a total of six films with Soledad Miranda, with four of the films being shot during the last year of her life

Although Eugenie de Sade seems like a labor of love at the time today, for some reason Jess Franco abandoned the project not long after it was shot and began to film a second version of the story titled Eugenie: The Story of her Journey Into Perversion featuring Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm and, oddly enough, Paul Muller. This version of Eugenie, made on a far larger budget and looking vastly superior to Franco’s version with Soledad Miranda was immediately released and found a notable cult following. Meanwhile, Franco went on to film three additional films with Soledad Miranda the same year – Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy and The Devil Came From Askava. It was during the filming of Askava that Soledad Miranda was involved in the fatal car crash that took her life.  With her husband, race car driver José Manuel Simões, behind the wheel, an oncoming car crashed into the passenger side of their vehicle, fatally wounding the beautiful actress who died hours later in a Portuguese hospital. Franco did what he could to finish Asksava, but grieving over his muses’ death he was unable to bear to look at a number of other films that he had began with Miranda. However, years later, as a final tribute to Miranda, Franco pulled the lost footage from his earlier Eugenie film and began to edit it together. Eugenie de Sade was released quietly to a handful of continental European theatres, but went unnoticed at the time. It wasn’t until the film was released on DVD in 2003 that it was rediscovered and reembraced by a legion of cult film lovers, adding to the renaissance of Soledad Miranda’s fan following.

Soledad Miranda is very much like a phoenix who has risen from a fiery grave. Although she wallowed in obscurity for decades after he death, only in the last ten years has her cult following began to grow, turning her into a major cult figure. Although only a handful of her films have yet to have been translated and made available in North America, Eugenie de Sade remains to be her most captivating and hypnotic performance. Due to the mature and taboo topics the film is obviously not for everyone, but take a moment to either remember, or discover for the first time, the glory and beauty of one of pop culture’s most tragic and mysterious figures.

Due to out of town commitments, there wont be any comic reviews for the next two weeks folks.  However this week we present a collection of our very favorite comic book themed television openings!  If you haven’t already hit your local comic book shop yet make sure to go down today and buy some four color goodness! 

With Piranha 3D making its theatrical debut on August 20, 2010, it seems fitting to revisit the low-budget films of legendary producer and director Roger Corman.

Corman’s films may have been B-list but they spawned a generation of A-list filmmakers – including Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch), who directed the original 1978 Piranha movie after a long apprenticeship at New World Pictures.

Both Corman and Dante were on hand at Comic-Con International in San Diego for a special panel to discuss Roger Corman’s Cult Classics. This is a line of new DVDs from Shout! Factory showcasing over 50 vintage Corman films – including Piranha, released on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 3, 2010.

“These were low-budget, non-union films for drive-in markets. Some other people were making these types of movies, but not quite as well,” Dante said.

Piranha (1978)

“Inspired” by the success of Jaws, Piranha tells the story of rookie skip-tracer Maggie McKeon (Heather Menzies) and booze-soaked river rat Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), who search for missing teen-agers and stumble upon a top-secret military laboratory conduction genetic research on piranha for the purpose of developing the most lethal form of biological warfare imaginable.

When the deadly eating machines are accidentally released from the compound, they head downstream, consuming everything in their path. With Paul and Maggie in hot pursuit, the piranhas’ next stop is the children’s summer camp — where Paul’s young daughter is vacationing — and then the newly opened, multi-million-dollar water resort.

Piranha enjoyed box-office success and became one of New World Pictures’ biggest worldwide hits. The movie was also well-received by critics, who appreciated its fast pacing, energetic cast, clever conspiracy satire, inventive special effects and ability to scare the audience.

Piranha won the Saturn Award for Best Editing (shared by Dante and Mark Goldblatt) and was nominated as Best Horror Film.

Mentor to Many

Roger Corman signing for fans at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2010

Like so many Roger Corman productions, Piranha served as a career springboard for many of its participants, including director Dante, screenwriter John Sayles (Lone Star, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out) and producer Jon Davison (Airplane!, Robocop and RoboCop 2). Future Academy Award-winner Rob Bottin (Total Recall, The Thing, Se7en) provided special makeup effects in what marked his first screen credit, and the visual effects team boasted not one, but two, future Oscar winners: Phil Tippett (Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back) and Chris Walas (The Fly, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gremlins).

Other famed directors and actors who cut their teeth on Corman films include Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Michael McDonald, Dennis Hopper, Robert De Niro, David Carradine and many more.

Joe Dante worked with Roger Coman on "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976)

“The people Roger hired all wanted to make movies,” Dante said. “I worked on a movie called Hollywood Boulevard. It was a three-girl formula that was made in 10 days. We used action scenes taken from other movies – space movies, car crashes, jungle scenes.

The girls were three actresses, and they worked for Miracle Pictures. It’s a miracle it got made!”

Corman began his film career in 1953 as a producer and screenwriter, and he began directing films in 1955. In his most active period, Corman would produce up to seven movies a year and often shot extremely quickly on sets from other larger productions. He shot the original version of The Little Shop of Horrors in two days and one night.

Corman is known for stressing the importance of budgeting and resourcefulness. “One thing you learned about Roger is you never reshoot,” commented editor, director and producer Allan Holzman.

“Like with Death Race 2000,we would shoot movies on less than you fill your gas tank,” Corman quipped.

 Corman retired from directing in 1971 to focus on production and distribution through his company New World/Concorde/New Horizons, making low-budget films and using the profits to distribute distinguished art films.

In 2009, Roger Corman received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics

Corman gems planned for release from Shout! Factory include:

12/7 – Crazy Mama / The Lady In Red [Double Feature]

12/7 – Big Bad Mama / Big Bad Mama II [Double Feature]

11/16 – Streets / Angel In Red [Double Feature]

11/2 – Not Of This Earth (1988)

11/2 – The Terror Within / Dead Space [Double Feature]

10/19 – The Warrior And The Sorceress / Barbarian Queen [Double Feature]

10/5 – The Evil / Twice Dead [Double Feature]

10/5 – The Slumber Party Massacre Collection

9/14 – Starcrash (DVD & Blu-ray)

8/3 – Death Sport/Battle Truck [Double Feature]

8/3 – Humanoids From The Deep (DVD & Blu-Ray)

8/3 – Piranha (DVD & Blu-Ray)

7/20 – Galaxy Of Terror (DVD & Blu-Ray)

7/20 – Forbidden World (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

6/22 – Death Race 2000 (DVD & Blu-Ray)

5/11 – Rock ‘N’ Roll High School (DVD & Blu-ray)

5/4 – Suburbia

 Janet L. Hetherington is a writer, screenwriter and graphic storyteller. She is a pop culture addict who shares a studio in Ottawa, Canada, with artist Ronn Sutton and a ginger cat, Heidi.  For more of Janet’s musings make visit @ Best Destiny

POP CULTURE ADDICT NOTE:  For more on Roger Corman be sure to check out PCA’s own interview with him at http://popcultureaddict.com/close/rogercorman/

Austin Friday Nights to L.A. Bright Lights:  A Conversation with Angela

When she was originally offered the role of Regina Howard in NBC’s critically acclaimed football drama Friday Night Lights, actress Angela Rawna was skeptical about taking the part of what seemed to be just another unflattering stereotype of a single African American mother addicted to drugs.  However, by entering an Austin based drug rehab facility to meet and talk with women currently trying to fight their own addiction, Angela not only discovered a different reality to this often overused plot device, but was able to shape a brand new type of character and show the audience a new face of drug addiction for the television audience.  Just wrapping up the fifth season of Friday Night Lights, Angela Rawna is on a career high as she prepares for new projects and the promise of a bright career as pop culture’s newest character actress.  This week at PCA Angela Rawna talks to us about Friday Night Lights, how she created the captivating role of Regina Howard and what’s coming next!

Internet Geek Godess Carol Zara of www.digitallyblonde.com

Since 2009 Carol Zara has carved out her own little niche in the pop culture community.  As the nerd goddess of Twitter, the Brazilian born Toronto based beauty has become the poster girl of the geek subculture. Via a number of different channels, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and her own web-site www.digitallyblonde.com, Carol Zara has managed to a create phenomena around herself attracting the adoration of thousands of fan boys throughout the world.  Wearing thigh high stripped socks and horn rimmed glasses, Carol has found a kinship with the fan boys through a mutual love for video games, Ninja Turtles and other franchises from her childhood.  Last year Carol Zara was listed #3 in G4’s “Women of the Web” Countdown and was nominated for Wired Magazines’ Sexiest Geeks and won last years’ Shorty Award for Best Geek Girl.  Through her charismatic personality, honest sense of fun and, of course, stunning good looks, Carol Zara has suddenly been everywhere in a very short period of time. 

However, last week the seemingly  impossible happened to this maven of internet networking when the mighty Facebook stuck Carol down without warning or explanation.  Despite having a fan page with over four thousand people, Carol found herself suddenly banned from Facebook without any option to appeal or personal explanation.  

Now, with an army of angry fan boys starting the Free Carol Campaign, Carol Zara is one pissed off geek girl.  Still looking for an explanation beyond the form letter sent to her by Facebook, Carol is looking for justice and an explanation.  Was it the sexy pictures that she took with an octopus on a World Cup bet, or did Facebook single her out for communicating with her fans?  Whatever the case, Carol Zara wants an explanation. 

Carol spoke to me about the situation Friday August 13^th via telephone from her home in Toronto. 

Sam Tweedle:  Now I have been aware of your presence on the internet for a while Carol, but for the sake of my readers who may not be familiar with www.digitallyblonde.com, why don’t you give us an introduction to who you are and what you do. 

Via her love for video games and 80's cartoons Carol Zara has found a kindship with the geek community

Carol Zara:  Well it wasn’t anything that I planned.  I had an office job and I really hated it and there was all this stupid office politics involved.
I really loved politics but all I wanted was to help save the world.  But what I had to go through and not be honest and not say how things really are, I felt really unhappy. I really loved politics but all I wanted was to help save the world.  Well my friends kept saying “You should look at Twitter” and I said “Twitter is stupid.  I don’t know what it is but it sounds stupid” but I’m a very curious person and I decided to check out.  At first I thought [Twitter] was [too] public.  I didn’t even post my picture.  [I used] a picture of a strawberry.  I don’t even think [I used] my full name.  I just thought it was too public.  

Sam:  So you didn’t want to originally be in the public sphere. 

Carol:  No.  I can be a bit of an attention whore with my family.  I always wanted my mother’s attention or my brother’s attention but I never really thought I would get public attention from all over the world.  I never thought I’d sign autographs or posters.  I get requests from Saudi Arabia and soldiers in Iraq asking for posters.  When did I ever think that this was what I was going to do?  I also wasn’t a popular girl in school.  I was a chubby girl and no one liked me.  How would I ever picture that I would become popular without being on TV everyday?     

Sam:  What do you feel your popularity is based on? 

Carol:  Well when I started on Twitter I used the picture of the strawberry and I started saying things and people really enjoyed it.  They thought it was funny.  They thought that I was being truthful.  They agreed with me.  So I decided to post my own picture and when I did people said “That can’t be you.  That’s a fake picture.  It’s too good looking.”  I mean I go out on the streets and people aren’t going crazy so I didn’t understand how it can be too good looking.  How can I be so pretty all of a sudden?  It was a bit confusing to me at first, but I had to start posting other pictures to prove that it was really me.  That’s why I started with the YouTube videos to tell people that it’s me.  I exist.  I’m not “lonelygirl15” and I exist.  I never considered myself a nerd or a geek, but I always watched Dungeons and Dragons and Buffy and all those things and after doing Twitter I discovered that the things I liked were considered nerdy or geeky.  

Carol Zara's original World Cup photo shoot did not feature an octopus

Sam:  So what you seemed to have done is that you have tapped into a certain niche market and you’ve become the poster girl for that sub culture. 

Carol:  Yeah.  I’ve become some sort of dream girl to them.  So if they are coming to me with all this love and positivness why would I come back at them and say “No.  I’m not a geek” or “I’m not a nerd.”  Their opinions are more important then my opinions because if I said “I am this” or “I am that” I’d just brand myself and become something that I am not already.  But if you are a true fan boy and you’ve been watching this stuff your entire life and you think I should represent your life and your generation then I’ll accept that. 

Sam:  So let’s talk about facebook.  Explain to me what happened to you. 

Carol:  It’s really really weird.  Yesterday I was on Facebook and I was looking at a friend’s photos and Facebook asked me to log in again.  [I thought] “Log in again?  What the hell?” So I logged in again and I find out that my account is disabled.  So I sent them a message asking them for an answer about what the hell happened and didn’t get an answer until today.  I tweeted about it and everybody thought it might be my photos.  I had just recently posted some photos that were provocative, but they weren’t full on nudity. 

Sam:  What were the photos? 

Did this provocative photo featuring a dead octopus get Carol Zara banned from Facebook?

Carol:  Well it all started [during the World Cup].  It started as a joke because some model was saying that she was going to run naked if her team won and another one said that she was going to give blowjobs if her team won.  Meanwhile there was this octopus getting all the scores and teams and I thought that this was hilarious.  So I was cheering for Spain when Brazil was gone and so I tweeted “I’m going to take naked pictures with an octopus if Spain wins.”  Nobody believed me but they got really excited.  I keep my word and when I say I’ll do something I usually do it.  So Spain won and I was really excited and suddenly people started tweeting me about getting naked and if I’d really do it.  I called my friend who is a very famous photographer here in Toronto named Matt Barnes and asked him if he’d be interested.  He said “Hell yeah.  No girl has ever called me to take off her clothes and put an octopus on her.  Of course I’m going to do this.”  He was perfect for it because I wanted to make it like a pin-up and homage to horror movies and he’s got that style.  So I took the photos and people couldn’t believe I actually did it.  I posted them the day after the World Cup final but many people didn’t believe that the octopus was real.

Sam:  I saw the photo.  That was a real octopus?

Carol:  Of course it was a real octopus! 

Sam:  Holy crap!  I was sure it was a fake octopus. 

Carol:  No.  Where would I find a fake octopus? 

Sam:  I don’t know.  Was it alive? 

Carol:  No, it was dead. 

Sam:  Well where would they find a dead octopus? 

Carol Zara's "test shot" with the black bars shows far less then what other Facebook profiles belonging to porn stars and Playboy models currently feature

Carol:  It was a frozen octopus.  They found it at a market.  When I got there it was in the water and I thought it was alive but it wasn’t.  Anyways I spent four hours naked with a frozen octopus on me, and afterwards people said it was a fake photo.  Some people said that we found the photo somehow and that we cropped the face and the body wasn’t mine.  I thought “What the hell? How would we find a picture like that?”  We were getting so many comments that I had to contact the photographer again and ask for another photo because even my friends were saying that it was fake.  So he sent me a picture where it looked like I was having sex with the octopus.  It was highly suggestive so I posted that picture on Facebook and I posted another one which was a test shot of me naked on the floor but I covered it with black bars.  So everyone thought when I got banned from facebook two days later that that was the reason why.  But today I get a message from Facebook telling me that my account was disabled because my behavior on the site was identified as harassing or threatening to other people on Facebook!  

Sam:  Do you think you were reported by someone? 

Carol: I have no idea.  They sent me three points [describing possible reasons for] some for my prohibited behavior.  [The first was] that I was “requesting people that I don’t know.”  I don’t do that.  At the beginning of this year my personal profile had three thousand people and it was getting crazy and I could even keep up with my actual friends.  So I got rid of all the people I don’t really know and started a fan page.  I was kind of against having a fan page for myself.  I was pretty honest with everyone.  It was not like I just did it.  I posted that I was sorry and that I had to delete people but to go to my fan page.  But [facebook] also said [I was banned] for “soliciting others for dating purposes.”  Dating on Facebook?  No way!  Not a chance that I’m looking for random dates on Facebook!  Not at all!  I mean some people do it.  It’s none of my business but I have no reason to look for dates over Facebook.  I also wasn’t contacting people for business purposes, which is against Facebook policy.  I know many people have profiles under their business name but I never did anything like that.  The only thing close to business is keeping in touch with people who I’ve worked with in the past.  

Sam:  But that’s just basic networking.  Everybody does that. 

By appearing as April O'Neil at Toronto's 2009 FanExpo, Carol Zara attracted the attention of Ninja Turtle fans everywhere, including TMNT artist Jim Lawson who later wrote that Carol was "a scary hot April O'Neil"

Carol:  It’s normal!  Yeah!  The other option was “regularly contacting strangers through unwanted inbox messages.”  When I read that I said “Oh, I get it.”  Regularly contacting my fans was considered regularly contacting strangers to [facebook].  There was a time when I was getting fifty friend requests a day [on my personal profile], and I wondered “What can I do?  Should I ignore them?”  People were going to think I was a bitch if I ignored them so I decided that I was going to send them a message and go to my fan page.  So I would send them a copy and paste message that would say “Hey hotness.  I would love to add you but I don’t use this page anymore.  You can find me at my fun page.  xoxo Carol Zara.”  That was it.  I would send them the message and I would ignore their request after they got their message. 

Sam:  Well let me ask you this.  Why do you think Facebook singled you out? 

Carol Zara fan art, like this one by comic artist Ramon Perez, has made her a virtual muse

Carol:  I don’t know.  I think because I was getting so many friend requests and telling them that I can’t add them, telling them the reason why and redirecting them to my fan page.  So out of all the reasons that facebook has told me that I am banned forever from the site, and I don’t even have the right to appeal anything, is that because a stranger contacted me and it was not me adding them as a friend but it was them adding me as a friend, and I would send them a message?  But even if Facebook ever comes to me and says that it was because of my sexy pictures, well I did some research and I thought [I’d see] how Playboy models and porn stars behave on facebook because they feed on being sexy.  So I went on [various porn stars’] profiles and found full on nudity without black bars, I found semi-nude lesbian shots and I found a lot more.  I took screen shots of everything because if I’m there, and I have black bars hiding everything, and that’s the reason why they deleted me, then either I come back or they delete everything that is not appropriate. 

Sam:  So what is your next move against Facebook? 

Carol:  I am going to keep fighting it.  Right now I’m telling my media friends what happened.  I’m not the type who will shut up.  I’m a fighter.  It’s my personality.  I don’t think its right what they did.  I had no warning.  My digitally blonde page was not deleted because it has another administrator.  My fan page was the most popular and it had four thousand fans and that was the one I lost. 

Sam:  Now let’s leave this controversy for a moment.  You are going to be making an appearance and signing autographs at the Toronto FanExpo later this month, isn’t that right? 

Carol:  Yeah.  Right now I am scheduled to do two autograph sessions at FanExpo on Friday August 27^th from 5 to 7 and Saturday August 28^th from 2 to 4.  It was very last minute.  I wasn’t going to do FanExpo but I just started getting so many messages from fans asking me to be there that I just decided that its not about me anymore but its about [my fans].  If they want me to be there then I’m going to be there.  I was there last year shooting a video.  So I contacted FanExpo and said “Here’s the deal.  I didn’t expect this but I’m getting so many messages everyday and people are asking me to be there and do you have some time for me?”  I am going to be making a video when I’m there, but I’ll be signing for a couple of hours a day.  

Sam:  So you’ve been doing this for close to a year.  You’re very good at self promotion.  Where do you hope to go with this phenomenon that you’ve created around yourself? 

Carol:  Well like I said, it’s all about the people.  It’s what they expect.  They’ve been telling me that they want to see me on a sci-fi series.  They want to see me on the live action Ninja Turtle movie.  They want to see me one day write a comic book.  They have been asking for Carol Zara action figures.  They want me to be on a show on G-4.  It’s what they want me to do and I will try to do what they want me to do.  I think it’s cool what they are telling me.  I mean, if they say “Carol, go fuck yourself” I’m going to say “No, I’m not going to do that.”  No, I think of myself as the Lady Gaga of the nerd community and I will always surprise you and I always want to make the most awesome things that you want to see me in.  I am not about small things.  I’m about making it the biggest and the best things ever! 

Who knows how this whole thing is going to end.  Will Carol Zara and her band of fan boys crush the evil empire of Facebook?  Will Facebook succeed in getting away with banning the goddess of geek from their networking tool?  Time will only tell.  However, in the meantime, don’t miss your chance to meet Carol Zara at the Toronto FanExpo on August 27^th and 28^th and lend your support.  Also, if you are angry over what Facebook did to Carol, send Facebook your thoughts and tell them how you feel.  Support Carol and her fight for an explanation! 

For more on Carol’s battle check out http://digitallyblonde.com/ for her open letter to Facebook and join the Free Zara campatin at Twitter!