The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 139

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1969 Ctt atlanta Janttnl md CONSnTlTHW FIRST MAJOR FILM Middle Nudies Mow in king i 577-660 ATLANTA CIVIC CENTER AUDITORIUM Eve," Russ Meyer says gratefully, "was my proving ground." Want Ads Pay Off THURSDAY, JJlll. Eth 8:30 P.fJ. By KEVIN THOMAS lm Aacele Time Newi Serrice HOLLYWOOD Ten years ago a maker ot. industrial films named Russ Meyer I made a $24,000 picture called "The Immoral Mr. Teas," NATIOHAL T0UR1KG COLOTY Presenting The which was to gross more than WORLD'S MOST ACCLAIMED MUSICAL! HAROtD PutNCE ing an ice tong stuck through that heaving chest "Vixen," Meyer's latest picture in release, has played top theaters all over the country, frequently setting box office records and running into trouble with the law.

That it cost but $90,000 to make and is expected to gross $6 million was bound to catch some Hollywood mogul's attention and did. One of Meyer's early stars was his ex-wife and current partner Eve. "We've weathered the storm of divorce to become very good friends. had this idea. I'd be using three well-built girls instead of the usual unattractive types that populated nudist films.

It would be a guy who delivers false teeth to dentists and daydreams all the time. One of those poor unfortunate souls who'd normally never would find their way to these babes." MEYER'S next couple ot films pretty much followed the "Teas" formula. Then several years ago came "Lorna," starring an awesomely built blond and boasting a simple backwoods plot. "That was breaking into what I call the quasi-foreign film. I wanted to make a 'Bitter Rice' in America.

A morality play! Good vs. evil! The incredibly stacked Lorna Maitland, the innocent husband, the devil's advocate! She paid for her sins by hav Roof Bated on Sholom Vkleichem't storits I'M. i) JERRY BOCK there's the increasing frankness of the majors at the upper end. "I'd hate to 50 sny farther than I already have." THIS MEANS considerably short of "I Am Curious (Yel- low)," but what any Meyer movie ever lacked in total ex-plicitness it made up in an array of incredibly endowed and uninhibited young women who have paraded in front of his cameras. (No girl whose topmost measurement is less than 4D inches' need apply.) A b(g bear of a man, 47-year-old San Francisco-born Meyer got his basic training in movie-making in the Signal Corps during World War II.

After the war he made industrial films, and later on shot cheesecake on the side. By 1952, he had forsaken the industrials. By 1959, now renowned for his Playboy gatefolds, he made "Teas" for his old fiend, Oakland, burlesque impresario Pete de Cenzie. "He was always after me to do a naturist picture nudist camp volleyball, croquet that sort of thing. Pete's only real concern was that the picture had nudity in it, and I SHELDON I -v.

-wJSf I 8 Having a Company CHRISTMAS PARTY? II million. The nudie wave was upon us. Today, Meyer, long crowned the king of the nudies, is about to start shooting his first film for a major studio, Fox's the Valley of the Dolls." This may say a lot about the 1 permissive, but; to Russ Meyer it was a godsend. The man who started the tidal wave of screen erotica was wondering how he could keep up with his competitors without going beyond those limits of candor he has set for himself. "As I drove out of the studio, after Richard Zanuck said 1 go ahead, I was overcome by this insane laughter, I felt I had pulled off the biggest caper in the world.

All kidding aside, It was the most satisfying thing that they asked me. "I think I was saved by the bell. I'm in the middle, and I'm beginning to feel the squeeze. On the bottom the all-out skin palaces have dug deeply into my revenue. Then JEROME ROBBtNS Ptrmw Arnold Perl try Magical tntmrtainr DAVID GINN 24l-606Sar241-898S PRICES: ST.

50, $6.50, $5.50, $4.50 BUYYOUR TICKETS NOW! IDEAL FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS! JIM mm. mmm A COLLECTOR'S GIFT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY! Enjoy all of your favorite Christmas Carols played on the world's largest carillon by Herbie Koch, Official Carillonneurfor the State of Georgia. All four unique carillon recordings by Mr. Koch, including the new "Bells of Stone Mountain Vol. 2," "Popular Bells," and "Sacred Bells," are available at Rich's, Stone Mountain Park, GEX and Treasure Island.

During December, hear Herbie Koch in free carol concerts. Monday thru Saturday: 12 Sunday: 1, 3, 5 p.m. Georgia's Spne Mounpin SATURDAY, JANUARY 1 7th 8:30 P.M. theatbe Gourmet Vwter 7SOO to 8pt. Showflhte now playing "BORN ESTERD A RESERVATIONS 0NLY436-6262 "Midnight flf Cowboy" PRICES: $5.00, $4.00, $3.00, $2.50 By the year 2000 Atlanta could be the leading city in the world.

Atlanta's Phipps Plaza Theatre with Ultra-Vision8 is SATURDAY, JAIiUARY 31st 8:30 P.M. a sneak preview with the PENNSYLVANIANS IN CONCERT PRICES: $5.00, $4.00, $3.00, $2.50 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7th 8:30 P.M. The 0 ALSO 1 STARRING! LEON BIBB PRICES: $6.00, $5.00, $4.00, $3.00 FHlUAYTf EBRUARY 20ih i mi iiiii. mi "FUNNIEST ENTERTAINER IN Tp By fi0SHf 1 TWICE AS FUNNY" 1WMU, fwim L'rJlL "'U Kits 4' o.t COLUMBIA PICTURES nl A FRANKOVICH PRODUCTION WITH LEONID HAMBRO NATALIE WOOD ROBERT CULP BOB CAROL A TED ALICE I ELLIOTT GOULD DYAN CANNON 1 1 PRICES: $5.00, $4.00, $3.00, $2.50 MAIL ORDERS TO: Famous P0 Box Atlanta 30309. TICKETS ON SALE: RICH'S, DAVISON'S, JIM SALLE'S RECORD SHOP, tlLtK 5 NEWS CENTER (Forest Pk)..