A VERY GUILTY PLEASURE! by Dave Goode

A VERY GUILTY PLEASURE! by Dave Goode

One of my favorite Grade Z "guilty pleasures" is SHE DEMONS (1958). Starring Irish Mc Calla, Todd Griffin, Victor Sen Yung, Rudolph Anders, Gene Roth, and the Diane Nellis Dancers this is a fun little time killer that I first caught on television during a rain-out theater.

Produced by Arthur A. Jacobs and Marc Frederic ,the flick was directed by Richard Cunha who co-wrote the story with H. E. Barrie. The 77 minute movie made for an estimated 65,000 dollars was the stuff of men's sweat magazines. Or with the story's sci-fi/horror slant it could have come from a 40s pulp magazine.

During a hurricane a pleasure yacht is shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island populated by beautiful women (the Diane Nellis Dancers) who periodically change into deformed monsters.

The results of experiments conducted by mad scientist and Nazi war criminal Col. Karl Osler (Rudolph Anders). The stock survivors of the shipwreck beautiful spoiled rich girl  Jerrie Turner (Irish Mc Calla), wooden hero Fred Maklin (Tod Griffin), and ethnic comic relief sidekick Sammy Ching (Victor Sen Yung) struggle against Col. Osler, his Nazi minions and the "She Demons".

The movie is a lot of fun. especially for a preteen who was a reader of comics and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Over the years this flick has gained a cult status. But over the years I've also started to think how this low-budget movie production would have made a great vehicle for Steve Holland and Eva Lynd who posed as the hero and heroine on numerous men's sweat mag covers.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

NOW...DIM THE LIGHTS.....IT'S SHOWTIME!!

 1950s TV sci-fi hero returns in a brand new 92 page graphic novel by Vance Capley...read more here: https://captainzro.blogspot.com/

Jungle Girls You Might Not Have Heard Of by Dave Goode

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the most successful of the Tarzan imitations that showed up in comic books wasn't another majestically muscled man in a leopard-skin. Nope. The most popular of Tarzan's four-color imitators was Sheena , Queen of the Jungle who inspired a number of her own imitators and a popular television series in the 1950s. The television series starred statuesque Irish McCalla a stunning nearly six foot tall model with a 37- 24 - 35 figure who was born to play the role of the jungle queen. But there were a few other jungle girls that comic book fans may not be aware of.

The " jungle girl " was a popular gimmick used by old time ecdysiasts. Collecting burlesque memorabilia I have found publicity pics of a number of strip queens like Tempest Storm and Blaze Starr wearing animal print costumes and abbreviated sarongs. The acts consisted of the ladies doing pagan dances that you might find in a Dorothy Lamour or Esther Williams movie. Only more so.

And there were even some gorilla and girl acts. Legendary cabaret dancer Yolando Montes and movie star a.k.a Tongalele played a voodoo priestess in the camp horror flick Isle Of The Snake People.

My favorite all-time exotic dancer Lilly " The Cat-Girl " Christine would have been a great jungle girl. Born Martha Theresa Pompender in Dunkirk , New York on December 17 , 1923 and began her career as an exotic dancer in 1948. She would die tragically young of peritonitis in 1965. Throughout her career Christine appeared on the covers and in the pages of the popular men's magazines of the day. With her 5' 7" 37c - 22 - 35  figure she was a popular subject for pin-up photographers. Lilly's signature routine was something called the " Voodoo Love Potion Dance ". And by the way a young bodybuilder named Lou Degni would get his start in show business working in Christine's act. Later Degni would change his name to Mark Forest and become one of the more popular of the sinew & sandal movie stars playing Maciste.

In the late 1940s Lilly Christine was rumored to be considered to star in a Sheena , Queen of the Jungle series of films produced by Sol Lesser. Lesser of course had been the producer of a number of the Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller , Lex Barker and Gordon Scott. It was also rumored that she was considered for the part of Sheena on the television series that went to Irish McCalla.

Other actresses that were in the running were Anita Ekberg and Debra Paget. I can easily imagine the Amazonian Ekberg in the role. But the stunning Debra Paget was 5' 2" . A 5' 2" Sheena? Forget about it.

And now for your entertainment pleasure, Miss Ginger Snaps!

Want more comic book fun? Visit the store and grab books galore!

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/VanceCapley

Eva Lynd..The Girl on the Sweat Mag Cover by Dave Goode

Born Eva Von Fielitz on Sept.2,1937 in Orgyte,Sweden,Lynd posed for glamour girl pin-up pics and appeared as eye-candy on television shows and in movies. She was best known however for her appearances on the covers of "men's sweat magazines". She was a favorite model of Norm Eastman,Al Rossi and Bruce Minney. She was recognizable as the lingerie-clad victims of Nazi brutality. Other times she'd be a sexy resistance fighter battling alongside American GIs and British commandos. And on still other occasions she was the SS She-Wolf torturing a captured P.O.W. If there was more than one woman in the scene look carefully. Chances are it was Eva with different hair coloring.

I was watching the camp classic

SHE DEMONS again the other day and was struck by how

much the story resembled something

out of a sweat mag. Only with more of a sci-fi/horror bent. 

Then I began to imagine

this flick starring Eva Lynd

and Steve Holland instead

of Irish McCalla and Todd Griffin.

Hmmm. Irish McCalla might have

made a good model for Pat Savage

as well. Tarzan actors like Buster

Crabbe, Herman Brix, Lex Barker

would have been great

portraying Doc Savage. Heck

TV's Tarzan of the 1960s Ron Ely

actually did play Doc in a

70s flick.So it's not hard to

imagine McCalla, the definitive

Sheena Queen of the Jungle

portraying Pat Savage..

the Girl of Bronze.

Written by Dave Goode

Layout and graphics by

Vance Capley