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Mondo
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Finally,
the inevitable question–why big breasts? Where did this mega-mammary
obsession come from?
"Al
Capp is the man who is responsible for that," says Meyer. "Lil’
Abner. All the women were drawn with large breasts–except for
Grandma, of course. The men were muscular and stupid, which kind of works
in my films. As a tad of 14 years of age, I used to draw his cartoons–but
make the tits bigger."
Later,
entranced by the strippers in burlesque shows, his fixation took root.
Too shy to act on his impulses, it wasn’t until after his four years
in the Army during World War II that he found the chutzpah to realize
his desires. Eventually, of course, he combined this fetish with business
and became a pinup photographer. Together with his wife, model, and business
partner Eve, he created an empire based on glorifying the female breast.
These
days, even well past retirement age, he continues to pursue his passions.
When he’s not shooting spreads for Playboy or Japanese fashion
magazines ("They’re really into these big ladies"), he’s
overseeing his film empire. He sells all his films on videotape at his
own web page, www.rmfilms.com, which also features such products as Faster,
Pussycat! T-shirts. Recent film projects include two short-subjects
for his video catalog, one featuring Pandora Peaks and the other his fiancee,
Melissa Mounds– "Both spectacular women!"
And
finally, he is about to release his much-delayed, three-volume autobiography,
A Clean Breast–The Life and Loves of Russ Meyer. "I’m
in the process of driving a man down into the earth like a tent peg, a
bad guy who has held it up," he says. (It is now available for $150
at his official website.)
"The
title was given to the work by Roger Ebert, who’s been a close confederate
of mine through the years. Pretty good. It’s got 2,500 photographs.
It’s a fuck and tell book–it’s not a kiss and tell. It’s
very, very strong. It’s three volumes. And it’s good, very good."
With
all his ongoing projects, Meyer says he’s too busy to take note of
other films–not even bizarre, Meyer-esque productions such as the
breast-filled Showgirls.
"No,
I won’t see that," he says staunchly, committed to the end,
"because the girls are built like ironing boards. If Meyer made it,
they would all be casting long shadows."
Originally
Published: September 28, 1995
•Metro
Pulse
PAGE
1, 2, 3
Related
Websites:
rmfilms.com
• This is Russ Meyer's own web commerce site. You'll
find all his movies for sale here, though the
prices are high and everything's on VHS. But check
those soundtrack LPs!
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