Pre-Code Hollywood

[Heisuke]

Originally Posted by Lotfw

putting this out there to other fans of these old movies....

Many Years ago I watched a movie on Pbs about a stripper. I could swear it was dixie lee but Im finding no record of the name. It was a b+w movie following the life of this stripper. Not a documentary but I guess fictional story about the main character. She starts out in tableau scenes nude on stage and becomes a stripper. Not much to go on but please keep a look out for me. Thanks!

I remember seeing a docu-drama on PBS, long, long ago that might be the one you're thinking of. It was called The One and Only Phyllis Dixey and starred Lesley-Anne Down.

[Lotfw]

Edit: Thats got to be who the movie was about or a fictional version. Thanks Heisuke not sure why I never put that together!

Thanks I know that one..this pre-dated that era but my young age and fuzzy memory couldnt really say if it was 1930s 40s 50s or 60s... the nudity I saw made me thinks it was pre40s or post 50s

Originally Posted by Heisuke

I remember seeing a docu-drama on PBS, long, long ago that might be the one you're thinking of. It was called The One and Only Phyllis Dixey and starred Lesley-Anne Down.

[lonmol]

Deluge. A special effects heavy disaster film from 1933 (the destruction of NYC is quite spectacular)...oh yeah, the beautiful Peggy Shannon spends a good portion of the film in her underwear. Sadly, she died of a heart attack at the age of 34.

[Bounci]

Originally Posted by lonmol

Deluge. A special effects heavy disaster film from 1933 (the destruction of NYC is quite spectacular)...oh yeah, the beautiful Peggy Shannon spends a good portion of the film in her underwear. Sadly, she died of a heart attack at the age of 34.

I hate to be critical with such lovely photos on show, but you seem to of forgotten the video that goes with it.

My own videos (there are two of them in separate posts) are from the Eddie Cantor film Roman Scandals from 1933. It's a great film from a star rarely shown on TV nowadays, and sees Cantor somehow end up back in Roman days. It also has nudity and see through costumes, and in this video it has the slave auction scene, where slave girls (played by Goldwyn Girls, including Paulette Goddard, Lucille Ball and Barbara Pepper) are naked and chained up, with only their wigs to spare them their modesty. It also has one slave girl stripped by her captors as they eye her up to be auctioned off. She's not happy about her purchaser, I can tell you! I've uploaded this separate to the other video, as that contains clips of the 'established' actresses who wear more than revealing costumes. Besides, trying to limit screenshots for this to nine is hard enough already, and I thought you'd like to see the pictures as well as the video. Have fun trying to spot Paulette and Lucille among the slave girls!

[lonmol]

Originally Posted by Bounci

I hate to be critical with such lovely photos on show, but you seem to of forgotten the video that goes with it.

My own videos (there are two of them in separate posts) are from the Eddie Cantor film Roman Scandals from 1933. It's a great film from a star rarely shown on TV nowadays, and sees Cantor somehow end up back in Roman days. It also has nudity and see through costumes, and in this video it has the slave auction scene, where slave girls (played by Goldwyn Girls, including Paulette Goddard, Lucille Ball and Barbara Pepper) are naked and chained up, with only their wigs to spare them their modesty. It also has one slave girl stripped by her captors as they eye her up to be auctioned off. She's not happy about her purchaser, I can tell you! I've uploaded this separate to the other video, as that contains clips of the 'established' actresses who wear more than revealing costumes. Besides, trying to limit screenshots for this to nine is hard enough already, and I thought you'd like to see the pictures as well as the video. Have fun trying to spot Paulette and Lucille among the slave girls!

No I didn't. You can find the entire movie on YouTube, but it would take me all day to upload a clip, if I could get it to post at all (very slow internet connection).

[Bounci]

This 2nd video from Roman Scandals concerns a couple of the mainstream actresses who appear in this film. They are Verree Teasdale and the more famous Gloria Stuart (The Old Dark House, Titanic, etc). First up is Verree Teasdale, whose entire costume consists of one shear fabric dress. She plays the villainous Agrippina, and throughout the film she is practically topless! If fans of her back then ever wanted to know what she looked like naked, they'd only need to watch this movie! I've included two of her main scenes that best show off her 'talents', as including all her scenes would take too much time - though what enjoyable time it would be!

The 2nd is Gloria Stuart, who plays the heroine here, and who Eddie Cantor finds in the bathhouse spa (under disguise in a mud pack, posing as a slave). In that scene her top is see through, leaving a little more on show than I imagine she thought she would! And on the end of the video is a clip of a spa girl when Cantor enters the spa, as you can clearly see her breasts underneath the sheer fabric she is wrapping herself in. I haven't included the "Keep Young and Beautiful" scene from this, by the way, as having checked through it you don't actually get to see any flesh. Instead, just content yourself with watching established actresses as you would never of imagined seeing them back in those days. Enjoy.

[Bounci]

Originally Posted by lonmol

No I didn't. You can find the entire movie on YouTube, but it would take me all day to upload a clip, if I could get it to post at all (very slow internet connection).

Yes, I know what you mean. Some days can be better than others, other days a nightmare. I shall see if I can get an unmarked clip of it and upload it later.

[Bounci]

Originally Posted by lonmol

Deluge. A special effects heavy disaster film from 1933 (the destruction of NYC is quite spectacular)...oh yeah, the beautiful Peggy Shannon spends a good portion of the film in her underwear. Sadly, she died of a heart attack at the age of 34.

Apologies for the delay, but the film itself on You tube took over 3hrs 30mins to save, before I could then edit it into a video on here. This is the video to go with the photos, with a couple more pics for you all. Peggy Shannon played a swimmer found on shore after a flooding disaster hits the city and carried into the hut of two randy hicks, each of whom want their wicked way with her. She escapes and decides to swim for safety, and what's intriguing for a film this age is that she chooses to take off her bra before getting into the water. Don't believe me? Check out when she is then found by another chap who discovers her on the beach - it's clear she's not wearing a bra. I've zoomed as best I can the moment she takes that bra off, but the quality ain't great. Peggy was a Ziegfeld Girl before she got into acting, and like so many did nude modelling. I've included a few pics of that to go with the video to aid your enjoyment.

[Bounci]

This brief little clip comes from the film Forsaking All Others from 1934, starring Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and Frances Drake - who is best remembered as the object of Peter Lorre's desires in the film Mad Love (1935). It is Drake who features in this party scene, where it becomes very clear that under that dress of hers Miss Drake is not wearing any underwear! Her bottom can be clearly seen through the dress, which is quite surprising in a film of this age. But it seems in Pre-Code Hollywood anything goes, and in Miss Drake's case it was her knickers! As for the rest of Frances' career, her other notable roles included Les Miserables (1935) and It's a Wonderful World (1939) before marriage to the 20th Earl of Suffolk saw her career end, as he disapproved of her acting. Boo! She died in 2000 in her 88th year.

[osreb]

pics only

I did look back at all previous post, pardon any repost

1. Faye Raye in KIng Kong
2. another Kong pic?
3. Barbara Stanwyck in NIgh Nurses
4. Doris McMahon in Hips, Hips, Hooray
5. Racheal Brice
6. Carol Lumbard
7. unknown