Doris Wishman (b. June 1, 1912, New York City - d. Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting The City of New York August 10, 2002, Miami, Florida) was an American film director, screenwriter and independent film producer. Events 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. Screenwriters or scenarists are Scriptwriters who write the Screenplays from which Films and Television programs are made A film producer is a person who creates the conditions for making movies.
Self-taught as a filmmaker, Wishman is noteworthy for her paracinematic, camp aesthetic and is often referred to as "the female Ed Wood. Ed Wood redirects here For the film see Ed Wood (film, and for the former British Foreign Secretary see E " The majority of her work was designed to be released in the American sexploitation film market of the 1960s and '70s. Sexploitation or "sex-exploitation" describe a class of independently produced Low budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as Wishman is also one of the most prolific women film directors in the history of the cinema and in recent years has become the object of a cult following. A cult film is a Film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans.
Contents |
1960-1964 Nudist period
Wishman completed eight nudist features between 1960 and 1964. Blaze Starr Goes Nudist (1962) featured legendary burlesque queen Blaze Starr. Burlesque is theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor which usually consists of comic skits (and sometimes a strip tease) The phrase "Blaze Star" was sometimes used for the Recurring nova T Coronae Borealis Blaze Starr (born 1932 is a former Other titles include Hideout in the Sun (1960), Diary of a Nudist (1961), Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls (1962), Playgirls International (1963), Behind the Nudist Curtain (1963), and The Prince and the Nature Girl (1964).
The most bizarre of Wishman's nudist features was 1961 Nude on the Moon, an attempt to combine traditional nudist material with a science fiction plot-line. Naturism or nudism is a cultural and Political movement advocating and defending social Nudity in private and in public. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nude on the Moon is a 1961 Sexploitation film co-written and co-directed by Doris Wishman and Raymond Phelan under the shared pseudonyms Wishman abandoned the nudist genre once it had lost its commercial viability. Naturism or nudism is a cultural and Political movement advocating and defending social Nudity in private and in public.
1965-1970 Sexploitation
During the mid-1960s, Wishman began working within the sexploitation genre. Sexploitation or "sex-exploitation" describe a class of independently produced Low budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as Several of Wishman's films of this period were directed under the pseudonym "Louis Silverman", the name of her second husband (otherwise uninvolved in the films' production).
Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) is one of Wishman's best-known films and includes many elements found commonly in sexploitation movies of the period. Bad Girls Go to Hell is an American 1965 Sexploitation film written produced and directed by Doris Wishman. The main character is a young woman who runs away to the big city (in this case, after accidentally killing a man who tries to rape her). She soon stumbles into a variety of sexually compromising and abusive situations. Though archetypal in its use of genre situations, Wishman's empathy for her female protagonist in Bad Girls Go to Hell has been interpreted by some observers as proto-feminist. An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story. Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Bad Girls Go to Hell was also one of the earliest collaborations between Wishman and cinematographer C. Davis Smith, who worked closely with Wishman on much of her output during the 1960s and '70s, and who would subsequently serve as director of photography on Wishman's final, posthumously completed feature, Each Time I Kill. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Each Time I Kill was the final film written and directed by Doris Wishman.
Other films from Wishman's sexploitation period include The Sex Perils of Paulette (1965), Another Day, Another Man (1966), My Brother's Wife (1966), A Taste of Her Flesh (1967), Indecent Desires (1967), and Too Much Too Often! (1968). Sexploitation or "sex-exploitation" describe a class of independently produced Low budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as All are shot in black and white. Black-and-white is a number of Monochrome forms in Visual arts. Two subsequent features, Love Toy (1968) and The Amazing Transplant (1970), are shot in color and are closer in substance to the burgeoning soft-core genre. Softcore (or soft porn) is a form of Pornography, either video or nude Glamour photography, that is less explicit than hardcore material
Wishman is also credited with having dubbed two imported Greek-produced features, The Hot Month of August and Passion Fever, during the late 1960s and is credited with the direction of their American release versions.
1971-1983
During the 1970s, Wishman experimented with a variety of genres and genre mixes. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Keyholes Are for Peeping (1972) is a sex comedy featuring comedian Sammy Petrillo. Sex comedy is a term for comedy movies with sexual content usually referring to those made in Britain in the mid 1970s. Sammy Petrillo (born October 24 1934 is a nightclub and movie comedian Deadly Weapons (1973) and Double Agent 73 (1974) are thrillers featuring strip-tease performer Chesty Morgan, renowned for her 73-inch bust. Deadly Weapons is a 1974 movie Melodrama directed by Doris Wishman, starring Striptease performer Chesty Morgan. is a 1974 movie Melodrama directed by Doris Wishman, starring Chesty Morgan, although her voice was dubbed due to her thick The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. A striptease or Exotic dance is a form of erotic entertainment usually a Dance, in which the performer known as a "stripper" gradually undresses Chesty Morgan is a Polish-born artist best known for her very large natural breasts that were highlighted in two campy Sexploitation films of director Wishman's Chesty Morgan films are among her best known and most popular titles and are celebrated for their camp aesthetic. During the mid-1970s, Wishman also directed at least two explicit hardcore pornographic films. Hardcore pornography is a form of Pornography that features explicit sexual acts. Satan Was a Lady (1975) and Come with Me, My Love (1976), both featuring performance artist and porn star Annie Sprinkle. This article is about Performance art For other uses see Performance (disambiguation A pornographic actor/actress or a porn star is somebody who appears in Pornographic films or Photographs, live Sex shows or Annie M Sprinkle (born Ellen F Steinberg on July 23, 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is a former
Although initiated in 1971, Wishman's 1978 feature, Let Me Die a Woman (1978) is a semi-documentary about transsexuality. Let Me Die a Woman is a 1978 Documentary film by Exploitation film director Doris Wishman. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt in one fashion or another to " Document " reality Transsexualism is a condition in which a person identifies with a physical Sex different from the one with which they were born In addition to examining the condition of numerous, actual transgendered individuals, the film also features a considerable number of dramatized scenes, including a cameo by future porn legend Harry Reems (as "Tim Long"). Transgender (trænzˈdʒɛndɚ from ( Latin) derivatives Harry Reems is the stage name of one of the best-known Porn stars of the 1970s
Noticing the trend toward slasher movies in the late 1970s, Wishman ventured into the horror genre with a feature entitled A Night to Dismember, completed circa 1983. The slasher film (sometimes referred to as bodycount films and dead teenager movies) is a Sub-genre Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Noteworthy for its crazy-quilt construction, the film failed commercially, effectively forcing Wishman into retirement.
Rediscovery/Death
Due in large part to her increasing cult status during the 1990s, Wishman managed to complete three additional features late in life: a sex comedy entitled Dildo Heaven (2002), a neo-sexploitation feature entitled Satan Was a Lady (not to be confused with her 1975 hardcore film of the same title), and Each Time I Kill, a teen horror thriller shot in the Miami area. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice Sex comedy is a term for comedy movies with sexual content usually referring to those made in Britain in the mid 1970s. Sexploitation or "sex-exploitation" describe a class of independently produced Low budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as Hardcore pornography is a form of Pornography that features explicit sexual acts. Each Time I Kill was the final film written and directed by Doris Wishman. Wishman completed principal photography on the previous film only six weeks before succumbing to lymphoma in August 2002, aged 90. Lymphoma a type of Neoplasm that originates in Lymphocytes (a type of White blood cell in the vertebrate Immune system) The film was later completed by the project's executive producer and has screened at various film festivals. A film festival is the presentation or showcasing of Films in one or more Movie theaters or screening venues
In 2000, Wishman was featured alongside exploitation icons Roger Corman and David F. Friedman in the documentary SCHLOCK! The Secret History of American Movies, a film about the rise and fall of the American exploitation cinema. Roger William Corman (born April 5 1926) sometimes nicknamed "King of the Bs" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this as inaccurate David F Friedman (born December 24, 1923) is an American Filmmaker and Film producer from Birmingham Alabama. Excerpts from her interview for this film also appear on the 2007 DVD issue of Wishman's first film Hideout in the Sun. During her later years, Wishman was also interviewed on National Public Radio's Fresh Air program, was twice a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and was the subject of retrospectives at the Harvard Film Archive and the New York Underground Film Festival. Fresh Air is a Radio talk show hosted by Terry Gross, broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an Emmy Award -winning American late-night Talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien on NBC The Harvard Film Archive (HFA is a Film archive devoted to cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University Founded in 1994 by filmmakers Todd Phillips (Road Trip Old School and Andrew Gurland the New York Underground Film Festival occurs each March at Anthology Film Archives
Biographer
Her biographer, Michael Bowen, has been working for several years to gather information about her career.
References
- RE/Search No. 10: Incredibly Strange Films RE/Search Publications 1986, ISBN 0-940642-09-3
- "SCHLOCK! The Secret History of American Movies" Protagonist Productions/Pathfinder Pictures Ent 2003, ASIN: B0000DC13D
External links
- Doris Wishman at the Internet Movie Database
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- "Better Than Sex: The Story of Doris Wishman"
- "Doris Wishman on Razor Reel"
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic