Video Beaverhausen: Andy Warhol's Bad

Aging sex goddess Carroll Baker stars in Andy Warhol's Bad along with the late Susan Tyrell and Perry King.

Carroll famously portrayed Jean Harlow in the film, Harlow, and had a major role in The Carpetbaggers and a long career on the silver screen. In Bad, she's slumming but apparently game and having a grand time of it.

Bad was released in 1977 and directed with flash by Jed Johnson, wisely keeping the camp sensibility at simmer. It was only three years after John Waters' Female Trouble and, in this Warhol production, Ms Baker runs an all-girl crime ring. Shelley Winters was originally offered the Carroll Baker role but, strangely, it was probably the only thing she ever turned down in her life!

Just as well as Winters would have chewed up the scenery whereas Ms Baker gives a more mannered performance. She gets a lot of mileage when she shakes out a fur before hanging it back in her closet.

The girls in Bad are hit women so, of course, their murderous intent makes the crimes less light-hearted and more dark and violent.

I recently saw John Waters at City Winery. During the audience Q&A, Waters discussed the influence Warhol had on his work and the debt he owed him. In Bad, Warhol repays the debt and proves imitation is the highest form of flattery. This nearly forgotten trash classic is now available on dvd and available at Amazon.com

John Waters Speaks, on Gay Pride Eve

Tonight was the second of John Waters' two shows at NYC's City Winery. It seemed the perfect entertainment for Gay Pride Eve.

Director Waters (no relation to Crystal or Ethel) is a great monologist who can beguile a crowd, generating spontaneous laughter and applause, simply by talking for a full 90 minutes followed by a generous Q & A.

He appeared in a fire-engine red suit, red sneakers, a white shirt and black tie to discuss his favorite obsessions: bouffants, bears (the gay kind), kinky sex, Baltimore, gay marriage, movies that are in exquisitely questionable taste (his own and by others), Justin Bieber, Chaz Bono and Pia Zadora. He also praised actress Mink Stole, part of his repertoire, for her singing (favorably comparing her to Julie London) as well as John Travolta as Edna Turnblad in the movie musical "Hairspray," and said the scariest person he ever worked with was Susan Tyrell.

Waters' performance was well scripted and beautifully rendered to a full house of fans. There seemed to be no stage direction, however, as Mr Waters positioned himself too often where he could only be partially seen by various parts of the audience.

John Waters has been described as a "raconteur." But he is much more than that. He is a full-fledged comic with a famously offbeat sense of humor that hep audiences can really dig. His show is a true, modern happening. And what better groove to be into, in NYC, on the night before Pride?

My friends from Connecticut were wild about the act (as was I) and about the chic yet warm ambiance of City Winery. Afterwards, we moved on to a roadhouse-styled Prince St. bar, across the street from my first NYC apartment. (Tub in the kitchen.) At the bar, we grandly entertained ourselves. Gay Pride weekend kicked off in high style and a euphoria of good feelings.

Have a happy to all!

Below, Mink Stole sings "Female Trouble" live: