The Styrous® Viewfinder: Pillow

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October 6, 2022

Ginny Parsons curtain call @ the K Gallery

Ginny Parsons will be hosting, once more for the last time, the Drawn, Quartered, Repurposed exhibition this Saturday, October 8, 2022, from 1 to 3 PM. Drawn, Quartered, Repurposed is showing at the K Gallery until October 28, 2022.

Last weekend while she was "in charge" of the gallery, we got a chance to visit. We had a GREAT time. My friend Pillow (link below) from Alaska was here as well as our friends, Betty Jo Costanzo and Patrick Dwyer from Seattle. BJ and Patrick came to see the Minoo Hamzavi event at the Gray Loft Gallery (link below). Both Minno and Jan Watten came as well. WHAT FUN we had!

photos below

Tom White will take over on the last weekend the exhibition is open: Saturday, October 15, from from 1 to 3 PM. Just like Ginny, he's more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Drawn, Quartered, Repurposed features the imaginative and innovative work of Ginny Parsons and Tom White.

Ginny is presenting her Bike series on one side of the gallery . . .

Ginny Parsons ~ Bike series

photo by Styrous®

. . . while Tom is showing his new work, Drawn & Quartered, on the opposite side of the gallery.

Tom White ~ Drawn & Quartered - 2022

photos by Styrous®

except where noted

Ginny with her sister, Marty, who's WAY cool!!!

Betty Jo Costanzo & Patrick Dwyer

Patrick Dwyer & Pillow

Pillow, Tom White & Betty Jo Costanzo

above & below

Minoo Hamzavi

The stars of the exhibition, Ginny & Tom!

And the The Gang all together . . .

photo by Marty Parsons

So, have a gabfest with Ginny; you'll have a great time!

K Gallery

Rhythmix Cultural Works

2513 Blanding

Alameda, CA 94501

510.865.5060

Viewfinder links:

Betty Jo Costanzo

Drawn & Quartered

Drawn, Quartered, Repurposed articles

Patrick Dwyer
K Gallery

Minoo Hamzavi

Ginny Parsons

Pillow (She-Beast)

Rhythmix Cultural Works

Jan Watten
Tom White

Net links:

K Gallery

Ginny Parsons

Rhythmix Cultural Works

Jan Watten

Tom White

Styrous® ~ Thursday, October 6, 2022

Art/Exhibitions
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August 29, 2021

Beemer Memory 35 ~ Carol Doda, the Condor Club & a hungry i

Carol Doda - 1965

photographer unknown

Today is the birthday of one of the greatest legends of San Francisco, Carol Doda who made international news, in 1964, first by dancing topless at the Condor Club, then by enhancing her bust from size 34 to 44 through silicone injections. Her breasts became known as Doda's "twin 44s" and "the new Twin Peaks of San Francisco". According to the NY Times, her bust was said to have been insured for $1.5 million.

Carol Doda & her "twin 44s"
photo: Jack Smith/NY Daily News

Capitalizing on her silicone injected breasts, she appeared in the 1968 film, Head, a satirical musical adventure film written and produced by Jack Nicholson (the actor) and Bob Rafelson, starring the television rock group the Monkees (Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith). She appeared as Sally Silicone. How appropriates is that?

Early in my motorcycle days I danced with Pillow at the hungry i on Broadway in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco for two years and they were the most intense and gratifying years of my life in so many ways.

One of them was we (Pillow & I) were friends with Carol Doda who was a terrific person, kind and generous to everyone but ready to set anyone right if they crossed her and a great sense of humor. I remember between our sets (we performed 7 sets each night) walking up the block from the "i" to the Condor to watch her in her performance and a couple of times having enough time between sets, hers and ours, to visit; boy did SHE have stories to tell.

In addition to her sizable bust line, she was famous for her various trials and a death involving of one of the girls at the Condor Club (link below).

On April 22, 1965 Doda was arrested along with Pete Mattioli and Gino del Prete, owners of the Condor Club. They were cleared when two judges instructed not-guilty verdicts. Judge Friedman's memorandum to opposing attorneys reads, "Whether acts ... are lewd and dissolute depends not on any individual's interpretation or personal opinion, but on the consensus of the entire community ...".

Carol Doda - 1965
photographer unknown

Both Doda and del Prete were arrested several times during police raids of the Condor to stop "bare-bosom" shows in North Beach.

In 1969, over the objection of the deputy district attorney, Carol Doda danced naked during a Sacramento indecency trial over “bottomless” dancing at the Pink Pussy Kat in Orangevale, California. The judge moved the venue from the courtroom to the Chuck Landis Largo club; there Doda performed to live song and dance numbers, along with a movie titled Guru You. The trial at the Northern California beer bar exploded into national headlines after Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided that the jury needed to see the dancer "Do the Dance."

A feature-length documentary film, "Do the Dance" explores the wild and impactful 1969 indecency trial to tell a broader story about the limits of sexual expression 50 years later. The film is slated for a 2019 release.

Chris Macias, art critic:

"During the freewheeling Summer of Love, one bottomless dancer [Doda] went to the top of the witness stand in a trial that tested the limits of free expression. 50 years later, in the midst of celebrity nude selfies and a burlesque revival, this unforgettable court case continues to shape our culture of sexual expression."

A song written by Growwler in tribute to San Francisco dancer Carol Doda was recorded at the Great American Music Hall with the Red Beans & Rice horns on March 12, 2015 (link below); they've done better.

There is a 14 minute video of an interview of Doda and the Topless Band on YouTube (link bleow); there is no audio at the first minute and a half, so, be patient.

Doda was a San Francisco native, born in Solano County on August 29, 1937. According to performer Joe Wawrzyniak, at the age of 14, Doda dropped out of school and began working as a cocktail waitress. While she was attending school at the San Francisco Art Institute she began working as a waitress and entertainer at the Condor Club in North Beach to pay her bills.

In the summer of 1964, Doda began her performance career with her first topless show, and remained an “American cultural sex icon of the 1960s,” according to Wawrzyniak. At the peak of her career, Doda was performing 12 shows each night at the Condor Club, and began performing nude until the early 1970s when the city passed a law prohibiting nude performances in venues that served alcohol.

On November 9, 2015, Doda died from lung and kidney failure complications at St. Luke's Hospital (now the California Pacific Medical Center) in San Francisco, California. Doda said she was never married.

Viewfinder links:

The Condor Club, Carol Doda, her piano & Theresa Hill

Carol Doda (interview)

Hungry i articles

The Monkees

The Monkees ~ Head & Davy Jones

Jack Nicholson

Pillow (She-Beast)

Styrous®

Net links:

Do the Dance

Joe Content ~ Carol Doda: North Beach’s Most Famous Daughter

NY Times ~ Carol Doda, Pioneer of Topless, Dies at 78

SFiST ~ Do the Dance

SF News ~ Legendary Stripper Carol Doda Dies At 78

YouTube links:

AP Archives ~ Topless band & Doda interviewed

Do the Dance movie trailer

Carol Doda ~

Carol Doda ~ Do the Dance (interview)

All of Me

Growwler ~ Queenie Pie (Song for Carol Doda)

Judge Earl Warren Jr. Makes National News in 1969

"The only way I'll stop performing

is when I can't walk anymore, honey."

~ Carol Doda

Styrous® ~ Sunday, August 29, 2021

~
Beemer Memories
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January 1, 2021

Beemer memory 32: Biker days, Enrico Banducci & a hungri i

The hungry i

date & photographer unknown

About this time every year I remember January of 1980, the last days of my dancing career at the hungry i nightclub on Broadway in San Francisco, more about this below.

When the hungry i opened in 1950 it played a major role in the history of stand-up comedy and music in the US. It was launched by Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, who sold it to Enrico Banducci in 1951; Banducci also owned Finocchio's Club, an upscale nightclub where famous people, movie and stage celebrities, politicians, etc., came to see the drag shows staged there.

Enrico Banducci - 1969

photographer unknown

In its heyday the hungry i featured comedy and folk and other music, with acts such as Maya Angelou (as a Caribbean singer, early in her career), Woody Allen, Malcolm Boyd, Lenny Bruce, Godfrey Cambridge, Dick Cavett, Professor Irwin Corey, Bill Cosby, the Gateway Singers, Vince Guaraldi, The Kingston Trio, Tom Lehrer, The Limeliters, John Phillips (of The Mamas & the Papas led the house band), The Journeymen), Mort Sahl, Ronnie Schell, Barbara Streisand, Jackie Vernon, We Five, Jonathan Winters, and Glenn Yarborough, among others.

A young Barbra Streisand begged Banducci for a single night at his nightclub, insisting that she would soon be a huge star. Banducci agreed to sign the singer, who had never performed professionally but was soon starring in I Can Get It for You Wholesale on Broadway. The resulting concerts (March–April 1963) were well-attended, giving Streisand nationwide acclaim.

The hungry i moved to Ghiradelli Square in 1967, where it was primarily a rock venue; it closed there in 1970. When it opened in a new location at 546 Broadway at the corner of Romolo Place in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, it became a strip club.

It would be six or so years later, during my early biker days, that I found myself dancing there. It's hard to believe this was over forty years ago.

The hungry i is where I danced with Pillow, long past its glory days, it became our home base. But we also danced at the Roaring Twenties (where the first of the Dirty Harry series with Clint Eastwood was filmed), Big Al's, the Mabuhay Gardens (when punk bands weren't performing) The Garden of Eden and the On Broadway on the corner of Columbus and Broadway.

I will never forget my time at the hungry i as it was an intrinsic part of my early biker days; I have so many wonderful tales from those days (link below); some I can and will retell; others I cannot and will not. I miss those days but their memories bring me great joy!

The hungry i is still there. The barkers are still hawking on the sidewalk in front and the girls are still doing their thing inside.

Viewfinder links:

Joan Baez

Lenny Bruce

Ace Cannon

Bill Cosby

Clint Eastwood

hungry i articles

The Kingston Trio

The Mamas & the Papas

John Phillips
Pillow (She-Beast)

Barbra Streisand
Styrous®

Jonathan Winters

Net links:

MisterSF ~ Farewell Favorites: hungry i


YouTube links:

Hungry i Club, San Francisco - Video Tour

“Life moves on but memories linger.“
~ Styrous®

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, Jamuary 1, 2021

Beemer Memories
Main Menu ~ blog articles

Jonathan Winters articles/mentions

Juanita's Galley
Leatherneck, Pillow, a hungry i

Jonathan Winters

photographer unknown

~
Theater/performance people

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~

November 29, 2020

David Prowse, the greatest villain of all time, died yesterday

David Prowse, Henleaze Lake - 1962

photographer unknown

I have felt a connection with David Prowse for the last forty years or so as I portrayed the character he created when I was dancing with Pillow in the Love Act at the Hungry i on Broadway in the late seventies (link below). So, I was shocked and saddened to hear of his death. It is the "Immortal Loves" syndrome in action (link below).

He was born on July 1, 1935, brought up on the Southmead housing estate in Bristol. Prowse was tall, standing 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m). He was a bodybuilder, weightlifter and character actor in British film and television. Worldwide, he was best known for physically portraying Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (with the character's voice being performed by James Earl Jones); in 2015, he starred in a documentary concerning that role, entitled I Am Your Father, a 2015 Spanish documentary film written and directed by Toni Bestard (es) and Marcos Cabotá (es). The film deals with actor David Prowse many years after he played the role of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. In this documentary, the directors find some clues about the difficult relationship between Prowse and Lucasfilm, suggesting that the reason for their differences was an article published by a British newspaper during the shooting of Return of the Jedi.

I Am Your Father poster

Prior to his role as Vader, Prowse had established himself as a prominent figure in the UK as the first Green Cross Code man, a character used in road safety public information aimed at children.

David Prowse as Green Cross Code man

date & photographer unknown

Health and fitness remained an interest for Prowse, who also worked as a personal trainer for actors playing the role of Superman, including Christopher Reeve, and wrote a book called Fitness is Fun. He published an autobiography, Straight from the Force's Mouth, in 2011.