Lisa Petrucci: The Mr. Skin Interview

How has the world of sexploitation cinema influenced your paintings (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8)?
Well, I initially discovered vintage sexploitation films around the same time I began collecting pin-up art and girlie magazines. It was 1990 and I was living in New York City, just a block away from Kim's Video. I've always been interested in horror and exploitation. I was definitely a child of the drive-in. My mother and her boyfriend would stick me in the back seat while they went to see movies like Night of the Living Dead, The Undertaker and His Pals, The Corpse Grinders and various other films that were totally inappropriate for a child to see. So I've always had a fascination with bad movies. Around that time I started renting a lot of Something Weird videos. I was immediately enamored with Doris Wishman and Michael and Roberta Findlay. I must have watched every SW Kim's Video had. I've always used female models in my art, but was especially drawn to B-movie starlets and cheesy pin-up girls which began appearing in my paintings in the late 1980s.

Is there a particular starlet or pin-up girl that especially fueled your Skinspiration to paint?
Like so many other artists, I was captivated with Bettie Page. She has it all, beauty and personality. But mostly the obscure and forgotten actresses, models and burlesque queens inspire me. I love their look; the big hair, catty eye make-up, costumes and lingerie. It took a lot of moxie to be in the adult entertainment business back in those days; not exactly an acceptable thing for a gal to do at the time. I have a lot of respect for that.

Tell us about your original contacts with the type of classic materials that have influenced your art (pin-ups, nudie-mags, stag films, sexploitation cinema, etc). Do you have any funny/frightening/amazing stories from your days in pursuit of such groovy thrills?
I enjoy thrift shopping and flea markets. I probably got my first girlie mags that way. Then I got hooked and actually went in pursuit of collections. I can remember taking a road trip to Baltimore and scoring a big collection of sleazy pulps at thrift store. It was a warehouse find, literally thousands of books priced at 25 cents each. But I was broke at the time and could only load up on a few hundred.

Over the years I met a lot of incredible people who collected and they educated me. The great Alan Betrock [founder of the premier punk publication New York Rocker and auteur of The I Was a Teenage Juvenile Delinquent Rock 'N' Roll Horror Beach Party Movie Book: A Complete Guide to the Teen Exploitation Film 1954-1969] was one of my best friends. He had the most amazing collection I ever saw and was always so generous with information and his expertise. He passed away a few years ago and I really miss him.
My husband Mike Vraney and I have bought huge collections of girly magazines and movie memorabilia. We're packrats!

Let's talk about the Pussycat Catalogue. What is the first piece you collected for Pussycat? What is your most prized possession in your Pussycat? What would be your dream addition to Pussycat?
I have no idea! Pussycat Catalog came about because Mike and I had way too much stuff (and still do). We literally had dozens of same collectible item, so we decided to make a mail order catalog to sell off our extras. I was gung-ho when I started it, but got too busy with the day-to-day operations of Something Weird Video and making art to keep it going. Eventually I'll put the catalog online, but who knows when that will be. I've listed stuff on eBay over the years, but that too takes time that I just don't have!

My most prized possession is an original Teaserama one-sheet. But I also adore our sexploitation movie magazine collection with titles likes Wildest Films. I could look at those for days!

How did you meet Mike Vraney? Did you already share his love of vintage exploitation film and its related ephemera when you met him?
This is a charming story. I first met Mike at the 1993 Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey. I was doing an article on sexploitation cinema for a magazine in San Diego, and wanted to interview Mike and David F. Friedman. I went up to the Something Weird booth and introduced myself. Mike literally went gaga when we met, which I found strange but flattering. He proceeded to flirt shamelessly, but then told me he was unhappily married with kids. Being ever the professional, I assured him I only wanted to interview him about his business. We conducted an interview and that was that. Then 4 months later we bumped into each other at the San Diego Comicon and the rest is history. I moved to the west coast and we've been together ever since.

How do you determine which films Something Weird will put out?
Mike and I work together with the brilliant Frank Henenlotter on our video releases. In the beginning, Mike was contacted by a lot of the film producers who made the films, like Dave Friedman and Harry Novak, and we procured collections that way. But most of the old-timers involved with these kinds of films are gone, so it's a matter of stumbling upon old films that haven't been released on home video. Over the years we've bought collections of films and put out most everything we have. Time and time again lost films surface and get added to the catalog. We have the most extensive series of Nudie Cuties loops on earth! Over 700 hours of vintage naked gals cavorting for the camera!

Which releases have been your favorites?
My favorites are the black and white New York nudies and roughies from the 1960's by directors like Doris Wishman, Michael and Roberta Findlay, Joe Sarno, Joel Reed, Lou Campa, Joseph Mawra and Barry Mahon. They are especially sleazy! I also like the weird regional ones by Dale Berry. I'd have to say some of my favorite Something Weird videos are, the Flesh and Olga trilogies, Sin in the Suburbs, She Mob, Agony of Love, The Ultimate Degenerate, Hot Thrills and Warm Chills to name a few. And Shanty Tramp is a trip! There are really too many to list. A good introduction to my kind of films is the Twisted Sex compilations we put out. They have trailers and clips from the sickest sex movies ever made!

Are there any of extra-special personal importance to you?
We carry Undertaker and His Pals, one of the first bad movies I ever saw.

What are the "dream" titles that you hope to put out someday?
There are still hundreds of sexploitation movies left to find. The Weird One, Satan's Mistress and The Sadistic Lover, The Findlay's Body of a Female are among the ones we'd like to track down. I stare at those press books all the time wishing we had the films!

Were there any actresses that you idolized when you were growing up? Has any starlet ever inspired you to do anything cute/goofy like write fan letters or compile a scrapbook?
Oddly enough, not really. As a kid I liked Lynda Carter and Lindsay Wagner. Not very glamorous choices! But I've admired quite a few actresses since then. Tura Satana is definitely a favorite. Also Audrey Campbell from the Olga movies. My favorite sexploitation actor is Sam Stewart. He appeared in many of Doris Wishman's New York nudies. He's like a low-budget Al Pacino.

Something Weird has been essential in making Bettie Page a household icon and you've done similarly brilliant work with luminaries like Blaze Starr, Tempest Storm, Lili St. Cyr and Chesty Morgan. Are there other starlets of that caliber to whom you'd like to give the Something Weird treatment?
I think we've found most of the ones that merit attention and appreciation. These women were well-known in their day and it's great to be able to introduce them to a new generation of potential fans. Besides that, the old-timers who remember these gals are thrilled to be able to re-live their former glory days by watching their dream girls on home video.

What do you think of studios like Seduction Cinema in New Jersey who create contemporary sexploitation for the direct-to-video market? That company is particularly noteworthy because they've built an impressive little empire directly out of the cult of their signature starlet, Misty Mundae (who's been deemed in more than one quarter as the "21st Century Bettie Page"). Do you think it's possible for anyone to recapture or even recreate the glories of old-time nudie movies?
It can't be done. The new films come off as really self-conscious when they try to be nostalgic. The appeal of those original sexploitation films is that they were made at a time when there was no influences or context to refer to. They were truly "dirty movies." The films are a time capsule of a seedy underbelly and subculture unknown to most of the general population. People actually had to venture into a grindhouse to see these sorts of movies. Nudity and sexuality are way too accessible nowadays. You can see this stuff all day long on television and the internet. Adult entertainment has become mainstream and acceptable. It's no longer taboo, thus has lost its edge.

Veronica or Betty?
Veronica

Samantha or Jeannie?
Jeannie

Bettie or Uschi?
Bettie, Uschi's a cow!

Are there any new Lisa Petrucci and/or Something Weird projects that we haven't heard about yet?
Well, we're continuing to release our better quality films on special edition DVDs from Image Entertainment. What makes these great are all the special features and that they're usually double or triple features. More bang for your buck! But we're also releasing the SWV library on DVD-R format. This is a huge endeavor since the titles need to be re-formatted and repackaged. It's a huge undertaking. We also plan on doing a SWV Big Book that would be the quintessential reference book for our catalog. We've been working on that for years, so it will eventually come out.

As far as me and my art go, there are a lot of projects and shows happening in the year to come. I was recently contacted by a company in Australia called NookArt to produce some kitschy gift items, so those should be available by the summer. I'll be doing art shows in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Denver, and hopefully Italy if all goes well!


Pin-up photo by Victoria Renard ©1998
All artist photos from lisapetrucci.com