Part II in the series. See also Part 1: Ripper vs Stripper"¦

Screaming Mimi (1958) Part 1: Ripper vs Stripper…

Yolanda splayed out on the stage, ‘the penis rope’ stroking her naked legs, she is captivating and captive!

The character of Joann Gypsy Masters refers to Yolanda as her “my new cupcake,” and proclaims her to be “the greatest thing in the history of nightclub entertainment.“

Gypsy Rose Lee..the exotic ecdysiast (Come see what we mean!)  ECDYSIAST-noun: Humorous Origin 1940 coined by U.S. journalist and social critic, H.L Mencken -A striptease performer. ECDYSIS-noun: Zoology-The process of shedding the old skin or the outer cuticle.

Yolanda’s erotic act is presented in a stark black silhouette, her curvacious body supine and defenseless against a backdrop of primal shadow. She begins to pose, her body rhapsodizing and rapturous, in white shredded tatters, her wrists shackled by handcuffs, a slave in bondage to the beat of Red Norvo’s orchestrations. A beautiful captive moving to the rhythm, clinging to a rope, a dangling phallus begging to be gripped by her manacled hands. On the first night of her debut, she catches the eye of ‘night beat’ reporter, the tall and imposing Bill Sweeney who covers the social sewer “everything from who’s playing footsie with who this week, on up to who’s murdering who.”

After Bill introduces himself to Yolanda in her dressing room, Yolanda is attacked once again by a mysterious maniac who slashes her across the belly, in much the same way as an earlier murder committed by the city’s ‘Ripper’ murderer who killed another dancing blonde, Lola Lake.

Devil, Yolanda’s fiercely devoted Great Dane by her side, wards off the attacker, but not before she is injured and sent to the hospital.

In the muffle of voices in the crowd of onlookers at the crime scene, one news reporter says ‘A great dame and a Great Dane!’

 Bill is savvy and has great instinct, although he is drawn to Yolanda physically, he senses that not only is her name phony but there’s too much of a coincidence that she owns the same small statue identical to the one found by the first victim Lola Lane. Of course, the statue is that of the ‘Screaming Mimi‘, a ‘weird-looking dame‘ or ‘the frightened girl’

Even Mac, Bill’s editor tells Bill “You’re getting hot pants for a real story aren’t you junior?” But Bill is on a mission to protect and bed Yolanda and solve the ‘Ripper’ murders. Mac tells him ‘Wear some protection around your gut, at least after dark.’ The scene frames a headline ‘Police Seek Gorilla Man Slayer‘ perhaps this sideline suggests that it is neither strange nor unfamiliar for bizarre crimes to occur in this town.

The film penned for the screen by Robert Blees is as grisly as it is provocative for 1958 theatergoers. Predating Psycho 1960 by two years, the idea of having your belly ripped open or slashed is quite horrific for a decade of films that were supposed to epitomize the American Dream and social moral codes that were stark in contrast to the characters in this story.

Much like Constance Towers’ character of Kelly in Sam Fuller’s Naked Kiss 1964, Kelly tries to run from her past, and relocate to a freshly scrubbed community, only to find that its dark secrets brewing below the surface, just waiting to scorch her for her efforts. Yolanda…in trying to escape her brutal attack and mental breakdown, winds up right in the midst of a very dangerous landscape herself.

Aside from the presence of Red Norvo’s live musical arrangements, the full-of-shade fluidity and dynamic scoring by Mischa Bakaleinikoff ( The Big Heat 1953 Earth vs The Flying Saucer 1956) adds much to the layers of schadenfreude. With additional contributions of stock music by composers, Leonard Bernstein, George Duning, and several others.

You can see traces of the genius of Gerd Oswald’s direction over the camera work in the iconic television sci-fi/philosophical series The Outer Limits. 1963-1965. Aided by the cinematography of Burnett Guffey-

(From Here To Eternity 1953, Birdman of Alcatraz 1962, Bonnie and Clyde 1967) The dark and disturbing Film Noir frames under his direction create an environment where no one seems wholesome, faces are either skewed anonymous or ominous, lecherous, dispirited, melancholy, despairing, pining, or perverted.

Part II

A resounding tremor from a gong cymbal and we’re thrust into the black screen for a brief moment. Suddenly a sea of faces, it’s the audience gazing back at us. Then applause. The lights come up.

Gypsy tells everyone to get up on their feet. “This’ll give us a good chance to empty the ashtrays.” She’s cocky and jovial, sassy and all lit up with sequins and a cheap sort of polished aloofness.

“Sweetie!, the press” She walks over and puts her silver gloved hands behind a brill cream head. Happy she remarks, “Freeload, and they don’t spell our names right, but we love em anyway”
Bill responds, ” I love you two Joanie"¦nice to see you haven’t been raided yet.”

” Yeah,” she crosses her fingers in warding off the very thought then tells Paul the bartender, never give this guy a check"¦.never!

Gypsy goes on to ask Bill, “Dropped in to catch my new cupcake ay? I tell you, Bill, she is the greatest thing in the history of nightclub entertainment”

A nightclub girl comes around selling matches and cigarettes behind Gypsy and Bill and a guy asks her what time she’s getting off.

Suddenly, like a Hawk zeroing in on a predator first, warns him “Uh Uh, don’t touch the candy junior.”
Bill asks where did this chick come from, and Gypsy tells him ‘out of left field.”She walked in here absolutely cold"¦would you like to meet her?” Bill smiles agreeably “Yeah"¦I gotta go to work sooner or later.”

Gypsy grabs Bill’s hand and starts leading him back toward Yolanda’s dressing room.

There are many instances where we see the image of Virginia/Yolanda in a mirror. Is this preparing us for a revelation that she has two very distinct parts of her psyche?

Virginia Wilson gazes at Yolanda Lange in the mirror.

Yolanda is sitting with her legs up on a table, staring at her image in the mirror. Her bare legs are like two strong legs of a stallion. She looks like a goddess awaiting her maidens. A cigarette hangs freely from her right hand. There is a curious gaze she holds, as she handles her hair brushing it slightly away from her face. Her image is static in the mirror framed by brick on either side. Such a soft visage enclosed within a wall with two small lights to light her dressing table. She’s about to sip her drink, when ‘Gypsy’ knocks on the door and calls out her name “Yolanda” “Yes” “I want you to meet a friend of mine"¦Bill Sweeney"¦he does a nightclub column for the Times.” Yolanda says how do you do. Looking pleasantly at the tall man in the doorway.

Bill tells her, “That’s quite an act you have,” She tells him to thank you. Gypsy interrupts, “Boy I thought tonight was the best ever.”She moves around toward Yolanda who is still sitting at her dressing table.

Bill goes to pet the top of Devil, the Great Dane’s head, now present in mid-screen. We hear his low growls. Yolanda tells him, “He doesn’t like to be patted,” She says softly, “Lye down Devil” This dog is slightly more imposing than her first dog Rusty the little terrier.

I think there is not only the relevance of the size of the dog being a sexual compendium fetish, a hint of bestiality but more as symbolic of the change as Yolanda’s inner fears lay open to future jeopardy emerging, materializing as a giant canine id.

She is guarding herself with ‘bigger dogs‘ since the first attack. Also reflecting how her Id has become more mistrustful and aggressive.

“Well, maybe we can have that drink tonight after the show if you’re not too tired,” Joann ‘Gypsy’ hints that she’d like her to say yes. But Yolanda looks on from behind her changing screen…guarded. She says alright, with exhaustion and disdain as if it’s too much effort even to say those few words.

‘Gypsy ‘now turns to Bill and tells him “You could always mention me in that column of yours if there’s any room left over"¦(she laughs a little) at least El Madhouse.” Both are grinning, flashing their mutual abiding smiles of hobnobbing, a faint drift of pleasure and amusement. All the niceties that come with the territory. Bill says “That’s a promise Joannie.”

‘Gypsy’ leaves the dressing room, closing the door. As Bill walks around the room, he asks the question. “Yolanda Lange?”

She answers him softly by repeating her name, but with her accent it sounds like a faint admonishment for questioning such a thing. He asks “Who made up a name like that?” She tells him, “Does it matter?” Still smiling he tells her “Not to me"¦even if your name was Suzy Swartzkapf I’d uh…I’d like to take you out and see what trouble we could find"¦pure research you understand.”

Yolanda looks over at him, divinely stoic, her beautiful lips and dreamy eyes studying him, tilts her head and says, “Of course.” She is still framed by the camera, Bill asks her, “How tall are you, Yolanda?”

She snaps back ” With heels?” A smile crosses her mouth. She will not give an inch yet. But Bill comes back sharper. “With anybody"¦me for instance.”With heels, I’m 5’10” without, I”m 5′ 7.”

“And you’re Norwegian?” She looks downward, and her guard softens a bit, but she doesn’t answer him. He then points his cigarette at her"¦”Swedish” he smiles. She answers him “Originally.” He puts his cigarette out and tells her that nobody could accuse her of talking too much.

She tells him, “I’ve never found it necessary” All the while a subtle violin is courting their little exchange until Bill reaches down to put his cigarette out in the ashtray and finds a statue of the Screaming Mimi in a box. The distant caution of horns tells us something has shifted with this discovery. Devil the dog begins to growl and bark as Bill removes the statue from the tissue-papered box and holds it out in the middle of the screen. It looks like a goddess being struck down by an unseen force. Clutching at her chest. As Bill studies the piece, Devil becomes increasingly agitated.

Devil acts as the primal gatekeeper of Yolanda’s rage and desires to lash out or destroy that which reached out and has destroyed her innocence. Devil seems like a destructive force. He is an extension of Yolanda’s aggressive nature now, and her primal rage. An id with fangs, much like Morbius‘ monster in Forbidden Planet 1956.

Yolanda now tells him to be careful. Bill asks, “Sure…What is it?” She answers, “It’s just a figure” She brushes off the question. He sets it back in its box. “Weird looking dame isn’t she” Yolanda looks distant, Bill continues to probe"¦”Ah, you’ve never worked around here have you?”

She starts to lighten again, “Well ah, just a little bit around.” As she starts to finish her sentence, Dr. Greenwood comes into the dressing room, calling on her, but sees Bill in the room.

Continue reading “Screaming Mimi 1958 Part II: “The way he looks after her, you’d think a bossom was something unique”” →