PRESS RELEASE FROM FISH/FORD Films
Already a notorious entertainment figure in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, Doris Fish was fresh off the boat from down-under when she first burst onto San Francisco’s underground theater scene in 1979. Since her “discovery” as the winner of The Tubes’ talent contest at Bimbo’s 365 Club, this near-legendary personality has ruled as figurehead and goddess of Sluts A-Go-Go, San Francisco’s premiere drag troupe of the 1980’s. Along with an army of devoted fans, the hard-core veterans of this ensemble — Doris, Miss X, ”Tippi” and honorary straight man Phillip R. Ford — have climbed out of the underground performance ghetto of nightclub burlesques, low budget movies and elaborate drag spectacles in trendy discos, to sit perched today on the brink of semi-stardom as they present ”SLUTS A-GO-GO STILL ALIVE!” — the Last Chance ”Vegas in Space” All-Star Greatest Hits Gala Benefit Revue.
A glittering night of memories, music and comedy to benefit the completion of Doris Fish and Phillip R. Ford’s soon-to-be-released future blockbuster motion picture “VEGAS IN SPACE”, ”SLUTS A-GO-GO STILL ALIVE!” hits San Francisco’s 500 seat Victoria Theater for one night only Saturday, January 14, 1989. Featuring highlights from ten years of nightclub, film and legitimate theater appearances such as ”BLONDE SIN”, ”THE HAPPY HOUR SHOW” and ”BAD SEED”, this greatest hits retrospective showcases a sparkling line-up of local celebrity performers including Marga Gomez, Connie Champagne and her Tiny Bubbles, Sandal Hebert, Scrumbly Koldewyn and Lori Naslund & Lu Reed.
Among the fabulous numbers you’ll remember from shows gone by:
Ever popular standards from the early 80’s Sluts-A-Go-Go days like ”Some Like It Hot”, Jane Dornacker’s ”Drag Queen”, Doris’s ”Past, Present and Future” and the
indescribably lavish mermaid number ”You Only Live Twice” from “BLONDE SIN”!
Doris and ”Tippi”’s uproarious ”Valley of the Dolls” pastiche first premiered in ”NUDIES GO BERSERK”! (A hint: “Tippi” plays Neely O’Hara and Doris plays everyone else!).
Miss X, “Tippi” and Phil’s hilarious “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” send-up, THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED MARTHA from ”BOX OFFICE POISON”, an act described by the
Chronicle’s Mick La Salle as ”tolerable …good for a laugh or two”!
The inside poop on how ”Tippi” REALLY got the part of Rhoda in ”BAD SEED”, and a sad but informative peek at those who didn’t make it!
PLUS rare, actual film clips from the movie ”VEGAS IN SPACE”, and spectacular musical number inspired by the film and performed by featured player Ramona Fischer (including ”Space Surfing” and the fabulous ”Love Theme From Vegas in Space”)!
The first feature film by resident producer/director Phillip R. Ford, ”VEGAS IN SPACE” is an outer space-adventure-musical comedy dealing with glamorous, irrational behavior on an all-female pleasure planet in the 23rd Century. Starring Doris Fish, Miss X, ”Tippi”, Ginger Quest and a stunning supporting cast including local underground favorites Silvana Nova, Arturo Galster, the late Tommy Pace,
Timmy Spence and many more, “VEGAS IN SPACE” has been the talk of the local film community for nearly four years. Now very near completion, this full-length feature in 2-D GLAM-A-RAMA and COLOR promises to be the cult sensation of the decade.
It was on a film set in 1983 that Phillip R. Ford first got acquainted with Sluts Doris Fish, Miss X and ”Tippi”.
Already sort-of-famous for the year-long run of their original nightclub hit “BLONDE SIN” at the Hotel Utah, Doris at the time had $5000 and dreams of being a movie star. Once she’d appeared in a bit part in ”ROLLERCOASTER TO HELL” (one of Phil’s early short films), Doris proposed that he direct her first starring vehicle. Ford’s destiny was dumped in his lap in the form of a script written by Miss X and Doris entitled ”VEGAS IN SPACE”. The ambitious 21-year-old film-maker jumped at the offer to tackle a project that, to his eye, offered the most necessary of all elements in a motion picture…..GLAMOROUS STARS!
Five years and nearly $40,000 later, ”VEGAS IN SPACE” today teeters on the brink of completion. Fish and Ford, having sucked dry of funds everyone they know, long ago ran out of money. They’ve collected a stack of rejections in response to grant applications. Unshaken in their firm belief that this is a film people really want to see, they’ve tried the Hollywood route seeking completion funds, showing their 100 minute rough cut to several distributors in Los Angeles who’ve invariably replied, ”Needs work, kid.”
Thus the ”SLUTS A-GO-GO STILL ALIVE!” gala benefit revue is Doris Fish and Phillip R. Ford’s last ditch appeal for assistance from the many benefactors and fans who have been so supportive over the last ten years. The profits from this fundraiser will enable them to complete the special effects photography, lock the picture and sound tracks, and prepare this fantastic and unique film to go to the lab for the final print.
Since wrapping up production of their movie project, Doris, X, ”Tippi” and Phil have gone on to become the darlings of San Francisco nightclub-goers with a string of successful musical variety shows. Specializing in easy-to-understand, no hidden meaning entertainment, they’ve tackled as writers and performers such important art forms as the soap opera (1983’s ”NAKED BRUNCH”), the beauty pageant (1984’s ”MISS SOLAR SYSTEM PAGEANT”), and the talk show (1985-86’s four part ”HAPPY HOUR” series at the now defunct Club 181, including ”NIGHTCLUB OF THE LIVING DEAD”).
As Acme Famous Players, they entered the world of ”serious” theater with last fall’s revival of the 1954 horror melodrama ”BAD SEED” at Theater Rhinoceros. A long-time dream of producer/director Ford, the group’s first legitimate stage play featured ”Tippi” as the psychotic 8-year-old Rhoda Penmark (immortalized by Patty McCormack on Broadway and in the 1956 film), Miss X as a mother pushed to the brink of madness as she begins to suspect that her perfect little girl with the enchanting smile may be responsible for a string of mysterious deaths, and Doris Fish, cast against glamourous type, in a middle-aged role as the Penmark’s well meaning but
ultimately ineffectual landlady Monica Breedlove. A huge success, ”BAD SEED” sold out it’s original four week run the day it opened and extending for a total of ten weeks, playing to S.R.O. crowds and receiving surprisingly good reviews. Of her performance as the tortured mother Christine, the San Francisco Examiner noted, ”Miss X gives an understated performance…in ”BAD SEED”’ s tragic-grotesque finale she provides some dignified and even moving moments.”!
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A NOTE ON THE PLAYERS
IDORIS FISH, long renowned for her stand-up work and roles in light comedy, was hailed in 1986 by the San Francisco Chronicle as the ”Drag Queen of the Hour.” Claiming for
herself the title ”greeting card Queen of America,” Doris is perhaps best known as West Graphics’ top comedy model for their successful international card line.
Her stage credits include ”BEAUTY-RAMA ’88” at Club DVB,
”NUDIES GO BERSERK,” ”NAKED BRUNCH,” ”TORN TULLE,” ”EGO ASART FORM” and ”FISH FOR X:MAS”’ plus numerous nightclub appearances and frequent performances as Mistress of Ceremonies at various charity functions.
Her television credits include a highly controversial
year in 1986 co-hostessing San Francisco’s Gay Cable Network, plus appearances on NBC’s ”PARTNERS IN CRIME,” ”CHUCK SOLOMON: COMING OF AGE” on PBS, and most recently on ”Pittsburgh Today” and ”People Are Talking” in Baltimore, Maryland.
PHILLIP R. FORD first attracted attention as a film-maker in 1982 with ”ROLLERCOASTER TO HELL,” a smarmy, moralistic 1950’s crime melodrama chronicling ”the tragic story of the growing menace of narcotics addition and its hideous consequences on teenage America” that instantly caught the eye of local film exhibitors.
His stage debut came in 1983 when he was cast as a
Liberace-esque Las Vegas judge in the popular beatnik soap opera ”NAKED BRUNCH.” From there Ford jumped head-first into the glittering role of show-biz impressario, co-producing and emceeing with Doris Fish 1984’s fabulous ”MISS SOLAR SYSTEM PAGEANT.”
In addition SPACE,” Ford has
to directing the forthcoming had his jewel encrusted hand
”VEGAS IN
Iin numerous
shows as producer and performer, including ”WHO’S AFRAID OF
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BOX OFFICE POISON?,” the continuing live talk show ”THE HAPPY HOUR,” and ”BAD SEED.”
When not scheming how to best advance his directing
career, Ford spends his spare time working as a cheap Elvis impersonator, having appeared in bowling alleys, at office parties, and at all the grooviest SOMA nightspots. An act that refuses to die, ”PHILLIP R. FORD’S HELLO GRACELAND HELLO!” is a full-blown revue that recreates the entire debauched milieu of the King on tour at his height-and width.
MISS X, long recognized as a powerful actress able to infuse the simplest lines with deep meaning, is also an accomplished songstress whose casually intense lounge act was the centerpiece of last year’s ”BOX OFFICE POISON.” Equally at home in sympathetic parts and in menacing ”dragon lady” roles, Miss Xis a flawless celebrity caricaturist whose Joan Crawford, Ronnie Spector and Cher were highlights of the ”HAPPY HOUR” series.
A few of her many theater credits include ”QUISBIES” and Tennesee William’s ”HELLO FROM BERTHA” at Theater Rhinoceros, plus ”NAKED BRUNCH” and ”BLONDE SIN.” Named one of the official go-go girls for the 1984 San Francisco Democratic Convention, she has sung and danced with the Buck & Bubbles Revue, The Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra, Calling All Girls and Big Bang Beat.
”TIPP I” has earned the title of ”the oldest 1iving child star in captivity.” As the 8-year-old psycho in pigtails in Acme Famous Player’s recent revival of ”BAD SEED,” this leggy starlet’s performance stretched her acting talents to the limits of reality.
For well over two years ”TIPPI” danced her heart out •
onstage with the Zazu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and their successors Big Bang Beat. Her ageless beauty has won her plum roles in numerous productions including ”SCREAMGIRLS,” ”THE HAPPY HOUR SHOW,” ”NIGHTCLUB OF THE LIVING DEAD” and a nine
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month stint on television as co-anchor and weathergirl on Gay Cable Network’s ”The Right Stuff.” Proud owner one of the world’s biggest Barbie doll collections, she was named a runner-up last year in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Barbie
Look-Alike Contest.
SANDAL HEBERT is no stranger to the SLUTS A-GO-GO troupe, having shared their stage in ”NAKED BRUNCH,” as a regular member of the Happy Hour Players, and in a scene-stealing tour-de-force performance as the heartbroken, pathetic drunk Mrs. Daigle in ”BAD SEED.” A one-time beauty queen, this talented young actress, dancer and choreographer is renowned for littering Fish/Ford productions with her crowd-pleasing dance spectacles of shocking passion and intensity.
Other stage credits include ”THE BLONDE IN 20-B,” ”PAY A
DOLLAR, TALK TO A LIVE NUDE GIRL,” Marilyn Monroe in
”DELIVERY” and last year’s one-woman cabaret show, ”COLOR ME
FAi’-10US.”
RAMONA FISCHER, actress, singer and songwriter, is responsible for many of the original songs in “VEGAS IN SPACE.” Returning to San Francisco from Florida where she has been occupied with commercial work, dinner theater and a diamond magnate husband, Ramona is still justly respected for ”THE BUCK & BUBBLES REVUE,” her 1984 stint at the Plush Room showcasing both her original compositions and her vocal
brilliance.
LORI NASLUND’s credits include stand-up at the Comedy store in L.A. and numerous San Francisco comedy clubs. She has appeared as Debbie Dain in ”VEGAS IN SPACE,” Priscilla Presley in ”THE HAPPY HOUR XMAS SPECIAL” and as Miss Fern in ”BAD SEED.” She can be seen currently with Lu Reed in ”MOM.AS AND DADAS” at the Paradise Lounge and other hip nightspots.
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SCRUMBLY KOLDEWYN, musical director of “SLUTS A-GO-GO STILL ALIVE!” has, lent his skills to San Francisco productions dating back to the days of the original Cockettes. With credits too numerous to mention, a few of his most recent include musical direction for the legendary Angels of Light troupe, Garry Trudeau’s ”RAP MASTER RONNIE”at the Music Hall
and a recent stint ostage at the Plush Room with his ’30’s
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vocal trio The Jesters.