EXCLUSIVE: Picturehouse is spicing up the opening weekend of their documentary Carol Doda Topless at the Condor on March 22-24 with a live revue of top burlesque dancers before the movie screens.
Carol Doda Topless at the Condor documents the life, history and impact of the legendary topless dancer who ignited the 1960s sexual revolution.
The “Doda-esque Burlesque” will launch on Friday, March 22, at the NuArt in Los Angeles with performers Ashleeta Beauchamp, Vita DeVoid and Lux LaCroix, and at The Roxie in San Francisco with Frankie Fictitious, Sweetpea and Sgt. Die Wies. The tributes to Doda’s legacy will continue as the film rolls out on March 29 in additional markets, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington DC, New Orleans, Detroit and more. The revue will be available at select showtimes.
In addition, the pic’s Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker will be participating in several Q&A’s across the country, starting on Friday, March 22nd at the Angelika theater in New York City, where they will be joined by producer Lars Ulrich, Metallica co-founder and drummer, and music producer Jack Douglas, a Grammy Award-winning record producer.
“Picturehouse wants to support exhibitors and create a fun event for the audience,” says CEO Bob Berney. “We want to give everyone a cool experience and get them out to a theater.”
The documentary is set against the backdrop of the 1964 Republican National Convention. There, a San Francisco cocktail waitress became one of the city’s most popular entertainers after making her debut as America’s first topless dancer. Her story is one of a fresh-faced girl next-door who defied convention and the law by gyrating atop a white baby grand piano and turning a North Beach nightclub into the city’s second-most-popular tourist attraction after the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, Doda’s very public use of silicone to enhance her breasts launched a new industry. The documentary is based in part on Three Nights at the Condor, a memoir by Benita Mattioli, the wife of Condor co-owner Pete Mattioli.
Docu includes an array of Doda’s contemporaries, including dancers, club owners, bartenders and others, who share their first-hand experiences.