I’ll grant the 1001 text credit for acknowledging in their brief write up on George Kuchar’s Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966) that the film was clearly an influence on the work of John Waters. Someone familiar with Water’s work couldn’t miss the connections. However, I’m not quite sure that I conquer with the book’s contention that this particular piece stands so far apart from the rest of the 16mm softcore trash of the 1960s. The text makes good arguments. Yes, the titles are incredibly good for being created on a home editing system. Yes, the film has a humor (particularly the final line) to it that makes it bearable. Still, it views like an excuse to put a pretty girl in a shower scene, which it most likely was.
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| Pretty good graphics for 16mm work in 1966 |
The girl in this case was the young busty Donna Kerness, and she left the project likely after beginning to suspect just that. So what did Kuchar do? He assembled the footage he had and dubbed his actress’s dialogue to make it a film about a young busty actress quitting a movie after she becomes uncomfortable shooting shower scenes for her pervy director. Said director then proceeds to fantasize about her going home to engage in a legitimate shower rendezvous before he is called out of his own shower to be served a disgusting breakfast by his nagging mother.
They say that “art imitates life” and I have a feeling that here art hit the nail pretty square on the head. If you view this short film as a meditation on the lust (conscious or otherwise) that a director is likely to develop for his star then it can be a worthwhile 17 minutes of your life, but a Casablanca it is not. Good for a laugh, but not much else.
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