Burlesque Legend Dusty Summers tells you how she feels about full nude

Burlesque Legend Dusty Summers is as nimble with her words as she is with her feet. She’s direct, opinionated, and seasoned with a sass decades in the making.
Interviewing Summers was one of the highlights of our documentary team’s recent trip to Las Vegas and the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend event June 1-4. During the trip, we also visited Lacy’s Lounge, a more traditional strip club, but one that emphasizes performance over transactions.
Documentary “Do the Dance” uses the examination of a precedent-setting 1969 strip club indecency trial to tell a broader story about the limits to Free Expression. The trial over bottomless dancing (full nude) made national news when Judge Earl Warren Jr. ruled the jury needed to see the dancer ‘do the dance.’
Summers worked at the trouble-making club, the Pink Pussy Kat in Orangevale, before embarking on a career as a touring exotic dancer. At age 69, Summers is still working as Las Vegas’ only stripping magician.
Summers left the Pink Pussy Kat before -- at the urging of the club’s owner -- the performers started dancing bottomless. The fully-nude go-go performances starting a multi-year battle between the beer bar and the local authorities. Summers would later share a billing with the performer at the center of the trial Susanne Haines. Haines won Miss Nude Universe in 1972 and was the headliner.
While Haines famously fought to go fully naked, Summer didn’t want to show it all then and doesn’t now.
To find out just what the sharp-tongued Summers said you’ll have to watch the documentary.

She was one of the featured performers at the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend. Dustin Wax, executive director of the currently expanding hall was another one of our interviews.
Our two-night stay, also took us to Lacy's is located in North Las Vegas. It bills itself as Las Vegas' only Atlanta-style (hip hop) strip club. To pull himself out of a hole, longtime Michael Jackson impersonator and dancer Craig Parks started performing in male review shows then hosting big booty events before taking on his own space connected to the historic Palomino Club. We also talked to dancers Destiny and Dream.

'Scandal' in Colfax as film team wraps project

Concluding a grueling 48-hour race to finish, the Perpetual F film team turned in their 6-minute short film ‘Grand Forks’ Sunday night.
The project is one of more than a dozen shot and edited in between Friday and Sunday evenings as part of the Sacramento International Film Festival’s 48-hour film challenge.
The projects will screen at the festival on April 23.
‘Grand Forks’ is a creative adaptation of real event from the early 1970s. In the film, downtown Colfax stands in for the North Dakota town of Grand Forks.
“Pulling off a period-piece in a 48-hour challenge was super ambitious,” said Ed Fletcher, the writer and one of the producers on the project. ”The contest does allow teams to do some pre-production so we had a lot done before the clock started ticking.”
Directing the project was Damen Quincy Hayes, who is also teaming with Fletcher on a related documentary “Do the Dance.”
It all started with “Pink,” Fletcher’s true story script about the Sacramento 1969 battle of over nude dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat club. The recent death of key figures prompted the Perpetual F team to accelerate plans to tell the real story through the documentary.
“When the 48 came along we already had plenty on our plate,” said Hayes, who performed under the name DQ Hayes during his career as a musician. “But the idea was so good we decided to do it anyway.”
‘Grand Forks’ explores a chapter of Sacramento-born exotic dancer Susanne Haines life that isn’t covered by ‘Pink.’ When the club manager wants to cut her appearance fee, exotic dancer Susanne Haines cooks up a scandalous plan to scare up a full house.
“I kept telling people in the local film community we weren't doing a 48, but the theme for the slate of 48-hour films ‘scandal’ was almost too good to pass up,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said his mind was also influenced by actress Bunny Stewart, who offered her services before seeing a script. Stewart plays Haines in the film.

Documentary 'Do the Dance' hits fundraising goal

The crowdfunding campaign in support of Sacramento-based documentary ‘Do the Dance,” on Thursday reached its goal of raising $10,000 in 30 days -- just hours ahead of it’s deadline.

The project, led by veteran newspaper reporter Ed Fletcher, explores a racy Sacramento 1969 court case to take a broader look at the limits of free expression.

The indiegogo campaign received 92 contributions totaling $10,479 as of this publication. The campaign went into the final 16 hours needing an additional $716 to reach the goal.

“I’m excited to have met our goal. Now we can get back to focusing on making this film,” said Fletcher.

Director Damen Quincy Hayes said the campaign provided more drama than needed, but was glad to get there.

“I just want to get out there and make this film now,” Hayes said.

While the money generated through the crowdfunding campaign gets them a long way down the road, as Fletcher explains, they will need additional capital, likely from equity investors.  

The colorful trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat will help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now, filmmakers say. The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

Fletcher, who grew up in Orangevale, learned about the Pink Pussy Kat trial from an older editor and soon found himself buried in old news clippings.

Do the Dance explores these issues:

• Self-promotion vs Free expression
• Female empowerment vs  Sexual exploitation

Historic photos, audio and background materials: dothedance.net

Connect with us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinkfilm1969/   

Or on twitter at @pinkfilm1969

Drive to do 'Big Things' prompted crowdfund campaign

I've always believed I could do big things.
In high school, I built the "ram shack" student store.
In college, I took the school weekly newspaper daily during the Bayou Classic.
As a newspaper professional, it's been more of a challenge. Big ideas die because of cost, time involved or they don't fit the company plan.
Several years ago, I stumbled across the Pink Pussy Kat trial and believed I could make something interesting creatively with the story. Over the years, there were ample opportunities to decide the road was too hard and put it down. For years, I kept waiting for a big money backer to emerge or someone in Hollywood to call.
My last visit Burning Man (2016), I was in a funk. A year had passed and I was no closer to my goal. This year, I vowed to move it forward come hell or high-water. Rather than wait, I decided to make my own magic. This crowdfunding campaign forced us kick our project into high gear. We developed some amazing digital assets (poster, trailer). We also began the long process of telling people about this project with radio, television and print interviews.
Despite some obstacles, which I won't detail, we're within striking distance of our goal: raising $10,000 in 30 days.
At present, we have 16 hours to raise the final $714. Thank you for helping me do big things.
- Ed Fletcher, Ed is a Sacramento-based journalist and filmmaker.

Click here to visit campaign page

Free expression documentary fund nears 70 percent

San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda performs during Sacramento indecency trial 

The online campaign funding a Sacramento documentary exploring the 1969 strip club indecency case that took the jury to the club is approaching 70 percent funded with 9 days remaining.

Using the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, Fletcher and his team are trying to raise $10,000 by March 22. Through March 15, the month-long campaign was at 68 percent of goal.

The feature-length documentary will use the colorful 1969 trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat to help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now.

The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

Sacramento journalist and filmmaker Ed Fletcher said he was confident the team will hit the goal.

“There is so much Sacramento love for a deeply local story. We will get there,” said Fletcher.

The reaction to the campaign has been mostly positive, Fletcher said.

“Some people don’t want to talk about it or maybe they think it’s anti-women. To me, it’s just history,” Fletcher said. “This happened and we want to tell the story. I’m not pro-strip club or anti-strip club. I’m a journalist. But at the same time you can’t be afraid to show a little leg in marking if you’re making a project about free expression.”

Directing the project is DQ Hayes, an emerging filmmaker and former musician from the band Shakedown.

"There is love for this project from all over. We get people hitting up our page from UK, Spain, Sweden. Free expression and women's empowerment is universal," said Hayes.

More information at: Dothedance.net

CLICK HERE to contribute

Carol Doda, Big John Misterly clash in coming documentary film

Video clips furnished by the forthcoming documentary film "Do the Dance," which uses the Sacramento 1969 trial over "bottomless" dancing to tell a broader story about the limits to Free Expression. Do the dance is currently raising funds via indiegogo.
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Former Sacramento County sheriff lays out how women should be covered under a new ordinance being discussed in response to the full nude performances he deemed indecent.  As a result of the case, the county and state officials enacted new rules.

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San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda was called to testify during the Pink Pussy Kat trial. In this 1969 clip she talks about the difference between Sacramento and San Francisco.

Campaign to fund free expression documentary film hits 30 percent

An online campaign to help fund a documentary about the limits to free expression is under way lead by Sacramento journalist Ed Fletcher.

Using the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, Fletcher and his team are trying to raise $10,000 by March 22. Through March 4, the month-long campaign was at 30 percent of goal.

The feature-length documentary will use the colorful 1969 trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat to help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now.

The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

"We are excited to be bringing this forward at a time women's rights and civil liberties are in the public conversation,” said Fletcher, a longtime reporter at The Sacramento Bee. 

Directing the project is DQ Hayes, an emerging filmmaker and former musician from the band Shakedown.  

The team kicked off the project with a fundraising party on Feb. 21 in Sacramento.

More information at: Dothedance.net

GIVE HERE 

California beer bar challenged legal nudity limits of late 1960s

During the summer of 1969, a beer bar in the Northern California community of Orangevale dared to go full-nude setting off a series of legal challenges that ended with the dancers, including Carol Doda, performing for the jury.

"Do the Dance," a documentary telling the story of this wild and influential trial, is currently raising funds on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.

Campaign underway to fund free expression documentary

The online crowdfunding campaign seeking $10,000 to launch Sacramento documentary "Do the Dance" is underway. 'Do the Dance' examines a 1969 Sacramento strip club indecency trial to tell a broader story about the limits of Free Expression.  The trial made national news after Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided the jury needed to see the dancer "do the dance." San Francisco topless legend Carol Doda also testified.  Learn more HERE.

Trailer reveals First Amendment fight over nude dance

Our team is excited to share the preview trailer for documentary film 'Do the Dance.' The film explores the 1969 Sacramento trial that helped write the rules to exotic dance.  Tell us what you think. Please join us for the film launch party at 7 p.m. Feb. 21. More details and tickets HERE.

Poster art for doc film "Do the Dance" revealed

Stare away

Check out these designs for "Do the Dance," our documentary. Tom Beauchamp and his team at Monster Design Co. put this amazing work together.
"Do the Dance" puts us in the Sacramento courtroom and "beer bar" where the son of a legendary jurist told a daring exotic performer to "Do the Dance" in a precedent-setting 1969 case. Get your tickets to our launch party fundraiser here.
The poster art (above) and the social media art tease with this tension, while the ink dot pattern and lettering help define the era. Do you agree? Tell us what you think.

Burlesque Legend Angel Walker on the role of GoGo dancers

A lot has changed in taking it off.
Helping keep me on my toes is Burlesque Legend Angel Walker better known as Satans Angel.
Headliners like Walker and Carol Doda were the stars, but GoGo dancers were a key part of the entertainment. They kept the patrons there between acts by featured performers, Walker explains. Some clubs only featured GoGo dancers.
Just what kind of dancing was going on at Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go? That's what a 1969 Sacramento trial set out to find out.
That trial is the launching point for documentary film "Do the Dance."
In this audio Walker talks Carol Doda, Go-Go dancers and the bar owners' push for more skin.





Here is my earlier interview for more on her amazing backstory.

Portland burlesque star featured at Sacramento documentary film fundraiser

The Sacramento-based team behind the forthcoming documentary film “Do the Dance” is proud to announce that a rising star in burlesque and strip will headline the film project’s Feb. 21 launch fundraiser.

Headlining this hot-ticket event is Ivizia, the reigning Miss Exotic Oregon. The event will also feature performances from Sacramento’s Midtown Moxies burlesque troupe.

The evening, at Midtown Sacramento’s Clara performing arts center, will premiere the film’s preview trailer, feature the presiding Judge Earl Warren Jr, an auction of “free expression” art and small bites from celebrity chef Adam Pachal.

Ivizia is a Portland-based entertainer who has been thrilling audiences around the world since 2001. With over 15 years of specializing in fire performance, she has also become a premiere variety entertainer and is guaranteed to ignite your fantasies. In addition to her hotter talent, Ivizia's repertoire includes roller-skating, cube spinning, comedy and a unique puppetry performance that may just give you a “religious experience”.
Ivizia holds the title for Miss Exotic Oregon 2016 and is crowned "Queen of Roses" for 2016 Oregon Burlesque Festival.

The Midtown Moxies Burlesque troupe were formed in late 2014 and have been packing the house ever since! You can see them every 1st Saturday at Midtown Barfly and every 3rd Friday at The Blue Lamp. The Moxies blend classic moves and elements with modern music,  sultry singing and hilarious comedy, creating diverse performances that please every guest.

“Do the Dance” is a feature documentary the uses Sacramento’s infamous “bottomless” stripper trial to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression.

Veteran Sacramento Bee reporter Ed Fletcher is the project’s creative lead. DQ Hayes, formerly of the band Shakedown, is directing and is a
producer.

Get tickets HERE

Cable show: Where are you at with film project?

I recently sat down with Elisia Gonzales and Rafael Siegel, the hosts of the community cable show Sactown Underground, to talk about the exciting updates on my documentary film project "Do The Dance." Do The Dance explores the 1969 Sacramento's strip club indecency trail that wrote the rules in California for exotic dance. The conversation also hits on how to setup the feature film screenplay "Pink."

Pink doc kickoff planned for February

We are still working out the details but look for an official announcement soon on  February "Free Love Free Expression Film Fundraiser" for the Pink documentary. (That name might need help.)
The night will feature a screening of a preview trailer utilizing historic footage, it will also include an auction of "Free Expression" artwork, a chat with Judge Earl Warren Jr. and a burlesque performance.
We're expecting it to raise a significant amount of money towards the project. We have Feb. 21 penciled in.
The night also kickoffs crowdfunding campaign to finish funding the film and expand the market for the documentary and the feature film.
The February event and the flurry of activity after will give the documentary the proper launch it deserves and serves to elevate the entire Pink project.
The documentary uses a look back at quirky 1969 indecency trial to launch a broader conversation about the present state of free expression.
Thank you for following the journey. I'll need your help as I prepare to host this fundraiser then run a crowdfunding campaign. More on that soon.
If you'd like to get more actively involved in event planning, web design, graphic design, marketing, and publicity or any number of other areas please don't hesitate to ask.

Ed Fletcher

Team Pink Documentary Team

Perpetual F Entertainment is happy to announce the following additions to "Team Pink" in support of producing the documentary film "Do The Dance."
Director/producer: Damen Quincy Hayes
producer/editor: Brad Durante
producer: Lauren Brock

Do the Dance uses an outrageous 1969 strip club indecency trial to examine free expression in the modern era. The trial including a performance to the legendary Carol Doda of San Francisco.

Damen will lead the visual development of the film. This includes shooting interviews and live events. Damen will also assist in securing archival footage.
Brad is the lead editor and will assist in securing the finances and connections needed to make the project a success.
Lauren Brock will lead the effort to secure celebrity and other difficult interviews, help secure talent and assist in fundraising.
Ed Fletcher will continue to lead the creative effort, conduct key interviews and work towards the creative success of the overall Pink project.

Former strip club site set for redevelopment

The longtime owners of the faded strip mall once home to the Pink Pussy Kat strip club have sold the property to a new owner who is planning to erect a new 40,000-square-foot shopping center in its place.
The new owner Cliff Wylie said he heard about plans to produce a documentary about the Pink Pussy Kat, but wasn’t interested in restoring the long-closed club.
“I’m tearing that building
down,” Wylie said.
He plans on combining Orangevale Plaza (9346 Greenback Late) with two neighboring plots to create Orangevale Downtown Plaza. Plans have already been submitted to Sacramento County.
“We want to revitalize this end of town,” said Wylie, a first-time developer who owns the granite shop across the street. Wylie said he’s looking for national tenants “like a Beach Hut Deli” and a drive-through coffee retailer to bring a little sizzle to the site.
A documentary on the Pink Pussy Kat and the indecency trial are well underway. The film-making team has secured some of the historic footage needed and are securing funds needed to green light the project.

If Pink Pussy Kat A Go-Go’s old strip mall  ever had any luster, it has lost it decades ago. The entire mall showed signs of its age. The parking lot barely defined. Business signs old are old and hard to read. The actual location Pussy Kat houses an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting location.
The former owner John Lydon Byrne said he was happy to be done with Orangevale Plaza, which he said had turned into a money pit as the building aged.
Byrne was in his 20s when his father bought the site in the early 70s, after the 1969 indecency trial that brought the club into the national spotlight.
When the trial ended and its semi-famous dancer Susanne (Tropper) Haynes hit the road business drooped.
 He said the club remained open three to five years after his family owned it, but he could not pinpoint an exact year. He said his father was friendly with Leonard Glancy, the club’s owner, but wasn’t fond of the business.
“He wanted them out of there,” Byrne said.

Progress, setback in search for crusading stripper

Exotic dancer Susanne Haines (edited)

Yesterday was one of those "good news, bad news" days in my on-again search for Susanne Haines -- the dancer at the center of Sacramento's landmark 1969 strip club indecency case.
The case made national headlines when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided the jury needed to see the dance to decide whether it violated community standards. It also featured a performance from San Franciso dancer Carol Doda. It remains relevant because the case helped set the rules for exotic dance in California.
The bad news: new clues lead to yet another dead end (for now).
Good news: I found her sister Evangeline Fullmer AND she agreed to be interviewed on camera.
Finding Susanne has been no so simple get.
She was Susanne Haines
But first she was Susanne Tropper
then she was Susanne Register
and now Susanne Medina
Suddenly after months of no progress, I had actionable intelligence (i.e.  a phone number and address).
But alas it appears Susanne sold her central Florida residence and moved again. (Confirmed by a neighbor and realtor.com) If she not running sometimes it appears that way.
In the great news category, I've tracked down both her siblings Carlton Tropper and Evangeline (Tropper) Fullmer.
I spoke with Evangeline for about an hour.
The conversation started awkwardly, as one might suspect. I call out of the blue and her I am asking about things that happened nearly 50 years ago. But once we started talking, I think she enjoyed the trip down memory lane. At 73, she's sharp and thoughtful.
As a teen herself, Evangeline became the de facto mother to her younger sister Susanne and brother Carlton after their mother died and their father slid into alcoholism.
Susanne emerged as a free-thinking firebrand, unafraid to do her own thing.
"Susanne was different. She beat to her own drummer," Fullmer said. "Knowing Susanne I wasn't surprised," she said of her sister's path into stripping.
Susanne's sister won't be much help finding her. She didn't know Susanne had moved and isn't in regular contact with her once newsworthy sister.

News writer Ed Fletcher turns eye toward film

One should always have a bio ready for job they want. But I'd neglected one for film. After all, what am I going to say "I attend the CFAA screenwriters group monthly." That's true, mostly.

So while I've been steadily trying to convert creative ideas into action, I hadn't written a film bio. It's funny the things to fear.

Some months ago I agreed to host a school film forum. So when my contact (a teacher) messages me Saturday asking for a bio and reel of my work I finally had a deadline I couldn't shrug off. The highlight reel is above. The narrative film projects included are "Dance Step of Death" (2012) "Goldie" (2014) "Le Chapeau Genial" (2016) and "Save Quentin" (2016). It also including some of my work as a swashbuckling video reporter. Here's my film bio raft:  

Longtime Sacramento Bee reporter Ed Fletcher looks to follow a long line of journalists to transition into writing for film. Unlike many developing screenwriters, Ed has the fortitude, drive, and collaborative skills to bring those stories to the screen.As a writer and producer, Fletcher is not one to be typecast. His projects have tackled zombie outbreaks, gender identity, adolescent yearnings, mascot abduction, and free expression.His 2016 short film "Le chapeau génial" received an award of distinction at the 2016 Sacramento International Film Festival. Fletcher's most recent completed project was a transmedia narrative "Save Quentin" that used social media, television, and radio to chronicle the abduction and rescue of local non-profit's mascot. Fletcher's creative exploration has included performing improv and standup comedy as well as attending the Burning Man counterculture festival annually.  He's an active member of the community and serves on the local community cable channel board of directors. After growing up in Sacramento's suburbs, he attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He returned to Sacramento in 2000 as a staff writer at The Bee.

Naked celebrity selfies suggests time right for free expression documentary

The Pink Pussy Kat in Orangevale went to court over the right to dance fully nude.

In many ways, a documentary was the logical step.
From the moment I pulled the fading stack of newspaper clips on Sacramento's Pink Pussy Kat trial I knew I wanted to tell the story somehow.
I'd brushed aside earlier consideration of doing a documentary, preferring to keep my eye on the prize: a major release feature film.
I'm not saying my initial mission was wrong, but it's time to pivot. This is a story that's ripe for the telling. Big stars like Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian West and Emily Ratajkowski are making news by sharing their naked bodies in the name of free expression.
Hey, Emily, Kim and Miley here is a more meaningful way to address the issue of free expression.
Here are some of the questions our documentary will tackle:
Was the push to go full nude at strip clubs in the late 1960' about free expression or exploitation?
How have our social more changed since the flower power movement?
How is it that Sacramento has all but eradicated strip clubs, yet they're all over Portland?
With our the acquisition of KCRA's coverage of the trial, for the first time we're able to see and hear the players first hand. It's 20 minutes of some pretty amazing footage: including some of Carol Doda dancing during the trial.

The question before my cohorts is whether to go after a modest prize of a 20-minute documentary or to develop the plan for an hour-long version that could land on HBO or Showtime?
Secondary question: How do we get Emily, Kim or Miley involved?

Don't miss future developments sign up for the Perpetual F mailing list . See out other project at Perpetualf.com