Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat left legacy

Orangevale's Pink Pussy Kat a Go-Go may have been short-lived and lacking in grandeur, but it left its mark on American culture through its challenge of perceived and later instituted indecency standards. Having found no recorded account of the club or the trial, I wrote one based on news stories obtained through The Sacramento Bee and an autobiography written by former exotic performer Susanne Haines Register. Please help me improve on this article. -- Ed Fletcher

Tavern owner Leonard Glancy
 is flanked by dancers
Susanne Haines (left) and Shiela Brendenson  Sacramento Bee August 27, 1969

Orangevale strip club impact outlasts club

The Pink Pussy Kat was a beer bar and strip club noted for its legal wranglings with county and state authorities over indecency standards in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was located in Orangevale, CA, about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento. 

The bar, which featured beer, food, pool tables and topless (and sometimes bottomless) barmaids is believed to have closed on or around the March 1976 death of owner Leonard Glancy. It was located at 9346 Greenback Lane, in a drab Orangevale shopping plaza.

Sacramento County Sheriff "Big" John Misterly actively sought to reign in the 1960s counterculture movement and tasked detectives with making regular check at the region's adult-themed bars.

On July 27, 1969, dancers Susanne Marie Haines, 22, and Sheila Brandenson,  were arrested after performing fully nude. Owner Leonard Glancy was taken in as well. Topless had been the acceptable practice. Presiding over the trial was Sacramento Superior Court Judge Earl Warren, Jr., who happens to be the son of former California Governor and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. Warren still resides in the Sacramento area.

The trial made national headlines after Warren agreed to a defense motion to temporarily move the proceeding to the club and allow the jury to see the offending performance. On Sept. 17, Haines attempted to replicate the dance for which was was arrested. She danced to "Suzy Q," and songs by the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix under dim lights with psychedelic art projected on the walls. On Sept. 22, noted San Francisco topless performer Carol Doda also performed for the jury.

The dancers and Glancy were acquitted Oct. 2, 1969, by the 10-man, two-woman jury, but that was far from the end of the legal fight over nude dancing.

On Oct. 21, Sacramento County enacted an ordinance prohibiting topless and bottomless dancing, and topless waitresses.

Glancy and Haines challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance.

During the legal fight, Glancy turned to various other means to keep his business going, including offering patrons a closed-circuit broadcast of on-site strip performances and putting dancers in see-through panties.

The result of the case, which was combined with other challenges from similar laws, is California’s current practice of not allowing alcohol at fully-nude strip clubs based health code rules.

On May 12, 1970, Glancy was arrested in the shooting of a patron in the parking lot. Glancy claimed it was in defense.

Shortly after her indecency acquittal, Haines left the Pink Pussy Kat. To further her career as striptease performer and capitalize on her notoriety, she began touring gentlemen's clubs across the country as a featured performer. In 1971, she won the title of Miss Nude Cosmos, often known by its more legally dubious name, Miss Nude Universe. During her time on the road, doing a week or more stints at strip clubs, she was arrested more than a dozen times for performing bottomless. By her account, these dances -- and her arrests -- were part publicity stunt, part legitimate act of free expression.

Death records indicate Glancy died in March of 1976.

It’s unclear when the club closed.  

In 1978, Haines, under her married name Susanne Haines Register wrote, “Take It All Off,” an autobiography that followed her path from Mormon schoolgirl to “dope-smoking” dancer and on to her eventual self-described “salvation.”

Film research trip ends exotic avoidance

I wonder sometimes what people think about a guy who would devote years of his life writing a screenplay and producing a movie about a strip club.
 "Some big perv."
Fact is, until last night, I hadn't been to a strip club for at least five years -- including the entire time writing "Pink."
For those new to the blog, "Pink" is my sexy dramatic comedy about Sacramento's 1969 "bottomless" stripper trial. The indecency trial became a national story when the judge decided in order for the jury to determine whether the dance violated community standards they'd have to see it. The girls won the trial but the government changed the law making it a health code violation to consume alcoholic beverages in establishments that allow full nudity.
So what's a guy who doesn't care for spending money on exotic dancers doing writing a screenplay about exotic dancers? The short answer is because it a local story that needed to be told. When you strip everything else away its a story about free expression dressed up in late 60s attire.
Think "American Hustle" meets "People vs. Larry Flynt."
Most of my research came from old fraying newspaper clips. I didn’t set out to write a strip club screenplay. It started as a short term project and has steadily grown.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude (though "Blue Lagon" was too much for me went I saw it as a boy). I’ve been to strip clubs and enjoy seeing women naked as much as the next guy, probably a little more. The bulk of my strip club experience came from Bourbon Street excursions during college and the rush of bachelor parties one endures in their early 30s.
But I could never justify expending money on the experience.
More than the money, the transactional relationship bothers me.
While I firmly believe performers should have the right to dance naked in exchange for money, I much prefer nudity without compensation.
Pink can be a beautiful movie that makes audiences laugh, causes a modest arousal, says something about art, freedom and culture -- and makes money.
So for the sake of research I, joined by a female friend, went to Gold Club Centerfolds. After an absence of half a decade, the adult establishment seemed remarkably the same in all its soft skin and curvaceous glory.
I'll spare you the details (good and bad) other than to note I drank hot tea, a legacy of the "Pink Pussy Kat" decision.

Film about exotic dance trial needs an image

Which of these three are best represent "Pink?"

Having never been a screenwriter before maybe I don’t know any better, but when I finish something I burn to see it made. That’s the point, right.

With that in mind I’m going to American Film Market in Santa Monica Nov. 5-12 to sell or develop my feature screenplay “Pink.”

Logline: A free-speech-loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to convince a jury that her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy courtroom comedy based on an actual 1969 case.

Here’s where you come in. The super talented graphic artist Val Mina has offered up three great ideas for an illustration. The illustration will be used on the web, but most importantly right now will be the image on our “leave behind” materials given to distributors, agents, producers, money men, casting directors and the like.

1. In one the judge's robes become the theater curtains, as a girl dances on stage.
2. Instead of lady justice we have a judge peeking under the blindfold to get peek at the lady dancing on one of the scales.
3. Classic. On possible variation would be to have sheriff between the legs rather than the judge.

Give us your thoughts.

I had previously begun laying the groundwork for a photo shoot and video tease also be used to market the film, but in the interest of time that will wait until after November. Thanks again for your support in this endeavor.

Despite fears, ticket secured to big film event

Matchbook from the Pink Pussy Kat Club

And with a click I’m going to Hollywood.

Well, going to Santa Monica for what’s billed at one of the top film conferences in the world.


If you’re new to the blog, I’m a longtime newspaper writer with the bold ambition of turning his first feature-length screenplay into a film. That’s why three days before my 40th Birthday hit “purchase” on a $500 ticket.

I’ve produced a couple shorts, but this will be, by far, my most significant film project.
Going to this thing kinda terrifies me.
My brief experience in film has taught me that Hollywood isn’t built to absorb ideas from outsiders.
It’s hard to sell a script, until you have an agent. And its hard to get an agent, until you’ve sold a script.

I’ve tried from afar. But to date, none of the 30 odd email queries I’ve sent have been met by a positive response. That’s to be expected I’m told.
Going to the conference is a chance to take matters in my own hands. Here is the wiki description of the event:

The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year at the beginning of November in Santa Monica, California. About 8,000 people attend the eight day event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than 70 countries and include acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors, distributors, festival directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers, writers, etc. Founded in 1981, the AFM quickly became one of the premier global marketplaces for the film business, where unlike a film festival, production and distribution deals are the main focus of the participants.

Event marketing materials point out that whole films have come together at AFM, but I bet they had an agent to schedule those meetings. Not that I hadn’t been working hard already on moving the script and film forward, but knowing that in a month I’ll have a golden opportunity to make a contact that can catapult this project forward is invigorating. I worry I won’t have the money to put my best foot forward, but I’ll do the best I can.

Between now and then I’ll perfect my pitch, study the players, and develop “leave behind” materials that keeps my screenplay “Pink” on their minds.

If you’re just coming to this blog its high time I tell you what the film is about:

Logline: A free-speech-loving exotic dancer battles a small-town sheriff and bares it all to convince a jury that her "bottomless" dance is art worthy of protection in this sexy courtroom comedy based on an actual 1969 case.

Membership card from Pink Pussy Kat

It’s a story I learned about through my occupation as a newspaper reporter. The fact that the club was in Orangevale the community where I grew up only fueled my interest. Now I want to bring this story to the big screen for all of Sacramento. I’m hoping people will support me and rally to this cause.

I could use help reading my business plan, giving me feedback on my pitch, crafting my leave behind materials and finding a place to crash.
I’m so thankful for all the people who have helped me get this far. I’d never have made it this far without your encouraging words, feedback and participation in table reads. A special thanks to all of the people who have tried to connect me with your Hollywood connections.

We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m confident will be much further down that road as a result of the conference. Help me break a leg.

Follow the movement on Facebook.

48-hour film project comes out gold

Sacramento may not have a wealth of big budget Hollywood films being produced by it does have its share of films being produced as part of a film challenge. After several years of deciding I'm too busy and/or unskilled to contribute, I showed up at the cast and crew call for the Sacramento International Film Festival's 48-hour film challenge and offered to write something for somebody.

I hooked up with Matt Gilliam, who liked my idea of putting a modern twist on the children's classic "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." With Pam Finney's help, we began assembling our cast and crew and refining the script. Matt, Pam, Greg Marker and Gwen Conklin each made contributions to the script.

The 7-minute film is one of more than a dozen that will screen April 26 the opening night of the Sacramento International Film Festival. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Crocker Art Gallery.

Here is a look at how it came together:



And a look at a trailer:



I even wrote the lyrics for a song to accompany the movie. A buddy from high school took my words and ran with it producing this pretty cool song.

Sacramento Film Challenges

Name: 48 Hour Film Festival

Sponsor organization: Sacramento International Film Festival

Important dates: 7 p.m. today – cast and crew call at the Studio Center, 915 Fee Drive; April 4 - challenge starts; April 26 - films screened

Name: Place Called Sacramento Film Festival

Sponsor organization: Access Sacramento

Important dates: April 11 – script deadline; May 28 – cast and crew call; Oct. 5 – films screened

Name: Horror Filmmaker Challenge

Sponsor organization: Sacramento Horror Film Festival

Important date: May 3 – films due

Name: “Sac Music Seen” / 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge

Sponsor organization: Sacramento Film and Music Festival

Important dates: April 4 – music submissions due; July 20 – videos due

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/21/6255207/budding-filmmakers-use-dark-fodder.html#storylink=cpy

Account supports ruthless depiction of "Big" John Misterly

Carol Doda

As a journalist solidly into my second decade at the craft, it only made sense that I’d lean on a true story to easy my way into screenwriting.
Writing a historical fiction is like journalism, except you get to color in the details, I figured.

After taking my first weekend screenwriting class three years ago, in February (2014) completed my first feature length script. I’m a admittedly a little stir crazy as I share my baby seeking refinement.
It’s hard to tell how long the road before me is. It’s next to impossible for a Hollywood outsider to sell their script. It’s hard enough to get it read. Should I try to secure the money to produce it myself, it means many long nights juggling my play job and my newspaper job.

So it was with mixed feelings I scheduled a meeting with former Sacramento County Undersheriff Larry Stamm, someone with intimate knowledge of my subject matter and whose recollections might force a major rewrite.

“Pink,” my screenplay about the 1969 trial over all-nude dancing at the Pink Pussy Kat beer bar in Orangevale, started as a small project. My 2011 screenwriting class at Access Sacramento encouraged people to write a 10-page script for submission into it “Place Called Sacramento Film Festival.” Without a better idea, I turned to the newspaper archives about this intriguing trial. Using the newspaper stories as my guild post, I constructed a story to fill the middle, imagining the dialogue and what happened around the court dates.

I submitted the script. It was rejected.

My explanation at the time was it was too sexy for the “family friendly” contest. That may be true, but it was also true there was little character depth to the 10-minute version. Undoubtedly, that’s a tough bar for any 10-minute film. Without the constraints of a 10-minute requirement, the script  quickly  grew to 17 pages as I added by everything it was missing before.

Pink wasn’t a full-time obsession. I wrote and produced my short zombie comedy “Dance Step of Death” in 2012 and stayed busy with my other projects, including performing improv.

New project and ideas would manifest, but I kept returning to “Pink.” I interviewed two of the reporters who covered the trial and it grew to 27 pages. At 27 pages, the characters were really starting to take shape. I showed it to a few people, three of which urged me to develop it to feature length.

At feature length, it has the potential to make money. As as short, there is no even remote chance of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However, getting the movie made as a full-length movie is dramatically more complicated than my happy little short.

I pressed on.
As I went along, I found myself struggling over the facts. The trial became a national story after the judge Earl Warren Jr. ruled the jury needed to see the dance to determine whether it violated community standards and included testimony from the famous San Francisco stripper Carol Doda. Despite its notoriety at the time, very little exists about it in accessible online archives. That fact is worth noting in this age where it often seems anything worth knowing has a wikipedia entry.

I found a few newspaper clippings, one radio story, and a reference to it in Doda’s wikipedia page, but there was little else. I couldn’t find the two stars of the drama -- Susanna Haines and Sheila Brandenson. The district attorney that handled it was dead, as was the the club’s owner Leonard Glancy.

In the absence of the gritty details, as the script grew from 27 pages to its current 116 page feature length form it was clear I needed to make some choices. The way I figured it, make a compelling story even it that means condensing a timeline, inventing a backstory and making a villain.

That villain is Sheriff John Misterly.

I knew some things about Misterly. It’s well documented he set out and succeeded in running the biker groups out of the county. The phrase most often associated with Misterly was “son-of-a-bitch.” While I didn’t have the specific facts, like whether he personally threatened people, it seemed in keeping with what I did know. I typed and slept on things, then typed some more. Scene by scene things fell into place, until I was happen. I sat on it a week to make sure I didn’t wake up with a new scene that had to be inserted.
On Feb. 15 I declared my script done, minus the scores of rewrites that lay in store. I set out getting the script proofread and started polishing.

Then without warning Sacramento Historical Society Member Dave Reingold contacted me about my script. He too had an interest in this bit of history for a project he working on about the history of Burlesque. The chapter on the Pink Pussy Kat trial is a big of an addendum to his work. Among his gifts was contact information for Larry Stamm, who was a detective during the Pink Pussy Kat’ legal entanglement.
It was then with excitement and trepidation that I arranged to meet Stamm. Would new information force me into a major rewrite? This effort was already my longest sustained writing project and I’m admittedly dieing for the fame and fortune that comes with a hit movie.

I’m happy to report that John Misterly in real life is just as bullying as in my based on real events fiction.
Stamm explained that just as “Big John” ran off the biker gangs, he was dead set on getting the adult clubs out of his community as well.
Stamm said officers were under standing order to make their presence felt at the adult establishments when there wasn’t something else pressing to be done. That included asking to see their alcohol license, checking patron’s ids, checking for code violations and giving people leaving a sobriety test.

“It was a time where people who were in the money saw an opportunity to come to cowboy town Sacramento and turn it into a big city,” said Stamm, of the influence of San Francisco culture and proliferation of adult clubs in the county.
Stamm didn’t have all the answers, while he was a detective and said he’d been there 10 to 20 times, he was not on the unit tasked with shutting it and the others down. I asked whether there was any history between Big John and Leonard Glancy, the owner.

“If there was any conversation, it was Misterly telling him to get the hell out of our community,” Stamm said.

He did nice colorful details that do come with working for the man. He mentioned it practice of chewing on cigars, his driving a big black Chrysler, and his Martini lunches.
But more than the details he offered a better understanding of Big John’s motivation and drive. I went away knowing the more fine tuning of the character is in store, but thanks to Stamm Big John will be richer fuller, more contextualized villain.

Africans hussling Asians



My room at the International House of Japan. In addition to housing guest
 intelectuals such as me, it hosts leactures and events.

 After touching down in my compact, but comfortable room at the International House of Japan, I decided I needed to stock my in-room fridge and grab some dinner before crashing.
It wasn’t the flight that wiped me out, rather it was the 90 minute bus ride to downtown Tokyo from the airport. After barely being able to sleep until the last two hours of the flight, I couldn’t keep my eyes open as the bus navigated Tokyo traffic.

I changed clothes and walked the quarter mile or so out to one of the main avenues in an area of the city named Roppongi. If you took away all the Asian people with dust masks on, one might have confused the block with New York city. Bright lights and big screens everywhere. I popped into a store then walking back a brother approched me.
Brother law states that as more rare we become the more defference we’re obligated to offer. So when the brother – likely an African of some sort – told me I should check out this club I felt obligated to take a peek.
I was in the elevator before I discovered that the club he was hussling for was a nudey bar. It was still early Sunday evening, but it appeared I was the only customer (in the front room at least). Kevin now tried to up the buy-in from just take a look to "just stay for a drink." I insisted that I was just off the plane and would not stay.

Advice on Japan: Yes to Karaoke, avoid Yakuza

I've been given a fair amount of advice regarding my trip -- some for formal occasions, other tidbits for my unscheduled time in Tokyo.
My brother's tips include:

• Be prepared to karaoke (even if I'd sworn it off)
• The Japanese are incredibly formal -- suit up
• Be on alert for boys who look like girls

He also shared this gem of a podcast about one of the dark sides of Japan. The "Snap Judgment" audio program talks about a brother seeking fame in Japan.
I've also got some solid advice from my editor and a couple photographers at my gig, but the advice I got from a friend stationed there takes the cake. Fair warning some may view his colorful language as objectionable. I don't. Some of the best stuff comes at the end when he offers advice for dealing with the Yakuza.

If you find yourself going out alone Sunday night in Roppongi, you have to watch out for a lot of stuff. If you have a group present, I suggest going to Shibuya.

Just too many fucking foreigners there looking to mess your night up in Roppongi too. If you see a fight, get the fuck out of there ASAP because Japanese cops will hold everybody for a very long time to sort shit out the slow way.

In Roppongi you better keep positive control of your drink at all times. Don't go into bars you can't see from the street (i.e. climb flights of stairs, take an elevator to get to) as you will probably be ripped off/drugged then ripped off/seduced then ripped off.

Also when in a group you don't run the risk of being held up by a group of men for a tab you owe at a bar you have never patronized.

Not trying to scare you. I can get by alone and have but then again I don't look like a typical white guy ready to be victimized. You, being Ed, will look like a potential pimp to them, so your experience will be much different, but if you get drunk out there, please have some back up.

Then again, if you don't carry too much on you, then being seduced and subsequently ripped off for chump change sounds like a great deal. Those Russian/Japanese women can be juicy.

Not to worry; there are good areas. I only know a couple places in the short time I was there. The good stuff in Roppongi:

Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills Sunset place for pics and drinks
Hobgoblin-british type pub in Roppongi and one in Shibuya too
CityView-Look over Tokyo at night and get a classy pic.
Hildago's-teppanyaki/shabu shabu type restaurant, bring your work buds with you if nothing is planned for dinner.

But business places come and go so easily, ones I recommend could have moved/shut down so go without any expectations and have a blast. Safely. Please don't stay in your room though.

Lastly, if you say fuck it and brave a random seedy bar, you need to know what Yakuza looks like.

-Tattoos
-suits with collar popped
-missing joint on a little finger.

If one or more approaches you, thinking you are a small man with local "business interests"(bar promotion, trafficking in bitches, drugs, other assorted hobbies) and asks you to drink with him/them, then motherfucker, you better drink. If you don't entertain the request, the hostess or waitress will remind you to. They like to "one shot" their juice so when he asks you what your weapon of choice is, you better pick the pussiest drink you can think of because that fun party is going to last all night.

Also, they drive flashy cars and usually keep a license plate with the number 1 on it. You can have duplicate plates in Japan so if you see one out front or in a parking lot you may not be wrong in assuming Yakuza has parked and is currently partying and getting paid.

If you hit on one of their bitches, you can tell by butterfly tattoos below the neck/small of back area. I can't tell you in words how smart it would be to avoid this.

No doubt you will be approached by skankilicious Juicers even if you don't try since they all love a bit of the chocolate infusion out there. You have a 100% chance of getting laid your first night. By multiple women.

I'm not even lying about any of this shit because everybody here has a story.