George Weiss (producer)
Encyclopedia
George Weiss was an American
film producer
who specialized in independent 'road show' exploitation Z movie
s during the 1950s and sexploitation
shockers in the '60s that openly defied the motion picture production code
of the day.
Glen or Glenda (1953) directed by Edward D. Wood Jr., originally conceived as a fictionalized story of the sexual reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen
. When Jorgensen refused to collaborate on the film, Wood wrote a new autobiographical script about his own struggle with being a closet transvestite and added stock film footage about sexual reassignment surgery. Weiss appears in the film in an uncredited cameo as "man at transvestite's suicide." Adding to the film's already extensive fantasy sequence, Weiss included incongruous scenes of scantily-clad women, bondage, and whipping taken from another project inspired by the fetish films of Irving Klaw
. This was done partly to increase the film's length up to the required 70 minutes. (Source: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., by Rudolph Grey, 1992: Feral House, Inc., pp. 46, 198)
In 1956 Weiss began filming a juvenile delinquent film under the working title Hellborn. The project was soon abandoned. The footage was sold and later incorporated into Ed Wood's The Sinister Urge
and Night of the Ghouls
.
, the sympathetic doctor in Glen or Glenda. Farrell had a major role as a gangster in Wood's Jailbait, and a supporting part in The Violent Years.
For Weiss, Farrell also played doctors in Hometown Girl (1949) and Test Tube Babies (1948), an exploitation film about artificial insemination. In 1951 he was in the risque burlesque film Paris After Midnight with famous stripper Tempest Storm
.
He played Umberto Scalli, a sleazy gymnasium owner and drug pusher in three films: The Devil's Sleep (1949), Racket Girls aka Pin Down Girls (1951), and Dance Hall Racket (1954) with inconoclastic comedian Lenny Bruce
in his only film role. These films were largely an excuse for showcasing 'cat fight' female-wrestling footage.
In Girl Gang (1954), Farrell plays another degenerate drug dealer in a film noteworthy for showing the step-by-step process of preparing and injecting heroin. (Weiss did not shy away from taboo subjects in any of his films.)
Nudist Life (1961) was mostly put together from assorted nudist camp films from the previous two decades.
Weiss even stole from himself, as in The Pill (1967), which he also directed. The bulk of the film is recycled from Test Tube Babies dressed up as a clinical study on birth control.
Many of Weiss' films are presented in a pseudo-documentary style accompanied by earnest, voice-over narration. (Pretending to be an educational film was a way to circumvent censorship laws.) Chained Girls (1965) is a prime example. This 'expose' claims to reveal the shocking truth about lesbianism in today's society with supposed hidden camera footage. This was directed by Phil Tucker
who did many films for Weiss. (Tucker is notorious for directing the camp classic Robot Monster
in 1953.)
cites Olga's House of Shame as a major early influence.
Weiss was friendly with the New York film maker Michael Findlay
and his wife Roberta, an actress and cinemaphotographer. In 1964, Weiss encouraged them to follow in the trail blazed by the Olga films. The Findlays went on to make a series of even more extreme sexploitation films including The Touch of Her Flesh and its two sequels.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
who specialized in independent 'road show' exploitation Z movie
Z movie
The term Z movie arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films. It was soon adopted to characterize low-budget pictures with quality standards well below those of most B movies and even so-called C movies...
s during the 1950s and sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
shockers in the '60s that openly defied the motion picture production code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
of the day.
Glen or Glenda
Weiss is best known as the producer who funded the exploitation filmExploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
Glen or Glenda (1953) directed by Edward D. Wood Jr., originally conceived as a fictionalized story of the sexual reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen was the first widely known person to have sex reassignment surgery—in this case, male to female.-Early life:...
. When Jorgensen refused to collaborate on the film, Wood wrote a new autobiographical script about his own struggle with being a closet transvestite and added stock film footage about sexual reassignment surgery. Weiss appears in the film in an uncredited cameo as "man at transvestite's suicide." Adding to the film's already extensive fantasy sequence, Weiss included incongruous scenes of scantily-clad women, bondage, and whipping taken from another project inspired by the fetish films of Irving Klaw
Irving Klaw
Irving Klaw was an American photographer and filmmaker.Klaw is best-known for operating a mail-order business selling photographs and film of attractive women from the 1940s to the 1960s...
. This was done partly to increase the film's length up to the required 70 minutes. (Source: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., by Rudolph Grey, 1992: Feral House, Inc., pp. 46, 198)
In 1956 Weiss began filming a juvenile delinquent film under the working title Hellborn. The project was soon abandoned. The footage was sold and later incorporated into Ed Wood's The Sinister Urge
The Sinister Urge (film)
The Sinister Urge is a 1961 crime drama film that was written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film was featured in episode 613 of the cult television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000.- Synopsis :...
and Night of the Ghouls
Night of the Ghouls
Night of the Ghouls is a 1959 horror film written and directed by Ed Wood. It is a sequel of sorts to the 1955 film Bride of the Monster...
.
Timothy Farrell films
Another connection between Weiss and Ed Wood is actor Timothy FarrellTimothy Farrell
Timothy Farrell, real name Timothy Sperl, was an American film actor, best known for his roles in the Edward D. Wood, Jr. films Jail Bait, The Violent Years, and Glen or Glenda...
, the sympathetic doctor in Glen or Glenda. Farrell had a major role as a gangster in Wood's Jailbait, and a supporting part in The Violent Years.
For Weiss, Farrell also played doctors in Hometown Girl (1949) and Test Tube Babies (1948), an exploitation film about artificial insemination. In 1951 he was in the risque burlesque film Paris After Midnight with famous stripper Tempest Storm
Tempest Storm
Tempest Storm is the stage name of an American stripper, burlesque star, and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best known burlesque performers of the 1950s and 1960s. She is regarded as having one of the longest careers as a burlesque performer,...
.
He played Umberto Scalli, a sleazy gymnasium owner and drug pusher in three films: The Devil's Sleep (1949), Racket Girls aka Pin Down Girls (1951), and Dance Hall Racket (1954) with inconoclastic comedian Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
in his only film role. These films were largely an excuse for showcasing 'cat fight' female-wrestling footage.
In Girl Gang (1954), Farrell plays another degenerate drug dealer in a film noteworthy for showing the step-by-step process of preparing and injecting heroin. (Weiss did not shy away from taboo subjects in any of his films.)
Stock footage features
Similar to Ed Wood, Weiss also cobbled together footage from other sources and then created a flimsy plot as a framing device. From his collection of erotic burlesque films he released Hollywood After Midnight, Baghdad After Midnight (both 1954), and The Peek Snatchers (1965), among others.Nudist Life (1961) was mostly put together from assorted nudist camp films from the previous two decades.
Weiss even stole from himself, as in The Pill (1967), which he also directed. The bulk of the film is recycled from Test Tube Babies dressed up as a clinical study on birth control.
Many of Weiss' films are presented in a pseudo-documentary style accompanied by earnest, voice-over narration. (Pretending to be an educational film was a way to circumvent censorship laws.) Chained Girls (1965) is a prime example. This 'expose' claims to reveal the shocking truth about lesbianism in today's society with supposed hidden camera footage. This was directed by Phil Tucker
Phil Tucker
Phil Tucker was an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. While Tucker directed his first six feature films in the span of two years , he is best known for his first film, the science fiction B movie Robot Monster, often considered an example of "so bad it's good" filmmaking in the...
who did many films for Weiss. (Tucker is notorious for directing the camp classic Robot Monster
Robot Monster
Robot Monster is a 1953 American science fiction film made in 3-D by Phil Tucker. It is frequently considered one of the worst films ever made.- Plot :...
in 1953.)
The Olga series
Besides Glen or Glenda, Weiss may be best remembered for producing some of the first "roughie" sexploitation films of the '60s with his "Olga" series. Directed by Joseph P. Mawra and starring Audrey Campbell as the sadistic white slaver Olga, Weiss unleashed Olga's House of Shame (which he also co-wrote), White Slaves of Chinatown, Olga's Girls (all from 1964), Mme. Olga's Massage Parlor (1965), and Olga's Dance Hall Girls (1969). Weiss has a brief role as a doctor in White Slaves of Chinatown. Although tame by today's standards, the series was shocking and unique in its day. Underground film maker John WatersJohn Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
cites Olga's House of Shame as a major early influence.
Weiss was friendly with the New York film maker Michael Findlay
Michael Findlay
Michael Findlay, along with his wife Roberta Findlay, directed and produced numerous sexploitation movies. They have been described as "the most notorious filmmakers in the annals of sexploitation"....
and his wife Roberta, an actress and cinemaphotographer. In 1964, Weiss encouraged them to follow in the trail blazed by the Olga films. The Findlays went on to make a series of even more extreme sexploitation films including The Touch of Her Flesh and its two sequels.
- Weiss was played by actor Mike StarrMike Starr (actor)Michael "Mike" Starr is an American actor. Starr is notable for his large size, standing 6 ft 3 1/2 in , and has typically been typecast as thugs or henchmen....
in Tim BurtonTim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's 1994 biopic Ed Wood.
- Weiss is quoted at length throughout the interview-filled book on Ed Wood: Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., by Rudolph Grey (Feral House, Inc., 1992).