"The First Nudie Musical"

A shot of Schechter Studios near the beginning of "The First Nudie Musical," (Paramount, 1976). We're actually at Producers Studio, 5300 Melrose Ave. It's now looking quite a bit more gentrified and is called Raleigh Studios.

The film stars Stephen Nathan as a low-budget producer, Cindy Williams as his secretary, Bruce Kimmel as director of the film-within-the film, and Leslie Ackerman as an ingenue fresh of the bus from Indiana. And Ron Howard has a bit part. The book, music and lyrics are by Mr. Kimmel. Direction was by Mark Haggard and Mr. Kimmel.

Another shot of the studio. As soon as producer Harry Schechter gets the idea for his new film they'll be having auditions. They decide on a nudie musical called "Come, Come Now." See the Raleigh Studios site for a fine history of the lot.

 
Leslie Ackerman gets cast as the ingenue and bursts into song for a stroll down Hollywood Blvd. It's a great number. Here we're under the marquee of the Hollywood Theatre, just east of Highland Ave. The song, "The Lights and the Smiles," is actually sung by Annette O'Toole.

A shot of the joyous Ms. Ackerman continuing east with the Hollywood behind her. 

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We get a number of signage views during the number. See the page about the the Hollywood Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many photos of the 1918 vintage building.

A shot of the Vine lettering on the S. Charles Lee designed theatre just west of Vine St. See the Vine Theatre page for more about the building.

A view of the Pantages neon. We'll be back for the premiere of "Come, Come Now." Well, at least for a couple exterior shots. See the many pages about the Pantages Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of this 1930 deco gem along with hundreds of photos.

The sign interlude also includes a shot of one of the Chinese dragons. See the Chinese Theatre pages for many photos of all areas of the building.

At the Pix, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., for a look at the great signage it had. It's been a theatre of many names. See the page about the Music Box / Fonda Theatre for lots of details.

Ms. Ackerman, singing her way down the boulevard, now heads back west from the Pix. 

Another view with the Pix in the background. They're running "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud."

The number winds up with this shot looking west toward the Hollywood Pacific. It got renamed that in 1968 when the successor company to Warner Bros. sold it to Pacific Theatres. See the pages about the Warner Hollywood on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building.

Soon we get around to actually filming "Come, Come Now" with scenes that include musical numbers such as "Orgasm," "Dancing Dildos," "I'll Kick You With Boots," and "Let 'em Eat Cake...But Let Me Eat You."

Back at the Pantages for the premiere of the film. Well, they're having a premiere all right, but not for our film. 

Another premiere night Pantages shot. But we don't go inside. The interior shots of the premiere were done at the Fox Venice, 620 Lincoln Blvd. 

In the lobby at the Fox Venice with an announcer talking about "Come, Come Now." 

Another lobby shot with worried producer Stephen Nathan pacing.

 

In the auditorium with Cindy Williams and Nathan. We have several more shots like this of various cast members and people in the audience but don't see any of the auditorium decor. See the page about the Fox Venice for more about the theatre.

 

 

Bruce talks about a preview at the Academy Theatre in Pasadena --

"What a theater this was, even back in the 1970s. It was a major preview house for the studios, since they could run work prints with interlock sound. One of the greatest nights of my life was on August 8th, 1975 when we all trudged out there for the sneak preview of 'The First Nudie Musical,' work print in hand with interlock mag sound. They were showing 'Tommy' and 'Once Is Not Enough.' 

"We screened at eight-thirty, the usual preview time. The theater was full, all 1,700 seats and the reaction to our little movie was unbelievable in terms of the laughs it got, even with the shitty work print, no opticals, and raw, unmixed sound. I'll never forget it. And the next night, we were in San Diego previewing at some huge downtown theater that was showing, of all things, 'Dolemite.'"


The featurette "From Dollars to Donuts" --

In Hollywood the film played at the Fox Theatre where it was doing fine business. This shot appears in "From Dollars to Donuts," included on the DVD of the film. In the featurette Bruce Kimmel talks about the sad relationship they had with Paramount regarding the distribution. Amid concerns about tarnishing the reputation of Cindy Williams, Paramount pulled the film. "Laverne and Shirley," at the time a new hit series, was a product of Paramount's TV division.

"The First Nudie Musical" later went out with a different distributor and enjoyed record runs in a number of theatres. The featurette has terrific stories about the production from Ms. Williams, various cast members and both directors. Will Ron Howard show up to talk about his role? Watch it and find out. 

On IMDb: "The First Nudie Musical"