124: Raquel Welch and Myra Breckinridge (with Karen Geier)

Toronto-based writer and content strategist Karen Geier returns to the show to discuss the late screen goddess Raquel Welch and her greatest role as a trans woman out to destroy the Hollywood patriarchy in the 1970 film version of Gore Vidal’s controversial best-selling novel Myra Breckinridge, produced on a high budget by 20th Century Fox in the early days of the new X rating.

Long considered one of the worst movies ever made, Karen and I mount a defense of Myra Breckinridge as a ruthless satire of Hollywood that is intentionally distasteful and accidentally based in terms of its sexual politics. We discuss the troubled production and the cast of creatives including the British director Michael Sarne (who hated the book), the film critic Rex Reed (who made his acting debut here and trashed the movie when it was released) and the original screen sex goddess Mae West, coaxed back on the screen after nearly 30 years, who refused to appear on screen with Raquel and demanded she get top billing and two musical numbers (even though the film was not a musical).

Karen and I also discuss Raquel’s insane prime-time network tv specials and her comeback in the eighties as the star of a series of salacious workout videos.

You can watch Myra Breckinridge for free over at the Internet Archive.

There are over three dozen premium episodes of the show available exclusively to patrons: some notable previous Patreon guests include Jared Yates Sexton, Jacob Bacharach, David Roth, Bryan Quinby and Will Sloan. More to come! Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

Follow Karen Geier on Twitter.

Trailer for Myra Breckinridge (Michael Sarne, 1970)

Raquel! (TV special for CBS from 1970)

From Raquel With Love (TV special for ABC from 1980)

Highlights from Welch’s eighties at-home workout videotape A Week With Raquel (1986)

“Swinging Into Disaster”, an in-depth article on the making of Myra Breckinridge, by Steven Daly for Vanity Fair, April 2001