Tura! Tura! Tura!: tribute to a tender tigress

An icon of indie cinema (as well as a personal friend) made the ultimate transition to Cult Movie Heaven this past Friday, February 4: Tura Satana, immortalized as Varla, the voluptuous, ferocious, bone-crunching, cleavage-conscious femme fatale of San Leandro native Russ Meyer’s fast 'n' furious fist-fest Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (1965), along with a pair of grindhouse gems from schlock-king Ted V. Mikels, The Astro Zombies (1968) and The Doll Squad (1973), passed away in her adopted hometown of Reno, Nevada, as announced by her friend and manager, Siouxzan Perry. Siouxzan is in the midst of editing a biographical documentary about Tura, loaded with personal footage never seen by the public, and as bitterly ironic as the fact may be, Tura’s passing may help finally fund the finished product. This is story that needs to be told, in the medium that made her famous. Tura was just as lusty, luscious and larger-than-life off-screen as on.

In her own words on the official Tura web site, administered by Siouxzan (now sole caretaker of the legendary lady’s legacy), Tura describes being raised in “the Mafia section of town, on the West Side of Chicago,” where “the feelings toward Orientals was very distasteful.” Her family later suffered internment in a Japanese camp during WW2 (she was also part Filipino, Native American, and Scots-Irish, an ethnic diversity that somewhat accounts for her stunningly unique beauty), and as a teenager she suffered a serious sexual assault that forever scarred her soul, without damaging her survivalist’s spirit. In response to this trauma, she learned martial arts, moved to L.A. to pursue a blues-singing career, became a model, posing nude as a teenager for Harold Lloyd, and eventually achieved success as an itinerant exotic dancer in the company of such fellow burlesque stars as Tempest Storm and Candy Barr. Naturally she attracted the attention of Hollywood scouts, and she scored roles in popular television shows including The Man From UNCLE and Hawaiian Eye, as well as small but notable appearances in films like Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed with Dean Martin, and Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce, with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MaClaine. She also dated Elvis Presley at one point, turning down a proposal of marriage from The King. The combustible chemistry of that union would have just been too explosive for the universe to handle.

But it was her featured role in Faster Pussycat that has eternally endeared her in the hearts of generations of film fans around the world. She endured both personal and professional travails throughout her colorful life, but she stayed true to her cinematic reputation as a strong, independent woman who took no crap off anybody, even though her savagely sensual visage encased a velvety essence that has now found spiritual peace, even as her temporal image continues to seduce, thrill and inspire her earthbound legions of admirers.

Through Siouxzan, I had the honor of knowing Tura, even hosting her 69th birthday party at Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda during one of several Bay Area visits (sometimes to appear at Peaches Christ’s popular “Midnight Mass” show at The Bridge Theater in San Francisco). She was a humble, gracious woman who adored her fans as much as they worshipped her, and she is greatly missed.

I’ll be presenting a special film tribute to Tura tonight at Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge, 1304 Lincoln, Alameda, 7:30, no cover, with an exotic cocktail created in her honor, and it will have to be one potent Polynesian potion to live up to its formidable namesake. Aloha, pussycat.

Will “the Thrill” Viharo is a pulp fiction author and B Movie impresario.