EXCITING NEWS about the Documentary Project!!
DONATIONS! EAST COAST INTERVIEWS! WEST COAST INTERVIEWS!
Les Nickelettes had an annual tradition: The Salmon Awards. Why Salmon? We embraced the salmon’s undaunting and persistent swim upstream as a metaphor for our struggle up the showbiz ladder to success. We also loved that at the end of the salmon’s journey, they got to spawn. SPAWN!!! became a rallying cry that reminded us of our end goal. At the awards we honored those who had helped us on our quest. With that in mind Les Nickelettes want to recognize those who have helped us with the current swim upstream: our documentary! Our esteemed donors so far:
Sockeye Salmon in Stilettos: Strait Knot Productions. Carol Wolf. Lupe Hernandez. Ramkumar Kelath. Ruth Curran. Elaine Meyerhoffer.
Porpoises in Pumps: Sophie Linder. Sherry McVickar. Sheila Harding. Mary Kissane. David Cushing. Rebecca Valentino (in memory of Mary Valentino).
Red Snappers in Spikes: Marie Huxley. Pamela Drake. Kate Cisco. Terry Baum. Jane Alexander.
These generous donors made three rounds of interviews possible (see photos below). If you would like to join these illustrious donors, make a tax-deductible donation through the link below (click on Anarchy in High Heels to go to our sponsored project page.)
The long awaited documentary about the trailblazing Les Nickelettes has been launched! August, 2024 the team completed six interviews in San Francisco, California with Carol Coleman, Karl Cohen, Monika Roth, Rebecca Valentino, Jill Rose, and Marga Gomez.
In May, 2024 Betsy, Director of the Documentary, traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to interview Rose Bianco.
In April, 2024 we traveled to Somerville, Massachusetts to interview Liza Kitchell, Ellin Stein, and Bill Griffith.
September, 2023 we began our interview journey in San Francisco, California with; Denise Larson, Debra Pollock, Judy Sciford, Betsy Newman, Valerie Helmold, Roberta Coleman, Ron Turner, and Trina Robbins.
The Anarchy in High Heels documentary will narrate a historical telling of a truly outrageous feminist satirical musical-comedy troupe from 1970s San Francisco; Les Nickelettes. In the midst of the seriously earnest second-wave feminist movement of the time, Les Nickelettes irreverently turned the patriarchy inside out and upside down with uproarious female humor. Les Nickelettes reveled in busting the taboos they had grown up with in the conservative 1950s. They were buoyed by the iconoclastic underground scene of 1970s San Francisco and bound together by the liberating creative spirit of their performances. Their groundbreaking work unlocked a deeply hidden female humor, paving the way for women comedians of today such as Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Kate McKinnon. But even these iconoclasts are mainly solo performers, whereas Les Nickelettes embodied a rare concept – a “troupe” of women coming together to create comedy in the same vein as all-male groups like Monty Python and The Kids in the Hall. According to Ellin Stein, author of That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream, Les Nickelettes “served notice that women could be outspoken, raunchy, and above all, funny.”
The documentary will be a snapshot of the 1970’s counterculture’s tumultuous and unique history in The Bay Area, California, and the country as a whole. The issues the documentary will address are the neglected topic of comedy’s role in feminism, and the power that arises when women bond together through a shared sense of humor. We seek to disrupt the narrative that feminism (and particularly second-wave feminism) is humorless. Instead, we’ll illustrate that feminism is funny, satirical, and ironic. This issue will be especially illuminating to the (females of the) Millennial and Gen Z generations.
“A meaningful, feminist joyride…” Kirkus Reviews
ANARCHY IN HIGH HEELS 