Part 3 Of My Interview With Victoria Vetri

Before presenting you with the conclusion of my interview with former Playboy Playmate and actress Victoria Vetri, I'd like to take a moment to tell you about Bill George,author of EROTICISM IN THE FANTASY CINEMA,that oily,insincere liar of the lowest common denominator. Now,there are some of you out there thinking," Joe must really enjoy writing about Bill George because of the things he's said about him in previous posts".

Well, not really. But since George has screwed me over a number of times I think he deserves to be singled out and shown to all as the smarmy,unctuous asshole that he is. In the case of EROTICISM IN THE FANTASY CINEMA I got the shit end of the stick in two ways:

My interview with Victoria Vetri was published without a byline;in other words my name was not featured next to the interview. Instead, I was dumped in acknowledgement section along with those who had provided George with a graphic or a press release. He claimed that the publishers did this without his knowledge,but being far too familiar with his penchant for lying I didn't believe him. He went so far as to offer to sign my copy of the book with an inscription praising me for the work I did. I felt like he was offering to autograph it for me! The nerve of that ego dripping turd!

Then came the other gratuitous kick in the ass when I noticed that in the interview all references to me were expunged. Yet whenever George's interviews were featured,his name was always front and center. When I complained about this, George said," I did that so that the reader would feel as if she were speaking to them." Nah. Un uh. No way. He edited out all references to me because The King of Selfish wanted the limelight all to himself. It was the Bill George Show and I was playing a small,insignificant part. And to this very day he probably scratches his balding head wondering why I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. As the saying goes: He who is self serving ends up with himself.


JV: Do you feel that horror films exploit women in a negative fashion? I mean, relating to the ones you've been in?

VV: Well, let me think now. I mean, we're all victims. I think I've mentioned this before,but somebody has to play the role. It depends on the film really.

JV: For example,in INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS didn't you think that the attempted rape scene was a bit gratuitous?

VV: Yes,I thought they could've done without that. But,they write the attempted rape scene and I do it. This is funny,I guess I don't feel exploited because it's just acting to me. I mean,I've seen a million dramas where women are being exploited and they aren't horror movies. Women have been in that role for years. Just because all of the sudden the Eighties come and women are going to start being independent doesn't mean they're going to change the rules.Because we are the weaker sex and there's nothing you can do about that, really. I don't care how much iron you can pump or how macho you are.

JV: Do you think the Women's Movement has a right to complain about these issues and say to the movie producers," Hey, you shouldn't show this because it's not a very positive image?" A lot of them are also afraid that some strange guy is going to see this kind of film and get ideas.

VV: But, guys get ideas from everywhere,not from film. There's influences even in soap commercials for God's sake. The Women's Movement bugs me, I guess. Let 'em move. The big BM. I guess I'm just not on that side. Most of my friends are men. I get along better with men. I feel sorry for women. Now, I'm going to sound like a female chauvinist. I 'm not into the Women's Movement. They can complain about this,complain about that, but people are going to be influenced no matter what. To me,it's just an acting job. And if I really felt like I was endangering the female species by doing scenes that I do in films, then I would not do them.I mean, it's a fantasy,it's a trip. People take film so seriously, I can't believe it.

JV: After you did the Playboy spread and became Playmate of The Year, what was the reaction of your family and friends?

VV: My family wasn't too upset about it. My father being from Sicily and kind of old fashioned, was still an ass pincher.So he was kind of proud of it.He had different parts of the magazine that he framed and put in his restaurant.You know,head shots and all. He'd say," Hey, that's my daughter. Say anything about it and I'll kill you." My mom did pinups when she was in Rome.She was quite a sexy dish and also an actress. She told me she did calendars in her day and that if I did it modestly,she explained to me that it's like the face is a diamond and the body's a setting and,"You've got a good setting so show it off,girl. Go for it".(laughter) So I did. My parents weren't upset about it or prudish,no.

JV: Do you find that Hollywood,located in the Los Angeles area,has a more lenient attitude towards this type of thing than if you lived somewhwere else?

VV: Of course. The Midwest,let's face it,that could never happen there.I think it's the weather here. I really do. (laughs) The warm,hot climate hits the sun, makes us all crazed and then we have to drink beer and stuff to cool off. It's a very perverse place, Hollywood. But, I was born and raised here and I love it and it's my town. There's perversity all over, just more people hide it in the closet. They don't display it all. Here we let it all hang out.

JV: Knowing what you know now,after all of the things you've gone through,if you could go back, what would you change?

VV: Nothing. I would do it all again. The highs,the lows,the ups, the downs and believe me there's been a few lulls in my life, too. But right now I'm up and I wouldn't change a thing. I know that sounds very egotisical. I used to complain about Playboy. If you had asked me that a couple of years ago I would've said," I wouldn't do Playboy. That's the one thing I wouldn't do again." But now I've changed my whole attitude about that. So now I've narrowed it down to nothing.

Victoria Vetri Interview Part 2.

Prior to interviewing Victoria Vetri,she told me an amusing story concerning the making of WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH: When it came time to do the scene where she comes out of the water with a fish in her mouth(see picture above left),the director,Val Guest,had Tory put an actual dead fish in her mouth. To add insult to injury, the director did a number of takes,as Tory emerged from the water with the dead fish clenched between her teeth.Ever the trouper, Tory did the retakes without complaining. As you can see, being an actress isn't all,glitz, glamour and adulation.

JV: I was surprised when you told me that INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS was made by Warner Brothers. I always thought it was the product of an independent company.

VV: I think an independent company got a hold of it. But Saul Weintraub,who worked for Warner,wanted me to fullfill my obligation since I couldn't do ENTER THE DRAGON. Now, I'm thinking about this carefully because my agent who handled this is now retired. Warner and Hammer did WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH together. This was a Warner Brothers and independent production and I think they finally released it to the independent company. And from what you told me,someone else has bought it now and released it under another title.But my paycheck said Warners on it.

JV: For Television and Video Tape the title INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS is still used. But it was re released as GRAVEYARD TRAMPS.

VV:(laughs)GRAVEYARD TRAMPS! Oh my God! I liked the shooting title THE HONEY FACTOR. It sounded more sci-fi.

JV: I didn't see INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS when it was first released, but saw it at a drive-in under the new title and thought it was a fun film.

VV: I think it's kind of fun. I mean, it's so ridiculous it's funny. I had fun making it. Unless something really spectacular comes up in my career to make me do another horror movie, I have to be honest,I don't want to end up being a horror queen in films. I'd like to branch off. I'm trying to get a rock group together and get a video out,pursue my singing and maybe do some serious acting. I'm not saying that one cannot do serious acting in horror films. I saw a short today on cable. It was about Tobe Hooper who did THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE,now he's done POLTERGEIST. When TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE came out, people thought that without even showing too much,it was the most terrifying film ever and then he got money behind POLTERGEIST. But I for one do not go out of my way to see horror movies. If FRIDAY THE 13TH is on cable,I will turn it on.But I won't go pay five fifty to see it at a theatre. The one I loved,I saw it three times,is Alien. Is that considered a horror movie? That I would've done in a minute. If they'd come to me and said," Hey,you want to play any part? Do you want to play the Alien?". I would've said," Sure"!(imitates an alien screech). I'd come bursting out(does another Alien screech). That I would've enjoyed.

JV: When you did the recent "PLAYMATES FOREVER" spread in PLAYBOY,did you do it because,going back to one of my first questions, you'd be working again with the much touted "PLAYBOY FAMILY"?

VV: No. What happened was, I was a waitress and bartender at the time and a lady came in and said," Are you Victoria Vetri?" I said," Yes." She said," We have been looking all over for you." She handed me her card from Playboy and said," We're doing a reshoot of "Playmates Forever". Would you be interested?" I said," First of all,how much?" She said," Well, a thousand dollars for half a days work." I said," I'll think about it",playing real hard to get because at this point I had already established that I hated Playboy and everything it stood for. And then my agent said," Well,it can't hurt." I said," Okey,on one condition. I did Playboy B.P,before pubic. I'm not going to show any frontal nudity. I want it as modest as I can have it and I refuse to pose as if I'm visiting my gynecologist like those other girls." So they said," Okey,fine." I got what I wanted. I really don't have the hostilities that I used to have about Playboy.

JV: What in your opinion qualifies as the most erotic moment in any movie that you've seen?

VV: WIFEMISTRESS with Marcello Mastroianni. I changed my mind from last night. SWEPT AWAY came off the top of my head. WIFEMISTRESS has everything in it voyeurism,eroticism,emotional,sexy;it's done in good taste. It's Italian,of course, and I think you can relate to that.

JV: You did a hair oil commercial in which you sang a song with the line," I like it long." Was this commercial banned from TV because it was considered too provocative?

VV: That was for Groom and Clean. It was a double entendre. They didn't take it off the air. It kind of wore it's way off the air and I was the first girl on TV to wear hotpants and boots. At first, I got it for my voice over, because I sing. The song was something like: (sings)" Ooh, I love it long. Just as long as you spray on Groom and Clean.Yeah, I love it long." That's what the little jingle was. We did different variations of it,like,he was going to get a haircut and I walk in and say," You cut off one lock of his hair and I'll melt your scissors." Then I go into this little song and dance. Then we did one where he's driving away in a XKE and I put my foot on the bumper and I say," Cut off one lock of that hair and I'll strip your gears." I did about three of those commercials. They got good airplay and they were supposedly racy for TV commercials. They're very liberal now,but that was the start of TV commercials being liberal. If it was banned I never knew about it,because it was a a long,long time.



To be continued...........

An Interview With Playboy Playmate Victoria Vetri.

In 1983, I interviewed actress/playboy model Victoria Vetri for Bill George's book Eroticism In The Fantasy Cinema. It was the second interview I had ever done up to that point;my first was with up and coming actress P.J Soles whose film credits included HALLOWEEN, STRIPES and PRIVATE BENJAMIN. The big deal for me was that I was speaking to an actual Playmate; the dream of every red blooded  American male who ever perused an issue of Playboy.

Tory, as she preferred to be called because she didn't like the name Vicki, was charming ,engaging and generous with her time. My tape recorder had malfunctioned and she very kindly agreed to do the interview over again the next evening. During our second interview, Tory asked if she could change her answer to a question I had asked concerning Roman Polanski, who directed her in Rosemary's Baby. Her original answer was," I'm just glad he's out of the country.", in reference to the statutory rape case during which he fled the country to avoid a lengthy jail sentence. She changed her comment to ," I think he is a very creative director."

I felt a sense of sadness as I read on the various news websites the details concerning Tory's trial for shooting her husband of twenty five years, Bruce Rathgeb, because she felt he had been cheating on her. Luckily he survived, but Tory was sentenced to nine years in jail for attempted murder. The story received cursory attention from the news media; after all, forty four years has elapsed since her appearance in Playboy magazine and Tory hasn't acted in films or on TV for almost the same amount of time.To the jaundiced public, it was a mildly interesting story concerning the downfall of a former Playboy Playmate; something to read about and then be forgotten in a day or two. Such is the attention span of John and Joan Q.Public.



Here is my interview with Victoria Vetri from 1983.



JV: Was ROSEMARY'S BABY your first feature film?

VV: ROSEMARY'S BABY was my first feature. I got it because Mia Farrow refused to test with the actors. She didn't want to be bothered doing that menial stuff, so Roman Polanski said,"By the way, how do you look in dark hair and can you look Italian?" I said," Well, I'am Italian." He said," I'd like you to play the part of Terry Fionoffrio, Angela." I said,"Okay" and I played the part under Angela Dorian,my fictitious name. On the set one day he said," Angela, we cannot use Anna Maria Alberghetti name. Can you think of an Italian name"? I said," How 'bout Victoria Vetri?" He said," That's fantastic! What an imagination!" I said," That's my real name." He said," My God, why are you using that name of a sunken ship, The Andria Dorio?" I think Victoria Vetri has more of a -ah,what the hell,it's Italian.

JV: Was Playboy Magazine responsible for you getting the part in ROSEMARY'S BABY?

VV: No. Playboy really had nothing to do with me being in the film one way or another. By the time Playboy came out, I had already done the part because they mention that in my credits. I had twenty six TV shows,all lead parts, under my belt,plus ROSEMARY'S BABY, plus movies for TV. But they somehow made it sound like they discovered me. Which upset me at the time.

JV: Do you think that "Playboy" in any way helped your career in a positive direction?

VV: I think at one point in my career,it hindered it. I could have been a serious actress and all of the sudden it was like I was a thing,I was a commodity, I was a Bunny, I was a Playmate, and I played nothing but hookers. The types of roles that I went up for were not serious parts. I mean, I'm not saying that you can't play a serious hooker. Look at what Jane Fonda did in KLUTE. It's changed a lot. I was one of the first actresses to do Playboy. Then Claudia Jennings did it after me. I was very close to her and felt great remorse when I lost her in a car accident. I had to entertain that night. I had to sing with a rock group and I couldn't go on stage when I found that out. We had to give people their money back. Claudia and I did a film together called GROUP MARRIAGE. She was a superb actress who was coming into her own and she was a loyal friend. A very creative lady. And I think she was one of the best friends I ever had. The only person I got close to through Playboy and it was a big loss.

JV: From what you told before this interview, I guess you're one of the few people actually born and raised in California?

VV: Very few. I mean, when I used to bar tend between acting jobs I say," I'll give a free drink to any native Californian who can prove they're a native." And I was the only one in the bar.

JV: How did you get the part in WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH?

VV: HAMMER(HAMMER FILMS, the English studio that produced a number of horror classics from the 1950's through the 1970's) located me through my agent. They had just done a film with Rachel Welch called ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. They'd seen me in some film,some magazine,it wasn't Playboy, and they said ," Let's do a test on her." I was obligated to Warner Brothers at the time and Francis Ford Coppola did a test of me running through the backs of the lot with a tiger bikini on panting and grunting,flaring my nostrils. Then we did another thing with me singing in front of a sky background with my guitar. They sent the test to London and Aida Young,the executive producer said," Send her over." It was shot in the Canary Islands and at Shepperton Studios. It was about six months work. It took a year and a half for the film to come out. By the time I got to the Bahamas to see the film they couldn't show it, because the color matching was all wrong. So it took two years for the film to come out. It won an award for best special effects.

JV: Did you find it hard reacting to imaginary dinosaurs?

VV: Yes, but I got used to it. I have a great imagination. After a while, they gave me a focal point. They'd say," Look up here" at this guy on a ladder and I would pretend like I saw this imaginary thing. I could see some rushes where they were putting in animation.

JV: In a book titled " HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR," there are stills from WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH which show you in the nude. Where these stills from scenes that were deleted from the version shown here domestically?

VV: No. These were publicity shots. Because once Playboy found out they were in the Canary Islands doing a film and I was scantily clad, they sent a photographer over there. They said," We'll pay you x amount of dollars to do stills because this would be good for our article Sex in the Cinema I said," Ok." Two weeks after we were there ,the director(Val Guest) left his wife. He was sleeping with the script supervisor. It was like you could have made a movie within a movie. Everybody was screwing around. People were skinny dipping, drinking sangria instead of tea at four in the afternoon, getting drunk on their asses and it was like party time. Three or four in the morning they'd say," You have to be up at six for a sunrise shoot? Let's stay up all night!" The sad part was when we came back to England and there the wives are, they've gotten letters from their husbands that have fallen in love on location saying," It's over. It was getting old anyway." Here's the wife pouting and holding the child in hand as he gets off the airplane. The director, Val Guest, comes off the plane arm in arm with the script supervisor who he fell in love with and ended up marrying, by the way. So it was like a little mini soap opera. Because you throw these people together and the English are wild and crazy once you get them in a loose environment. But to watch them drop their facade of properness and say," Ah, I'm free." Of course, having a California girl around didn't help because I was the first one to drop a loincloth. And all the girls between shots were getting a tan. After a while it didn't faze anybody. When you're all sitting around half naked it doesn't matter That was quote "a family". I'm still getting letters from a lot of people I worked with on that movie. When the film came to an end they were crying," Oh, I don't want you to go back to America. Stay in touch." That's the closest I've ever come to a family situation working with a film company.


Part 2 of my interview with Victoria Vetri coming soon.