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Blonde Venus (1932)
In director Josef von Sternberg's melodrama:
- the opening sequence in which Helen Faraday (Marlene
Dietrich) and her friends were frolicking and skinny-dipping, but
their nudity was teasingly obscured by tree branches when spied
upon by a group of nearby tourist hikers
- the memorable entrance sequence in a jazzy German
nightclub (to the beat of an African drum) in which singer Helen
opened the cabaret show by first appearing in a full-body gorilla
suit as a chained ape, led into the audience by chorus girls (carrying
shields and spears) adorned with war paint on their faces and wearing
large black afro wigs
Chained Gorilla's Memorable Striptease: "Hot
Voodoo"
Revealing Nightclub Singer Helen
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- the revelation of Helen via a striptease - at first
she removed one glove to show off her human hand with bracelets,
and then the second glove, followed by the removal of the gorilla
head-piece; she placed a blonde Afro wig on her head before singing
"Hot Voodoo" in a throaty voice - as she stood with hands
on her hips before the chorus line of archetypal 'native' dancers
--
the lyrics:
"Did you ever happen to hear of voodoo? Hear it and you won't
give a damn what you do Tom-tom's put me under a sort of voodoo And
the whole night long I dont know the right from wrong
Hot voodoo, black as mud Hot voodoo, in my blood That African tempo
has made a slave Hot voodoo, dance of sin Hot voodoo, worse than
gin I'd follow a cave man right into his cave..."
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Helen (Marlene Dietrich) Skinny-Dipping
Hot Voodoo: Gorilla and Chorus Girls
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