Cultpix Radio Ep.47 - King of Exploitation Kroger Babb
Kitty Lash joins Django Nudo and the Smut Peddler in the studio once again. We kick off with the 800th film posted to Cultpix and the release of Thriller - A Cruel Picture on BluRay, with some Deluxe Limited Edition copies still available form our webshop. Kroger Babb called himself 'America's Fearless Showman', and will always be known for the exploitation classic Mom and Dad (1945) that he whipped up controversy for, self distributed and made it the third biggest BO hit of the 1940s. He deployed every trick in the book, while inventing several new ones himself, to get maximum publicity for his films and pull in the punters. A selection of his most famous/notorious films are now on Cultpix: Child Bride (1938) - An expose of the practice of older men marrying young girls in the Ozarks. Shirley Mills was just 12 when she filmed the controversial skinny dip scene. The films was meant to draw attention to the problem of child marriages, but Kroger Babb maximised the shock value, bypassing the Hays code by claiming it was 'educational'. She Should'a Said No! (1948) - Robert Mitchum and Lila Leeds were bust for drugs at a Hollywood party, but while his career recovered, this became her only lead role and an example of the dangers of the Devil's Weed. Blends Film Noir and exploitation. One Too Many 1950 - Female alcoholism is tackled in this drama that Kroger spiced up with several music numbers. "Is There One in Your House?" the tagline asked. The story of an alcoholic woman trying to hide her booze dependance. Her secret love of liquor destroyed Helen Mason's concert pianist career and family. Why Men Leave (1951) - Housewife who thinks film exec hubby is cheating on her hires Hollywood make-up expert to glam up. Kroger sold $10 make-up kits in the cinemas showing this film. Halfway to Hell (1954) - “The Picture the Communists Are Trying to Stop!” Kroger himself provided the inflamatory opening statement himself form his desk in this red-under-the-bed anti-Communist documentary. It actually makes the point well that there wasn't much distinguishing Stalin and Hitler. Karamoja (1955) - "They wear only the wind and live on blood and beer," was the tagline for this documentary about tribes in Uganda. Lots of tribal boobies. Kipling’s Women (1961) - Supposedly "A Picturization of Rudyard Kipling's Immortal Poem---The Ladies." This was one of the first 'nudies' to get widespread distribution in US. Schlock distribution maestro Kroger Babb "four-walled" it, by renting the cinemas for a flat fee and taking all of the box office collections.There's a Spotify playlist of course.