Yutte Stensgaard (*May 14, 1946)

Yutte Stensgaard is a bit of a one hit wonder. Her main claim to fame is the main part in Hammer’s second Karnstein movie, Lust for a Vampire, but what a part that is! Although the film has generally been reviled, it is well worth checking out for its cheese factor alone. The photo of a nude, blood soaked Stensgaard rising out of a coffin has rightly become an iconic image.

Lust was the highlight of her short movie career but Stensgaard also has some other films well worth watching. Her part in Tigon’s so dreadfully awful, you may as well enjoy it Zeta One can arguably also be considered a leading role for which she may not have given but sure showed everything.

Any excuse is a good excuse to (re)watch Scream and Scream Again, so even though she may only have a tiny part in it (some of her scenes ended up being cut out of the finished movie), her torture scenes remain a memorable part in a very off beat movie.

Her last movie role was in Burke and Hare but for mainstream TV viewers of a certain generation she may best be known for her subsequent 24-week stunt as a hostess for The Golden Shot, a UK game show. And let’s also not forget her guest roles in TV series such as The Saint, Jason King or The Persuaders.

She appeared in a Christmas panto in 1970 in RED RIDING HOOD and re-appeared again in theatre in 1971 for a production of the comedy BOEING, BOEING.

Yutte Stensgaard was born Jytte Stensgaard in Denmark. She moved to Swinging London at the age of 19 to become a stenographer and then did the usual round of au pair and modelling jobs before being discovered as a budding actress. It probably didn’t hurt to be married to Amicus Art Director Tony Curtis – no, not *the* Tony Curtis (although she was later to act alongside *that* one) - who was the son of her acting teacher. After the marriage failed she was involved with lyricist Leslie Bricusse (Goldfinger, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) – who had temporarily split up from wife Yvonne Romain  - and married to NBC Executive and Producer John Kerwin.

Although that marriage would also ultimately fail, it was instrumental in Stensgaard’s move to the US. There for years she kept a relatively low profile and became a Born Again Christian. She is now the successful National Account Director for Premiere Radio Networks, one of the largest radio networks in the US and home to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, owns several pieces of property and is an active supporter of the Republican Party.

After being MIA for a considerable numbers of years, Stensgaard was rediscovered by chance in 1988 in Los Angeles when she walked into (Little Shoppe of Horrors correspondent’s) Gary Smith’s travel agency. She initially was very uncomfortable combining her previous modelling career and nude shots with her strong Christian beliefs and refused to talk about her past life. Lately, however, she appears to have been more relaxed about it and even started attending conventions where she is surrounded by fans grateful to discover the re-appearance of one of Hammer’s most seminal Glamour Starlets.

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Careless Suffragette

I am making my way through my Sherlock Holmes box set. I love this 1954/55 TV series far more than I probably should but it's a great little time waster and at about 25 minutes never overstays its welcome. My cheapo set has the eps in random order and after the Michael Gough show I have now discovered one with another Hammer personality: Dawn Addams stars in The Case of the Careless Suffragette.

This is an absolute howler with lots of hohumming about women's liberation. Unfortunately, for some strange reason neither Archive.org nor YouTube are carrying this one but if you're based in the US you can see it on Dailymotion (via Hulu).

If you're not based in the US.... well, then you have some tinkering to do. (Little hint: Proxy server. But shhh, don't tell anyone I said so.)

I also just noticed that the US has the only complete set of this series. My Region 2 set only has 25 of the 39 episodes. Guess I'll need to fork out the $6.99 to make sure I have the whole lot.

Fear in the Night

A young couple moves into a new school where the husband (Ralph Bates) has taken up a new position. The wife (Judy Geeson) is slowly driven mad by mysterious but unconfirmed attacks. Can this be the work of the bonkers headmaster (Peter Cushing) and what does his wife (Joan Collins) have to do with it?

Been meaning to watch Hammer's Fear in the Night forever and a day but given the bad rep that this picture has I always managed to push it a bit further down my To-Watch pile and give preference to other pictures instead.

Now I finally caught up with it and – Wow! - surprised how much I enjoyed it.

It's hardly a master piece but it is far better than the dodgy prestige it is currently “enjoying”. Yes, the story may be kind of predicable but the atmosphere is great and the acting superb.

The film is clearly in line with Hammer's other Sangster-penned psycho thrillers but with attacks committed by black gloved one-armed masked strangers this often comes across much more like one of those continental giallos. There is some beautifully haunting imagery in its empty school halls. Watching Peter Cushing have dinner in front of an empty hall of imaginary students or menacingly approach with shattered glasses is bound to put a shiver down anyone's spine.

Money was probably tight so the majority of the plot takes place in the isolation of the school building with only four main actors. A very small number of other speaking parts make a very short appearance but for the most part this is carried by Cushing, Bates, Collins and Geeson. And even then Cushing only ever turns up in scenes with Geeson.

This set up could go badly wrong but is actually saved by the professionalism of the performers and competence of writer/director Jimmy Sangster who successfully focuses on a slightly offbeat mood and regularly throws in tidbits that will keep you on the edge: the image of a strange hanged man at the start of the film that was slightly reminiscent of Fulci's City of the Living Dead; Joan Collins' character mercilessly shooting a rabbit right in front of an adoring Geeson; Collins again making disparaging remarks about Geeson as a child bride when she herself is married to a considerably older man; Cushing's character being named Michael Carmichael; and did I mention those creepy lonely corridors?

A decade or so later Hammer would use those closed sets and smaller ensembles for their TV shows but not a single one of those episodes has ever gripped me as memorably as their last cinematic psychothriller.

2 Hammer book updates: Hammer Locations, Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Hammer Book Update #1:

Bruce G Hallenbeck's follow-up to his excellent Hammer Vampire will now be out on August 08. Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi will focus on Hammer's lesser known oeuvre and analyse their prehistoric pictures, Nigel Kneale's Quatermass saga, Ursula Andress in She, their crazy Space Western Moon Zero Two and much more.

Pre-orders are now taken through Hemlock Books and provided you place your order before July 31 you can avail of some great discounts: RRP for the book is £17.95 but if booked in advance you will get it for just £14.95. Even better: If you hadn't had the pleasure to read The Hammer Vampire yet you can order both books for just £24.95 in total (and even get the Hammer Vampire with a new and improved cover).

So what are you waiting for?

Hammer Book Update #2:

Over the last couple of years Wayne Kinsey in connection with Tomahawk Press have published some essential Hammer related books: Hammer Films - The Unsung Heroes or A Life in Pictures belong onto the book shelf of any die-hard Hammerhead.

When I first heard about Wayne's latest project dedicated to exploring the locations where the Hammer movies were shot I was all over it as this is a product that combines my three main passions in life: Travel, Films and Books. It now looks as if Tomahawk may need to gauge the general interest into Hammer Locations before it goes ahead with it. On his Facebook page Wayne wrote the following note:

Attention Hammer fans.The market has really bottomed out for books in recent months.The locations book may now not be out for Xmas (but if not hopefully early in the new year).To help us with this, anyone who is interested in this book (Hammer Films - on location) please go to the Tomahawk Press website and express your interest in it. This does not mean you need to buy it from them - it just gives them an indication of general interest in a book and they can then forward you updates. This helps judge commercialbility and size of print runs etc ... So far there's been very little interest and this is how projects can get lost.My co-author Gordon Thomson has done an amazing job and has found and photographed virtually every location used from Quatermass Xperiment to The Devil a Daughter (international ones aside) and more .. We'll be comparing screengrabs to how they look today(some unchanged - others beyond recognition) and details of how to find them yourself.This will be THE comprehensive guide to Hammer locations and I'd like it to be a big 300 page picture book, page size same as Unsung Heroes.But those spex also depend on your interest, so please contact Tomahawk Press now!Thanks,Wayne

Tomahawk Press' Facebook page also suggested you email them with the subject header "Hammer Locations" to express interest in that book and be kept updated on its progress.

Needless to say I would urge anyone with even slightest bit of interest into this work, to make sure Tomahawk are aware of  it. We are not talking about Pre-orders here, just general expressions of interest in this work.

So do your civic duty and let them know.

Time to Make up my Mind

For the time being this blog will stay PG.

The replies I got with regards to my query were along the following lines:

• Hell, yeah! (Love that enthusiasm.)
• Don't worry what others think, this is your blog so do what you feel is right.
• General comments, questions, concerns as to whether the adult shield may deter people from accessing the blog (especially from work) or whether this may impact findability through Google

Thanks to all who replied.

More importantly than the range of comments, however, was the number. 

Cause there weren't all that many.

I'm always surprised about what causes people to comment (here, on Facebook or Twitter). Write a little facetious remark and still get comments days later; write something important, and you may not see that much.

I am the last person to expect others to leave comments. Comments generally indicate the level of involvement with a certain issue and should never be expected by anyone. So if I see that the nudity issue doesn't result in a string of feedback then that is indication for me that it's pretty much a non-issue for my readers. I probably could go either way without offending or enticing anyone but without a particularly strong need I think I better say: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." and will simply continue the way I've operated since the beginning.

I reserve the right to change my decision at some point in the future but for now I am happy to leave things as they are and have always been.

Keep this blog PG rated? - Feedback required

The first time I set up a Hammer website was sometime in the late 90s. It was entirely devoted to Hammer Glamour and by and large nothing more than a collection of pictures from those actresses often in various stages of undress. I did also write something like an Internet diary then but without blogging software this was hard coded even though I still pride myself of the fact that I came up with a blog-like idea before it was all en vogue.

The trouble was that I must have unwittingly broken rules by my then-website provider as from one day to the other the site was off the air and I could never get a reply from my host as to the reasons for that. I had suspected that a certain someone may have ratted on me about the site but couldn't prove it... but that is neither here nor there.

After sulking about the demise of that site I eventually decided to start another Hammer Glamour site hosted elsewhere. That site has now also been taken offline but at my own accord as this blog really has proven way more successful in relaying all my Hammer related ramblings. I had, however, then made a conscious decision to keep the site PG rated and focus more on writing about the movies and the actresses. So no nudity of any kind was allowed there.

When I moved to Blogger I kept that policy. Though occasionally titillating at the moment all the posts and pictures are pretty much work safe and child friendly.  Over the years I learned that Blogger seems to be OK with posting some more risque stuff provided the blog is hosted as an "adult" blog. I especially enjoy the Casual (Un)Dress Friday posts that my buddy David Z posts over at his own blog.

Posting my latest entry about Marie Devereux got me thinking again as most of the pics I have of her from my collection are of the slightly naughty variety that at the moment I am not publishing here.

Question is: Should I occasionally post some more of those kinds of photos?

If I did I'd have to change my blog to an adult blog. This shouldn't make a huge difference to any of my readers who all seem to be clearly adults and are often quite considerably over the legal age and have probably all seen that, done that and bought the T-Shirt to prove it.

If you read these posts from a blog reader you really wouldn't notice a difference, however, anytime you were going to access my blog posts directly you'd get a content warning that you would just need to accept before you are allowed to get to the blog. So really just one slightly annoying click more.

I'd have no trouble continuing the way I did up till now but would like your input whether you would also be OK to get a few more revealing posts every once in a while. Does it annoy you to have to click the content warning? What are experiences from other blog owners: Does it cost readers? Does it gain readers? Did you ever get into trouble with Blogger? What I will never do is post photos with the vital parts blacked out cause that is just pure lame.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated either via the comment section below or through Facebook or Twitter.

Marie Devereux (*1938/40)

According to what source you read, Marie Devereux was either born as Pat (Patricia) Sutcliffe in 1940 in France and emigrated to England as a child or she was born in 1938 in New Malden/Surrey. She got her slightly exotic looks from her mother who was Spanish.

Her voluptuous 38-23-36 body first gained Michael Caine’s attention who subsequently introduced her as a 16 year old to Glamour photographer George Harrison Marks. She soon graced the pages of countless girly magazines starting with the May 1956 edition of Carnival. She also danced topless at London’s Windmill Theatre. If you want to get an idea of the kind of photos she then shot, check out Solo #8 which was entirely dedicated to her and is now a collector's item. A number of her photos are also available through Nostalgia Publications: check for her name in their two catalogues dedicated to Glamour photos and girly mags including Just Marie Deveraux (sic), a compilation of some of her 1950s photographs. Or simply drop by the Harrison Marks website.

Between June 23 – July 05, 1958 she appeared in Tender Trap for the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch, her one and only drama appearance that I am aware of.

Half of her film credits are Hammer productions: She has a small part as a Harem Girl in I Only Arsked (1958). Her most memorable role (hint: THAT cleavage) was as a taunting and sadistic Oriental girl in The Stranglers of Bombay (1960). In the same year she was also one of The Brides of Dracula (1960), the more beautiful, but silent one next to Andree Melly. She spent A Weekend With Lulu (1961) and appeared in The Pirates of Blood River (1962).

Marie Devereux was Elizabeth Taylor’s stand-in for Cleopatra. Following that she could have had her best shot at mainstream fame, had Cassandra’s Iliad been made. That film – based on a screenplay by Mario Puzo - was to star Marlon Brando and to narrate the classic Homer tale from the perspective of Cassandra. And Devereux was meant to play that part. Alas, the film never got off the ground. And – after appearing in two Samuel Fuller movies (Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss) – Devereux just did a vanishing act and was never to be seen or heard from again. Not a very uncommon fate for a Hammer Girl.