''Satan in High Heels'' is a 1962 American

sexploitation film A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sex ...

directed by Jerald Intrator and starring

Meg Myles Meg Myles (born Billie Jean Jones; November 14, 1934 – November 12, 2019) was an American pin-up model, singer, and actress on stage and screen, active mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Myles was born in Seattle. She was a popular mode ...

and

Grayson Hall Grayson Hall (September 18, 1922 – August 7, 1985) was an American television, film, and stage actress. She was widely regarded for her avant-garde theatrical performances from the 1960s to the 1980s. Hall was nominated for an Academy ...

Plot

Stacey Kane (Myles), a cunning and ambitious striptease dancer in a cheap carnival, tricks her heroin-addicted husband out of his money and leaves him, clothed only in a corset and raincoat. On a plane to New York, she meets a well-heeled businessman, Louie, who falls for her charms and sets her up in a hotel. He arranges an audition for her at a Manhattan midtown club run by an elegant, world-weary lesbian named Pepe (Hall). Stacey wows them with her vocal ability and begins being groomed as a leading chanteuse at the night club. Arnold Kenyon, the club's owner, falls in love with Stacey and makes her his mistress, unaware that while he is lavishing her with expensive gifts and grooming her for a singing debut at his club, she is also having an affair with his playboy son, Laurence. On her opening night, Stacey's estranged husband, Rudy, arrives at the club. Using both emotional and sexual appeal, Stacey persuades him to kill Arnold; but Rudy bungles the murder attempt and confesses his intention to Arnold. Her double-dealing nature out in the open, Stacey is abandoned by all the men in her life, put out of her apartment, and left alone on the streets.

Cast

as Stacey *

as Pepe *

Del Tenney Delbert "Del" Tenney (July 27, 1930 – February 21, 2013) was an American actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Starting out as an actor he appeared in some Off-Broadway plays and also performed in the Broadway premiere of Teren ...

as Paul *

Sabrina Sabrina may refer to: * Sabrina (given name), a feminine given name, including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name People * Sabrina (actress), stage name of Norma Ann Sykes (1936–2016), a British glamour model and actres ...

as Herself * Mike Keane as Arnold Kenyon * Robert Yuro as Laurence Kenyon

Production notes

The film used Manhattan locations Club Le Martinique at 57 West 57th Street and Sutton Place neighborhood for the apartments where Pepe and the Kenyons live. Producer Leonard Burtman was a major New York publisher of dozens of

fetish magazine A fetish magazine is a type of magazine originating in the late 1940s which is devoted to sexual fetishism. The content is generally aimed at being erotic rather than pornographic. The most well-known early examples are ''Bizarre'' (1946-1959) p ...

s such as the pioneering '' Exotique'', ''Bizarre Life'', ''High Heels'', ''Unique World'', and ''Corporal''. In 1962, a few of his publications ran photo-features promoting this film.

Soundtrack

The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed, arranged and conducted by

Mundell Lowe James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician. He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the ''Billy Jack'' soundtrac ...

and the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

was originally released on the Charlie Parker label.Mundell Lowe discography
accessed August 23, 2012 The soundtrack was also released as ''Blues for a Stripper''.

Reception

In his review for the June 6, 1963, issue of ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' magazine, jazz critic John S. Wilson wrote: "Guitarist Lowe has put together a walloping big band, given it some strong punchy arrangements to play, and has come through with a set of rousing performances." The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review states "Mundell Lowe's score for the exploitation flick ''Satan in High Heels'' is an immensely enjoyable collection of exaggeratedly cinematic jazz. Lowe runs through all sorts of styles, from swinging big band to cool jazz, from laid-back hard-bop to driving bop".Erlewine, S. T
Allmusic Review
accessed August 23, 2012

Track listing

All compositions by Mundell Lowe. # "Satan in High Heels" - 3:24 # "Montage" - 2:11 # "The Lost and the Lonely" - 3:38 # "East Side Drive" - 2:48 # "Coffee, Coffee" - 3:27 # "Lake in the Woods" - 3:30 # "From Mundy On" - 3:27 # "The Long Knife" - 2:22 # "Blues for a Stripper" - 3:27 # "Pattern of Evil" - 2:26 *Recorded in New York City on November 30 (tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10) and December 23 (tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9), 1961

Personnel

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor *

Bernie Glow Bernie Glow (February 6, 1926 – May 8, 1982) was an American trumpet player who specialized in jazz and commercial lead trumpet from the 1940s to 1970s. Glow's early career was on the road with Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and others during the las ...

(tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9), Joe Newman (tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10),

Ernie Royal Ernest Andrew Royal (June 2, 1921 in Los Angeles, California – March 16, 1983 in New York City) was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big ban ...

(tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9),

Doc Severinsen Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen (born July 7, 1927) is an American retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Early life Severinsen was born in Arlington, Oregon, to Minnie Mae (1897–1998) a ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Jimmy Cleveland James Milton Cleveland (May 3, 1926 – August 23, 2008) was an American jazz trombonist born in Wartrace, Tennessee.

(tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9),

Buster Cooper George "Buster" Cooper (April 4, 1929 – May 13, 2016) was an American jazz trombonist. Career A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, Cooper played in a territory band with Nat Towles in Texas in the late 1940s and with Lionel Hampto ...

, Urbie Green (tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10) -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Jim Buffington James Lawrence Buffington (born May 15, 1922, Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania; died July 20, 1981, Englewood, New Jersey) was an American jazz, studio, and classical hornist. Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player on the French horn. He was ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

(tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10) *Ray Beckenstein -

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10) *Walter Levinsky - alto saxophone,

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

- alto saxophone (tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9) *

Al Cohn Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist Zo ...

Al Klink Al Klink (December 28, 1915 in Danbury, Connecticut – March 7, 1991 in Bradenton, Florida) was an American swing jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Klink played with Glenn Miller from 1939 to 1942, and is a featured soloist, along with Tex B ...

(tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10),

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

(tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9) -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

*Gene Allen (tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9), Sol Schlinger (tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10) -

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Eddie Costa Edwin James Costa (August 14, 1930 – July 28, 1962) was an American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer and arranger. In 1957, he was chosen as ''DownBeat'' jazz critics' new star on piano and vibes – the first time that one artist won two ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Barry Galbraith Joseph Barry Galbraith (December 18, 1919 – January 13, 1983) was an American jazz guitarist. Galbraith moved to New York City from McDonald, PA in the early 1940s and found work playing with Babe Russin, Art Tatum, Red Norvo, Hal McIntyre, an ...

(tracks 1, 4, 5 & 7-9) *

George Duvivier George Duvivier (August 17, 1920 – July 11, 1985) was an American jazz double-bassist. Biography Duvivier was born in New York City, the son of Leon V. Duvivier and Ismay Blakely Duvivier. He attended the Conservatory of Music and Art, where ...

- bass *

Ed Shaughnessy Edwin Thomas "Ed" Shaughnessy (January 29, 1929 – May 24, 2013) was a swing music and jazz drummer long associated with Doc Severinsen and a member of The Tonight Show Band on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Biography Shaughn ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Staged adaptation

In 2012, Trustus Theatre hosted a reading of a stage adaptation of ''Satan in High Heels'' written by playwright and screenwriter Robbie Robertson. Directed by Timothy Gardner, the staged reading featured Vicky Saye Henderson as Stacy Kane, Rodney Lee Rogers as Arnold Kenyon, and Larry Hembree as Pepe. SataninHighHeelsstagedreading

DVD release

The film was released on Region 1 DVD by

Something Weird Video Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis. Ins ...

in 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Satan In High Heels 1962 films 1962 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City American independent films American sexploitation films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films