Flipping Out Over Tura Satana

Me and Tura Satana at Cinemania
Photo Credit: Jon von

It's not everyday you get to meet and greet a celebrity you really admire. But I not only got to meet my idol but was quickly flipped on my back and pinned down by the legendary pussycat Tura Santana in three seconds flat! I met her at Cinemania, one of the most incredible cult video stores in Northern California. They were known to host actors at their shop and in the summer of 1995 they had booked the screen siren Tura Satana! 

Early in her acting carreer, Ms. Satana had appeared in a cameo as a Parisian prostitute in the Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine romantic comedy "Irma la Douce". She was then cast as an exotic dancer in the Dean Martin, Carol Burnett and Elizabeth Montgomery comedy "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed". But it was her role as Varla in Russ Myer's 1965 cult classic "Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill!" that brought fame and notoriety.

Cinemania was run by my friends RJ and Leesa Gallentine. These rock and rollers, who were originally from Southern California, were the backbone of the legendary band The Creamers. In the mid nineties, they decided to pack their bags (and their incredible collection of videos) and brought some life to the tree lined streets of sleepy Sacramento. 

The following photographs eventually appeared in Girlyhead an amazing San Francisco magazine I had been shooting for and the brainchild of the amazingly talented writer Sunny Anderson Chanel. Sadly, Tura Santana passed away back in 2011 but that day will live on in my heart forever. 

Everything hard, nothing soft!

Julie Green

June 18, 2016

Tura Satana at Cinemania No. 1

Tura Satana at Cinemania No. 2

Tura Satana at Cinemania No. 3

Tura Satana at Cinemania No. 4