Glenwood Arts offers topless surprise

 Picturehouse’s “Carol Doda Topless at the Condor” opened exclusively in theaters March 22 in New York and San Francisco, and March 29 in Los Angeles, and is continuing to roll out to more than 40 markets. The documentary highlighting the life of America’s first topless dancer, Carol Doda, opens April 5 at Glenwood Arts, 3707 W. 95^th Street, Overland Park.

Kansas City audiences will experience a special live pre-show performance of “Doda-esque Burlesque!” before the 7:30pm showings on April 5 & 6. A spectacular tribute to Carol Doda featuring a bevy of enchanting local burlesque performers. The April 5 performance features: Madame Mackay, Flashy Thundercat and Jenny Pierce. The April 6 performance features: Miss Ja Pack, Vilma Noir and Petit Sirah. Taking place prior to the film, this live performance will have NO NUDITY, and promises to be an exciting and teasing good time!

Against the backdrop of the 1964 Republican Convention, a San Francisco cocktail waitress became one of the city’s most popular entertainers after making her debut as America’s first topless dancer. The new documentary feature Carol Doda Topless at the Condor tells the story of the fresh-faced girl next door who defied convention and the law by gyrating atop a white baby grand piano and turning a North Beach nightclub into the city’s second-most-popular tourist attraction after the Golden Gate Bridge.

Meanwhile, Doda’s very public use of silicone to enhance her breasts launched a new industry. Directors Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker share an unprecedented look at Doda’s life and legacy, as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of the vibrant, sometimes outrageous and always entertaining world of North Beach. To learn more or to purchase tickets, visit https://fineartsgroup.com/film/carol-doda-topless-at-the-condor/

Premiering in 2023 at the Telluride Film Festival and the Mill Valley Film Festival, “Carol Doda Topless at the Condor” gives audiences an entertaining and revealing look behind the scenes of Doda’s improbable journey from cocktail waitress to international icon and defender of sexual freedom. The film was co-directed by San Francisco-based filmmakers Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker produced by Metallica co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich.

“Carol Doda is a provocative story and a nostalgic love letter to San Francisco in the ’60s,” says Bob Berney, CEO of Picturehouse. “Marlo and Jonathan take the audience back to the days before the Summer of Love and the sexual revolution, using amazing archival footage of the city that essentially makes it another character in the film. We are pleased to once again collaborate with Lars Ulrich, after previously releasing Metallica’s groundbreaking film Through the Never.”

Based in part on Three Nights at the Condor, a memoir by Benita Mattioli, the wife of Condor co-owner Pete Mattioli, Carol Doda Topless at the Condor brings together a compelling array of Doda’s contemporaries, including dancers, club owners, bartenders and others, who share their first-hand experiences. The film also features interviews with academics who have studied Doda’s role in redefining attitudes toward female nudity, as well as candid, fascinating interviews with Doda herself.

“I was drawn to Carol Doda’s story because of her courage,” says co-director McKenzie. “She was a trailblazing entrepreneur who took risks to achieve her dreams. There were consequences for her choices, and she faced them with charm and humor. Carol helped move culture towards accepting nudity as a part of the human experience that can be embraced and delighted in.”

Co-director Parker adds: “I knew Carol personally. She was such an important part of San Francisco’s cultural history, which had an impact on the whole country. I wanted to make sure her story was told. At a time when there weren’t a lot of options for women, Carol created a career for herself that resonated on many levels.  She had charisma.  She had courage. And I believe she loved what she did.”