Irma La Douce: Cinema's First Taste of Tura Satana

Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce (1963) stars Shirley MacLaine as the titular Irma, a comely cocotte living and working in the streets of Paris. One fine day she makes the acquaintance of Nestor Patou, a young police officer so eager and earnest that he is dismissed from service before the end of his first day on the beat in Les Halles for conducting an unscheduled and embarrassing raid on the Hotel Casanova. With no job and nowhere to go, Patou wanders into the saloon patronized by les poules and their maquereaus. When Irma comes in to get out of the rain and have a sit, a ciggie, and a chat with Patou, her new acquaintance finds himself taunted and bullied by her "boyfriend" Ox. The dispute is brief however, as Nestor then beats Ox handily, and afterward seeks solace and spoils in the arms and apartment of Irma La Douce. Nestor then becomes her new man, protector and business manager but quickly discovers that pimpin' ain't easy as he is tortured with jealousy every time she sees a client. He attempts then to get her off the streets by becoming her sole patron, incognito, of course. Things don't go exactly as planned however and he becomes insanely jealous of his alter-ego and ends up jailed for the murder of himself! Of course, this being a Romantic Comedy it all works out for everyone in the end.

Irma La Douce marked Tura Satana's first foray onto the silver screen. Satana was no stranger to show business however, and had begun her career as a dancer in the early 1950's. Before the end of the decade she became a burlesque sensation, traveling and performing city to city with the likes of Candy Barr and Tempest Storm. While her Parisian prostitute Suzette Wong wasn't exactly a starring role, Satana puts in plenty of screen time in Irma La Douce, appearing in the background and foreground of several scenes. Though appearing is most of what she does throughout the picture, Tura did have a number of lines, which she delivers with gusto in that brilliant, tough-broad voice of her's.

There's never any doubt that Shirley MacLaine is star of the picture, but Tura Satana grabs your attention in every scene she appears. MacLaine's Irma is very sweet indeed, but the sultry Satana is more fun to watch. While we never really get to know the tassel-twirling Suzette Wong, it's easy to imagine her takin' care of business and hard to picture her ever being strong-armed by a boyfriend like Ox. Irma is a perfectly adorable Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but Satana's voluptuous Suzette has a more direct sex appeal that for some reason, is rarely seen in a serious leading role.

Though Tura's smoky sultriness was recorded to celluloid for a preciously small handful of films, she was almost always livin' large off-screen. In an interview at Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict Satana was workin' it at the famous Pink Pussycat Club in Hollywood when she met director Billy Wilder and his wife who suggested that Wilder give her the part of Suzette Wong. He did, and the rest is cinematic history. It has also been rumored that Satana became involved with Wilder during filming. He would not have been her most famous paramour however, as she's been romantically linked to Joe DiMaggio, actor Rod Taylor and Elvis Presley as well.

Join us again later this week for a look at the Ted V. Mikel's Sci-fi Horror Astro-Zombies!