William Merle Connell was born on January 7, 1905, in Yakima, Washington. In 1926, Connell married Jennie Ramsey. Connell died on November 25, 1963, in Los Angeles. Connell directed a number of American burlesque films,pp.267-268 Shteir, Rachel Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show Oxford University Press, USA 1 Nov 2004- and exploitation films, including Untamed Women.
Career Connell's "Quality Pictures" distributed a one-reel burlesque compilations, including: Juke-Box Follies (1945), and Variety Girls (c. 1955).
"Quality Pictures, a small studio on Santa Monica Boulevard run by producer-director W. Merle Connell, was one of the preeminent companies putting out burlesque films for the peepshow and theatrical markets. Connell filmed Los Angeles burlesque dancers in short, two-to-three-minute performances and packaged the segments as single-reel compilations, producing twenty-five of these by 1947. Keeping a hand in the peepshow market, Quality also bought and sold Panorams and converted them for a fee. By the 1950s, Quality had begun focusing on narrative films as well; the Quality Pictures studio was even used for several Ed Wood movies, including Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)."
Film director A Night at the Follies (1947)W. Merle Connell - tcmdb Turner Classic Movies with Evelyn West filmed at a burlesque stage show at the Follies Theater in Los Angeles Test Tube Babies (1948) The Devil's Sleep (1949) Trouble at Melody Mesa (1949) Midnight Frolics (1949) with Annette Warren International Burlesque (1950) Ding Dong (1951) filmed at Moulin Rouge Theatre, 485 8th Street, Oakland, California also known as A Night at the Moulin Rouge Home Town Girl (1951) Untamed Women (1952) The Flesh Merchant (1956) The Wild and Wicked (1956) Not Tonight Henry (1961) The Pill (1967)
Cinematographer Dance Hall Racket The Cape Canaveral Monsters The Jailbreakers
See also TCM Underground
References
External links
W. Merle Connell - tcmdb Turner Classic Movies W. Merle Connell - tvguide.com W. Merle Connell - allmovie
W. Merle Connell – IMDb