1. jan, 2016

The Goddess Bunny

I first got introduced to The Goddess Bunny aka Sandie Crisp (whose real name is Johnnie Baima) through the Nick Bougas film from 1994. Being stricken by polio as a child, doctors implanted a steel rod extending from the upper to the lower part of his spine in order to strengthen it. This, now illegal act, dramatically affected his posture and stopped his growth, keeping him much smaller than he should have been. Johnnie was shuffled from foster home to foster home and suffered terrible sexual abuse in these places. Johnnie credits this as the main reason for inventing his stage persona, Sandie Crisp, a wise-cracking singer, dancer, actress & model. Sandie Crisp holds a small, but loyal following in the west coast counter-culture scene in the Hollywood underground. 

I highly recommend Nick Bougas' film The Goddess Bunny for a rare glimpse of the underbelly of the Los Angeles underground scene. The tap-dance sequence, the lip-synching to Sheena Easton and the scene with Sandie Crisp as Ma Barker on the Manson's Family Ranch are few of the subversive highlights. The tap-dance sequence, with Sandie dancing on a barely heard tune in a white negligee, leg warmers and a parasol, had a life of it's own on YouTube, when some people stated the video was a hoax containing subliminal messages, and that a Satanic organization called The Walrus (made up of transgender/transvestite people) was trying to propagate these messages onto an innocent public. 

Besides the film The Goddess Bunny, Sandie Crisp appeared in Hollywood Vice Squad (1986) along with Carrie Fischer, had a small cameo in Marilyn Manson's The Dope Show, The Ma Barker Story & The Goddess Bunny Channels Shakespeare. 

Before The Goddess Bunny film was released Sandie had a relationship with an ex-convict just released from prison named Rocky. They lived in a mobile home for awhile with Rocky's mother, a fanatical Christian who they somehow convinced that Sandie was female. However, the relationship ended because of domestic abuse perpetrated by Rocky. 

Odd as this all may sounds, Sandie Crisp's story is one of human survival and living your own dreams. And isn't that what life is all about?