Diary of a Nudist (1961) was the second film by the recently departed Doris Wishman, and is a nudist camp naturist film, the genre she was most noted for. First, about the film. A newspaper editor is hunting, and gets lost. He discovers a nudist camp, and is shocked and morally outraged, so decides to assign his best reporter (and the girl he is secretly sweet on), Davee Decker, to join the camp, and write an expose. He finally talks her into it, and she is to take a two week vacation at the camp, and file her scathing reports each day. She discovers that if there was ever a group who need no further exposing, it is nudists, and falls in love with the life style. When her boss sees the favorable reports, he fires her, and joins the camp to do it himself. I don't think I have to spell out the rest.

This is a T&A film, and one of the first to get into drive-ins as a second feature, and that is what Decker, and half a dozen or so uncredited actresses show throughout the film. So called "Naturist" magazines were the first to get away with publishing nudity, and still print things that would not be allowed in other magazines, such as full frontal kiddie nudity. The idea of these films was to use the same "redeeming social merit" as the magazines. As this is one of the very early ones, genitals are kept off camera either by poses or judicious use of towels, purses, etc. So how well do these films depict the actual nudist life style? First of all, the cotton tails (tan lines) give away all of the performers as non-nudists, which isn't surprising. Even though nudists are comfortable with their bodies, most have relatives, coworkers, neighbors, etc that wouldn't cope well with their nudism, and are camera shy.

From the images, it seems like the two most popular pastimes of nudists are volleyball and swimming, and that is absolutely correct. Soaking in the rays gets you heated up to the point that you need a quick dip to cool off. The popularity of volleyball is explained by the fact that it is a good coed team sport requiring little equipment, and you have to see what jumping up for the ball does to a pair of unencumbered breasts. The difference here is that the team facing away from the camera is nude, and the opposing team is wearing shorts. This was a required nod to the censors. The attire is nearly, but not quite correct. They all have towels, which they mostly use to hide their goodies. Towels are required attire for nudists, but are used to sit or lie on, and to drape over your shoulders when you are getting a little too pink from the sun. Several of the women here are shown barefoot, even walking on sidewalks. Every nudist I have ever known considers sandals required clothing to avoid burning their feet.

Sun worship, and the health benefits of exposure to the sun are given as the reason people become nudists. While this is true for some people, others just don't like wearing clothes, while others enjoy naked people, and find that they are more comfortable naked than dressed around naked people. The film was shot at an actual nudist camp, and the real director appeared in the film.

Now, on to Doris Wishman. We noted her passing, and linked to an obit, but the author called her an exploitation actress. While she has appeared on camera, she was a film producer, in every sense of the word, and probably the first woman to succeed in what was a man's world. Doris was a cousin of producer Max Rosenberg (Perdita Durango, Cat People, Asylum, Etc.), and she and her husband worked in film distribution. When her husband died, she found herself in need of an income, and made up her mind to make movies. She never had any pretense of trying to make great films. While it is true that Doris loved the business, she made films for one very good reason, to make a living. She would write, cast, produce, direct, and edit herself. She tended to hire unknown actresses, wanting women who looked like someone you might really meet. She did have some agenda in her films, aside from making money. She wanted to depict normal women as being comfortable with their bodies and their sexuality.

So how important was Doris? Well, there is a strong argument that she made the rest of exploitation possible. Early exploitation sold with exaggerated claims. A film might claim to show things never before shown on screen (a new calendar meets that criteria), the most sizzling sex ever filmed, so horrifying that you will never sleep again. etc. The films were actually grade B horror with no nudity. How did they get away with it? Why didn't a customer expecting a sex-fest break down the door to the box office, demanding a refund? The answer can be found in Doris's films. Her films were used as the second feature, and were called "square reels." The audience was there to see tits, and Doris showed them tits, tits, and more tits.

As exploitation gave way to porn, Doris tried her hand at slasher films with A Night to Dismember, and didn't quite have the hang of it, so went into retirement in 1983. The renewed interest in 60's and 70's exploitation encouraged her to come out of retirement in 2001, and she made three more films, and an on-screen appearance, before her death last month. Doris, with the harsh voice dripping of New York, who didn't pay an iota of attention to critics, and made films her way, was a unique and authentic character, and I will miss her. I have heard her mentioned by other exploitation greats, and always with respect. To see how others felt about her, you can visit her official memorial Website, and read the guestbook entries from fans, relatives and friends. Note that you might recognize a few of the names there.

Like all of her work, this film is a C.