The Sin of Mona Kent (1961)
Game show announcer Johnny Olson plays himself, interviewing a couple of guys playing fictional characters involved with the less-than-sinful Mona Kent, giving this low budget Broadway soap opera the feeling of a documentary. He narrates a lot, too, saving on the need to record dialogue.
Midwest farm girl Elvira Kowalski falls for a scam where she's promised a chance to be a star on Broadway in exchange for one hundred bucks. On arrival in the Big Apple, naturally the address to which she is supposed to go is empty, with a "No Forwarding Address" sign on it. Lots of stock footage of Greenwich Village follows, as Elvira gets an apartment with a roommate and gets a job as a cigarette girl at a bar.
The two guys are:
1. An artist who, immediately after they've met, literally drags her to his place and tells her to take her clothes off; only so he can paint her, of course. She demurs.
2. A photographer, who apparently (it's not real clear) snaps pictures of her skinny-dipping at the beach, promising not to show them. (Oh, sure.)
Not being interviewed:
3. Older rich guy, who invites her to a party where she is completely ignored until she takes her dress off and jumps in the swimming pool.
What little plot there is involves Elvira changing her name to (you guessed it) Mona Kent, based on a box of Mona Lisa cigars and a bottle of Kent gin. She tries to become an actress with little success. Meanwhile, the photographer gets an assignment to take pictures of her, fashion model style, at just about every corny tourist spot in New York City. Yes, they fall in love.
The artist finally gets her to pose for him. Amazingly, we actually get to see the realistic painting of Elvira/Mona topless. He makes a heavy pass at her, even though he's engaged to her roommate. Somehow this leads to a catfight between the two women.
Photographer sees the painting, blows his top, and threatens to expose his secret photographs. Elvira/Mona goes to the rich guy, obviously ready to offer her affection in return for his connections to the world of Broadway.
Sounds a lot racier than it is. Mostly interesting for its portrait of New York City at the time.
Runaway Girl (1965; some sources say 1962)
Famous strip tease artist Lili St. Cyr is the Runaway Girl! The renowned exotic dancer stretches her acting muscles by playing a renowned exotic dancer who runs away from fame to join a group of women on a bus taking them to a job picking grapes. (The film treats this as a perfectly normal thing to happen at a vineyard, with the women living in a dormitory. They try to make St. Cyr seem too glamorous to fit in with the rest, but they sure look awfully pretty and nicely dressed to be grape pickers.)
Ex-Tarzan Jock Mahoney is the adopted son of the owner of the vineyard. (Dad is off in the "old country" and is never seen.) Dad's younger biological son is around to cause trouble with his wild ways. There's an older accented guy around to supply wisdom. There's ex-Tarzan's girlfriend around to cause tension when he falls for St. Cyr. The grape pickers supply gossip and, yes, a catfight.
Things come to a boil when they find out who the Runaway Girl really is. (Her disappearance is literally front page news.) Flashbacks give us brief, G-rated bits of St. Cyr's act, which is pretty much walking around showing off her legs. (Stock footage shows a big audience applauding wildly.)
As an actress, St. Cyr is a fine stripper.
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