The Nude Video

Do you know any women who in their sixties (let alone their twenties) would pose for a provocative nude video? Probably none. Probably Carol Dunitz, Bernhardt On Broadway’s leading lady.

While doing research for the stage play and later the movie musical, Bernhardt On Broadway, I read countless books, reviews and articles about Sarah Bernhardt. I also saw many photos of her. An early one of her has her seated with a fan that partially blocks her face but not her chest. That’s where I got the idea. I would create a nude video to promote Bernhardt On Broadway. And I would get a friend to help me.

My friend, Laurajeanne Kehn, has a genius for creating sets. She rearranged furniture and added various knickknacks to one room in her home. This is where photographs would be taken. We used a ladder that she could mount to take pictures from different angles and a high-end digital camera for the shoot. My friend is not a professional photographer but I figured that if we took enough pictures we would be able to unearth a dozen or so that could be used for the video.

Her husband was told he had to stay in their kitchen while pictures were shot. As it turned out, he spent half a day there! Why did he have to stay in the kitchen? Because all the photos were taken with me completely nude. Completely nude. Would YouTube approve?

Paparazzi Catches Silent Movie Star, Sarah Bernhardt, in Her Boudoir is a Bernhardt on Broadway parody. It is provocative. It is not licentious or obscene. That’s because posters from Bernhardt’s career are photoshopped into the photos we selected. And if I didn’t share this with you, you wouldn’t know that I had not been holding those posters when the pictures were taken. I know because no one has known this for more than a decade. But now the secret is out!

Published on February 20, 2012, this video has repeatedly put smiles on the faces of people who have viewed it. The trick is with my hands. Each photo was taken with my arms partially raised in different positions with my hands on view with fingers curled. Poster jpegs were then sized and positioned beneath my fingers. The result is a saucy video. The music is from the show. The lyrics are a parody of the Bernhardt On Broadway song, Tour Be Force.

You can see Paparazzi Catches Silent Movie Star, Sarah Bernhardt, in Her Boudoir at https://youtu.be/41jygI8FQkU