Editing Russ Meyer (section)

===The "nudie-cutie" period===
His first feature, the naughty comedy ''[[The Immoral Mr. Teas]]'' (1959), cost $24,000 to produce and eventually grossed more than $1 million on the independent/exploitation circuit, enthroning Meyer as "King of the Nudies."  It is considered one of the first [[Nudity in film#Nudie-cuties|nudie-cuties]].<ref name="kevin">{{cite news|title=King of the Nudies on Biggest Film Caper Yet|author=Thomas, Kevin|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=Nov 30, 1969|page=s18}}</ref>

Russ Meyer was an [[auteur]] who wrote, directed, edited, photographed and distributed all his own films. He was able to finance each new film from the proceeds of the earlier ones, and became very wealthy in the process.<ref>McDonough 2004, Chapter 5.</ref>

Meyer followed ''Teas'' with some shorts, ''This Is My Body'' (1960) and ''The Naked Camera'', then made a second nudie cutie, ''[[Eve and the Handyman]]'' (1960). This starred Meyer's wife Eve and Anthony-James Ryan, both of whom would be crucial to the production of Meyer's films.

His next features were ''Erotica'' (1961) and ''[[Wild Gals of the Naked West]]'' (1962). Audience reception of ''Wild Gals'' was lukewarm, and Meyer decided to change genres.

He did a documentary, ''[[Europe in the Raw]]'' (1963), and tried a comedy, ''Heavenly Bodies!'' (1963).<ref name="kevin"/>

He then directed a version of ''[[Fanny Hill (1964 film)|Fanny Hill]]'' (1964) in Europe.