by Red Cell
“The only truly glamorous star left in Hollywood.” – John Aes-Nihil
Editor’s note: The video quality of many of these clips are poor. These were the best we could find online.
In the last few years, The Goddess Bunny has become something of an online phenomenon. If you watch YouTube videos at all, you may have seen the clip of her/him in a white negligee, leg warmers, tap shoes and a parasol, tap dancing to an unheard tune, her malformed body trying to delicately manage the difficult task. The original 2007 clip was titled “Obey the Walrus.” Almost immediately there was a video of reply stating that the video was a hoax containing subliminal messages and that a Satanic organization called “The Walrus” (made up of transvestite/transgender people) was trying to propagate these messages on an innocent public. No proof was ever brought forth. The clip was filmed by Glen Meadmore, himself a transvestite, country singer, actor and friend of Bunny’s. But, there is much more to The Goddess Bunny than just the infamous clip.
The Goddess Bunny is actually Johnnie Baima, who stricken with polio at birth. Doctors implanted a steel rod extending from the upper to the lower part of his spine in order to strengthen it. This irresponsible, and 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 horrible sexual abuse in these places. She credits this as one of the reasons she invented her stage persona, Sandie Crisp, a campy, wise-cracking transsexual singer, dancer, actress and model. She holds a loyal following of wild, fetishistic worshipers in the west coast counter-culture scene of the decadent Hollywood underground.
The Goddess Bunny is a transsexual terrorist of the highest order. Rumored to have been a prostitute and porn actress at one time, she worked in Rick Owens’ LA atelier as the designer’s fit model! Then, in 1986, posed for photographer Joel-Peter Witkin for one of his most well known works, and as a result, has been seen world wide. Also in 86, she starred as Sandy Crisp in a startling cult film, Hollywood Vice Squad along with Carrie Fischer. She had a brief cameo in Marilyn Manson’s music video, The Dope Show and has starred as herself in two films, The Goddess Bunny Channels Shakespeare (1989) and The Goddess Bunny (1998). The Goddess Bunny film contains some fragments filmed in 1993 by underground filmmaker John Aes-Nihil. There is a scenes of Bunny on location at the Barker Ranch in Death Valley, where the murderers of Sharon Tate were captured as they hid there decades ago, for The Ma Barker Story, a film thirteen years in the making, by Aes-Nihil (see trailer below).
I had the pleasure of seeing The Goddess Bunny perform on two separate occasions. Until recently, I had forgotten that I had. It was in the early 90s and I was traveling in some strange circles for a boy who was not even out of his teens. I was taken by some friends of mine who were involved in the I.O.T. (Illuminates of Thanateros), a few were card carrying Satanists as well, to a little, underground club to have drinks. No one mentioned what we were going to see, and I was not prepared for such a strange mix of 50s-60s pop tunes lip-synced by a transvestite who could barely stand. I was immediately floored by her dynamic pretense. She owned the room, every eye riveted to her until she left the stage. Later, I saw her at a nightclub in downtown L.A. This was for less then 20 minutes because I did not realize she was performing and just happened into the place, but again, everyone was transfixed.
I highly recommend the 1998 film The Goddess Bunny for a rare glimpse into this world. It portrays Johnnie Baima both in and out of “character” and is truly a gut wrenching and heart warming film. You can purchase it directly from the filmmaker, Nick Bougas (seller ID “queencoquette”), on eBay by typing in “THE GODDESS BUNNY : RARE ULTRA WEIRD VIDEO DOCUMENTARY”. Unfortunately, it is still only available on VHS, but the money spent is well worth the treasure it provides.
Before The Goddess Bunny film was even released, Bunny got “married” to an ex-convict just released from prison named Rocky. Bunny lived for a time in a mobile home with Rocky and his mother, a fanatical Christian who they somehow convinced that Bunny was a female! However, the relationship ended because of domestic abuse perpetrated by Rocky. As far as I can find out, Bunny is currently in a loving relationship now for the first time and still appears at special events from time to time. She is also writing her autobiography.
You can see more pics at her fan site here.
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