Behind the Scenes in The Garden of Eden (1954)

'You're the only one with clothes on. Don't you feel funny?'

I didn't include 1954's The Garden of Eden with my Adam and Eve themed films for a couple of reasons.  First off, despite it's title, it's more Adam and Eve adjacent than directly connected to the story.  The Max Nosseck directed drama follows the story of a Joan, war widow and her pre-teen daughter Susan who flee the Florida home of her tyrannical father-in-law. 

When their car breaks down, mother and daughter are assisted by Johnny Patterson, another driver on the road.  Johnny attempts to fix the car but soon realizes a professional mechanic is required.  Johnny invites Susan and Joan to rest at the nearby Garden of Eden resort until a garage opens. After making them comfortable in a cabin at the "members only" resort, Johnny leaves to arrange to have the car worked on, but fails to advise Susan and Joan that they are in the middle of a nudist colony. 

Johnny is played by actor Mickey Knox, an actor I hadn't heard of prior to looking into this movie.  Knox was a well known actor who worked steadily from the 1940's through the 1990's.  Looking at his resume, I may have seen some of his later films, which included; Bolero, Ghoulies II, Rent-A-Cop, Cemetery Man and The Godfather Part III. I wasn't introduced to the hottie from this 1954 film.

I actually couldn't find a decent copy of the film to download, but I did find what I think is a full version on Youtube.  You can can check that out  HERE: There is some 'tame' scenes nudity,  mostly kids and families in the background at the nudist camp.  

What I did find however, that inspired this post, was series of behind the scenes shots from the filming shot for LIFE Magazine during the filming of the movie.  There is more nudity in images than the film itself, and I love all the shots of Knox casually looking over his script while standing on set completely naked.

Even though you don't get quite as nice of view of Mickey's butt in the film, it's release did cause quite a stir in the 1950's.  When the film film played in Tampa, FL, for an adults-only audience, a married couple was turned away because the wife was only 20 years old. The woman, as it turned out, had appeared in the film. Ironically, she was old enough to appear fully nude in the film, but too young to see herself nude in the film. Go figure.  

The film tried to tease it's audience by heavily promoting that it was filmed in a 'real nature park'.  Something that didn't sit that well with some viewers, especially in New York. Someone in the big apple sued, claiming the film was obscene and shouldn't allowed to be screened.  The New York State Court of Appeals ruled that onscreen nudity was not obscene, and this ruling opened the door to more open depictions of nudity in film.

Knox working hard on his script.