(Photo: Everett Collection)

‘Showgirls’ With Sock Puppets
Simulated sex inexact.
Showgirls is back—and this time Elizabeth Berkley’s character (“I’m not a whore, I’m a dancer!”) is wearing socks. Or, rather, she is a sock. Harvey Finklestein’s Institute of Whimsical, Fantastical, and Marvelous Puppet Masterage’s Sock Puppet Showgirls opens October 15. “We do all the essential bits, like the strip-club scenes and the goddess dance,” says creator John Shaterian. The highlight is the pool scene, although, he admits, “it’s close to impossible to mimic pool sex—especially with socks.” Still, all the pole-dancing female puppets are anatomically correct, and the Berkley character has big red lips, wild blonde hair, and many costume changes. “She doesn’t always make all of them in time,” admits Shaterian, “but it doesn’t really matter.”
—Shana Liebman