William Mishkin is a notorious name in exploitation history, primarily as the producer of many of the works of Andy Milligan, whose recollections of the man detailed in Jimmy McDonough’s Millian bio “The Ghastly One” make for must reading. A producer and distributor of many sexploitation pics from the ‘50s to the ‘70s, many of the titles with which Mishkin had been associated have been considered “lost” over the years, including 1963’s THE ORGY AT LIL’S PLACE directed by SATAN IN HIGH HEELS helmer Jerald Intrator, which allegedly “grossed more than any other film in New York City the week it opened, with the sole exception of the show at Radio City Music Hall.”

For ORGY, however, this “lost” condition has been upgraded to “found,” thanks to The Orphan Film Symposium, a group of archivists, academics and artists dedicated to preserving and screening “neglected” films. A print of the film has been found and will make its first public screening in decades at midnight on Friday, September 27, at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington, IN, courtesy of the IU Kinsey Institute.

The film will be screened as part of the Symposium’s “Orphans Midwest” series, which also includes such DG-worthy presentations as a sexploitation discussion with “Bold! Daring! Shocking! True: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959” author Eric Schaefer and “Skip’s Silent Science Screening,” hosted by A/V Geeks founder Skip Elsheimer.

More information on the conference can be found here, though the ORGY screening is not yet mentioned. The Symposium’s site mentions the screening here, and states that it is open to all. Thanks to Casey Scott for the heads up about this impressive find!

– Paul Freitag-Fey

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Tags: Indiana, Orgy at Lil's Place, Screenings, William Mishkin