BIRTHDAY: June 11
GREW UP IN: Los Angeles area
APPEARANCES: December 64 - February 66
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MIMI MACHU is another of the brunette GAZZARRI beauties and like her friend JUNE WILSON she went on to appear in several movies and TV shows after HOLLYWOOD A GO-GO ended production in early 1966. She was one of the original dancers on the show and only she and DeANN appeared on every episode. She was also heavily involved in the choreography for the show and created some very memorable routines such as the floor dance for Donnie Brooks "Can't Help Loving You". (episode # 9)
MIMI has been misidentified by several web posters for being none other than Barbi Benton who was Hugh Hefner's old girlfriend. The misidentification was further complicated by Barbi's association with GAZZARRI'S nightclub. Barbi won the MISS GAZZARRI dancing contest in 1968, however she never appeared on HOLLYWOOD A GO-GO. Although both are beautiful women, only MIMI was a GAZZARRI DANCER. And a very good one at that! She is also sometimes mistaken for JUNE WILSON on HOLLYWOOD A GO-GO appearances. When asked back in her dancing days if she and JUNE were sisters, they would reply, "We used to be, but now we're just friends!"
In late September 1965 MIMI broke her ankle while dancing at THE TRIP nightclub. She slipped on Kim Fowley's scarf while they were both on the dancefloor and had to be taken to the local ER by a member of Buffalo Springfield, who were playing that night. When MIMI next appeared on HOLLYWOOD A GO-GO she would be seen interacting with SAM during guest introductions or dancing in a stationary position. She was back in the normal dancing mix with the rest of the girls just before Christmas.
The early 1970's found MIMI living in Oregon, after which she returned to California to work for the next three decades. She was an assistant to Jim Frawley while he directed "The Muppet Movie", and she also rewrote the opening joke for the movie. It was also while MIMI was working on this movie that she developed her interest in movie editing. She then got a job working with director Hal Ashby on several of his movies ("Being There", "Second Hand Hearts", "Looking To Get Out"). After freelancing for four years she worked on the TV show "Cheers" as an assistant editor at Paramount Studios. She then stayed on at Paramount for 22 years as a film editor in their syndication department.
During her distinguished career she traveled to many parts of the world, including Tahiti, Bali, Mexico, the Phillipines, Europe, Botswana, Tanzania, and Hawaii.
MIMI appeared in the movies under her real name as well as the name I.J. JEFFERSON. She appeared in two of her movies with her friend JUNE. We have a filmography below with all of her movies under both names.
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MIMI MACHU FILMOGRAPHY
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1979 THE MUPPET MOVIE as secretary (Mr. Frawley)
1979 BEING THERE Editorial Consultant
1981 SECOND-HAND HEARTS Editorial Consultant
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I. J. JEFFERSON FILMOGRAPHY
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1967 HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS as Paula
1968 PSYCH-OUT as Pandora
1968 HEAD as Lady Pleasure
1971 DRIVE, HE SAID as secretary
TELEVISION
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1968 THE MOD SQUAD - episode # 12 "The Guru" (Dec. 68)
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LINKS TO SHORT CLIPS FROM MIMI'S MOVIES:
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These two color photos are from MIMI'S appearance with Jack Nicholson in the 1968 movie "Psych-Out".
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The photos above and below show MIMI as character Lady Pleasure and Monkee Mike Nesmith from the 1968 movie "Head".
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And yet another photo from "Head" showing MIMI with Mickey Dolenz.
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The above photo is from episode # 12, "THE GURU" (December 1968), of the "Mod Squad" and shows MIMI acting under the name I.J. JEFFERSON. Also in the photo are series stars Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III, and Peggy Lipton. Peggy coincidentally was in the same high school class as DALE VANN at HOLLYWOOD PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL where they graduated together in 1965.
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Below we have MIMI in a recent photograph. The second photo down pictures this webmaster with lovely MIMI in Hawaii.
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