[2][3][4] John V. Norwall, editor of Newlywed magazine, enlists up-and-coming photographer Ken Carter to shoot a cover for the periodical.

John notes the resemblance between his statuette and Peggy Brandon, his waitress at a bar, and invites her to model for his magazine as "The Living Venus".

The two secure additional funding from Max Stein, a publisher with a shady reputation, and are granted further financing upon the success of the magazine's first issue.

John persuades Peggy to retire from modelling and serve Pagan as a “promotions manager”, seducing clients into buying advertising.

According to Lewis, despite the scenes featuring nude actresses, the film "was not planned as a nudie" but rather an exploration of how one man's ego affects his career in the publishing industry.

Lewis cut a nude scene involving Karen Black, who played a small, uncredited role in the movie, at her manager's request.

[1] Living Venus was released in February 1961, only months after Lewis’s previous project The Prime Time, which he produced but did not direct.

[5] In 1990, Living Venus was released on home video as part of "The Sleaziest Movies in the History of the World", a series of films directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and others with commentary from horror host Joe Bob Briggs.

[8] Living Venus, along with several other Lewis titles, is featured in Domonic Paris' Film House Fever (1986), starring Steve Buscemi.