Penny and I were separated at birth. I only met her six years ago when Paul Thomas talked me into doing a walk-on in his remake of The Devil in Miss Jones. She not only wrote the script, but also did wardrobe for the shoot. We met. We bonded. I loved ‘em all, really. I never had a negative experience with any director or fellow actor whilst plying the scurrilous trade. Nor did I ever have a bad experience with any producers.
Jane Hamilton is another great lady. I think I did only one film with Jane, but bonded with her as well even though we were not in touch much after I left the business. [Spelvin and Hart actually appeared together in the film Urban Cowgirls in 1982, prior to Bad Blood 1989.] However, she married a fantastic guy I had had a severe crush on back before I got involved in porn. When she told me they were getting hitched, I almost dropped my uppers. Naturally, we became even closer friends. Michael [“Iron Mike”, Hamilton’s late husband] went on to that great motorcycle rally in the sky last year. Jane stays very busy, but we e-mail each other frequently. I adore e-mail; it’s my new window on the world, I just love e-mail.
Gloria Leonard is another of my frequent email-pals as is [holistic sexologist] Barbara Carrellas. Gloria is one of the most courageous, intelligent, charming, and delightful women I have ever met. Annie [Sprinkle] was invaluable in my efforts to get a book on the market and I just adore her. Her pal Veronica Vera is another sweetheart I’ve come to know recently. We met at Jerry Damiano’s eightieth birthday party. Marilyn [Chambers] was always wonderful to me. When she was married to Chuck Traynor, they hosted me at their Las Vegas spread once. I never understood why he has such a bad rep. He was always a perfect gentleman whenever I saw him. Gosh, who else? I know I’m forgetting a lot of folks. I’ve met more ladies of the trade since I’ve gone “public” again in my efforts to sell this damn book.
The first time I met Juliet Anderson was when I was doing some readings, and trying to sell my book up in San Francisco a couple of years ago. We met through Howie Gordon, who again, is a swell guy and what a writer he is. His son is doing a one-man show called Debbie Does My Dad and I can’t wait to see this. He’s going to bring it to L.A. I think his show might be opening tonight [November 20, 2010] at the Centre for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. I’m hoping they’re going to get a venue here so I can see it. I’m hearing that it’s hysterical.
Debbie Does My Dad is about growing up as the son of the golden age adult performer, Richard Pacheco/Howie Gordon.
The idea of making a film with sex in it during the golden era was totally overrun by showing sex only wall to wall. That’s what people were buying and still are. I know zilch about the adult film industry of today. I haven’t been active in “the trade” for thirty years. I’ve never enjoyed watching porn so I’ve seen very little of it, old or new. I’m not a historian, but if the recent interest in “The Golden age of Porn” is any indication, we women must have left a mark. I don’t think I’m a household name in that many households so it’s not impacted my life at all, but I’m sure The Devil in Miss Jones is the one for which I shall be remembered, as long as I am remembered.
“We Ain’t Giving up Nothing!”
— THE PAJAMA GAME
Since the completion of her memoir, Georgina discovered a whole new trajectory has opened up for her as she keeps busy with work on her second book project, and writes a monthly blog that can be viewed at Georgina’s World.com. Spelvin put the finishing touches on recording The Devil Made Me Do It, which will soon be available as an audio book. “Devil” recently became available for Kindle e-readers. When we spoke, Georgina shared the process of writing and the assemblage of the e-book and audio formats.
Until I wrote the book, life was just a dream — “sha boom, sha boom”. Now, I find myself back in the saddle with all the interviews. I ain’t complaining; mind you — e-mail, readings, and the gawdamn book keeping I have to do for the various governments that must get their cut of the action.
I love writing. Always have. I’m trying to find time to work on Goin’ Down in Flames — a new book that I promised myself I would have finished by Christmas. I can’t give up my mornings at the gym nor my lunches with my adorable better half, and the [The New York Times] Sudoku and crossword every day after the gym. In spite of my best intentions, I often see something in the garden that just must be done before I can sit down at the computer and write — and when I do finally open up the darling little box, well, I have to check the e-mail first, and then it’s time for supper — the news — and bed.
I have been working on the new book insofar as occasionally. I have stacks and stacks of notes and files and files. It’s going to be harder to pull this one together by a long shot. I’ll get to the writing part again someday. Really, I will. With the first one when I finally sat down and said, “Okay, there has to be some kind of structure to this thing” so chronology is the easiest.
What I have been doing is recording the first book and it has been quite an experience. It’s been wonderful and I’m sorry it’s done. I’ve just been having so much fun doing it, and re-reading it, and revisiting the work because I would remember some little incident or whatever and find it in the book, and use it for these readings that I felt would be interesting to a particular audience. Other than that, I hadn’t read the book.
[Devil Made Me Do It] will be available as an audio book. When the producer, a guy by the name of Sam Caldwell who lives in Shreveport, Louisiana first approached me about it, he wanted me to come to Shreveport and do it there and he would put me up. I said, “No, I can’t leave home for three or four weeks, I just can’t.” He sent me a microphone and a tripod and said, “Let’s try it and see what happens.” This place is so noisy and we’re right on the street and we have cars and planes going by, and there was construction at the top of the hill. I started getting up at four o’clock in the morning when it’s quiet and from four to six am it was quiet enough that I could record. I did that for nearly three months I guess, and it’s all done, except there will be several re-dos, I’m sure.
At first I thought, “Oh god, what a chore.” I was very reluctant, and then when I got everything set up and started reading it I was totally charmed. I thought to myself, “Hey, you know, this is pretty good!”
With that feeling percolating through me, I couldn’t wait to get up and get to it every morning. I’d wake up and see the clock and it would say three-thirty, and I thought, “Great, I can snooze for another half hour.” Then I’d wake up again and look at the clock and say, “Oh god! It’s four fifteen!” I’d get up and get my things set up and get my tea and sit down. I’d rehearse into the microphone and get comfortable and I’d lay down two or three pages at a time. The poor man has an editing job ahead of him like no other I can imagine, but he seems very pleased with what he’s getting, so I leave it in his hands.
This is a self-published book and I’ve actually made money. It’s amazing. Amazon automatically deposits in my account and then sends me a notice every week or so notifying me of my commissions. “Sam the Man” who is redoing my site, who is the same man who is producing the audio recording, will tell me that my hits to my website go up every week. I find it amazing that that many people are looking at my site. I didn’t really try too hard to find a publisher because at the time of my book’s release, the whole publishing industry seemed to be falling apart and I didn’t know how to deal with all of that, so I saw no reason why I couldn’t self publish. I knew how to put a book together. I did all of the typesetting and everything myself, and simply sent files to Lulu.com, but I didn’t know that I would be required to market the thing, and I didn’t know what that was all about. That part of it has taken up more of my time than I ever expected it would. It doesn’t matter what you’ve written, the world will not be knocking at your door so you have to stand up and sell the suckers.
Before we wrapped up our interview, I asked Georgina to describe her “Kodak” moment. She added a few funny and heartfelt parting thoughts.
The n
ight I went on in the lead dance role of Gladys Hotchkiss in the musical The Pajama Game: When I took my solo bow, the audience gave me a standing ovation. Wait, there’s more. The rest of the cast gave me a big hand. It’s hard to top a moment like that.
Learn to type. Oh yes, this is for everyone — MOISTURIZE DAILY — ALL over. Just reaching everywhere is good exercise.
Four things in my life keep me standing: My husband John, who I adore, my sobriety, my friends and my garden.
COURTESY OF GEORGINA SPELVIN
Georgina dancing “Steam Heat” in The Pajama Game. COURTESY OF GEORGINA SPELVIN
Georgina is pictured to Dean Martin’s far right in the blonde bob hairstyle and black skirt and sweater. COURTESY OF GEORGINA SPELVIN
The Devil in Miss Jones. VCX
COURTESY OF WORTH MENTIONING PUBLIC RELATIONS
Male Chauvinist Pig. VIDEO-X-PIX
Georgina and her friend Dee. COURTESY OF GEORGINA SPELVIN
Take-Off. VIDEO-X-PIX
Georgina Spelvin and John Holmes in The Jade Pussycat. I-CANDY
Steven Guttenberg and Georgina Spelvin in a publicity photo for Police Academy.
Georgina models the maid costume she wore for her role in The Devil in Miss Jones, Part II.
COURTESY OF GEORGINA SPELVIN
4.
Marilyn Chambers
Girl Next Door goes Behind the Green Door
“I had a great time. It was the time of my life. You know, we had people standing for three blocks waiting for an autograph. Adoring fans who really enjoyed my work and who made me feel like a little princess. I felt it was my job to work hard and make my fans proud.”
— Marilyn Chambers (1952-2009)
Of all the female stars to resonate with aficionados of the golden era of adult, Marilyn Chambers towers above the rest. Legendary for her unbridled, acrobatic sexual eccentricities onscreen, Chambers’ early years offer a glimpse of her potential as a maven in her field.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1952, Marilyn Ann Briggs came from good stock. Her father worked as an advertising executive, and her mother was employed as a nurse. Along with her brother and sister, Marilyn’s family eventually settled in Westport, Connecticut where she was exposed to the finer things in life. Chambers was actively involved in gymnastics and trained as a junior Olympic diver as a young teenage girl. She was also known to have been extremely fond of the male persuasion, and in her senior year, Marilyn was Homecoming Queen. Although not particularly interested in pursuing a career as an academic, with her wholesome good looks and natural orientation as an actress, at seventeen, Marilyn traveled to New York and enlisted with the Wilhelmina Talent Agency where she was promptly sent on auditions for commercial and film work. Effortlessly, Chambers won a small role as Robert Klein’s girlfriend in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), a Barbara Streisand vehicle that also co-starred reputable actor George Segal. During this period, Marilyn was photographed for the now infamous Ivory Snow soapbox advertisement that surfaced just as her career as an adult performer emerged after she agreed to appear in Behind the Green Door (1972) for brothers Artie and Jim Mitchell. When the pair made an offer for her to star in their production and engage in real sex on camera, Chambers flatly turned them down, but reconsidered when they agreed to pay her an impressive sum of money for her efforts.
“Green Door,” which showcased Marilyn engaged in sex with African American porn star Johnny Keyes, did big box office business and Marilyn enjoyed overnight stardom. Chambers soon followed up with another Mitchell brothers’ endeavor, Resurrection of Eve, released in 1973. Suffice to say, her fresh-faced image as the girl-next-door touting boxes of Ivory Soap was squashed once her alter ego was discovered.
After imbibing in a smorgasbord of perks reserved for those with epic stature, Marilyn was selective about ensuing roles, and along with her entrepreneurial husband and manager, Chuck Traynor, she maintained an aura of mystery while giving her fans just enough to keep them coming back for more. Chambers’ film career reached a climactic point in 1980 with the release of Insatiable, where she once again proved herself an actor, and performed for the first time with her male counterpart in legendary status, John Holmes.
In recent years, Chambers worked in a varied range of professions. An ardent advocate for animals in need of TLC, she remained connected on the fringe of the adult business and was a popular attraction at Horror Conventions. While married to her third husband, Chambers realized her most important role in life when she became a mother for the first time to daughter McKenna, now twenty-one. Conveying her strong maternal instincts to family, friends, and acquaintances, Marilyn greatly valued the precious unity that she and McKenna shared as mother and daughter. Sadly, their time together was cut short when Chambers passed away suddenly on April 12, 2009 from a cerebral hemorrhage and aneurysm, only weeks before her fifty-seventh birthday.
In 2011, Marilyn Chambers’ biopic filmmaker Valerie Gobos spoke with me about Ms. Chambers in order to contribute to this portrait. McKenna Taylor also shared memories about her legendary mother. I talked with Marilyn Chambers in June 2007.
The Owl and the Pussycat
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
in a beautiful pea green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
and sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
what a beautiful Pussy you are,
you are,
you are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!
— EDWARD LEAR
VALERIE GOBOS: Marilyn was born in Providence, Rhode Island and was raised in Massachusetts. She had a brother and a sister. She was a sophisticated girl, which is something you can’t take out of her. She came from a very good family on the east coast. Her mom was a nurse and her dad was an advertising executive in Massachusetts. I think she was popular in school. She loved the boys. She was more of an athlete, and I believe she was also a Homecoming Queen. She was definitely more interested in singing, and dancing, and acting, and modeling, versus being an intellect. There were no problems within the family dynamic. When she did start to model and got into that field, her dad really did not want her to do it. He tried to discourage her because he was involved in the business as an advertiser. He was exposed to actors and models, and he didn’t encourage it, but she really loved it.
Marilyn had loved Sophia Loren. She mentioned that in her book [Marilyn Chambers: My Story, 1975]. It was Ann Margaret and Sophia Loren — those two were her favorites. Of course, growing up in the 1960s, Ann Margaret was so popular and to Marilyn, one of the most glamorous, sexual women was Sophia Loren.
When Marilyn first started to model, she put her portfolio together. After she was finished with her schooling, she would take a train into New York. She’d registered with Wilhelmina Talent Agency. It was a modeling agency and she started to model. She was more of a commercial model, not high fashion, which was the old girl-next-door type of thing. She had done hair commercials. In the audio for Still Insatiable (1999), she talked about where she did a couple of hair commercials, and a couple of modeling jobs. The similarities are ironic. I did the exact same thing probably at the exact same time.
Marilyn started exploring acting when she registered with the talent agencies. She was dating a boy who had gotten a bit part in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and he said to her, “Would you like to come with me on set to see what a movie is all about?”
She said, “Yeah.” It’s just like a fairytale story because when she was on the set of The Owl and the Pussycat she had her portfolio with her and somebody said, “Are you an actress?”
She said, “Yes.”
They told her, “They’re holding auditions upstairs. Would you like to audition?”
She said, “Sure,” and she got the part of Barney’s girlfriend in The Owl and the Pussycat. It w
as quite easy for her.
In a poignant example of art foreshadowing life, seventeen-year old Marilyn (credited as Evelyn Lang) played the girlfriend of Robert Klein’s supporting character Barney in the comedic film about an enigmatic, aspiring actress (Streisand) who provides occasional sexual favors on the side, and moves in with a neurotic writer (George Segal). Although Marilyn’s role is minor, The Owl and the Pussycat has a winning formula and concentrates on the funny antics that transpire throughout the unlikely arrangement as the two leads are polar opposites in their educational backgrounds and mannerisms.
Barbara Streisand, who Marilyn thought was a real witch on the set, did not want to go to Los Angeles to promote the film so the producer sent Marilyn and another actress to L.A. She had never been out west before, so they sent the two of them to promote the film and that’s when she fell in love with L.A. Then someone suggested that she would love San Francisco and she went up there. When Marilyn went up to San Francisco, she realized there weren’t a lot of acting jobs going on there, and so she worked in a Health Food restaurant and danced. I think she started doing topless dancing but she didn’t talk very much about it. It could have been bottomless and topless, but it was definitely topless. Being so athletic, she was comfortable with her body, and of course, during the late 1960s/early seventies everyone was taking their bras off, and going around and getting crazy, so she had heard about this audition. She had read about it and she thought it was a “bowling” film, but it was a “balling” film. In her interviews and in her own words they had said to her, “Are you willing to take your clothes off?”
GOLDEN GODDESSES: 25 LEGENDARY WOMEN OF CLASSIC EROTIC CINEMA, 1968-1985 Page 12