GOLDEN GODDESSES: 25 LEGENDARY WOMEN OF CLASSIC EROTIC CINEMA, 1968-1985

by Nelson, Jill C.

  I was in Waco, Texas and my hair was in a ponytail. I was wearing overalls and had no make-up on. I had my son, my Manny, my bodyguard, and my assistant with me and the front desk manager called me over and said, “You have a phone call from your agent.” If my agent’s calling me in a hotel lobby, it’s got to be important so I was thinking it was another big film. I’d done NYPD Blue, so I thought it might be something else like that. I went over, took the phone and he said, “Jonas Ackerman is the director for Metallica. He did Madonna’s Ray of Light and he has done all of these award-winning videos. If he asks, will you please meet him? They are filming in two weeks and he just wants you to meet with him. Just go in and if you turn it down, just forget it.” He said, “I know you’ll be flying soon, but when you get off the plane he’ll be at the Chateau Marmont Hotel [in Los Angeles]. Meet him there and he wants to discuss it with you.”

  I wasn’t being a prima donna; I wasn’t being bitchy. I just really, really wasn’t interested. I said, “You know what? I’m in overalls. I’ve got an entourage with me. I’m not taking my hair out of the ponytail. I’m not putting make-up on. He can see me as is. I’m going to meet with him and he’s got twenty minutes. I’m going to have my family down in the lobby and I’m going to get them something to eat. So that’s what he gets.” I walked in and Jonas told me the story that they were doing a remake of the cover of the Bob Seger song, “Turn the Page”. I loved Bob Seger. When I ran away years before and was supposed to be at my grandparents’ for my high school graduation down in Florida and I was hitchhiking across the state, I listened a lot to Bob Seger. I thought that Metallica was going to bastardize the song. They were going to ruin it. Jonas told me that all these years he has wanted to be a mainstream video director, but that there was always somebody who said that he couldn’t. He said, “I’ve been directing circuses, Cirque de Soleil, in Sweden all of these years.” He said, “I’m good at it and I’ve made a lot of money, but it’s not who I am. It’s not what I want to do, but it’s what I did to get where I am today.” He told me, “We all make choices and we do what we have to do in order to do what we want to do. At some point, we turn the page, we make it different.”

  He was telling me this story about a woman who is a stripper and a hooker who has a little girl. Child Services had taken her daughter away. She’s got her back and she’s living out of a car and stripping from town to town. In the video, and in between of all the clips where the band is singing the song, there’s a talking portion of me with my hair back just like I wore it in the eighties. I’m dressed in a jump suit and one of the statements I made was — and these are not my words, these are Jonas’ words — ”If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would make the exact same choices.” As an actor, the words that Jonas wrote were so real to me and I felt them to my core. It’s a very, very emotional video and at the end, this woman picks up a john and takes him back to her room. Her daughter is on a mattress on the floor. The guy beats the shit out of this woman and her daughter wakes up. You see this little six-year old girl holding a stray black cat while the john throws a lot of money at the mother before walking out the door. That’s when it’s time to “turn the page”.

  With all of the talking head pieces in-between, I had more feminists and more people and fans sending me money. They were thinking that I was living in a car after watching the video. It was so real to me and it was what could have happened. The video was banned from MTV because of my performance. Jonas wrote the script — I did not. They did show violence in the video but there was good reason.

  To bring it full circle, two years ago Jonas, who has directed Madonna and is so amazing — he was given his American Music Video Award — he called me and asked me to present him with his award because he was the most proud of Turn the Page. It was because we understood each other. Turn the Page video I did that was directed by Jonas Ackerman is the most intense piece of work I’ve done and the one in which I am the most proud. It’s the first thing my dad ever saw me in, my dad had watched me in “B” movies, but when he watched me in the Metallica video, he called me and said, “You know, Ginger, I have to tell you, you are a really good actress and I’m very proud of you.” My dad knows me very well and he was just so proud of me. Between not wanting to do it and then doing it and it becoming so personal and my dad being proud of me, it’s just a piece of work that means the most to me.

  Also worth mentioning is the 1999 adult film Torn (directed by Jane Hamilton) Ginger co-wrote about a woman torn between lovers. The film is touted as her triumphant comeback. Lynn had done selective work as a sex performer in the years leading up to this project, but seemed to be back with a vengeance as she took on three men in her first scene, and appeared in almost every subsequent one. What is also interesting about the film is the conspicuous use of condoms.

  Ginger continued to be choosy about her appearances in sex movies, and kept her eye out for alternative movie and television endeavors.

  I also did a series called Skin for Jerry Bruckheimer in 2004. We filmed thirteen episodes and eight of them aired. We were up against Two and a Half Men and Vegas when we premiered. Everything Bruckheimer touches is gold. Part of the reason that project was pulled is because we were on the set filming the last episode when a “cease and desist” order came through from my son’s biological father.

  Due to a gag order, Ginger could not confirm or deny rumors her son’s alleged father is porn mogul, Steve Hirsch.

  There were two main men in the story and one of them was based upon my son’s father. One of the characters lived in Los Angeles and was a corrupt politician — the other is a pornographer with a heart of gold. Again, I didn’t write the show. I just played my character. My son’s father happened to be at a Bruce Springsteen concert sitting next to one of the producers who told him the story line, and within a few days, he ordered a “cease and desist”. My son looks exactly like his father, only with a little more gentleness that came from me.

  Ms. Mom

  What has been the best ingredient for balance in my life has been my son. He’s an amazing thirteen-year-old boy so I don’t have the luxury of making choices today that may end my life. I’m responsible for a beautiful human being who has his whole life ahead of him. It’s my job today to guide him and be the woman who can instill good things into my son and be there for him no matter what.

  We have a very open communication. We’re very close. He is familiar with porn, of course. He knows that I’m an actress and he knows that I have two different names that I use for work. He said, “Why are you Ginger Lynn Allen in American Pie [Presents Band Camp, 2005]?” “Why in The Devil’s Rejects (2005) are you Ginger Lynn Allen? You’re Ginger Lynn on Facebook.” He’s picked up on that. I know that he’s done searches on friends of mine — you really can’t go on the internet and not see the name “Ginger Lynn” connected to porn at some point. I’ve opened the discussion up many times and asked, “Is there anything you want to know about me? Are there any questions that you have?” I would bet my life that he knows, but he isn’t ready to discuss it. He’s very well adjusted so it’s not a factor. There aren’t any signs of it becoming difficult, but I have spoken to a therapist as well as my parents about, “When do we have this conversation?” I want him to hear it from my mouth. He loves the fact that Mom is famous. He likes it when we go places and people want my autograph.

  He’s definitely my son. He’s all honors in all of his classes. He’s been MVP of the football team for three years. He’s on the snowboarding team. He’s been at that school for eight years and I know everybody on a first name basis. They call Sterling the “Sterling Allen Show” because my son is the class clown. He is the jock. He’s the brain. He just got an award from the thespian society for over one hundred hours on stage. He’s an amazing, healthy, well-rounded, wonderful child. I have a little card that I keep that he made for me a couple of years ago that sits in front of my sink in the bathroom. It says, “Mom, I love you.” There’s a
row with a little red card that says, “Our adventures never end” and “never” is in capital letters. We get each other. We laugh. We talk. We banter. He’s very deep and very insightful. I’m a Sagittarius and he’s an Aries, a fire sign. We butt heads, but we have a bond. We just have a fabulous relationship and I’m truly, truly blessed with my son. I’m pretty much a happy, lucky girl.

  This is the house where everyone has been coming since my son started going to school when he was five. Halloween was his favorite holiday and it still is. Every year we would have a party. It would start at noon on Saturday and go until noon on Sunday. I’d have games planned and an overnight. We’ve done that forever, but I remember that first year and those first five parents. I thought they were all going to move in. They brought their kids, they were all there, but you know they were camping out. Within an hour, they found out the schedule and the list, and the games and the friends that I had employed to come and help with the party, and suddenly, they were all gone.

  One of the parents who came to that first party are Southern Baptists and extremely religious. Yesterday, my son went snowboarding with one of them and I was asking him about their phone and its options. He is in a porn star’s driveway telling me about their sermon and they know exactly who I am, and what I do, and they call up and ask if they can drop their son off.

  On New Year’s Eve, somebody knew I was going to be home because their child was coming over and word spread — all of a sudden, I had seven teenagers. Someone phoned and said, “Can we bring our son over so that we can have wild, crazy sex?” Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood knows who I am. The people who live on one side of me own the pre-school that my son attended. My neighbors on the other side, our children have grown up together and we go everywhere together. He’s been in a private school his entire life and I’m very involved in his activities so I know every teacher, every staff member and every janitor. They’re wonderful. I’ve had teachers ask me for autographs and movies for their friends and boyfriends. Living in Southern California is definitely a factor, and I think because my son goes to a private school they just get to know you better. It’s much more intimate. Most children who are actors or whose parents are actors are in private school for various reasons. There are several reasons why I chose private school for my son. One of those reasons is that I consider education a top priority, but there’s also life experience. Next month we’re going to Maui. I travel extensively with my son. I can take him out of school and they understand life experience. They encourage it.

  I don’t think I could live any other way. Then again, if I were to go back to my hometown it would be okay because I’m a celebrity. It just depends. I’m sure there are places where it would be very difficult to live the life that I’ve led. If I wasn’t so recognizable I could hide and get away with it, but I don’t want to hide.

  Both Sides of the Fence

  The most difficult part about the choice that I’ve made in my career is relationships with men. I meet men who want a relationship with me but they’re swingers. When I’m in a relationship, I want to be monogamous. I want it to be one-on-one. For the most part, the ones who are accepting of my career live a lifestyle that I don’t. My career and my life are two completely different things. I’m not a swinger and I’m not the sexually free woman that you would think that I am. I don’t live up to my reputation off camera — as far as my lifestyle. I’ve been engaged nine times but I just can’t go through with it. My work has made relationships very difficult. I’ve had some long-term relationships. I’ve had some fabulous ones, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get married. Eventually, and inevitably, they get hang-ups.

  My first longest relationship that I had was five, almost six years. It was with a man who was a photographer in the adult film industry. He had never seen one of my movies. Our relationship was fabulous — he didn’t want to swing — we had great times. We were in sync in every possible way. The cause of our breakup came during the time I was hired to work on Young Guns 11. The night before I left, he had a few too many to drink and he was watching his girlfriend go from porn into mainstream. He was not able to go from porn into mainstream. He became angry and said, “You’ve got one foot on this side of the fence and one foot on the other side. You’re never going to make it, who do you think you are?”

  I said to him, “If you ever speak to me this way again, it’s over.” I went off to make the film and before I came back, I got a phone call from him. He had chosen for the first time ever to watch one of my movies. He went through my things in the garage and found some of my movies, and watched them. He called me up and said, “You’re a fucking cocksucker. You whore.” Here, we were almost six years together. I went from the woman that he had asked to marry that was wearing his ring to a “cocksucker” and a “whore”. I had filmed in adult at that point almost five years. We’d already bought a house together and we were talking marriage. His career wasn’t making it, but mine was in the mainstream so even that long into the relationship there was a backlash. It still came back to the “Ginger Lynn” factor.

  There is someone out there for me. I’m not looking so that’s probably why I’m not finding that right one. My number one priority is being a parent. Even now, I’m dating a wonderful man and we’ve been dating for eight months, but every once in a while he’ll go “Oh, my god, I’m dating Ginger Lynn!” I always want to be able to take care of myself, but I love it when someone will take care of me. I love the opportunity to be strong and to be independent and make my own decisions, but I would never want to be in a position where I don’t feel like a lady or a woman or a girl that needed or wanted a man to be a man for me. I don’t want someone to control me. I don’t want him to own me. I want him to stand beside me. When it comes down to the end of the day, I want to cook his dinner. There’s a part of me with old- fashioned values. I want the man to be the man. I’ve been wearing the pants for so long it scares me. If I had to say if I had more masculine or feminine qualities, that’d be a tough call.

  “MILF” is not a Four Letter Word

  Ginger joined Christy Canyon as a co-host on Night Calls for Playboy Radio at Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006. Since leaving the position, Lynn continued her involvement with various film projects and maintained a healthy balance between mainstream options and her adult work. In March 2010, fans were surprised to see Ginger turn up on an episode of Dog Whisperer with host Cesar Millan along with her Rottweiler and teenage son. In 2011, Ginger returned as co-host with her long time friend and former co-star, Christy Canyon in the newly revamped Playboy Radio’s Sirius Satellite Radio show Spice Radio which recently integrated the long time running Legends of Porn.

  With sexual credentials like Lynn’s, offers for employment in erotic movies today generally showcase her in roles where she is able to utilize her years of experience in pairings with younger men. Occasionally, Ginger teams up with old comrades such as veteran Tom Byron. Lynn and Byron’s genuine attraction for one another is ultimately conveyed in Seasoned Players 4 (2008) where they generate palpable heat. The segment opens with a slightly rounder Ginger warming up the audience as she happily regales Tom with her memory of the first time the pair made one another’s acquaintance in 1984. From there, the two continue to laugh and banter back and forth — at one point Lynn claimed that because of great guys like Tom, she remained in the business. She also shared that her scene with Byron in New Wave Hookers was her personal favorite in her history in front of the camera. Byron contended Ginger was one of the few women he’d worked with who wasn’t shy about participating in anal sex, and admitted he prefers working with old friends rather than with new talent. After things progress to the bedroom scene, Byron buries his face into Ginger’s derriere and Ginger obliges by taking Tom’s rather stiff organ into her mouth. Keeping the mood playful, Byron shifts Ginger into position so that his penis can easily glide into her rectum and they shuck back and forth until Tom climaxes onto the surface of Ginger’s rear end with a close-up
camera angle confirming he expelled a substantial shot.

  I do a couple of films a month. I don’t do the big movies where I have to be on set twelve to fifteen hours a day. I save my acting for the mainstream and my performances for the adult. I turn down more mainstream films than I do adult. It depends on the type of role that is offered. If you want me to be the naked girl in a mainstream movie and there’s no meat to it, I’d rather fuck on film. There’s a major film in the works with one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. He bought the rights to a short film that I did a year or so ago. They’re planning on making it into a series right now. I don’t want to give away the title or who it is, only that it’s a television series and a real life cartoon. The director and creator of this series is one of the head animators on The Simpsons.

  At present, I’m doing a lot of Cougar work. It’s fun. At this point, they need to be taught — it’s so frightening that these guys think this is how you have sex. I say, “Okay, stop watching porn today. Everyone needs to watch porn from the seventies and eighties. Get over the pubic hair and watch the real stuff.”

  James Deen is one of my favorites. As far as new guys go, in all honesty, James is the only name that stands out. I couldn’t tell you most of their names. I talk with them and get to know them a little when I get there, but they are not memorable. They don’t know how to fuck. Back in our day, men were men. There was no Viagra. There wasn’t anything like that. Today, you’ve got these twenty-year old guys who are on Viagra who walk in with a hard-on and it’s not because they’re twenty-one. It’s pathetic. They’re not porn stars. They are young guys taking Viagra who fuck like my dogs. It’s not just the directors or the actors who are unenthusiastic and don’t know what they’re doing, the guys try to fuck the way they think a porn star fucks.