by Hyapatia Lee
The only other time I felt similar to that was when I visited the Magic Castle in Los Angeles with Porsche and our chiropractor/friend, Dr. Lee. After eating and having a drink, we began to visit the different show rooms. It wasn’t long before I felt dizzy and weak. I couldn’t stand up. They took me to the hall and gave me oxygen, but it wasn’t until I got outside the building that I felt better. I have heard rumors that upstairs in the Magic Castle is a library with thousands of books on magic, and some on devil worship. I don’t know if it all has any connection or not, I just know how sick I felt and that these are the only two times I have felt like that.
One of my favorite parts of New York City is its “Best Kept Secret”, the Robin Byrd Show. On Manhattan Cable, she has invited actors, actresses and exotic dancers on to talk about their opinions, views and projects, as well as to take live calls from the viewers. She is a sweetheart and it was always nice to have a stable, sober friend in New York.
While in the city, Bud and I were invited to visit Bob Guccione, the publisher of Penthouse, at his home. A butler opened the door when we arrived and the place was spotless, with fresh flowers in every room and printed paper towels in the bathroom with today’s date. Large Rhodesian Ridgebacks made themselves at home.
Upstairs, Bob’s mother and oldest son were visiting. They were charming and gracious. His wife was a bit pre-occupied. The dogs were his pride and joy. One of them had broken his large canine tooth as a puppy and Bob had it replaced with a gold tooth. The dog was accustomed to showing it off, but not happy about it.
We only stayed a few hours and were treated to tea and snacks. Bob was a smart businessman and a very generous host. It was obvious his family was important to him and that he was no drug addict or alcoholic.
At the other end of the spectrum was the clubs I was dancing in. Viner’s Pub in Onaloska, Wisconsin was our first booking with a new agent. We were so disappointed in Lee, we figured it couldn’t get any worse. Wrong. Rosa B. wanted us to rent a light system for my show. She said this place was sooo classy, they expected a real show with lights, great costumes and props. I had fabulous shows where I set myself on fire, danced like a robot after being carried on stage, was a belly dancer, cracked a whip, etc. She said that wasn’t enough. So we did as sherequested and really expected a great gig. We were to be paid whatever money was made at the door for the cover charge. It was the first and last time we went anywhere for anything other than a guaranteed salary.
When we arrived, the place had the strong stench of urine. As we were escorted to the communal dressing room, it was obvious this was where the smell originated. The man who was showing us around said some of the girls couldn’t wait to go to the restroom, so they just relieved themselves in the corner!
At show time, I was to start my own music from the controls right there on stage! There was no DJ or place for Bud to start the music without getting front and center on stage. All the other dancers were starting their own music, so I just did the same.
There was no crowd, in fact there were hardly any people at all. The contract stated it was up to the club to advertise. Seems they neglected to fulfill their part of the bargain. When Rosa finally came in to see us, she swore up and down that it would be amazingly better by the weekend. We were stupid enough to have waited 2 days for her to come; we were dumb enough to stay around a few more!
Friday night was no better. We were fed up and ready to leave. As we were leaving, I said my good-byes to every customer in the room, both of them.
After Bud and I packed we told off the sick father and 2 sons who owned the place. They had insisted on all dancers turning tricks out of the back room and a lot of the grief they were giving us was due to my refusal to do that. We went to our hotel room to pack. We were so fed up with it all that we had planned on leaving to go back home immediately.
Experiences like that on the road were what made me really appreciate Mike. Mike worked for Caribbean Films. It was his job to make sure our travel arrangements were in order, notify us of any dates we were needed for filming or an appearance, and be the liaison between us and the company. The company owned many of the places I danced and we were performing two jobs while there. Not only was I doing a personal appearance, but we were also watching the managers and hired help to see how they treated the customers and other dancers. We were also watching to see if they pocketed any of the money or stole any goods from the bookstore. We were “checkers”. Often, Mike would come to the club we were working at the end of the week to follow through on any information we had given him.
One of the cities we danced in had a pretty blonde young woman named Delacy working in the peep booths. She wanted to be an actress in adult movies and model for men’s magazines. She naturally gravitated towards us. Bud was happy to give her all the attention and help he could. I suggested she come on the road with us and dance at the clubs I would be dancing at. In a month, I would be going to New York again and I could put her in contact with photographers and producers and she could be on her way to fulfilling her dream. She moved in with us and lived with us for over half a year.
Bud was getting very close to Delacy, too close. I knew what he was up to. I was rather fed up with Bud treating me like a workhorse. He wanted me working as often as possible, regardless of my mental or physical health. He did not want to be with Delacy and let me go. He told me that outright. I never cheated on Bud behind his back, but I sure did dream about it. There was never a chance, even if I had wanted to follow through. He was always there, constantly by my side. I never went to a store, restaurant or movie by myself that Bud wasn’t right there, like a Siamese twin. I never went out alone with friends or relatives. Every phone call I made was listened to and questioned. I was even escorted to every bathroom and dressing room I went to in public or at work. There was not five minutes without him, unless he went to get ice while we were in a hotel. Delacy soon realized Bud would not leave me for her, and she went back to her hometown. At home, he had no qualms about romancing her in front of me or in her bedroom as I watched TV.
I was back acting all day in front of a 35mm Panavision camera. I had written many scripts. I sang the title song. I was learning editing and given a large say in it. Everyone treated me like a star. I rode in limousines. I was constantly interviewed and I only had to be involved in sex for 15 minutes or so every day or two when I was shooting. We only shot two movies ayear for a total of 10 days when I was with Caribbean. I was with them for three years.
Once on a set, two actors were taking a break in one of the dressing rooms. The soundman was going nuts. He went and got the producer and director and gave them earphones. It seems the two actors were going to do some cocaine and their wireless microphones had been left on. The producer and director could hear them as they discussed what they were doing. They were caught red-handed.
Many people think there are drugs all over the sets of adult movies. Many times, there are, but it is not blatant and the people who are caught are fired, or at least reprimanded, depending on their star stature. I remember Amber Lynn being 6 hours late to the set and my husband, the director, letting her work anyway, even though we had already re-written the movie to delete her character and shot the footage to fix it. The rest of the cast and I were livid!
One night, out on the town in LA, I went to the ladies room. Standing there in the small bathroom was an old woman, probably in her 60’s, snorting directly out of what appeared to be an ounce bag of cocaine. She tried to hide it, realized I saw, and then offered me some. I couldn’t believe someone her age would be on drugs. That’s life in the fast lane, I guess.
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Now that I had more name recognition, I was worth more money in the clubs dancing. It was amazing to notice the difference in how I was treated. Club managers and owners now gave me much more respect. My dressing rooms were bigger and they often contained flowers given to me in the club’s name. My hotels went from the small ma and pa operations we paid for, to
Holiday Inns, to Sheratons and Marriots at the clubs’ expense. People kept asking if I had a fan club and what the address was, so I started one and was surprised how many men would actually write letters and how few realized that an 8X10 color photo is not free. If I actually sent all the free photos requested of me, I would have spent well over $1,000 a month!
While we were on the road, I began to write a movie. It was inspired by “Turning Pointe” starring Shirley McClain and my love for ballet and classical music. We took it to Harry to see if he was interested in shooting it. He read it and said “Body Girls.”
“Is that what you want to call it?” I asked.
“No, that’s another movie I want to do when we shoot this one. I always shoot two movies back to back.”
“What’s ‘Body Girls’ about?”
“I don’t know, you haven’t written it yet. I like the way you write. Write a movie called ‘Body Girls’ and we’ll shoot them both. How much money do you want?”
“I’m not sure, I haven’t thought about it. I guess, a thousand more than last time, for the extra script.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, kid. You’re worth more than that. I’ll give you a three thousand-dollar raise.”
Yeah, I ate shit in this business! Yeah, women sure are abused and taken advantage of. I couldn’t believe he would be so generous. I wrote the other script and we called the first one “Let’s Get Physical”. Paul Thomas played my husband in the movie and he wrote a song he sang and played on the piano while I danced ballet on pointe. I even sang the title song for “Body Girls”. I was in heaven! I was fulfilling all my fantasies, not just sexual ones, and getting paid for it. People were asking for my autograph and joining my fan club. It was hard for me to see how this business could be anything other than good.
Hyapatia was out all of the time. I simply became the character I was portraying and when that character really wanted to have sex with someone, so did I. I was a blank slate to put a persona on and when I wasn’t acting, Hyapatia Lee was happy being whatever they expected of her. The praises I received were quite rewarding. I felt like people liked me, like they cared if I was happy or not. I was interviewed, either in person or long distance over the phone, almost daily. What was my favorite color, most romantic vacation spot, what did I think about this, that or the other? I felt important and loved.
Harry liked our enthusiasm for the business and said that ultimately, he’d like Bud to direct and produce the films for him so that he could stay home assured that his projects were going the way he wanted them to. Bud assistant-directed the films and had a substantial part in “Body Girls”. He learned lighting, screen direction and camera angles and shots. I learned right along side him. I was also in charge of rehearsing the talent and making sure they knew their lines. I had to make them at least semi-believable. After the shoot, I was told I could keep my entire wardrobe, just like last time.
We were paid in cash, just like the time before. After the last scene was shot, everyone lined up to get paid. Talent went first, they had to sign the model releases, then went the crew. When JD, the cinematographer, went to get paid, there was a problem. It seems Harry had made a deal for everyone in the crew to work for a flat rate, regardless of how many hours it took in overtime to shoot the films. JD said they had gone far overtime and he wanted more money for his crew. He decided to confiscate all the footage shot that day and hold it for ransom. Bud and I did not think this was a good idea at all. We were afraid for JD’s safety. We didn’t think Harry was with the Mafia, but withholding part of a $150,000 film is enough to make a lot of people see red. Harry owned several stores in just about every major city and it was nothing for him to stop in one and pick uplarge amounts of cash. Eventually, he gave the crew the extra money but he swore never to work with JD again.
It didn’t take long for these movies to come out. Again, we were involved in the editing process every step of the way, and it was so nice to be able to have some control over how my scripts were eventually put onto celluloid. Harry even helped my career a bit further by calling the movies “Hyapatia Lee’s Body Girls” and “Hyapatia Lee’s Let’s Get Physical”.
Harry was changing and enjoying the process too. When we first met him, he did not consider making X-rated movies an art.
“Don’t kid yourself, were making fuck films here. All we are is a bunch of smut peddlers.” He’d say. Doing these two movies had helped him to have pride in his work. They were socially responsible movies, with a real plot and character development, not your average “pizza delivery boy gets laid instead of paid” scenes.
“Body Girls” was sold to Essex for distribution and “Let’s Get Physical” went to Caballero. Caribbean kept the theatrical rights. “Body Girls” sold well but Harry was never paid a cent of the large sum of money he was owed in royalties. There was a big courtroom battle over it.
Bud and I kept up our personal appearances all over the country, but we were moving up. Now we flew everywhere and rented cars. There were lots of clubs and theaters to dance in and they were much nicer than the ones I had worked in years before.
These gentlemen’s clubs had lavish sound and light systems, bouncers who wore tuxedos, a house mom in the dressing room to mend costumes and inspire morale. There were rules about everything. Some clubs wouldn’t allow certain colors, like yellow. Others had minimum heel heights and nail polish color demands. Most clubs now had a make-up artist and hair stylist in the dressing room and the DJ didn’t just announce the next dancer, he ran the show. Some clubs even had sets for different shows the dancers might do. There were chain-link fences, car fenders, cactus and saddles and all other sorts of theatrical props. I loved every minute of it. There were times I’d finish a show and Bud would ask me if the fight that broke out in the back had bothered me. I would have to say no, because I hadn’t even seen it! I was too busy dancing to the music and having fun. I was in my own little heaven and nothing could interrupt.
It wasn’t long before Harry called to talk about our next projects. I had written a script called “Tasty” about a disc jockey named Tasty Tastems. Harry liked the idea and agreed to do it if I would write the movie he had always wanted to do, “The Ribald Tales of Canterbury”.
I started to research the book. If you have ever read “Canterbury Tales”, you know that it does not treat women with respect and they are not in positions of power. Wives and daughters are considered property and there is even a rape scene in it. I refused to reflect this in my version, so I had to do a major rewrite. Sorry Chaucer.
A budget of over $300,000 was unprecedented in an industry where $50,000 was now considered expensive. It was the biggest budgeted X-rated movie ever done, next to “Caligula”. We shot for nine days in the United States and two on location in Scotland. Because of the legal ramifications, only non-sex scenes could be shot abroad. It was the most professional shoot I had ever been on. Everyone involved was proud to be working on the project. On most sets the most commonly heard phrase is “ Oh who cares, no one will notice, it’s just a porno movie”, but on this set, everyone went out of their way to do their best. It was unheard of to see actors voluntarily rehearsing their lines off set like they did on this shoot. Everyone added an extra piece of believability to his or her ad libbing. There were no egos, no tempers; none of the usual upstaging and nit-picking that so often accompanies any type of entertainment. Everyone involved was willing to sacrifice for a good movie.
We had an actual miller’s wheel, a real stuffed pig for the scene at the inn and the costumes were rented from Universal Studio’s production of “Camelot”. It was a real movie, which just happened to have sex in it here and there. It was also released in a very popular R-rated version with the explicit scenes cut out.
Colleen Brennan and I had a scene together. She was a very talented actress who had done many roles in regular movies and television. She was a few years older and wiser and I respectedher. Later, the movie was voted the best X-rated movie ever m
ade.
Bud also directed “Hyapatia Lee’s Tasty” and while it was something to be proud of, nothing could compare to “The Ribald Tales of Canterbury”. In this movie I played a radio station disc jockey that also had a band she sang with. I got to do an X-rated music video for it and it was very fulfilling to be doing something with music again.
When “Tasty” came out, we were back out on the road again, dancing in those ever-popular men’s clubs. Harry was being kept busy in court on an old charge of distribution of pornography for owning a company that shipped a hard core tape to Miami. In Florida at the time, they only allowed soft-core movies. As a result, he decided never to make any more movies so I was cut loose from my exclusive contract with Caribbean.
The Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show was coming up. Every year all the adult movie companies had booths where the stars signed their photos and one-sheets for the movies they were promoting. I was signing in Essex’s booth, just like I had done before, since “Body Girls” was distributed through them. Essex was going to be throwing a big promotional party and Jerry wanted me to do my infamous fire show at it. It was to be at “Jubilation’s”, a club owned by Paul Anka and operated by his father, a very nice man who helped me in every way to make the show a success.
In the fire show, I set the contents of a Pyrex bowl on fire and pick up the fire with my hands. I then rub it on my bare arms, legs, chest and stomach. It burns for a few seconds and goes out on its own. I then take two torches, light them and rub them over my arms and legs, letting the fire burn on me for a few seconds before it goes out. The show is a Native American and modern physics revelation and usually creates a lot of attention. Jerry was no exception. It wasn’t long before we got a phone call from Jerry asking us to work for him under an exclusive contract. We were to do 6 films in one year and get a total of $100,000! The offer seemed too good to be true and it took us about a month to decide to say yes. It might’ve been one of the worst moves we could have made.