by Hyapatia Lee
“Rapes were being committed long before the telephone, cameras or motion pictures were invented. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and not blame their behavior on things like telephones, movies and photographs.”
I thought it went rather well, and the segment generated publicity for me, which increased my demand on the road some.
One Sunday night Bud and I were listening to the Dr. Demento show on the radio. I have always enjoyed his syndicated weekly show of parody and comedy songs. This is where Weird Al Yankovic got his start.
We thought to ourselves, “Why don’t we take the Doc a copy of my album?”
One side was nothing but such songs. Perhaps he would even play a track. We looked up his executive producer at the Westwood One Radio Network and brought a copy to him at the station. Bob was a really nice guy with an adorable pre-school daughter whose picture he kept on his desk. We didn’t come out and tell him about the adult film flavor of most of my work, but then again, we didn’t lie either.
We were overjoyed that the Demented Wonder had decided to play a couple of cuts from the album and announced my song as “a little PG-rated fun from back room video queen Hyapatia Lee.” One week, “Rub-A-Dub-Dub” made it to number three in his list of the Funny Five top songs!
Almost every year I would return to the Ponderosa Sun Club in Roselawn, Indiana for their Miss Nude Galaxy contest on the third Sunday in July and their second contest of the year, the third Sunday in August. I would emcee the Mr. Nude Galaxy and Mr. Male Exotic of the Year and other contests with male contestants for the ladies’ enjoyment. I would also hand down the crown and shoot photos with the audience. It was at one of these contests that I met Tim Allen.
Tim Allen had not really been discovered yet. He was with a Detroit production company that was doing a video of the event from behind the scenes. Tim was the host and interviewed several contestants, and myself, for his video. The general consensus was that he was kind of a jerk. He would ask us to do some strange things, for example, he had me sit next to him for the interview and insisted I keep my legs spread. I was wearing a wrap-around silk kimono and he wanted it pulled up so that with my legs spread so there was more to see. He wanted me to be animated and very energetic. Another girl was asked to lie down on the diving board as if sunbathing. During the interviewon camera, he asked her why she was laying there, she said “Because you told me to!”
I started writing an advice column for Cheri magazine every month. I answered some of the thousands of letters sent to me through the magazine and my fan club. It was amazing to me how many myths there are circulating regarding sex. So many people are terrified that if they have the slightest interest in something they have not seen sanctioned in a medical book, they are perverted and in jeopardy of losing their health! The amount of guilt surrounding basic necessary sexual functions is overwhelming, and this is all coming from the portion of society comfortable enough to write about it and read such a magazine as Cheri. It makes me wonder just how much guilt, shame and blame is going around out there in the rest of the population.
Guilt is a useless emotion, remorse causes one to change behavior and grow. Guilt eats a person up inside a constantly abuses them for an act that is not continuously being committed. Blame is a useless emotion. To find who is at the cause of something is to take it out of context and not assume responsibility for any part of it. Even in cases of absolute just innocence, spending too much time on blame and not getting on with one’s life is burying oneself in the past. Shame is created by guilt and blame and is one of the most destructive emotions of all, often causing one to forever snuff out their own inner light of self worth and robbing themselves and the entire world of the wondrous gifts they alone possess.
Vivid Video was one of the top companies in the business. They were the only one signing girls to exclusive contracts. Caribbean had started the practice, Essex continued it, and then Vivid took it up. Soon there would be more companies to so. PT (Paul Thomas), their resident director, called and asked me to come in for an appointment with Stan, the owner.
Stan was a nice man and Vivid had a good reputation, but I couldn’t get used to the difference in budgets. A large budget was $45,000 now. The star doesn’t make very much if there is to be money left over for the rest of the cast, the crew, video tape, location, lights, camera, editor and box cover photo. Instead of shooting for 9 days, we were now lucky to get three.
My first movie for Vivid was “Sleeping Beauty Aroused” and I was very surprised how thrown together it was. The business had gone through quite a change in the last year.
The rest of the world had gone through some changes too. Since the first Phil Donahue aired, back when I first got pregnant with Kevin, more and more talk shows were finding that topics related to the business got their ratings up. I went on Jenny Jones, Montel Williams and Entertainment Tonight several times. I was on Current Affair probably a dozen times, plus many others. These appearances all helped to boost my demand on the road. As more actresses found their salaries going down in front of the camera, the dancing circuit got very popular. Suddenly there were more actresses looking for work than there were clubs and it became impossible for anyone to be on the road full time.
The adult entertainment business was organizing a bit more, and seeing that there was such a demand for representatives on the talk show circuit, they chose a few to take a 3 day course in giving interviews in LA. It was a smart move and taught us all how to stop rambling and come to the point. We learned how you must pound your point into the ground repeatedly in order to be heard and understood in controversial situations. It paid off for us all.
We were on the road in Poughkeepsie, New York, working in a dive where the customers would not stop throwing beer bottles on stage. Bud and I got a call to fly down before our first show one morning and do the Geraldo show. Knowing any publicity is usually good publicity, and feeling confident after my course, we accepted.
Having come from a club such as the one I just described, I was already on the defensive. When we got to the green room I saw two preachers there with their Bibles in hand. This put my back up even more. By the time we got to the set, I was seething. Geraldo has a reputation, and I was expecting the worst.
In our corner sat Bud and myself, Ron Jeremy and his sister, and via satellite, Nina Hartley and her husband Dave. Before it was over, Dave walked off the set and left Nina holding the bag,eventually he was convinced to come back on to finish the show. As expected, the preachers said we were going to hell and causing the deterioration of society. My standard response is that rape and incest existed long before the invention of the camera or any form of pornography. I believe the denial of the expression of sex in an appropriate fashion causes such crimes.
This prompted the preachers to throw “The Book” at us. We were damned, it said so right there. The Bible was used to take this country away from the Native Americans. Manifest Destiny is what it was called. It is believed that the Bible says Christians should do whatever must be done to spread the word of Jesus Christ until all people on Earth are Christians, otherwise, Jesus will not come back. Since there is no record either in the Bible or from Native Americans of Jesus ever coming to this continent, many Christians believed the Indians not to be human and not to possess a soul. The Bible has been used to present many strange, perverted ideas. The show turned into a shouting match.
Having studied with Swiftdeer and following the traditions of my Grandmother and other relatives, I do not believe sexual freedom practiced with consenting adults is against Sacred Law. In fact many teachings, like the Quadoushka, go right along with it! It is ironic that people looking for freedom from religious persecution invaded this country and yet one of the first things they did was to rob the indigenous peoples of their religious freedom. This is still being done today in many different ways.
I continued to shoot photographs with various men’s magazines and independent photographers. I was aware that I wa
s, at the time, the only Native American working in the business. I was finding myself being put in more and more situations that exploited this and reinforced stereotypes or showed no cultural awareness or sensitivity. When I did “The Wild, Wild West” and “Saddle tramp” there was a respect and acceptance of my culture. There were no real racial slurs or historical inaccuracies. One time I was doing a layout for a magazine and was asked to pose with a poor representation of a Sacred Pipe (peace pipe) between my legs as if masturbating with it, the equivalent of masturbating with a crucifix. In one movie I was at a party where I was to ask for another drink only to be told I shouldn’t because everyone knows Indians can’t hold their liquor. I was supposed to agree to that!
All of this prompted me to get a new hairstyle. I cut and permed my hair. It was not a very popular decision, but I did not look as Indian and so could no longer be part of a scheme to perpetuate myths and stereotypes. The Forgotten American, the Native Americans are still not recognized and respected. It is amazing to me the amount of stereotypes and racist slang that exists and is voiced against us.
One time in Nebraska, I sat down with a man who bought me a drink between shows. He asked me the origin of my peculiar name. When I told him it was Native American, he said, “Oh well, you’re still pretty” and immediately got up and left, leaving his full drink and me to sit insulted.
Other minorities would never tolerate the Tomahawk Chop and phrases like “Indian Giver”. We are the poorest of the poor in this country, hidden behind the invisible walls of a reservation or unseen in urban areas. Some people think we are all given money by the government, receive a free college education and don’t have to pay taxes. For most, that is not the case. Our own casinos are usually owned or leased by outsiders who take the lion’s share of the profits. Our mannerisms and clothing choices are often seen as being more “hippie” than Native American. We are not even given the honor of being recognized for who we are.
A lot of people don’t realize it, but most magazines give the nude models in their layouts any old name they choose. When the model is well known and the fans recognize her and the name is clearly different, it prompts many fans to think the model is trying to hide something. It is not the model, but the magazine that is trying to pass their girl off as a newcomer, someone they can see nowhere else.
At one of the conventions in Los Angeles, Traci Lords came up to me and asked me if I would come to her room later on that night. She and her boyfriend wanted to talk to me and Bud. She and I had been in that same issue of Penthouse together, the one with George Burns and Vanessa Williams on the front. Last I heard issues in mint condition were recently selling at over $100each. I had never worked in a movie with Traci. She and I were both stars and the bigger names rarely worked together as the small budgets couldn’t afford two salaries larger than five hundred dollars. Some actresses were doing roles with one sex scene for $300 a day. In many cases, that’s a 24-hour day.
Traci’s boyfriend was having trouble accepting her career choice. He did not feel loved and wanted her to quit. She wanted to know how we dealt with it all. Bud and I were very candid in our description of how it had affected our life, both good and bad. Traci was equally open when she said she felt dirty after a shoot. She said she found herself taking showers that lasted for hours, trying to continually wash off the dirt she felt was there, the memory of the touch of some strange man. I knew how she felt. I felt the same way about my stepfather and that guy who raped me. I told her she should get out of the business immediately and seek therapy. She said she was scheduled to do one more movie. I encouraged her not to. That was the last time I spoke with her.
You probably know the rest of the story. Traci was found to have been underage when the photos for Penthouse were taken and when she filmed almost all of her movies. She was a runaway and needed identification that said she was old enough to act in an adult film. She sought out fake ID and for the specific purpose of making and adult movie, from the way I heard it. She acquired a passport in her new name and the rest is history. If she can fool the government, how can the adult industry be held responsible for knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that all talent is of age? They can’t, but that is exactly the repercussion of Traci’s incident. All adult manufacturers are now required to keep on file all ID information and they are expected to be able to tell if the ID is fake or not, even if it is government issued and unhampered.
Back on the road I was still breast-feeding. I was a La Leche League member and believed in prolonging the activity well into toddler hood. It is healthier for the child and the mother. Some believe it reduces a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer.
When a woman has not fed her baby for several hours, the milk builds up and after a while, it is released. A full gushing of milk is known as a letdown reflex. One night while dancing in Connecticut, I had milk start to flow from my breasts. The men in the audience noticed and after the show, when I do my customary question and answer session from stage over a microphone, one man asked me how I got that water to come out of my breast! I was shocked at the ignorance. I guessed he must’ve been bottle-fed as a baby! I explained to the crowd basic human anatomy and that breasts were really made for babies.
WORLD TRAVELS AND A HEALTHY BIRTH
I was so happy with my son in my life. It was wonderful to finally have a real family. I wanted to have another baby and experience a normal birth, hopefully with no drugs or interventions at all. I was under contract with Vivid to do six pictures a year, but there had not been any year that went by where I actually did that many movies. It was more like four. Stan had hired six different “Vivid Girls”, as they were called, to work exclusively for his company and this kept the roster pretty full. There were no provisions for getting paid for work that was promised but never actually done. Salaries were going down all across the board in the business and roadwork was hard to find.
I had not made a movie in four months and we were planning a three-week road trip to the East Coast. Bud’s sister’s daughter, Rachel, was our nanny. On Monday morning of the second week, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive! I was overjoyed. Since it was so early in the pregnancy, and my history was to miscarry in between the seventh and ninth weeks, I had time to finish my tour before I had to bother my obstetrician for progesterone.
Our last week was to be in Connecticut at a place called “The Log and Lantern”. I had danced there many times before. There were shows every day at noon, and three at night. Thursday morning we were pulling into the parking lot when we noticed four squad cars and very few regular cars. The police cars were pulled up in front of the doors as if there were trouble. We left and called the club from a near-by telephone, not wanting to be caught in any cross fire. When the club owner found out it was Bud on the line, he went into his office to finish the call. It seemed the police had come for me! There was a warrant out for my arrest for a supposedly indecent act I committed on the stage of another club a year ago. They accused me of showering the audience with my breast milk and they said I could have spread diseases like AIDS that way. I was shocked! I had never heard of such a thing.
Bud immediately got off the phone and we drove to Massachusetts and checked into a hotel. We called our nanny and explained the situation. Bud left me there while he went to get our son and sitter. He checked out of that hotel, gathered my costumes and partial pay and brought everyone to safety in Massachusetts.
I wondered why they sent four squad cars for one lactating female. There were no matrons with them. When safely out of state, I called the Hartford police department and asked them why there were no female officers. I had considered facing the charges. We were told the Hartford Police Department did not have any matrons on the payroll! What kind of sick trip to Hartford were they planning for me? I believe I would have found myself on a detour. This was my one and only brush with the law.
I was happy to be safe and sound with my baby feeding from my breast in Massachusetts. It would be
one of the last times he nursed, as my milk gradually dried up over the next month or two. Naturally my body gave all its energy to my growing baby.
Back home in Indiana, my obstetrician didn’t hassle me about the progesterone this time, but ironically, I never spotted and I didn’t need to take it. This pregnancy was going along perfectly all by itself! I felt happy and healthy. My doctor said it was safe to continue dancing and so we tried to get as much work in as we could before I started showing.
When I was sixteen weeks along and on my last dancing gig, we went to San Francisco. I worked at the world famous Mitchell Brother’s Theater on O’Farrell Street. The Mitchell Brothers are best known for starting Marilyn Chambers in the business. They produced “Behind the Green Door” and almost all of the rest of her movies. One of the brothers is also known for accidentally shooting and killing his brother.
Marilyn is a fascinating woman and has always been very kind to me. I have great respect for her and have tried to model my career after hers. She is probably the best known actress in the business and has been at the top of it for over a decade. All of this has come out of a handful of movies. She is selective and will only appear in the best, limiting her exposure and using thelaw of supply and demand to her advantage. There are only a dozen or so Marilyn Chambers movies so they are all popular.
The first time I met her was at a convention in Las Vegas where we were signing autographs for different companies. She was very friendly to me when I went up to get her autograph. I collected autographs from all my favorite actors and actresses. She knew I was in the business and was very encouraging. As time went by, we saw each other occasionally at conventions like that one and award shows. She was always cordial.
Marilyn sat next to the follow spot during my show. After a few songs, she leaned over out of earshot of the lighting technician and asked Bud “how far along is she?”. This was the first time anyone had known I was pregnant. She is a very astute woman. A few years later, she would be blessed with her own bundle of joy.