by Seka
The first time I was at Plato’s was during the time we were getting the script ready for Inside Seka. There had to be several hundred people in this club. There were lockers to put your things. They had a color scheme and every room was a different color. One particular room was very dark with blue lights. And there was nothing but wall-to-wall mattresses. And bodies everywhere. It was one big orgy.
Ken kept pushing me to go in. You didn’t even have to introduce yourself. You’d just lie down and start playing with someone or something.
Ken couldn’t wait to go off on his own to see how many scenes he could get into. Me, I just kind of closed my eyes and went with it. I wasn’t really thinking of anything. Once, as I was nearly dozing, I looked up and there was a really good-looking guy on top of me. I said to myself, “Thank you.” At least he was pleasant to look at. The guy was quite good, too, and he really seemed to care about what he was doing. My own boyfriend never really cared — he just wanted to get off and my pleasure was just an afterthought.
It was kind of ironic that this was a good experience. Meanwhile, Ken was in the corner with two women. This made me very happy because I figured he’d be satisfied and I wouldn’t have to deal with him myself.
When my guy was done, I got up, took a shower, and got dressed. There was no conversation at all with him, which was okay by me. I figured it wasn’t someone I was ever going to see again.
All in all, I wasn’t opposed to swinging, but it wasn’t something I wanted as a lifestyle. Deep down, I wanted to be with one person. In spite of being in the porn industry, I needed a loving, committed relationship.
Ken was still busy with his pair of ladies so I just got up and went to the main section of Plato’s — the action-free area — where people were dressed, half-dressed, and undressed. To me, that was more interesting than the sex.
It was a fascinating group of people. You had doctors, lawyers, and judges — people from all walks of life and from all over the world. You often met nice folk at these events and I had even stayed in touch with June and Jack from my California swing party experience, and we ultimately swung with them.
As far as the sex in my movies, that was just a job. The movies, the swinging, it was all in the context of the era. Women were no longer embarrassed about sex. It was the seventies and everyone was on the Pill. I’d waited until my wedding night — actually after my wedding night — to lose my virginity. Now I was in this “open relationship” with a guy who wanted every piece of ass he could find, and encouraged me to do the same. As far as the movies, unlike all these people at Plato’s, I was getting paid good money to get into scenes. And it wasn’t prostitution either. I was getting paid, the guys were getting paid, and if I didn’t like some guy, I didn’t have to be with him. I did not feel morally inferior to anyone. I doubt there were many other jobs I could have worked at that point in my life and with my education where I could have made more money. Plus, there was an air of celebrity about it. I never dreamed that would mean anything to me or I would ever be a part of such an enterprise, but it was kinda neat.
It took several days to write the movie — days, not weeks, months, and years like a real movie. The movie wasn’t a helluva lot different than my Swedish Erotica stuff. The only through-line was me and Ken in bed, talking about “my” fantasies, as well as our erotic memories, both together as a couple, as well as me without him. I’d talk about a scene and then they’d cut to it, kinda like a talk show host saying, “Do we have a clip? Oh, here it is.” Each scene was like a separate loop. There was no other plot. Still, it was hot, and to this day people come up to me and quote certain scenes as being their all-time adult favorites.
There was one scene where I was giving oral sex to three or four guys at the same time. In the script we blurred the line between truth and fiction, as this certainly hadn’t happened to me in real life, nor was it a real life fantasy of mine, but I had done similar things in my other movies. In the scene, Ron Jeremy came in and asked if he could do me, too, and I said he should go do himself.
Which he did.
Ron could blow himself. He said, “I’m the cheapest date I can ever have. I can do myself, take myself out to dinner, and not have to deal with anybody.” That was Ronnie. Always funny — and formerly flexible.
As far as the movie goes, that was the highlight for me because it was hysterical. I had a guy in each hand and one staring me in the face, and I actually made the director stop filming because I had to see Ron in action. I was too distracted to continue.
One of the other scenes was actually filmed at the real Plato’s Retreat. Don’t ask me how they got permission to do that, but they did. So if you ever want to see what the real, original Plato’s was really like, buy Inside Seka, the movie.
We shot the movie and it usually takes about three months to edit and get it ready for release. In the meantime, we went back to California and the guys from Swedish Erotica called again. There was a big summer show in Chicago called the Consumer Electronics Show and it was in June in Chicago and January in Vegas. It was the biggest convention of the year. They wanted me to go and be in their booth and sign autographs for them. It was a four-day show in Chicago. Wow, another big city I’d never been to. They had five hundred pictures for me to sign for four days. I figured I’d never go through that many pictures and they’ll be disappointed.
I went through five hundred pictures the first day.
They had to get more pictures printed so I’d have something to sign. I was amazed all these people were fans, since my features were only beginning to dribble out. That was when the light bulb went off:
I’m not getting paid enough money.
For the first time, I realized why everyone put up with Ken being on the set. The adult industry needed me.
Inside Seka was finally released and I loved it and hated it. I loved being the star, the girl whose name was in the title. My ego is no different than anyone else’s. Before the movie, no one really knew me or Ken. Now we were celebrities — the Sonny and Cher of porn. Where once we’d been able to attend swing parties and clubs with a bit of anonymity, now everyone knew us and for me, that part was uncomfortable. Everyone wanted a turn with the porn star. Ken was reveling in it. I kept trying to figure how to get the hell away from that scene. Whatever curiosity I’d once had about it was now gone.
What I also hated were the lies. Sure, most PR is lies or exaggerations, but certain things about Inside Seka particularly irked me. For one thing, Ken and I are credited as directing it. What?! Neither he nor I could have directed traffic at that point in our lives, let alone a film. Joe Sarno directed that film. But Sarno made a number of well-received soft-core and exploitation films in the sixties, and supposedly considered hard-core “slumming it,” so he wouldn’t allow his name to be on the film, or so I’ve been told. Joe had also done the Jennifer Welles film, the Gloria Leonard film, and would do the next film in the series, Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle.
Then there was the soundtrack. All porn soundtracks are laughably bad, but Inside Seka may have set a new low. I don’t know who wrote all the music, but there was a title song that, I suppose, must have been called, “The Ballad of Seka and Ken,” because it was one of those “story songs.” The lyrics went, “Radford, Virginia. Selling books… .” It was pretty much a musical version of this book. “Seka tried on some sexy clothing. Took some pictures in the raw.” Honest-to-God, these are some of the lyrics. They even threw Ken in there somewhere. Painful.
The title song was sung by a friend of Ken’s named Kenny Dino, an Elvis impersonator (natch) who sang on a lot of The King’s demos, as well as minor recording artist in his own right. Picture my life story, with all the specifics, sung by Elvis, on a bed of bad middle-of-the-road seventies country pop. Yeah, painful.
The rest of the score was all the standard porn clichés. Whenever Ken and I were in bed together, there’d be a kind of classical love theme, and when I got down in all the other scenes we’d have all th
e typical variations on “boom chicka-wow-wow.”
I later discovered the soundtrack was released as a picture disc (this was back when music came on vinyl), with my mug all over it. Despite how I personally felt about the music, it apparently sold well and is now considered quite the collector’s item. I may still have one or two copies myself.
Did I know they would be selling a soundtrack? No. Did I ever see a dime from it? No. But since Ken had something to do with Kenny Dino singing on it, I’m sure Ken collected a nice sum of money on the deal.
But worst of all was the postscript — the writing they put on the freeze at the end of the film. It read, “Ken and I have been married for over 6 years. We have spent every single day of our marriage together, never separating once. All the events in the motion picture you have just seen have been true or actual reenacted events of my special fantasies — Seka.”
As I said, we were never married. But it was one thing to say it around the set in order to keep guys from hitting on me and to explain Ken hanging around all the time. Now it seemed more to service Ken’s need to be a star, too, and glom onto me for as long as this ride was going.
The other thing was the unoriginality. In January of 1980, Paul Mc-Cartney was arrested in Japan for carrying pot. He and his wife Linda had a wonderful, storybook marriage, and it was stated in all the news reports that the nights Paul spent in jail in Japan were the only nights they ever were apart in their entire marriage. Inside Seka was being edited less than a year later. Coincidence? I think not. Ken thought he’d make us out to be the Paul and Linda McCartney of porn. As if.
In our case, the “never separating once,” part was almost true, but in an insidious way. Ken wanted to answer every phone call. Ken always had to be the one to get the mail and open it first. If Ken was out, I might get to do those things and who knows what I’d find. So Ken never left my side because he was hiding things and didn’t want me to know what was going on. If I got away from him, someone might clue me in on how he was screwing with my finances. I’ve heard some girls complain about “living like a prisoner.” It wasn’t quite like that. Ken never stopped me from going anywhere or doing anything. He just tagged after me like a fly that wouldn’t leave me alone. He wasn’t abusive; he just drove me batty.
When Inside Seka came out, I officially became a porn star — the top of the A-List, the girl whose name alone could open a film. It was the beginning of my career and soon to be the end of Ken.
“The Platinum Princess” look, from Inside Seka, 1981.
Me and Ken, the “Paul and Linda McCartney of Porn.” As if.
At the height of my fame.
With 1980’s idea of a hot, young, bad boy, Tony Mansfield.
I’ve got everything well in hand with Tony Mansfield and Richard Bolla.
A young Ron Jeremy about to fellate himself.
Filming inside the real, original Plato’s Retreat.
Getting romantic with Ron Hudd.
A little girl/girl action with Merle Michaels.
Ken and me in happier times.
23. The Gang
At the time there were several “regular players” in adult films whom I ended up working with time and time again. I didn’t do a lot of socializing outside the set with my co-stars. Although I generally enjoyed the sex, it was still a job and at the end of my “work day” I left. But I did bond with some of them. It was more difficult with the female co-stars, as I was having a lot more sex with the guys. Women can be catty bitches sometimes, especially to the new kid on the block.
Annette Haven was a bitch. She thought she was all that and a bag of chips, and quite frankly I thought she was looney tunes. She was absolutely neurotic about everything. She had to have her private dressing room, she required certain kinds of foods, and everyone had to be quiet on the set. She was just very demanding — a princess without the royal blood. Once, we were doing a movie and she had a scab or something on her chin and she was just going absolutely nuts. She made the makeup artist put a big stone — a jewel — on her chin to cover it up, which made absolutely no sense as far as the plot. But they let it stay in because they didn’t want to deal with her craziness. She happened to be very intelligent and well spoken, but needed a straitjacket most of the time. I never did a sex scene with her and didn’t even like being around her on the set, so it was just as well.
The only person I knew who could calm Annette down was Kay Parker because she’s just a very gentle soul. I love her. It was always wonderful to have Kay around because she put a peaceful ambiance in the air. She’s beautiful inside and out and was never a prima donna or a princess. I consider Kay a friend and our sex scenes together were fabulous. We were always in tune with one another. The sex was a lot more personal. There were other women and men I had hot sex with, but no personal connection, so with Kay it was on a whole different level. It made it awesome.
Today Kay’s a priestess, and deals with all matters spiritual and the power of forgiveness. I don’t really understand some of this stuff, but she’s very masterful with it.
Desiree Cousteau was an interesting character. Very pretty. She had a tight body to die for, with a pair of early implants. But she was another one who was absolutely wacko nuts. She could be hot and heavy in the middle of a scene with a dick in one hand and a mouth full of pussy, when all of a sudden there was a look on her face and a total change would come over her. “I can’t do this anymore. God told me not to.” She’d just stop what she was doing and walk off the set. A few minutes later she might come back and start the scene all over again, or sometimes she’d just disappear entirely. This happened several times. She was just crazy. Nobody knows where she is today.
Serena was interesting. She was a real hippie, a very pretty flower child from San Francisco. She was not threatening, nor was she threatened by others. She was just very down to earth, sweet, and always in a happy mood. We first met doing Dracula Sucks. I also remember working with her on a couple of Swedish Eroticas. She also did some mainstream work on that George C. Scott movie, Hardcore. One day on the set she was wearing this huge chain with a big padlock on it. It was the kind you would see on a Doberman Pinscher. She was dating Jamie Gillis and evidently they were into bondage. He had put it around her neck and was the only one with a key to unlock it. Like Annette Haven, she still lives in San Francisco, and is evidently a very fragile person today.
Another co-star I really liked was Jessie St. James. I didn’t know her well on a personal level, but worked with her a couple of times. She was also very pretty — handsome, actually. She seemed very sweet the few times we worked together. Jessie was about my height and had a mystique of oozing sensuality about her. What was memorable about her scenes is you’d never know if she was going to be like an uncaged animal or go the reverse route and be very timid. She used that to her advantage. If she sensed the scene wasn’t steamy enough, she’d turn it up a notch or two. And if the sex was too over the top, she’d instinctively know and tone it down. I always enjoyed the films we made together.
Lisa Deleeuw was a big, busty redhead who was quick witted and a lot of fun. She was an absolute hoot — a crack-up. I truly believe Lisa could have been one of the best stand-up comics of all-time as she had this incredible infectious laugh and was like the Lucille Ball of porn. But she had another side where you didn’t want to piss her off. As funny as she was, she could be equally mean if pushed to that point. It took a lot to get her mad, but it was not a place where you’d want to send Lisa. If a guy did something to her on set like smacking her butt or doing something not called for in the script, she would just let loose on him. I worked in Swedish Erotica with her as well as in Downstairs, Upstairs and she was so upbeat, fun, and goofy that there was never a dull moment around her. I was very sad to find out she died a while back, although I’m not sure about the details.
Veronica Hart was very sweet and innocent when she first got into the business. She was extremely intelligent and actually a very good actress,
but just didn’t know what was going on at first. She’s a really down to earth human being who I consider a friend. We still talk on occasion. We did a scene together in her first movie, The Seduction of Cindy. I was the star and Veronica had a supporting role. She was scared to death of not just her sex scenes, but the acting as well. Even though we had a script, the director knew he had a newbie on his hands and decided he was going to do whatever he wanted to “see her dance.” He’d say something like, “We’re going to have you do a scene with these four guys.” And it was her first day on a set of an adult movie! It was like she was filet mignon and they were throwing her to the lions. She was actually crying, so I said to the filmmaker, “You need to stop it.” I told him if he didn’t, I’d walk out. She was trembling. Not only were they acting rudely, but in a cruel manner. I kind of rescued her.
I never worked with Samantha Fox, but I met her and remember she wore too much perfume. She seemed a little quirky, but I honestly didn’t know her well at all.
I only worked in one movie with Vanessa del Rio. She was like a tigress in heat. It was called Beyond Desire. She was very exotic looking and just plain steamy. You could look at her and start to sweat. She had a way of making your panties wet like nobody else could. I liked her, but we never really hung out so I don’t know Vanessa on a personal level. She’s living in New York and will always be an icon in adult films.
To this day I think Gloria Leonard is an absolutely wonderful human being. She’s smart, sweet, kind, fair, and has that New York swagger about her. She’s an interesting, intelligent woman. I never appeared with her on-camera, but she was behind the scenes on a few of my projects and I would see her at various industry functions. She’s called me several times to be on panel discussions about First Amendment rights.