The following interview with Norm Goldman was conducted via email to accompany his review of Golden Goddesses.
Good
day Jill and thanks for participating in our interview.
Norm:
Please
tell our readers a little bit about your personal and professional background.
Jill:
I
was born and raised in Southern Ontario, Canada. My late father was a
professional musician and had his own Big Band at a local nightclub for ten
years starting in the mid-1950s. He and my mother met during wartime near her
hometown of North Hatley, Quebec when he was playing sax and clarinet with the renowned
Mart Kenney band. After leaving the music business my father became an
entrepreneur and opened his own Men’s wear store. My mother (who had sung a
little on radio and had perfect pitch according to my father) worked in my
father’s store as his bookkeeper, and later, in a Ladies’ shop. As a family, we
embraced music, art, books and travel; and the arts became a major influence in
my life, both as a child and into adulthood.
After
graduating high school in the winter of 1976, I traveled to the west coast of
Canada and the United States along with a girlfriend, hitchhiking and staying
in youth hostels for six months, which was a remarkable experience for an
eighteen-year old girl. I continued to alternately work and travel over the
course of the next few years until attending Sheridan College to study as a
Hearing Instrument Specialist. At age twenty-eight, in 1986, I opened my own clinic
in Hamilton, Ontario, and with a partner (another childhood friend) we serviced
the hearing-impaired community until we sold our clinic in 2008, the same year
my first book, John Holmes: A Life
Measured in Inches about the life and times of iconic adult film star, was
published. Today, I continue to work part-time as a hearing care professional. I’ve
been married for almost 35 years to the same terrific guy and we have two grown
children.
Although
I have no formal training as a writer, I’ve been told that my strength is my
ability to get to the heart of a subject to present an innovative and unbiased
view of a character or story. Since the advent of the internet, my writing
consisted mostly of participating in online groups interested in books and
film, until eventually; I met my co-author, Jennifer Sugar, on a message board
which prompted her to invite me to become her collaborator on the John Holmes
bio. Sugar and I are twenty-five years apart and reside in different countries
which made our partnership truly unique. We met for the first time in person
about a year after we teamed up and we were already entrenched together in our
writing project.
Norm:
What
served as the primary inspiration for Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women
of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985?
Jill:
During
our research and interviews for John
Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches,
Jennifer and I had the opportunity to speak with several women who had worked
in the erotic film industry during the classic golden era, when it was still illegal
to participate in the production of sex films. I found their tales intriguing
and I thought it would be interesting and of benefit to outsiders to learn more
about these incredible renegade women. About a year after Inches was published I decided to reestablish contact with the
women to interview them for a book focusing primarily on them. One thing led to
another, and eventually, I had a list of twenty-five interviewees who were
willing to talk about their experiences in and out of the adult film industry.
I felt that was a great cross-section of people.
Norm:
What
kind of research did you do to write this book?
Jill:
My
research consisted mostly of interviews, transcribing and arranging the quotes,
to try to tell a compelling and honest story. I had a set list of questions for
each subject pertaining to their childhood years, career years and post-career
years, but I also let each woman go down roads of their choosing which kept the
project fresh and engaging. Because many of the women featured in the book had
actually had formal acting training, additionally, I felt it was important to
screen and write reviews of films depicting what was considered their best
work, so I watched and wrote reviews for well over 125 feature films. The
reviews are woven in and around the interview quotes and narrative I composed,
and then integrated into each chapter to help provide context. Some of that
narrative was inspired from books I’d read either by the subjects themselves,
or others. I also had the use of some beautiful photos from photographer
friends and I wrote to people to request the use of pictures which I used in
conjunction with many images (family and otherwise) shared with me by the
women. It was a massive project spanning over three and a half years, which is
why the book is 950 pages!
Norm:
What
criteria did you use to decide on the twenty-five women you interviewed and
wrote about?
Jill:
It
was important to me that each of the twenty-five women had started their
careers in erotic films between 1968 and 1985, the period widely regarded as
the golden age which is defined by the onset of hardcore films up until and
including the threshold of the video boom. It was also important that each of
the subjects were known for contributing to the golden era in some significant
or relevant way. In one way or another, all of the women profiled in my book
are legendary and have star power. Many people unfamiliar with the adult
industry would be surprised to learn that not only did women work as
performers, but also, they were directors, producers, screenwriters and
costumers, which I find fascinating. In other words, these women made a
conscious choice to work in the taboo industry in multi-faceted roles which in
my mind, completely debunks the notion that women in sex films did so against
free-will or because they were coerced or exploited. That’s not to say that
exploitation didn’t occasionally play a role, but it was by design. Some of
these females were in their mid-late thirties and even early forties before
embarking on a career on adult pictures. The sex films were a secondary career
for many of them.
Norm:
What
purpose do you believe your book serves and what matters to you about the book?
As a follow up, what would you say is the best reason to recommend someone to
read your book?
Jill:
I
think my book is not only a gift to fans of the genre and to the folks who are
aficionados about the era I’ve written about, but also, I believe these women
are imperative to the history of cinema because of the magnitude of their
collective works and their presence in what would be considered underground or
alternative film. Goddesses is also a
story about twenty-five strong women who desired to buck the system and do
something different that is not necessarily condoned or understood by society.
I admire these women for being pioneers and trendsetters and I think the book
reveals not only their outward and inner beauty, but also their intelligence,
savvy, vulnerability, honesty and acceptance to live with and own their
choices, good or bad. In the end, these women are daughters, wives, sisters,
mothers, friends, employees and neighbors.
Goddesses
is also a biography that resonates with folks who are boomers or who are
fascinated by retro as it pertains to film, but mostly, this book reveals the
human and humane side of each woman who worked in an unorthodox profession and
have been both revered and also scrutinized for doing so. I like to refer to Goddesses as the genuine and uncut
version of Fifty Shades of Grey.
Norm:
Have
there been any other books written about the same topic as yours?
Jill:
There
have been other books written in a similar vein and about similar topics, but
to the best of my knowledge, I don’t believe there are any other books out
there that are written in an oral history format including film critique
showcasing this kind of network of legendary women and stars of the golden era.
One of the reasons I had wanted to do a book of this nature is because I felt
it would pay homage to these amazing women who in many cases have been either
overlooked or denigrated. I believe my portrayal of each goddess is presented
in a respectful, sensitive fashion while also revealing truths and warts.
Norm:
What
challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you
overcome these challenges?
Jill:
Apart
from the tedious task of transcribing all twenty-five interviews, there weren’t
any real challenges that come to mind. Once I set out to write the book, things
came together quickly and part of that is because I’d already developed a
reputation with many folks during my collaboration on the John Holmes bio. I
think my subjects also agreed to speak with me because I do not have a
background in porn nor am I affiliated with the sex industry in any capacity, so
there was a wonderful level of trust already built into the project. Some of
the women have confided to me since its publication that if a man had proposed
to write the book, they wouldn’t have been so eager to open up, so to speak.
I
will say that the editing of the book was difficult for me at times, because
there was such an immense amount of material to sift through and my eyes would
often become strained. If I hadn’t been as dedicated and passionate about this
project and willing to forfeit much of my personal time, it never would have
been completed. Maybe some people would have preferred that it wasn’t
completed, I don’t know! In retrospect, if I ever do another project on this
level, I will ask for more help.
Norm:
Did
you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Jill:
I
think I learned how to be more direct when conveying an idea or sharing
information. I’ve also learned that it’s worth paying someone to do a final
edit to correct minor mistakes that can be overlooked when compiling a tome of
this magnitude.
Norm:
Do
you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say? Did you have
any negative comments?
Jill:
I
do hear from readers on a weekly basis which is very nice. Most if not all of
the feedback has been very positive which is extremely gratifying since this is
my first solo work. I don’t think there have been many negative comments made
about the book, apart from why didn’t I include a specific performer who isn’t
mentioned in the biography. I did explain in my introduction however, that
favorite performers or stars might be left out but that it wasn’t for any
reason other than space constraints or because of the fact that some
individuals couldn’t be located or didn’t wish to speak about their pasts.
Overall, I’ve acknowledged all women who were essential to the era, even if
they aren’t highlighted. This book is symbolic of all female contributors of
the golden age and beyond.
Norm:
Are
you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us? (We would
love to hear all about them!)
Jill:
At
present, I’ve just started working on a memoir detailing that journey (I spoke
about earlier in the interview) about the hostelling trip I made with my friend
to the west coast of Canada and into the western United States back in 1976.
Actually, I haven’t shared this information with many people yet so I’m letting
the cat out of the bag. The memoir is titled 1976: Tapes from California inspired by the LP of the same name by
deceased American folk and topical singer and songwriter, Phil Ochs, who hung
himself two weeks before I first listened to one of his recordings. He died in
April 1976. I’ve never written about myself before so it’s been an interesting
process so far. Fortunately, I’d kept a journal, including a collection of
poems, song lyrics and sketches I compiled from that trip which has been very
helpful to me.
Apart
from that, my publisher, BearManor Media have requested that I do a sort of
follow up or a counterpart to Goddesses
consisting of interviews with 20-25 men of the golden era. Sadly, a handful of
the legendary men from that time frame (and there aren’t that many) have
already passed on or are about to enter their seventies so there is a bit of a
sense of urgency to get the book started. At the same time, it’s been good to
have a break from writing about porn related subjects and people! As much as
I’ve enjoyed it and wouldn’t trade the last 6-7 years of my life for the world,
I think it’s important to branch out and explore other ideas and subjects that
interest me. I believe all authors would prefer not to be pigeon holed.
I’m
pleased to share the news that in order to commemorate the fifth anniversary of
the release of John Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches, in August, a
hardcover version of Inches will be
available at www.coverout.com including a brand new
Author’s note by the book’s originator and my co-author, Jennifer Sugar, and a
short Postscript written by me.
Norm:
As
this interview draws to a close what one question, would you have liked me to
ask you? Please share your answer.
Jill:
Off
the top of my head, I can’t think of anything we didn’t cover here. I’d just
like to take this moment to thank you Norm for your review of Goddesses and for posing some excellent
questions about the book, I hadn’t been asked before. I very much appreciate
your time and thoughtful queries.
Norm:
Thanks
once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.
No comments:
Post a Comment