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L-R Kay Parker, Rhonda Jo Petty, Kitten Natividad, Jill Nelson,
Jeff, Ginger Lynn, Georgina Spelvin and Raven Touchstone |
La
st Wednesday, October 16, the Goddesses made their triumphant return to Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood to wow fans and share serious and funny anecdotal accounts of their former lives as Golden ladies of erotic cinema. The six women regaled the crowd with personal reflections, beliefs, thoughts and philosophies, and when each one was asked to name her favourite mainstream movie and describe why, the audience was surprised and delighted. The querie was posed by Peter C., a film enthusiast and writer. Afterwards, Peter penned an essay, a wonderful summation of the evening and book titled "Favorite Stars and Star Favorites" which I have copied and pasted below with Peter's permission. Thank you, Peter, for coming out and for being so gracious.
Once again, I'd also like to officially thank Ginger Lynn, Kay Parker, Rhonda Jo Petty, Kitten Natividad, Georgina Spelvin (who was unable to join in the festivities last year) and Raven Touchstone for helping to make our intimate reunion evening one of the most memorable and sparkling events since the book's release. I'd also like to thank Emcee Bill Margold, veteran film director Bob Chinn, photographer Kenji, writer/photographer Matthew Worley, Ashley and April from the New York based The Rialto Report, Tom from Cake and Art for designing another spectacular creation, Jeff at Larry Edmunds Bookshop, and all of our friends and fans who came out to support and partake of this celebration. Please follow this link for more photos: Emmnetwork
Without further adieu, here is "Favorite Stars and Star Favorites" by Peter C.
'Though I met her only briefly at a recent book signing of Golden Goddesses, it was
no surprise to learn that Jill C. Nelson, the tender-hearted author of an
extraordinarily well written tome and somehow lyrical ode to 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema lists The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter as her
all-time favorite “main stream movie.” Nelson, as it turns out, is a lot like
Carson McCullers, the novelist who penned the 1940 novel that the film was
ultimately based upon. Hunter was the first in a string of
books by McCullers to give voice to the rejected, the forgotten, the maligned and
the oppressed. Nelson’s 25 (six of whom were at the book signing with her at
Larry Edmunds Bookshop) would easily fall into those categories – though those
classifications, like most labels, are ill-deserved. John Singer, the Alan
Arkin character in the film, is not what he is perceived to be – deaf – and no
more – and therefore somehow unworthy of love. In Nelson’s stories about her
stars of erotic cinema – there is more
there - a whole lot more - to each of her stars. More nuance, more
dignity, and more intelligence – than
meets the wide eyed observer.
Asking, “What’s your favorite
movie?” goes a long way as a kind of shorthand to learn what values resonate
with individuals. Rhonda Joe Petty, a one-time look-alike for Farah Fawcett,
and still gorgeous at 58, claimed Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto as her favorite – which, if one spends fifteen minutes
in her presence, one understands why. “The movie,” Petty said, “is about facing
your fears.” Petty is a woman I would not want to cross. She is almost stoic,
extremely self-possessed, and when she shared with the audience that, “People
who are not OK with my past, are simply not invited into my house,” her tone
made it clear that her life has thus far been lived without apology. She is one
strong lady, who has obviously faced her fears.
Also in attendance was Ginger Lynn,
who at 50 was the youngest star there. Ginger is a terrific raconteur, and one
of her stories was about not being able to find a man who had all the qualities
that she required in a male– so - along with a favorite screenwriter, she
dreamed up a fantasy – in the form of nine men, and then lived out her
fantasies with each before the camera. Her life, at the time, “was about fun.
And that was fun!” Ginger is cheerful, exuberant, and decidedly funny – as is
her favorite film Arsenic and Old Lace. If
one were to look at the poster of the screwball comedy, there is Priscilla Lane
bellowing from over the shoulder of Cary Grant – and she might well have been
yelling, “This is fun!” For my money, Ginger Lynn would have slipped perfectly
into the Lane part.
The Grand Dame of erotic cinema,
Georgina Spelvin, who made the film The
Devil in Miss Jones, a remarkable four decades ago, explained that Fantasia is her favorite movie, “Because
it has everything in it. It is sheer energy. I could do without Mickey Mouse,
but everything else about it rises above animation and it lives in a fantasy of
movement. It was totally cutting edge. Nothing else like it had been done
before.” Take out the Mickey Mouse reference, and one has a pretty accurate
review for The Devil in Miss Jones.
Georgina’s favorite film fits.
Raven Touchstone is an accomplished
photographer. When she reflected on her career in the adult film industry, and
told of watching Ginger Lynn and Barbara Dare running lines in rehearsal,
whilst sipping wine in a hot-tub, she found the actresses in repose to be so
incredibly beautiful that Touchstone decided that monumental beauty was beyond
words – and in that silent moment of innocent insight, realized that the
photographic image was the only way for her to do justice to beauty. The
heroine of her favorite movie A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn relies on her imagination to capture beauty in much the
same way.
Kitten Natividad recounted her bland
experiences as a girl in a sort of unremarkable early life. Then came a time
when she “fell down the rabbit hole” and due to excesses that seemed like a
good idea at the time, she struggled with drugs and alcohol, but eventually
rebounded. Today, she is clean and sober – owns apartment buildings and has
made a success in all things considered. Is seems like the ups and downs of
Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass – Kitten’s
favorite movie – would make sense in a “been there, done that” kind of way.
The last actress in attendance was
Kay Parker. Kay Parker is an exquisitely sensual, wildly articulate and
mesmerizingly sincere individual who marveled at the full circle nature of screen
celebrity in recounting her love, as a girl, for movie actor Troy Donohue
which, as it turned out, was not unrequited. When she finally met the aging star and told
him how much she loved his movies - much to her delight - he told her how much he loved hers. Kay Parker has put her
film past into a unique perspective –one that asserts “It is all about love,
because the opposite of that is shame. And shame is the condition of being
unlovable. And I reject that.” The
chapter in Nelson’s book devoted to Kay Parker is called The Conduit – and it describes Parker’s contemporary career as
spiritual mentor and transcendence counselor – as one that only a “faith in
love” stalwart could embrace. Field of
Dreams is Kay’s favorite film, which seems to underscore perfectly her
ethereal - part fantasy figure – part earth mother – all woman - essence.
Willliam Margold acted as unofficial
Emcee for the evening. Margold, a raucous individual who is known to industry
insiders as “Papa Bear,” and is famous as an archivist and adult film historian
(and perhaps less famous, alas, for his extensive and honorable charitable work
for adult entertainment veterans who have not fared well) told great stories of
on and off set mishaps, legal kerfuffles,
and courage – particularly of the women on the panel, and others like
them who disdained “the hypocritical morality,” of those “who dreamed of these
ladies, but who would not admit that in public.” Margold, a bear of a man, was
a kind of sheriff that night, and apparently has been for his last forty years
in and around the adult film industry.
He comes across as a “come and get me, I ain’t going anywhere”
character, who, in fact, stood toe to toe against would be agents of the law,
when adult films were illegal, and the badge boys were looking to lock up men
and women who dared to turn cameras on and take clothes off. It’s no wonder
that Papa Bear loves High Noon. He’s
the Gary Cooper of “X.”
At the end of the day, Jill C.
Nelson has written a lovely and fascinating book about beautiful women, erotic
adventurism, social mores, adult entertainment, the movie business, sex and
sexuality.
And it has
nothing at all to do with “Porn.”'
Peter C.
