Golden Goddesses coverage by What Up Hollywood

The following is an article posted at What Up Hollywood which includes one hour of video footage from our Golden Goddesses reunion event at Larry Edmunds bookshop last October. The evening featured appearances by Ginger Lynn, Kay Parker, Rhonda Jo Petty, Georgina Spelvin, Kitten Natividad, writer Raven Touchstone and adult film historian William Margold. Huge, heartfelt thanks to What Up Hollywood for covering and taping this event, and posting it on your website and youtube. :)

 

Sex Sirens of the Swinging Seventies Sign in at Famous Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood

Remember all those great adult movies of the 1970s, like “The Devil in Miss Jones”? If you didn’t ever watch movies “like that“, better skip this posting. But if you ever wondered whatever happened to those stunning ladies of yesteryear that you spent so much time watching in your miss-spent youth, then you should have been at Larry Edmunds Bookshop when a bevy of stars from adult film history came in to talk about their careers and their lives.

Ginger Lynn

A long discussion, led by author Jill Nelson, introduced 5 of what Jill calls “The Golden Goddesses”, the super stars of sex. Also on hand was Raven Touchstone who wrote screenplays for over 400 adult films. They all had actual stories, she insisted, although I have personally never met a guy who ever remembered much of the story line. The girls, yeah, they remember every luscious inch of them. Star Ginger Lynn remembers the hours she spent with Raven, creating the sex fantasies that made her films so appealing. Face it, you gotta have a script, a story that will tease, build tension, and then deliver the goods, just like any other movie. Raven Touchstone is the Queen of adult screenplay writers, with a boundless imagination.

Kitten Natividad

The ladies signing Jill Nelson’s book “Golden Goddesses“, included Rhonda Jo Petty, Kay Parker, Ginger Lynn, Kitten Natividad, and the legendary Georgina Spelvin. Also on hand to speak was Bill Margold who writes the great back page “Cinema Seen” for LA X…Press. Margold’s reviews of adult films are a hoot, he has covered the sex industry for decades, and he is one of the most entertaining chaps in Hollywood. He knows everyone, writers, producers, directors, all the girls, the guys, and most of all, the stories. As Nelson points out, behind the camera, when the filming is done, these guys and gals are mostly regular folks, with all the same drama, happiness, and challenges that we all face in life. Well, maybe a tad more drama.

A lively crowd listened to Nelson read some excerpts from her book, stories about each of the ladies who were present. Questions came from the audience, and memories and laughter from the film stars. Also on hand was Jim Dawson, local author, and national film reviewer for Velvet Magazine. He is also a spokesman for XRCO, the X-Rated Critics Organization. His great book on Bunker Hill is a must read for anyone who is interested in Los Angeles film history.

So you missed the event on October 16th? Couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse to slip away from the significant other for a couple hours? No problem, just strap yourself into the What Up Hollywood time machine, and watch the entire event. Larry Edmunds still has copies of “Golden Goddesses”, so get your copy before you go blind. At least you’ll have your memories….

Click Here to watch the event directly on youtube.

Click Here to go to Larry Edmunds website and blog.

"Favorite Stars and Star Favorites"

L-R Kay Parker, Rhonda Jo Petty, Kitten Natividad, Jill Nelson,
Jeff, Ginger Lynn, Georgina Spelvin and Raven Touchstone

Last 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.

"No Agenda" Book Review by Gore Gore Girl

I'd like to extend my appreciation to Gore-Gore Girl (XXX through feminist lens) for composing the following in depth analysis of "Golden Goddesses". The review can be found here: No Agenda Book Review: Gore Gore Girl

Hi folks! An exciting book review for you today: Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985 by Jill C. Nelson, who previously co-wrote the John Holmes biography, Inches. This book is a real labor of love; a collection of lengthy interviews and background stories behind 25 women of the golden age. Each chapter is effectively a mini-biography, with intimate interview responses from the women themselves and occasionally their loved ones (as in the case of those no longer living, such as Marilyn Chambers and Ann Perry), as well as brief analyses of significant works by the women in question and a plethora of photos. At nearly 1000 pages, this is no fluff piece, and Nelson's (and her publisher's) willingness to allow the space necessary for these women to voice their experiences - diverse, unexpected, often inspirational, sometimes sad, occasionally unsettling - should be applauded.

Sex work usually polarizes people, as evidenced by the simplistic "pro" and "anti" porn binary, a binary that affects not only writers on the subject, but sex workers themselves when representing their work and themselves. The lack of agenda behind Nelson's project naturally leads to a diversity of stories, some of which are not positive. This, to me, is one of the strengths of the book. When considering the ways in which people write and talk about sex work, I often think about a comment I read from Dutch sex worker Jo Doezema in Wendy Chapkis's fantastic book, Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor. Reflecting on her work, Doezema writes,

"I think for almost everybody I make it more positive than it is, because everybody has such a negative idea about it already. So you tend to only talk about the good things or the funny things. With most jobs, if you have a shitty day or a bad client or something, people don't immediately say that it's because of the kind of work you do and that you must stop right away. But with prostitution, I've always felt that if I didn't convince everybody that this work was fantastic for me and that I really loved it that they would all be on my back to quit. Anytime something negative happens in your work, it just confirms peoples' worst suspicions." (120-121).

This insightful perspective can, I think, be applied to all types of sex work, and Nelson's agenda-free approach is refreshing in that it allows for the full spectrum of experiences: good, bad, and in between. For this reason, the book is not always a comfortable read. The project prompts questions, provokes critical thinking, and opens up a space for these women to truly voice themselves and their experiences rather than functioning as a "ventriloquist's dummy," to borrow Anne McClintock's phrase, for whichever agenda-driven group needs them. Through careful structuring, Nelson manages to narrate these women's stories while at the same time never overshadowing or undermining their voices.

What piqued my interest about this project, aside from the opportunity to read about the lives of such incredible women who are too often overlooked or dismissed (at best) by mainstream culture, is the fact that Nelson is not a long-time porn fan. For this reason, there is a refreshing degree of subjectivity throughout the book- a lack of agenda, as Nelson puts it - which leads to interviews that are thorough, yet also intimate and often surprising. Nelson explains it in her introduction, "Occasionally, family and friends have been puzzled and queried as to why I have chosen to dedicate much time and energy to developing two books centering on this unusual group often misunderstood and even persecuted by society. I smile and answer, 'I'm not interested in writing a book about Julia Roberts.'" (16). Indeed, Nelson seems drawn to these women for the same reason I am, and her goals for the book are made clear from the outset. "My intention is to escort readers to a clearer understanding of the beautiful and intrepid females who favored an alternative profession in adult cinema that was cultivated at the apex of the 1960's sexual revolution" (17). What sets the book apart is the diversity of women included. While superstars of the screen such as Seka, Amber Lynn, and Marilyn Chambers take up the majority of the focus, women who worked behind the camera are also featured, such as screenwriter Raven Touchstone, writer/director Roberta Findlay, and writer/producer Ann Perry, creating a project that acknowledges a fuller spectrum of female contribution to adult film than is typical.