GOLDEN GODDESSES: 25 LEGENDARY WOMEN OF CLASSIC EROTIC CINEMA, 1968-1985

by Nelson, Jill C.

When Take-Off wrapped, Georgina went from sipping champagne with the cast and crew to drinking alone from a paper bag near a New York pier three days later. She was barely recognizable when her old friend Marc Stevens noticed her and got her into the County Rehab for a two-week stay. Spelvin said she remained sober for one year following her assignment in the spin and dry cycle. When she reluctantly made a return to the bump and grind circuit after an unsuccessful turn in a musical comedy, she hit the bottle again. Thus began the painful and slow process of recovery and relapse. Georgina shared the history of her drinking and the details of an intervention on her behalf.

  I was sipping beer as a baby and finishing up the dregs of everybody’s drinks at parties. My dad was in the army so he and my mother had parties quite frequently. I wasn’t drinking all the time, but the lure of alcohol was there from the beginning. My sobriety date is November 11, 1981. It wasn’t my doing. I’m not to be congratulated. AA is the one to be congratulated. AA works.

  My friends, and an almost former husband — the guy I was with for over ten years although we never actually got married — in the book he’s identified as Ian. He is a very talented writer and works for one of the big studios out here. These friends who were letting me crash at their house while I was bouncing around the burlesque circuit drinking myself into oblivion — called Ian and said, “We’ve got to have an intervention or Chele’s going to die”. He called my mother and my mother flew out from Texas. I had come home from one of my burlesque gigs one night and here the living room was filled with the friends I was staying with: Ian and my mother, and some other people who were mutual friends to enter this intervention. They sort of said, “Look you’re going to kill yourself. Please go do it fast and stop this. It’s very inconvenient to all of us.” That’s what got me on the sobriety track.

  After the initial intervention attempt misfired and Spelvin reverted to her old habits, Georgina’s mother, determined to help her daughter remain sober, traveled to Atlantic City with Georgina where she was booked to strip at a club for one week. Each morning began with a few slugs of vodka doled out by her mother to stave off nausea and tremors so that Spelvin could perform her act, which generally began with the simulation of a few tantalizing scenes from The Devil in Miss Jones. After her floor routine, Spelvin entered into a Q & A with the audience, cleverly and humorously staying a few steps ahead of the queries while leaving her admirers laughing. Once her obligation was fulfilled, Georgina returned to Tyler with her mother, and spent the week drying out under the watchful eyes of both parents.

  Social drinking is a part of civilization. To get it into the alcoholic brain which is already debilitated from alcohol that some people can drink and some cannot, and you’re one of those who can’t — is a real challenge. I’ve got matching chips from AA that could probably line a room. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has managed to get through quitting alcohol on the first injection. You know, I started smoking again when I went to the AA meeting. If you’ve been a smoker and you’re in an atmosphere where everybody is smoking, it’s hard not to because you’re smoking anyway. You’re sitting there inhaling it; you may as well be enjoying it.

  The Show Must Go On

  Director Bob Chinn always hoped he’d have an opportunity to direct Georgina Spelvin. He saw his dream culminate when the Los Angeles based adult company, Freeway Films, went into production with the seventh installment of the popular Johnny Wadd franchise, The Jade Pussycat in 1977. Spelvin was hired to play detective Wadd’s sly and sultry foe as Chinn described in his following comments.

  For the Johnny Wadd film Jade Pussycat (1977), I was extremely fortunate in being able to cast Georgina Spelvin in the role of the dangerous villain Alexandra. I had seen her in The Devil in Miss Jones and loved her performance.

  Working with Georgina was a real delight. It was simply wonderful to work with a real actress for a change. One who was capable of taking direction, and then turn around and really do something with it. Unfortunately, during the shoot she and John didn’t always get along. Both had very strong personalities which tended, at times, to clash, making for some very tense moments on the set. I think there was probably some professional jealousy on the part of John at being upstaged by Georgina, but both were professional enough to get the job done, and no one would know it from the result.

  Forty-one year old Spelvin and Holmes shared the screen during a pivotal moment in The Jade Pussycat when private dick Johnny Wadd (with an invaluable jade piece in his possession) discovers he’s met his match in the ultra-sophisticated Alexandra (Spelvin). He must decide how to outsmart her before resolving his case. Spelvin is at her delicious best while stroking Holmes’s crotch as she growls, “I’ve heard a great deal about you…”

  With eyes fixated on her face, Wadd slowly retorts, “Like what?”

  During the interchange that follows, the film’s speed is accelerated creating the effect of a campy Chaplinesque sequence, and the two are suddenly in fast forward mode, preparing the hideaway bed for love. Afterwards, Alexandra knocks Wadd out cold with the base of a lamp and makes off with what she believes are the coveted goods. Holmes, who is not usually recognized for his ability as an actor, demonstrated better than average acting chops in his scenes with Spelvin possibly because her presence and expertise positively influenced their pairing, resulting in a solid, understated performance.

  Georgina confided that she wasn’t at her best when she and Holmes’s characters traded barbs during drinks prior to their sex scene together, yet the exchange turned out to be one of the most salient and engrossing moments in the engaging noir film.

  I have to confess that during that film I was in very bad shape. I was drinking, and although I wasn’t drunk at that particular moment, a drunk is not an attractive person under any circumstances. I really don’t remember very much about it. I think I remember something about opening up a couch bed in a hotel room. I said, “Can we try to make this funny?” I hoped it was. I remember Bob as being just the gentlest, most patient, wonderful director. He made it as easy and as palatable as possible, but I just was not in good shape. It’s the great embarrassment of my life to tell you the truth, but we live, we learn, we hope. There’s no point unless you peel it all back.

  Once again, putting her battle with the bottle on the back burner, in 1979 Georgina starred in The Dancers with her good friend and actor Richard Pacheco (aka Howie Gordon, one-time Playgirl Magazine’s “Man of the Year”). Pacheco, who made his first official adult film appearance in the Bob Chinn picture The Candy Stripers (1978) became one of the most preferred male performers of the erotic golden era. He is a multi-award winning actor, producer, and director.

  Spelvin recalled how casual and at ease Pacheco and his wife were about the whole business when the couple brought their infant son Bobby to the set.

  This is a kid on the set in [Pacheco’s wife] Jeremy’s arms the day that Howie and I did our scene in the big old brass bed for The Dancers (1979). I met her, and here I was going to be having sex with someone whose wife is in the room with their infant in her arms. She was so charming and she said, “This is what he does and he’s very good at it.” I said, “Well, that’s wonderful!” We became good friends and I’ve had lovely times with them at their home in Berkeley the last couple of years, which is really one of the plusses of finally sitting down and writing the damn book.

  Directed by Anthony Spinelli (aka Samuel Weinstein), The Dancers highlights the sexual activities of three male strippers (Richard Pacheco, Randy West and Joey Silvera). Dubbed The Dreams, their bombastic manager (John Leslie) books his act in a small town where he and the guys engage in liaisons with various females. By chance, Catherine (Spelvin), a well-off bookish spinster meets and falls in love with Jonathon (Pacheco), one of the dancers with aspirations of becoming an actor. In a sweet and touching scene, Georgina and Pacheco each deliver a dramatic interpretation of the opening lyrics of the 1961 popular song “Cupid,” written and performed by Sam Cooke. Pach
eco’s interpretation is robust and stirring while Spelvin’s locution is expressed with a quiet eloquence, matching their passionate love scene that is ushered in with gentle foreplay. In 1981, a Best Actress award was granted by the AFAA to Spelvin for her skillful, subtle performance.

  Georgina appeared in a handful more hardcore movies before her anticipated retirement at age forty-seven. Before she did, once again, she and Bob Chinn teamed up to make Tropic of Desire (1983) marking Georgina’s final year employed as a pornographic actor. Chinn summarized his second encounter with Spelvin.

  I got to work with Georgina again on Tropic of Desire in which she played Frances, the lesbian madam of the legendary Pink Flamingo, a popular bordello in Hawaii during World War II. This time we got to know each other much better. I hadn’t realized before that aside from acting she had worked in virtually all aspects of the film industry, and I gained a new respect for her and her abilities. She helped me a lot during the production of that film with her personal support and wise suggestions. I will always be eternally grateful to her for enriching those two films with her presence.

  Prior to her retreat from sex films, the loss of both parents within a couple of years of one another became the catalyst for Georgina to finally strive to remain dry.

  It took my mother’s death. After mother died, I really started going to meetings. After mother died, somebody had to take care of my dad and I couldn’t do that and drink. Mother, I’m sure, knew it. I don’t believe she committed suicide, but I’m sure at one point she decided, “Well if I stick around, you’re never going to get sober” so she knew I would have to. I’m going to confront her with that when we get together again. My mother and I had each other’s number all the way down the line, but we tiptoed around it. We were very considerate of each other, I think. That was the basis of family relations.

  I haven’t attended meetings since I came back from Tyler. I tried going to a couple of meetings, but I think it was the third one I went to at this little church that is right down the hill from our house, and one of the people there literally went over the table and attacked somebody on the other side. It was just a little too rowdy for me. I thought I would find a different group and I just never found another one. I’d already had about three years under my belt at that point and I did intend to find another meeting, but I just never got around to it. Believe me, if I ever felt a need to pick up another drink today I’d find an AA meeting. You never get over it. If you’re a diabetic, you’re a diabetic. If you’re an alcoholic, you’re an alcoholic. Alcoholism is a disease that totally takes control of your life. Everything you do or don’t do can be blamed on it which is actually rather convenient.

  Staying Afloat

  After her mother’s unexpected passing, Georgina picked up the pieces where her mother left off. She joined her mother’s card club, took her mother’s place in the Tyler church choir, and decided to enroll in several college classes where she ended up returning to her theatrical roots and appeared in a couple of small productions. After the death of her father, Spelvin returned to California, and once again, won a role in a local play. She met the man who would soon become her friend, lover, and third husband. Today the two reside in a Hollywood home almost directly underneath the Hollywood sign fulfilling a long time dream.

  When my mother and dad died and I came back to California to live, my first husband, Christopher, who was still my best friend, phoned me one day and said “I need a ride out to a theatre”. They wanted him to read with people. Maureen, his third wife and estranged from at that point, had just had his little MG car impounded. He owned her some back child support money. He was without wheels and wanted me to drive him over to North Hollywood. I went with him to this play reading and while I was there the director asked me to read a role. I was offered the role of a religious spouting female who — well, it was never quite established whether she was a prostitute or not. She obviously had a sideline that kept her going.

  The play was The Hostage, and in this play, a gentleman was playing the role of Rio Rita, this screaming queen character. [John] was excellent in the role and as we talked during the day, I discovered that he belonged to the same health club that I did. It proved to be sort of the watering hole for the Hollywood gay crowd, so I assumed he was gay and we became good friends. Later, he showed up at a picnic with a gorgeous blonde bombshell. His cousin had escorted me to this picnic and I said to him “I thought your cousin was gay?” The cousin I was with almost drowned in the hot tub laughing. I then realized he wasn’t gay, and the poor dear didn’t have a chance after that. Neither one of us had children. When I look around the world today, I am frankly glad. It’s getting very difficult to grow up and to have a life.

  Spelvin’s primary source of income for two decades after re-establishing herself in Los Angeles was derived from work as a desktop publisher for the L.A. Medical County Association. Occasionally, she continued to accept straight acting opportunities on the side. Georgina’s most enjoyable experience was joining the cast as a supporting player in the Police Academy (1984) films that starred Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, and Bubba Smith. The first movie was filmed in Toronto.

  I’ve been to Toronto three times, twice doing the Police Academy movies, which were just so wonderful, and once because I had a job working in North Tonawanda. It was just great fun to run over to Canada. I love Canadian people; they’re everything American people should be.

  I LOVED being in Police Academy with Bubba Smith. I’ll never forgive myself for turning down his invitation to dinner. I was so terrified someone would think I was a guaranteed lay that I cut myself off from friendships that were probably being offered with no ulterior motives at all. I was bent out of shape and sort of would walk into situations where I thought, “Oh, everybody knows what I do and most people don’t particularly approve of it.”

  I was very defensive, which was just stupid; it was just very stupid. Why would they have called me to do the film in the first place if they’d had an issue with it? It wasn’t only because of having done the sex films; I was always terribly intimidated by those that I admired. In the ballet world, to be in the same class with Melissa Aiden, I couldn’t do anything. I just stood there paralyzed watching her.

  In 1989, Georgina played the part of a Bette Davis-type sexually abusive mother in the mainstream movie Bad Blood (directed by Chuck Vincent) featuring Veronica Hart and Randy Spears, in addition to Hollywood “B” actors Linda Blair and Troy Donahue. She also made appearances in several TV programs including Dream On and The Lost World.

  Since leaving the acting world behind, Spelvin is appreciative of small pleasures.

  I’m starting to enter into what is considered the pie chart years. I seem to have the constitution of an iron bucket of which I am entirely grateful. I’m just real lucky in that department. I go to the gym every day — well, John goes to the gym, I actually go to the spa. I garden as much as I absolutely have to so that I enjoy looking at it. I’m not one of those people absolutely thrilled over a new species, or someone who knows the names of everything. I know the name of nothing. I like flowers. In fact, I’m looking out the window right now — we had a good rain last night into the morning, and when it rains in California, it’s dancing in the street time.

  I wish I could really sing. I couldn’t compare with Edith Piaf singing, “No Regrets,” that’s for sure, but why in the world should anybody have regrets when we can’t do anything about it. There are moments when somebody reminds me of something I did or said, and I think, “Oh god, what a stupid thing to have said.” I regret that I did it, that I was that stupid and so forth, but not to the point where I think, “Oh, god, what a terrible person I was and must still be for having done that.” No. We all just go along grabbing any log that comes close enough to keep us above water. By the same token, of course, I am rather reticent to censor anybody else for anything another person does. We are the people we have become because of everything that happened to us. It just isn’t
possible to change who we are so what’s the point of speculating? Yes, examine your life. If you don’t like what happens due to something you’ve done, don’t do it again.

  The Devil Made Her Do It

  In 2005, Georgina was interviewed for the documentary Inside Deep Throat. That same year when former performer turned adult film director Paul Thomas (born Philip Toubus aka “PT”) invited Georgina to do a cameo in the remake of The Devil and Miss Jones, she was reluctant to participate. Spelvin had reprised her role as the sexually frustrated Justine Jones in The Devil in Miss Jones, Part II (directed by Henri Pachard/Ron Sullivan) in 1983, and she didn’t feel the need for a three-peat. PT’s persistence paid off, however, and Georgina was hired to play a bathroom attendant in two scenes in the Vivid video The New Devil in Miss Jones (2005) starring Samantha Samson in the title role and Jenna Jameson as “Miss Devlin.” Dick Smothers Jr., son of Comedy King Dick Smothers, surprised some people when he also performed in the big budget production. Spelvin couldn’t help but enjoy the camaraderie on set and made a new lifelong friend in Penny Antine (aka Raven Touchstone) who wrote the script and worked as a costumer.

  Within the last five years, Georgina graciously accepted an honor extended by Bill Margold and company to be inducted into the annual “Legends of Erotica” in Las Vegas where wryly, she etched in cement: “Don’t do it!”

  In the summer of 2011, Georgina was one of Penny Antine’s guests at a luncheon Antine hosted in her home during my trip to California. A woman of small stature with grey hair swept back into a ponytail opened the door. It didn’t take me longer than a few seconds to realize it was the spunky, quick-witted Ms. Spelvin herself. Within the small group that also included Veronica Hart/Jane Hamilton, Spelvin regaled us with a hilarious story about two raccoons that had recently broken into her home and set up housekeeping. At one point, she jumped to her feet to simulate the furry creatures washing their faces and brushing their teeth in her bathroom leaving us all in stitches. After lunch, Penny led us to her guesthouse stuffed to the rafters with costumes from various movie sets she’d worked on. Georgina obliged my request by holding up the maid uniform she’d worn in the recent remake of “Devil.”