GOLDEN GODDESSES: 25 LEGENDARY WOMEN OF CLASSIC EROTIC CINEMA, 1968-1985
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That’s Entertainment!
With thirteen sex films under her belt, Maxwell’s filmography is miniscule in comparison to many of her colleagues. Jody’s background in theatre and speech proved to be a dynamic asset when she developed a one-woman entertainment show attraction initiated at Show World in New York, appealing not only to fans, but also to the very curious. Adept at streamlining her sexual propensities to cater to the growing demands of adult audiences, Maxwell occasionally modified her program to satisfy a mixed clientele. Astoundingly, she was able to accomplish this without performing live sex.
I was the first erotic star to do a stage show that was not stripping, and who did NOT have an initial background of stripping. I was approached by [former sex club] Show World in New York City to do anything I pleased on stage. With my creative mind and some helpful suggestions from [stripper] Honeysuckle Divine, I created a very sexy standup comedy act that also showed what a particular audience wanted to see. It was completely different from any show to which audiences had previously been exposed. Our shows repeatedly sold out, and more and more women came as the word got out. Frequently, their men would bring them. It was funny, sexy, interactive, and sometimes educational too. I had a legitimate theater background so I used those talents combined with my sexual abilities and talents. I was the pioneer for Annie Sprinkle and many other erotic stars who took the stage. I feel my stage work was significant because it opened another venue for the stars.
I opened up in Show World, in New York, and perfected my act as I went along. I was the very first one to venture into that field. It was a one-woman show. Of course, Show World had hardcore sex, but I had my gown cut a strategic way because I wasn’t a stripper, and I was not a dancer of that kind. I’m not a clumsy dancer, but I’m clumsy, in general, and I didn’t want to go out and make a fool of myself. I was talked into this by the Show World people so I knew they wanted T&A. I would walk out on stage in these sexy costumes and I would expose myself, and I would show them the sweet pussy they all wanted to see. I happened to have a well-endowed clit, and it would jump. A jumping clit was almost too much for them. I would show my boobs and shake them, and I’d occasionally get close to the guys in the front row, but that would be it. Thank god, I was quick-witted.
I would have a card-sized table with a few chairs out there and I would invite a male up on stage. I’d take questions from the audience and I would tell jokes, and I’d talk about the profession, but I kept it entertaining. I would give them whatever they wanted to see, but it was never usually more than just for a moment. The management shook their heads. They couldn’t figure out how come they were selling out because this wasn’t hardcore sex. We were doing a straight show. The men in the audience would think they were going to get their cocks sucked, but that’s not what happened. Instead, I sucked on their finger. I would sing a song on their finger. They would get so turned on; it was amazing. People just loved it. They’d come back and bring women with them.
Eventually, it was suggested that I put a bowl of water on the table and suggest that the guy sit on the table. Then I was able to wash a man’s hand because I didn’t know where his hand had been. It was an excellent idea, so I started doing that. They thought they’d get to wash me and figured they’d get to do all kinds of things to me, which they didn’t get to do. It got more interesting as time progressed. About the third time I did this, a guy asked me how the bowl of water would be used. He said, “What do you want me to do, sit in it?” Everyone thought it was hilarious, but afterwards, I got thinking about it. I thought, “I’m going to get a guy to sit in a bowl of water.” I ran that past management and they said, “There is no way any self-respecting guy in New York City is going to sit in a bowl of water for you, or for anybody else, Jody. I’m sorry, you’re good, but you’re not that good.”
I said, “You wanna make a bet?”
The next show I had I asked the guy to sit in a bowl of water and you know what? He did. He didn’t actually take off his pants but he sat in a bowl of water. He had slacks on and the audience just about died. I had trouble not breaking up, but I gave all of the appropriate looks. I’ve been told that I have impeccable timing, so it came off very well. I would expose a breast, or sometimes I would have them identify parts of the body. I had the men wash their hands, and I would suck and sing on a finger while he was sitting in a bowl full of water. Most of the time, I’d ask the guy to drop his drawers and they would do it!
I brought this show all over different parts of the country. The police would come in occasionally to see what I was doing and they’d love it! They’d come back that night in plain clothing and bring their wives. I was actually demonstrating how to suck cock. I’d say that the best way to learn how to suck was to do it on your finger. Women would start to come in, and sometimes, I’d get married couples or people who were going together would come in. A gal would come up and suck on one of the guy’s fingers while I worked on the other hand. I would teach them how to do it, literally, while they were up on stage. It was a very unique show.
This show that I did was probably quite tame compared to hardcore sex shows that would take place right on stage. My show was about entertainment. It was hot, and I made it a learning experience. It was great fun. I was quick-witted enough. We took questions from the audience and I always involved them into the show, which was probably a smart thing to do. When you can do that, it doesn’t matter if it’s R-rated, or a comedy, or drama. When you incorporate the audience, you’ll have a successful show. Things became funnier as time progressed because the men would take their pants off, and eventually, they’d take their underwear off too. Sometimes I’d be sucking on somebody’s finger and suddenly you’d see this cock pop up!
Simultaneously, I also began working for Cheri as a writer and some other magazines including Hustler. The reason I did all these things at the same time is because somebody who was in the business, not an actor, but someone who was close to me that had known the adult industry far better than I did said, “Don’t take every film offered. Don’t become overexposed because you don’t want to become jaded.” I regret turning down some films. I turned down some projects that became good X-rated movies. My idea, initially, was that I had wanted to make regular Hollywood movies. In order to achieve that, the less X-rated, the better. That’s what I was told so I did everything. Because of the kind of films I made, and because of the type of shows I did and the writing I’ve done, I’ve managed to have lasting power. The editor at Hustler said to me, “You left us wanting more.” That’s how you should do it.
As she heeded the advice of her friend, Maxwell sharpened her writing skills and found work as a columnist for several adult magazines comprising of Escapade, Capers, Partner and Adult Cinema Review. In turn, Jody was able to thrive as an adult celebrity, but she didn’t neglect her roots as a young politicized woman who advocated the importance of supporting future leaders and staying abreast of topical issues. Maxwell maximized her title and time as a young delegate representing Missouri at a National Young Republican Convention in Chicago which, according to her, involved a lot of work, a lot of partying, no sleep, and an abundance of X-rated activities. During her employment as a reporter for Cheri magazines, Maxwell made a point of covering Democratic and Republican Conventions as a feature storywriter. She fraternized with the likes of fellow political activists such as Warren Beatty when Presidential Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter ran against incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford. Maxwell was even an invited guest at the White House, and once attended a party hosted by President Nixon’s daughters.
Over the years, Jody has grown disillusioned with what she perceives is a hypocrisy of the origins of the Republican Party mandate.
Unfortunately, for a party claiming to believe in fundamental individual freedoms, they certainly want to control our lives when it comes to sex and related fields. Now, many of these current high profile people who call themselves Republicans have bastardized the party and turned
it into more of a fundamentalist, ultra-conservative party using the name “Republican” as the umbrella for them to gather to give them power and influence. I feel that this is no longer the party of Lincoln or of my grandfather.
Sex Tales
Determined to perpetually reinvent her image to keep things current, Maxwell made another transitory move in the 1980s when she joined Personal Services Club and functioned as a phone sex specialist. Jody remained a club member for twelve years titillating affiliates and fans with sassy sexy talk documented in her book My Private Calls (2004). Adapting from one end of the adult pool to another was a seamless passage.
It was not that difficult, in part, because I started doing erotic calls while I was still involved with everything else. I looked upon it as another gig. As a trained, legitimate actor, this was more acting, simply a different kind. The fact I was playing myself, “Jody Maxwell, erotic film star,” made it a kind of a two-edged sword. I didn’t have to create some fictional person that more often is the case with phone sex people handling the calls. They can be whoever the caller wants them to be, but they constantly have to create new personas. In my case, while I could be a fictional personality, I was still Jody. The callers knew it. So in that sense, it was limiting. On the other hand, the great majority of my callers were fans; they were very positive and nice. A high percentage simply wanted to talk with me, not have phone sex. However, my actual sexy calls were often a whole lot of oral sex, but certainly not all, by any means, of course. I understand that, knowing who I am, but sometimes it made it harder to branch out to other scenarios that I would have liked to have done more often to increase its freshness to me. I did have every possible kind of call, but the greatest emphasis was oral sex. A lot of times I would be asked to sing some song like “How Much is that Doggie in the Window,” and my wonderful fans would get off on my phone warbling. That would always amuse me in a good way. The brain is a wonderful and fascinating sex organ. Some fans would hear me say “hello” and they were finished. It truly amazed me!
Totaling the amount of years she spent as an adult entertainer, I asked Jody if she ever experienced any undue backlash as a star of sex films or as a phone sex celebrity.
Early in my career, I did a radio interview in my hometown. I was very naïve about what the public reaction might be, but because I was in my hometown, I figured I’d be safe. I was supposed to go to the studio but I was sick. I had a bad case of the flu, so I called and asked if we could do it over the telephone. I didn’t know the host. I didn’t check him out. I just agreed to do the show and didn’t realize I was setting myself up. It was horrific; I learned a lot from that experience, trust me. People kept calling me and saying terrible things.
I did have a couple of bad experiences, but I’ve compartmentalized anything negative. The negative connotations had absolutely nothing to do with me getting into porn, nothing. Yes, admittedly, I’ve had terrible nightmare problems from a couple of experiences, but again, it had nothing to do with me getting into this field. I didn’t seek out this particular career path; it sought me out. Remember, I’d thought about it for a while. All I agreed to in the beginning is that I would talk to my dad about it. I told Damiano that I’d get back to him.
You know, my uncles probably had a little tougher time dealing with my career, but my aunts were great, especially my mother’s older sister. We were very close. She was a professional seamstress and helped me a lot with my stage costumes.
In every single X-rated film that I made, if I didn’t want to work with a particular guy, I didn’t have to work with him. It is quite different today. When I was inducted into the Erotica Hall of Fame in 2006, I also did a story for Hustler about what is going on today. I interviewed a lot of today’s girls and everything is so strange. This one girl told me that she decided she can make more money from doing “ass-fucking” scenes than anything else. I asked her if she ever does any acting and she said, “Oh no. They call me when they want me to do an anal scene.” She’s a “star”. To me, that’s not really being a star. It’s what we used to call a “body”. No lines except for things like, “Oh! That feels so good,” or, “Do it to me!” Anyway, she said she’s treated like a superstar.
What’s nice about the piece that Hustler did on me is how they described me, and our era: “That’s when stars were really stars.” I thought that was nice. Today, the industry is dull and they all look alike. I know that Bill [Margold] is concerned because many of the golden age stars have passed away and that’s very upsetting. Bill’s right, of course.
Liberation
I laugh because I think that, personally, according to my own experiences in the other world separate from the adult industry, women have been more exploited. I’m referring to the working world. In porn, generally, what you see is what you get, relatively speaking. Hundreds of thousands of cases of women have had to sleep their way to the top. People joke about the casting couch but it does exist.
Years ago, I actually did a blaxploitation movie [exploitation films designed for an urban black audience] called Bucktown [1975, directed by Arthur Marks featuring the late Thalmus Rasulala, a brilliant black straight actor and one of the stars of the television mini-series Roots] for a wonderful director who had made the Perry Mason series. The cast was terrific. I really enjoyed them. I was treated with respect by everybody. I played a topless dancer. It was during the film shoot I became acquainted with someone connected to that movie who I felt was the old “casting couch” routine type of individual. He said, “If you do this and that for me, I can make you this, that, and the other.” It was so stereotypical, like a line from a “B” grade movie.
I never thought of myself as a feminist in the true sense of the word. I might even have been offended at one time to hear that word used to describe me, but I was/am more offended to be called or implied subservient to men or a lesser person because I am a female. I feel that being in adult films was empowering, but maybe even more than that it was emancipating. Now if those two things are a form of feminism, I guess I could be labeled as a feminist. I found making adult films liberating. I found the industry liberating. I pretty well got along with everybody. I tried to choose carefully what I made, and my reasons were varied for my choices. There were fewer games played by people in the biz than people dealing with and living so-called “normal” lives. I’m proud of the work that I did in the industry. There were perks too, of course. I met a lot of Hollywood people who treated me as an equal and with respect. I know that’s not true of all of the stars.
“Empowered” is a term frequently and carefully used by some of the relatively unscathed female veterans to accurately represent the positive components of having worked in the erotic movie industry. To be fair, obviously not all female or male performers necessarily agree that participation in sex films for mass audience consumption worldwide is a self-esteem booster, or that it can’t negatively impact the lives of many sex performers short or long term. All things being equal, working as an entertainer in any capacity can have detrimental and salutary consequences.
I think people like Candida Royalle, Juliet Anderson, Samantha Fox, myself, Annie Sprinkle, Jane Hamilton and Sharon Mitchell — the industry controlled her for a while before she was able to control it — I feel that all of these people are somewhat empowered by their experiences in the adult industry. Too often people think we’re all runaway kids, taken advantage of by those pretty mean old men. It’s just not the case. We all were paid well, obviously, and I was well paid. Most of the directors and producers, they’re not trying to sleep with you, they’re trying to make a buck. Why blow it by sleeping with you? If you go to work at an office, before you know it, inevitably someone is trying to sleep with you. This goes on in all sorts of careers. It happens far too often. In this industry, you’re allowed to have a say if you want to sleep with someone, or if you don’t, on camera. I guess in a way, we’re all feminists. Feminism in today’s world, I think, is confusing for young girls.
After I got married again in the early eighties, I did my phone sex, and when I left, I started teaching school. At present, I’m substituting. California does tight checks. It’s funny I haven’t been confronted because they know me by my married name now. I did all of my paperwork legally. I gave them all my names: my married name, my maiden name, and my so-called “porn” name.
In everything I’ve done, I have always treated the people I encounter with respect so I’ve been treated with respect back. I think that’s a great part of my life.
COURTESY OF JODY MAXWELL
COURTESY OF JODY MAXWELL