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

by Nelson, Jill C.

  One of the standout scenes is Seka’s tryst with the lovely Merle Michaels who almost rivals Seka with her fashionably coiffed hair and nails. The two ladies kiss sweetly before getting undressed and move fluidly into the sixty-nine position. Passionately, they bring one another to explosive climaxes before a third party (Ron Hudd) joins them. Ron Jeremy’s now infamous auto fellatio scene is included in this film which spectators might wish to fast-forward through if this isn’t your particular preference. To Jeremy’s credit, the procedure is executed with his typical humor and good-natured manner while in the role as a company Foreman. None too pleased his three employees are being blown by Seka, he complains to deaf ears until Seka tells him to “go blow himself.” He decides to do just that.

  In the closing scenes, Seka, Yontz and another couple (Sofia Solana and Anthony Mann) slip into Plato’s Retreat in New York. After sipping a few drinks poolside for a while, the foursome joins in the fun as they enter the “Mattress Room.” Here, orgy magic is happening in a Fellini-like fantasy, an amalgamation of tongues and exposed body parts within a cloudy den. Interestingly, Yontz is described in Seka’s own written words during the closing credits as her “husband” of six years which could infer a common-law marriage.

  My film work was something I did and I enjoyed doing. I made very good money at it, but I never really thought a whole lot of people would see it. It wasn’t something that really concerned me whether they did or they didn’t because I wasn’t embarrassed about it or ashamed of it. I had no idea that it would last this long. No clue whatsoever. It wasn’t my intention to go to Hollywood to be on the silver screen to be a star. I went there because it was something that I chose to do and that I wanted to do, and I was living in California so what was the downside? At the time I was thinking, “Wow, I can get paid. I can have sex with a hot guy that’s going to be really good sex. I have a great afternoon. I get laid and I have an orgasm and I walk out the door with money in my hand.” Damn! Bonus!

  On the other hand, there are so many different emotions — not so much emotions, but trains of thought. At first, I really didn’t think of it as a business. I had no idea it was actually going to be my career. I didn’t think of it that way. In the beginning, I thought it was fair. I was getting paid good money. After the first time that I did an autograph signing at a convention in Chicago, the light bulb went on because they had printed five hundred pictures for three days. I thought, “My god. What are they thinking? I’ll never go through five hundred pictures.” Well, the first half of the first day we were out of pictures. That’s when the light bulb went off and I said to myself, “Holy crap. I’m not getting paid enough money. We’re going to have to even out the playing ground here.” So I asked for more money and I got it.

  In addition to demonstrating a good head for negotiating on behalf of her own best interests, Seka reinforced the importance of having been part of a tight recognizable group of entertainers. Up until 1981, adult performers were still a small community of people which allowed for selectivity of on screen partners. Seka counted the men and women whom she truly enjoyed working with almost on one hand.

  I liked John Holmes, Jamie Gillis, Mike Ranger and Randy West. What I liked about John is that he was respectful of me. He always treated me very kindly and he treated me like a lady. So did Jamie Gillis. There was something intriguing, and dark and kind of sinister, sexy about Jamie. Mike Ranger was just like the All-American California boy. Cute, very cute, and very nicely built. He knew how to use everything he had. I liked Randy West just because he’s Randy and he’s gorgeous. He looks better now than he did before. I also liked working with Serena, Kay Parker and Jesie St. James. I enjoyed working with Jesie St. James because she was easy. She was easy going; she wasn’t a prima donna. She wasn’t prissy or “I’m the star here, I’ve been here longer than you have”. She treated everyone equally and so did Kay Parker. Serena was interesting. She was very quirky — hippie-ish. She liked everybody and she was very kind, and still is very kind. She’s just a very sweet human being. I absolutely love Veronica Hart. She’s my all-time favorite person in the business — Veronica and Kay. I think that’s a good line-up of people.

  The old saying goes, “There’s a new one at the bus stop every day that has run away.” There were a lot of runaways back then too, but the people I worked with weren’t like that. We were just a small group of people. Little did we know that they needed us more than we needed them; we were already established and helped build their inventory and their empires.

  Seka took a break from films in the early 1980s when she resumed photo layout work and travelled on the road to feature in nightclubs. Stirrings about a reputed problem with substance abuse in the eighties caused the truth to become distorted.

  There is one thing that a lot of people do not know. I did not do drugs or drink when I was working. When I was actually doing movies, I knew about pot and I knew about cocaine. I didn’t do them. I didn’t even drink much then. I didn’t start drinking until I hit my mid-late thirties. When I was actually performing and making movies, I didn’t do drugs. I just wasn’t interested in it. Did I do it afterwards? Absolutely, and I had a good time. I would do it again if I could, but I can’t. I’m too old. I would kill myself. I’m surprised that I’m still alive. I know it was said that I was in rehab for a year. That makes me laugh because I don’t know anybody that goes into rehab and stays for a whole year. Did I do drugs? Absolutely! Did I abuse them? You’re fucking right I did and liked it! When I decided it was enough and that I couldn’t do it anymore or I was going to kill myself, I put it aside and never did it again. It didn’t bother me, I didn’t experience symptoms of withdrawal — nothing, because I’m not an addictive personality. Do I think about it sometimes? Absolutely, I do. I think, “Oh, my god, it’d be nice to do a big fat line right now”. Would I do it if it was in front of me? No, I wouldn’t do it.

  Drugs were part of the entire entertainment industry. It wasn’t just the adult entertainment industry. Because people so objected to adult entertainment, it was just another tool that they could use to try to stab and bring down the industry which is bullshit. I’m not going to lie about having done drugs. That’d be silly because too many knew I did it so if I lied about it, many people can crawl out of the corner. When I said, “I’m done,” I was done. I stopped and that’s it. When I realized that I was not only in the process of killing myself, but that I was going to die if I kept doing this then I stopped doing it, period. I liked me too much to kill me. It was like, “Damn! I’m fucking up!”

  The drug use wasn’t a grey area for me, but I think that it was for a lot of people. The statement that this one person made saying that I was in rehab for a year did piss me off. It didn’t hurt my feelings, but it pissed me off because number one, it wasn’t true, and number two, they said it because I didn’t want to work with them.

  What a lot of people don’t realize about drugs in general, is that you can be a drug addict and you can use drugs, but you can use drugs and not be an addictive personality. You can put it down and not pick it up again. People that have problems with drugs, just like people that have problems with alcohol are addictive people. It’s the same thing as people who can’t eat one chip only. If I have any addiction at all, it’s food. I love food. I’d be eight or nine hundred pounds if I let myself because I love food and I love to cook and eat.

  I did one movie after the period when I’d stopped making films and that was American Garter (1993) [directed by Gloria Leonard and Henri Pachard]. It was my last film, except for the one that I produced, Careful, He May Be Watching. It could have actually been before that, and then I did American Garter — that was the last film that I did. I was doing drugs at that time, not on set, but it was in my life. After I was done, it was like, “Okay, I can’t do this anymore. Goodbye. Let’s find the next new thing to play with.”

  “The Platinum Princess” Meets “Brother” Sam Kinison

  In 1986, Seka became the only c
elebrity in adult films to make an appearance on the widely watched television show Saturday Night Live after a chance encounter with comedian Sam Kinison led to a romantic liaison. Kinison, a converted preacher known for his outrageous comedic executions generally delivered in a loud and raucous rant, died on April 10, 1992 in Southern California. The vehicle he was driving was struck by a seventeen-year old drunk driver.

  Sam was fun. We had a good time. It wasn’t anything that was serious, serious. It was mid-late 1980s. I went to see him at one of his shows, and I was laughing my ass off and he wanted to meet me because he liked my laugh. I ended up travelling with him for several months. We had a very good time together, but it was difficult being around Sam because of his drug use and my drug use at the time, too. Eventually, we just parted. He lived in California and I was in Chicago, and I wasn’t going to move to California. We were connected off and on — more on, for a period of about two years.

  Sam was an amazing comedian and he was very, very smart. He was a preacher. He’d studied theology and it was hard to argue with someone who has studied theology. It really is because they’re very smart people. Most comedians I find are very intelligent. The stuff he could come up with off the top of his head was amazing. Because of the drugs, it just got very bad at times and I couldn’t do that anymore. I don’t think he could either. He finally straightened up and was on the straight and narrow as far as his drugs and alcohol were concerned when he had the car wreck and got killed. He’d been straight for about a year I think — maybe a little less. That was devastating. He was such a great talent and it was such a loss. He’d just gotten married. Back to School (1986) with Rodney Dangerfield was hysterical.

  Saturday Night Live had wanted Sam to do the show. He’d already done the show, and there was controversy over something he’d said or done and then they wanted him back. That was when I’d just started seeing Sam. He said, “I’ll only do it if you have Seka on”. He figured he wouldn’t have to do the show again, and then they agreed so he had to do it.

  I started the show with “The Church Lady”. Dana Carvey used to live in the building that I lived in, in Chicago. “The Church Lady” and I did the whole “It’s Saturday Night in New York,” or whatever that whole thing is. I was very well known at that time. I don’t know if it is on YouTube, but I have it somewhere on VHS tape and I can’t find it anywhere.

  The following dialogue is excerpted from the “Church Lady” skit that appeared in the fourth episode of the twelfth season of Saturday Night Live in November 1986. “Church Lady” played by the brilliant comedian, Dana Carvey set the table for Sam Kinison and Seka’s entrance.

  CHURCH LADY: “It just gripes my bottom that, right now, they’re getting ready for their dirty little sex show! I just don’t think we should have to stand for it! In fact — well, gosh, darn it, I’m not gonna stand for it! I’m gonna put a stop to this! Gosh, darn it! Where is Mr. Kinison? Where is this sinner? Where is this insurgent? Where is he, I know he’s here! Where is that diabolical disciple of depravity?! Has anyone seen that paunchy prince of perdition?!”

  (Church Lady finds her way into a back hall, where Kinison stands with his girlfriend, Seka)

  “Oh, that — oh! Look! There they are! The sinner! There they are! Oh! Look at you!

  (Stops, notices Seka)

  “Seka? Oh, I’ve only seen you in — well, what are you doing here with this awful Sam Kinison? He’s a terrible influence!”

  SEKA: “Stop trying to run my life, Church Lady.”

  (Tosses her hair)

  CHURCH LADY: “Well! Apparently, some of us don’t care too much about our little reputation, do we? Isn’t that super?!”

  (Seka makes a flagrant display of feeding Kinison from her fingertips)

  CHURCH LADY: “So — well.”

  SAM KINISON: “You know what you need?”

  CHURCH LADY: “What’s that?”

  SAM KINISON: “Well, you need what I was just about to give to her.”

  CHURCH LADY: (Glances back and forth between Kinison and Seka) “Well, I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

  SAM KINISON: “I call it a real touch from God!

  (Pulls Church Lady down and gives her a big, wet kiss on the lips. The Church Lady is flustered as he finally releases her and then turns to face the camera with a fury)

  CHURCH LADY: “Live from New York; it’s Saturday Niiiiiighttt!!”

  Careful, He May Be Watching

  I can only speak for myself but I never felt exploited, taken advantage of, demeaned or any of those things. I chose to do what I did. It was my choice, no one else’s. I was not guided by anyone to do it. I liked what I did. I got paid well for what I did. I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. If you’re going to do something, be proud of what you do. Own it and make it your own, and if you feel like doing something else after that, it doesn’t mean you tossed it away, it just means that you’ve added something else to your collection. Yeah, I did that and I did it well. Now I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it well, as well!

  Careful, He May Be Watching (1987) is a film that I wrote, directed, produced, raised money to produce, and I played two parts. I own Careful, He May Be Watching. Residuals on the film were offered to me. They said, “We’ll pay you X amount of dollars and you can have so much on the back end.” I didn’t trust it. I knew I’d never see the money so I took as much as what I could get up front and be done with it. You would never deal with a lot of the same people twice, and you never knew who was where, or doing what and it was nutty. I just said, “I want this amount of money — take the rest and do what you want.” People of my era helped to build a place where people do get residuals or could own their own companies. We didn’t at the time because we didn’t know any better.

  In every respect, Seka’s rendering of two contrasting personas is superlative in Careful, He May Be Watching. As the married thirty-something Jane Smith, and porn star Molly Flame, the story is a representation of a hefty portion of the female population with a private desire to be more unreserved in the bedroom. Wearing shorn platinum hair enhanced by carefully applied eye make-up and lined lips all serving to highlight her high cheek bones, Seka is a Goddess of grace and beauty.

  By day, Jane Smith is the unassuming wife of a handsome airline pilot Bill (played by the actor sometimes dubbed “Clark Gable of Porn,” Mike Horner). After hubby leaves for work, Jane morphs into a hot new adult screen idol Molly Flame. Disguised in a red wig, designer sunglasses and a full-length fur coat, in her anonymity as Molly, Jane is free to explore everything onscreen she is too frightened or timid to attempt in the arms of her husband. In a hilarious recreation of a real porn set, Jon Martin plays a stud for hire and is severely reprimanded by the director Harry (Misha Garr) for climaxing inside of his superstar partner rather than pulling out for the money shot. When Harry bellows that his “talent” won’t be receiving a check for his shoddy work, the stud shouts back, “I don’t give a fuck! Besides, I don’t accept checks. I’m only paid in cash!” Meanwhile, Jane’s husband is about to get a little on the side himself. Bill begins to fantasize about one of the flight attendants, Miss Cummings (Shanna McCullough). In his daydream, he engages in a sexual rendezvous with her, only the fantasy soon becomes reality. Afterwards, Bill suggests to his wife that Miss Cummings join them for a threesome. Up until this stage, Jane has turned down Bill’s offer to share their bedroom with another woman, but after “Molly” experiences a little girl-girl fun with another big star Annie (Kay Parker, who does a great job in the dominant role), Jane is finally open to Bill’s idea. In the end, everybody winds up happy and satisfied, and Jane’s alternate identity continues to be concealed from her spouse.

  Toward the end of the 1980s, major changes in the direction of Seka’s personal and professional life took hold. She and Ken Yontz finally parted ways after spending more than a decade together. In 1988, Seka testified before the Meese Commission in an opportunity to join her co-workers in oppo
sition of the report’s conclusion (with unfounded evidence) that viewing pornography produced harmful effects upon society.

  I did testify in front of Edwin Meese and the Senate Subcommittee on First Amendment Rights and things like that. That was a fight worth fighting because it was for freedom of speech for everyone. It wasn’t just for women. As human beings, we have to stand up for ourselves and be self-thinkers as leaders and not followers. Do what’s true to your heart. We’re all human beings, and it doesn’t matter what your gender is.

  After more than ten highly successful years in the business, excluding her return for the aforementioned movie American Garter in 1993, Seka made her departure from films and began to consider new prospects.

  I walked away from doing films because I didn’t want to disgust people by taking my clothes off in front of a camera and having sex at fifty-five! I’m not going to do that to my fans. I mean, my god, they’ve been supportive of me all these years, why should I devastate them? I don’t feel bad about the way I look, but it’s just not something that I want to do anymore. When I was twenty-five and thirty years old, when I had sex, there were things that didn’t move. I’m not ashamed of the way I look now, but a lot of things move and when things start moving, it doesn’t look all that great! So no, Mommy won’t be doing that!