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

by Nelson, Jill C.

  Contrary to what some of her contemporaries believe, Nina is adamant that eighties video porn is a step-up from celluloid.

  People call the 1970s “The Golden age of Porn,” but I call it a dark and dreary place. The grooming and the lighting got much better in the eighties with video. The cameras were smaller and required less light. The girls started shaving their lips so that you could at least see “it”. The early porn isn’t always so sexy when the grooming left a lot to be desired. People were very, very furry — him and her. Back in the seventies, most people didn’t think they were doing anything revolutionary. It was like, “Oh, my god, let’s get high and get paid a hundred bucks!” Why not? Nobody ever thought about a stigma being attached. Back then, if you stopped doing porn it was highly unlikely that you would run into anyone who would recognize you. If you wanted to, you could leave. Once video porn started, and once porn entered mainstream it was a lot more difficult. Now a lot of my early work that I did in the eighties is coming back out.

  Nina is correct in asserting the first generation of performers didn’t likely consider stigmatization when they set out to appear in early loops, eight or sixteen millimeter films. Forty years after the fact with video and DVD, in conjunction with the available preservation technologies combined with the internet, tube sites, and zealous interest in vintage works on the part of adult film fans, historians and production companies, industry pioneers have entered into perpetuity.

  Naughty Girl

  Some of Hartley’s early movies produced in 1984 and 1985 are available as VOD and on DVD: Butter Me Up (1984), Ball Busters (1985), Thought You’d Never Ask (1985), Shaved Bunnies (1985), Naughty Girls like it Big (1986) and the award-winning Debbie Duz Dishes (1986).

  Naughty Girls Like it Big (directed by Bob Vosse, known for the success of Swedish Erotica) is a recipe for success with attractive women, well-equipped men and hot sex scenes. Four gorgeous girlfriends (Hartley, Angel Kelly, Porsche Lynn, and Lili Marlene) hook up for a reunion and bring one another up to speed on the details of their past and current love lives. Their discussion quickly turns to the subject of length, and it becomes clear the four girls are size queens. Taking turns through flashback mode, the women vividly describe their libidinous experiences with well-endowed males (as the title suggests), as the chatter continues, the steamier the room becomes. Porsche goes first and gushes while detailing how she’d seduced a young virgin (Tom Byron) in a kitchen chair prior to Angel’s confession about a tawdry first encounter with her former, sweet talking teacher (John Holmes) in the classroom after hours. Reluctant at first to kiss and tell, Lili shyly discloses an incident which occurred during a routine visit with her physician (Ron Jeremy) that included a third party (Alexis Greco) on top of the doctor’s desk. Last, but certainly not least, Nina tops all three accounts when she divulges how she arrived one morning at a construction site, scantily clad, and after teasing the guys she proceeded to get it on with the two lucky stiffs (Mike Horner and Buddy Love, although neither one is particularly known as the “biggest” in the biz). All the sexy talk inspires Angel to call upon her accommodating boyfriend (Jerry Butler) who arrives just in time to entertain the girlfriends in bed. Nina appears to thoroughly enjoy herself in both montages, and had no difficulty managing Horner and Love or the larger group. After all, Hartley was already a pro in 1986 after having appeared in dozens of movies.

  People probably thought in the beginning that I was on cocaine because it was the eighties, but I was just so happy to be there. I liked being there. I didn’t need to be high. I have a mission — you can’t be on a mission when you’re not sober.

  Hartley’s performance in Debbie Duz Dishes (also directed by Bob Vosse) is nothing short of delightful. As a newlywed and former socialite, Debbie (Hartley) is overwhelmed by a mounting sink full of dishes in her new home just three days after her wedding to handsome hubby David (Mike Horner). Once David leaves for work, Debbie receives a call from her concerned Jewish mother who bluntly informs her: “Nice Jewish girls don’t do dishes.” Mom urges her daughter to have the marriage annulled. When Debbie explains the notion is preposterous because she and David already consummated their marriage, her mother is disgusted and abruptly dismissed while still in mid-sentence. In a style reminiscent of 1970s sitcoms, Debbie, as cheerful as ever (and almost naked) opens the door to a succession of visitors to the home. Kirby (Jerry Butler), a door-to-door salesman brandishing some rather unique genitalia attachments has Debbie enthralled when he offers to demonstrate an electric dildo device causing her to quickly climax after only a few thrusts. Next, he tries on a little gadget that helps to elongate his organ. Suddenly, Kirby has a brainstorm — he would rather Debbie assist him in getting hard in place of the gadget which she does lustfully. Shortly thereafter, Debbie’s girlfriend Maureen (Keli Richards) arrives on the scene, hoping to talk some sense into her best friend about the dos and don’ts of married life. When the girls are interrupted by another houseguest Hank (Billy Dee), Debbie realizes Kirby is nowhere to be seen. The three head upstairs to the bedroom to find the salesman seemingly lifeless on the ground next to the bed. A green, gooey liquid is observed near his body and the girls determine the old house is haunted with deadly forces at play wielding some kind of potent sexual power over its inhabitants. Leaving little time for concern, the doorbell rings again, and Debbie is off to answer it while Maureen and Hank get to know one another better. Before the day is over, in addition to Hank, Maureen does the two deliverymen (Jon Martin and Roger Scorpio), and Debbie discovers she likes women as well as men.

  In the final sex scene, Debbie takes on Jake (Herschel Savage), a weary tow truck driver with an imposing appendage. The movie’s strangest moment occurs a few minutes prior to wrapping up when an Exorcist (played by cameraman, former producer and occasional 1970s non-sex performer Damon Christian) arrives to expel all evil forces by placing a ripe apple on a tee and whacking it as hard as he can with a driver towards the house. Amusingly, green goo flies madly away from the old home in every conceivable direction inferring the demons have been fumigated.

  The premise for Debbie Due Dishes centering on a bored naive housewife with an overactive libido might seem outlandish and dated even by 1980s standards (and it is), but it’s important to bear in mind, with few exceptions, adult themed material is not generally intended to be taken seriously.

  Obviously, my involvement in adult films was partly for attention. Any performer is in it for the attention. Any entertainer is an exhibitionist except that they usually leave their clothes on. When a person gets onstage by herself and everyone is looking at her, she has to be an exhibitionist. I happen to be a sexual exhibitionist, but I’m also about doing it in an appropriate way. I’m not going to go flash my boobs in a bar and chance getting raped. I’ve worked in a strip club where there are rules and everyone knows what the deal is. I just made sure that I was safe. When I gave them permission to go ahead and film me, I knew there would be people imprinting on me. I knew that I’d be under the radar. I just knew the power of a good sex performance. I had a great time. I also had the five-minute mother hen lecture that is delivered to new performers. What I tell new performers is “What you don’t do at home for free, don’t do on camera for money because it will eventually eat away at your soul.” I also want them to know why they are on a porn set and to own it. If they’re there to say, “Fuck you, Mom,” know why you are there. Today, more young women come into porn that don’t have a need to be high or stoned. They’re freaky young people. Today, a polyamorous person or a sexual exhibitionist has a place to go. Instead of worrying what they’re going to be they can make a choice, “Oh, I can go and make porn. That’s cool.” Again, if I had not been so queer, I don’t know how my sexuality would have evolved. I might be in my second or third marriage, I don’t know, but because I recognized that I was bisexual and I’m not monogamous, I wasn’t even able to front as normal. Because I wasn’t a heterosexual person or a monogamous person, I was, by defini
tion, “not normal”. Porn is the only place in culture where you can talk about sex somewhat openly. People still snicker and say, “Why did you do it, why didn’t you do Hollywood?” I wasn’t pretty enough to do Hollywood. I wasn’t talented enough. I wasn’t driven enough. Hollywood turns you away at the last minute every time.

  Passion Within

  Hartley began to rack up praise from critics early on in her career (consisting of well over seven hundred titles) for her acting ability and sexual capability. Nina often appeared alongside colleague Billy Dee in feature showcases. She made an impact functioning as Dee’s client in Jack Hammer (1987), a detective story written by the late-1980s porn personality, Viper, in which Hartley’s character seeks to be penetrated by a custom dildo.

  One year earlier, the affecting 1986 release, The Passion Within, with co-stars John Leslie and Annette Haven, is still regarded a personal best and is a very watchable love story/drama. Nina assumes the part of a lonely divorcee and writer, Abby, looking to meet Mr. Right. Her best girlfriend (persuasively played by the lovely Annette Haven in a non-sex role) has good intentions by introducing Abby to several candidates (Joey Silvera and Jon Martin do a fine job as indifferent, bumbling duds) each of whom fails to live up to Abby’s expectations in and outside of the bedroom. While out shopping one afternoon, Abby mistakenly drops her purse in a parking lot. It is retrieved by Ted (John Leslie), an artist who has not only lost his creative muse, but he owes a debt to some underhanded characters. (Ted supplements his deficient income by sleeping with beautiful women married to powerful men, as is depicted earlier in a tempestuous sexual exchange between Leslie and Shanna McCullough.) Ted returns the purse to Abby, but harbors her diary and begins to learn about her life and yearnings. A few days later, Abby and Ted literally “bump” into one another again while out jogging, and are immediately mutually attracted. A tender romance begins to blossom. Abby and Ted manifest their passion in two beautiful love scenes analogous to watching a romance novel come to life — this is not a wham-bam job. As professionals in their craft, Hartley and Leslie efficiently signify a true and veritable infatuation with deep warmth and affection.

  Unfortunately, Ted’s private life begins to wreak havoc once McCullough’s ruthless husband (Richard Pacheco in a terrific non-sex appearance) discovers how his wife is spending his money. Hubby pays a visit to Ted’s studio, informing Ted he’s interested in showing the artist’s unique sculptures at several art shows, on the condition Ted pay a price for his favor by imbibing in some male-on-male sex. Angrily, Ted declines the offer; as a result, Ted is roughed up by Pacheco’s goons with more serious ramifications to follow if he doesn’t comply with Pacheco’s offer of compensation for pleasuring his wife. Unsure of where to turn next, Ted hurries over to Abby’s apartment. Unintentionally, he confesses about having kept her diary while urging her to join him in leaving town. Stunned, feeling manipulated and hurt for believing in Ted, Abby shows him the door and cries herself to sleep. Back at the studio, Ted realizes in order to have any chance for real happiness and a future with Abby he must turn around his life. He accepts a standing job offer as an automobile salesman, and after inking a heartfelt and loving inscription, Ted returns Abby’s diary to her through the mail. Genuinely moved by his words, Abby forgives Ted.

  The Passion Within (directed by Will Kelly) is finely scripted, deftly acted (including a nifty non-sex cameo by Billy Dee) and well suited for couples and individuals unfamiliar or even dubious about watching adult material. Hartley won AVN Best Actress award in 1987.

  Pleasure Centre

  Hartley’s enormous wealth of experience as a 1980s performer and actor irrevocably lead to her role as an educator and sexual healer where the body, mind and soul are unified. There is ample resource material available to support the concept that the body, mind, emotion, and spirit are reciprocally connected. If a modification transpires with one of the components of the overall system, an interactive effect is encountered at all levels. Hartley is a proponent of the ideology there is a fundamental and concise correspondence between the four constituents. It is her belief the human body governs over all memory including sexual memories and memories the mind strives to block. Nina is convicted about educating others how to embrace the benefits of an intimate body-mind experience in order to embrace sexual freedom.

  For me, sex is the thing. Sex is personal. As a seventies therapy person, there is all this stuff about kinesthetic memory and all of our ills can be addressed and healed when we learn to be at peace with our bodies now. Meditation is good for that, but some people have difficulty sitting still for five minutes. They’re not comfortable in their bodies at all. Sex and sexuality is a primary way into the body to heal it because sex is so primal that when we’re triggered, those urges can’t be ignored, they can’t be glossed over. Pleasure is a wonderful carrot to help us through the scary parts, and pleasure is our birthright as humans. Humans have an amazing sexual response cycle that has been stunted in every culture pretty much, and bruised, and hurt, and hijacked, and ill used, and misused. I write about this a lot. Even if I wasn’t a pornographer and if I had not become a mid-wife, I’d have become some kind of dance therapist or something to do with the body, or birthing, or something that uses the body and not just talk therapy. Everything is stored in the body. All of our feelings are stored there and all of our memories and our experiences — even the ones that took place before we had words with which to describe them. When we can help a person to stay within the body, and stay within the pleasure, all sorts of things are revealed. It’s certainly worked for me. A lot of my ability to be a healed person is because of sex and sexuality. It’s not just my livelihood, but I’m a true believer in my desire for every person to be at home in his or her body. Once we no longer fight our sexual nature, fear it, condemn it, suppress it, or repress it — all this energy is released that can be used for other things. We don’t realize how long we’ve been hitting ourselves in the head with the hammer until we can put the hammer down.

  We all need touch. It’s a universal human experience. We all need pleasure. We’re all wired to have orgasms even though we may be individually different people. Sexual pleasure is an altered state of consciousness; it’s like being on psychedelic drugs. You can fast for days, you can do dervish spinning; you can sing, you can do drugs, or you can pray. You can do sleep deprivation, you can humiliate the body and mortify the body. You can claim “God’s here!” or you can really work on that pleasure angle. I work on the pleasure angel because I’m Atheist so that doesn’t factor into my life.

  I’ve had the “Born Again” experience. I’ve had the experience with a person that is of such incredible emotional depth and relief and letting go and acceptance and all those things. Even at the time I was having the experience I was saying, “Oh, my God!” If I was a God believer, I’d have to say, “I felt Jesus’ love. God saved me.” I was saved that day, but I don’t have that language. I don’t believe in God, so I’ve realized that the validity of this experience is a psychological state that can be tickled in the mid-brain and accessed on a reliable and regular basis through drugs or pleasure or prayer or whatever. I don’t have a God story so I couldn’t label it “Jesus”. I think He was a human and I believe He lived, but that’s about as far as I go with it. I believe man created God and not the other way around. For whatever reason, God gave us sexuality, or Mother Nature gave it.

  It’s amazing when you think about the human sexual response cycle, especially the female sexual response cycle. Clearly, pleasure is incredibly important for evolution and for human society, or it would not have evolved. We’d all have babies in April or May, but females respond to sexual stimuli three hundred and sixty-five days out of the year — we have no mating season. It’s a whole different ball game. Not many creatures have sex for fun excluding a very few. It’s unusual, but all things being equal, we can become aroused at any time. We can have pleasure without it having to be September!

  Nina Educat
es the World

  By 1994, Hartley began to broaden her objectives in the field as a sexual professional and activist (the star was once arrested in 1993 at a Free Speech Coalition benefit). She devised a premise that would warm her fans while instructing everyday people how to make love like porn stars. As a sexual healer, Nina utilized her background as a nurse coupled with her evolutionary first-hand experience in the adult business as a performer to forge a profitable agreement with Adam and Eve Productions. Hartley proceeded to create a signature line of videos that arouse, entertain and educate the public about sexuality. The videos contain self-explanatory titles such as Nina Hartley’s Guide to Cunnilingus: Under the Hood (1994), Nina Hartley’s Guide to Anal Sex (1995), Nina Hartley’s Guide to Oral Sex (1998), Nina Hartley’s Guide to Spanking (2005), Nina Hartley’s Guide to Bondage Sex (2008) and Nina Hartley’s Guide to Great Sex during Pregnancy (2009). As the consequent years of releases suggests with over thirty-eight titles, Hartley’s movies have been well received.

  I think the most important thing I’ve done on camera, obviously, are my educational tapes. I do think that most of my conventional performances are also important in that over twenty-six years they consistently show a woman having a good time and not just a cipher. A lot of my fans are fans because of a particular body part, but half of them at least, have written in with heartfelt thanks saying, “Wow, you really seem to like what you’re doing.” That really helped me to understand the lie and the smack put on men by people who say, “Oh, men just don’t care,” or, “They have no feelings,” or “They don’t care about women.” It’s so not true. Men are looking for a connection with women as much as women are looking for a connection with men. In our culture with sexuality, the artificial scarcity of sex created by the double standard definitely leave men not only wanting sex, but also intimacy and friendship with women in an affectionate, physical kind of way. For people to find most important about me that “I liked it,” gave them hope that I wasn’t the only woman in the world who liked sex for its own sake.