Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Goodbye Miss Jones

The Devil in Miss Jones was the first skin flick I ever saw and the only one I remember with any tenacity. The star of the film was Marilyn Chambers**, who was a breakthrough 70's porn star. I don't remember much of the sex, but I do remember the people I was watching it with, college buddies I was visiting up at Ohio State. I wondered what the guys were thinking. I remember waiting for something to happen. I remember the ending shot of Miss Jones anguished face as she's condemned to the verge of climax for all eternity.

Marilyn Chambers died on Sunday.

In this 1977 interview, Marilyn's best moments bloom at around the 5 minute mark. She's cute and sexy and impish as well as articulate about sexuality and I daresay ahead of her time (although the interviewer Al Goldstein is beautiful to watch throughout). She strikes me as the sort of woman men want to go to bed with. There is also a timelessness about her.

I've written droves about Porn 2.0, but it doesn't interest me much. After watching this interview, however, I've got to get my hands on some of the vintage stuff. I want to revisit Miss Jones, maybe take a peek Behind the Green Door. I want to listen raptly to the Story of O.

Ciao Marilyn. Viva la blindfolds and ropes.



**Your humble hostess has been duly corrected. One Ms. Georgina Spelvin played Miss Jones, not Marilyn Chambers. Please excuse Miss O'Brien. She's stuck on low tide.

9 comments:

VideoDude said...

Marilyn Chambers along with Annette Haven and Nina Hartley, helped a young VideoDude through his awkward teenage years.

Rest In Peace, Marilyn.

dean said...

I have never seen any of the old originals, think they might be worth looking up. They're probably available on DVD somewhere.

Rodger Jacobs said...

I spoke with her a few times in the hallways of VCA Pictures in 1999 when I was an in-house writer and she was starring in "Still Insatiable"; sweet, polite, soft-spoken and unlike many former Golden Age stars I have known she aged very well.

Kirk said...

The best thing about '70s porn? The girls all had their own breasts back then.

Al Goldstein was the long time editor and publisher of SCREW. In 2008, he ran for president. His campaign commercial can be found on YouTube. Check it out. You might be surprised to find yourself agreeing with some of his views.

philbilly said...

I've been trying to get my hands on some of the vintage stuff ever since a 43 year-old goddess rocked my 19 year-old world.

Marilyn was fine to the untimely end.

Bill the Wrenchbender said...

It's just a ride, she had a helluva fun one. We should all be so lucky.

(S)wine said...

i must say i am fascinated by how many of my friends have posted obits for her.

i hate to have to say that i don't really have an opinion either way on this, although every death is its own tragedy.

marilyn neither influenced nor rocked my worlds, but from what i've read about her, she seemed like a nice, kind human being. and really, that's a brilliant virtue. especially nowadays.

and so RIP. i love this line from a Hemingway personal letter to Max Perkins, writing on the death of a friend: "...he died like everyone else; and then he was dead."

no melancholy there my friend. as it should be. melancholy is reserved for those left behind, for those who survive us.

HeyJoe said...

Not that I'm a porn fiend or anything, but I believe Georgina Spelvin starred in The Devil in Miss Jones.

I too would love to pick up a copy of Behind the Green Door. And Insaitable will always hold a special place in my heart.

Joke in there somewhere...

Erin O'Brien said...

HeyJoe. You're right about Spelvin. God I feel like a moron.