In Hollywood with "The Goddess of The Golden Age of Porn", Georgina Spelvin

When she  met my father in 1973, Georgina Spelvin already had an impressive resumé. A classically trained dancer, she had appeared in The Pajama Game on Broadway, dancing for Bob Fosse. Her love of filmmaking led her and a group of fellow artists to found “The Pickle Factory” in Greenwich Village, New York, in the late 1960’s, where they made protest films against the Vietnam War.

An accomplished film editor, with experience in all aspects of production, she applied for the job as caterer for The Devil in Miss Jones. When she showed up at the office for an interview, Jerry was auditioning John Clemens for the role of “Abaca” (The Devil’s Advocate), and asked her to run lines with him. When she left that day she had gotten both the catering job, AND the starring role in the film. The Devil in Miss Jones made headlines (as Deep Throat before it), but this time it was due to critical acclaim, rather than scandal. And Georgina was (in her own words), “skyrocketed from oblivion to oblivion”.

We found Georgina living in the lovely Hollywoodland section of Los Angeles, just beneath the iconic sign, together with her partner of more than 30 years. She regaled us with tales of working on “Devil”, as well other films, which she later made for my father, such as For Richer For Poorer and Fantasy. Now well into her 70’s, her formidable intelligence and quick wit, have only improved over time. She has recounted her extraordinary story in a memoir entitled The Devil Made Me Do it, which is available on Amazon.com. Read her blog at: http://georginaspelvin.blogspot.com/