Marilyn Chambers Passes the Baton

Yesterday’s news had several odd or unexpected porn-related stories. First, I was surprised to read that Marilyn Chambers died unexpectedly at the age of 56. If you haven’t seen the 1972 film Behind the Green Door, you should. Yes, it’s tame by today’s standards. And yes, some things (clothes, language, the black/white racial messages) may make you wince. But take it for what it was: part of the vanguard movement of getting porn out of the backroom stag films of my father’s day and into the mainstream. And Marilyn Chambers was (at first accidentally and later consciously) part of that movement throughout her adult life.

Here’s a scene from Behind the Green Door I found streaming online. The voyeurism in the club is hotter than the more polished, colder voyeurism in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. The sweat on her skin, the expressions on her face as gets fucked on stage are very, very real. To me, at least. NOTE: Clicking on the video below will open a new and annoying browser window. Don’t click on it unless you’re willing to have that open. Just close it and then you can play the video… which IS worth viewing.

Rest in peace, Marilyn Chambers.

In a lighter story (also on MSNBC… clearly on a roll), I was encouraged to read the story about Japan’s 75-year-old porn star. Shigeo Tokuda has been making porn movies in Japan for the last 16 years and has plans to keep going for “at least” another 5 years. Tokuda’s first career was as a typical Japanese office worker. But for the last 16 years, Tokuda has appeared in over 200 porno films, having sex with women ranging in age from their 20s to his own age. Clearly I’m not the only one inspired by Tokuda, as his movies are very popular with Japan’s rapidly aging population.

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