X is for Xaviera Hollander!
Xaviera Hollander is the author of the 1971 memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story. In it she tells her tale of leaving her job as the secretary of the Dutch consulate in Manhattan in 1968 - when she was in her mid-twenties - to become a $1000 a night call girl. A year later she opened her own brothel and soon became New York City's leading madam. In 1971, she was arrested for prostitution by the New York police department and was forced to leave the U.S. whereupon she wrote her memoir (with co-authors Robin Moore and Yvonne Dunleavy) and became a notorious celebrity of the time.
Four years later, she starred in a Canadian movie - My Pleasure is My Business, an R rated sex farce directed by Canadian character actor Al Waxman - perhaps best known as the boss on TV's Cagney and Lacey.
After that, and separately from her Canadian cinematic adventures, Hollander's memoir was snapped up for filming in Hollywood. However, Ms. Hollander was not chosen to play herself. Instead, British actress and redhead Lynn Redgrave was cast as Xaviera. The film was, of course, The Happy Hooker, from 1975:
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| Lynn Redgrave as Xaviera Hollander |
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| Hollander and Redgrave together on set. |
The filmic legend of Xaviera Hollander didn't stop there. Oh no! It seems The Happy Hooker made some money - as it was a relatively clean dirty movie. So, in 1977, there was a sequel. Lynn Redgrave did not return, so blonde Joey Heatherton was brought in to play Ms. H as The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington.
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| Joey Heatherton as Xaviera Hollander |
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| In case you didn't realize she had a face. |
And then, after cable airings of the first two movies made some extra money, a third and final adventure for the notorious madam hit the theaters in 1980. This time brunette Martine Beswicke took over the role for The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood...
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| Martine Beswicke as Xaviera Hollander |
After the three movies, Xaviera Hollander continued to be a well known adult entertainment celebrity, with a sexual advice column appearing in Penthouse magazine for years. The column was indeed written by her according to her documentary producer John Patrick Patti in the comments below.
More recently, quoting Mr. Patti: "Nowadays, she produces English speaking theatre out of her fabulous villa in Marbella Spain, and runs a successful B&B business out of her hometown residence in Amsterdam, Holland."
Here's the poster to that cool documentary - courtesy Mr. Patti:
These days, of course, she would have found herself in a reality TV show - but back in the 70's - it was movies that called her - and you can try to track down and check out her four movies - the Happy Hooker movies are conveniently collected in one DVD set, but you'll only find My Pleasure on VHS - if you dare! And you can keep an eye out for Xaviera Hollander The Happy Hooker: Portrait of a Sexual Revolutionary as it makes the rounds of film festivals!
My thanks to John Patrick Patti for getting in touch with me and helping me bring this spotlight more up to date!
Y not come back tomorrow for our penultimate post in this challenge, and until you do, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
