Farewell to Marilyn

I was a fan of Marilyn Chambers the porn star. There I said it. Not because of her sucking and fucking everything in sight or because she was once the Ivory Snow girl. I adored her for her fame at a time when that was all she got (instead of money) and her willingness to go on. The story behind the infamous Behind The Green Door was better than the movie itself. Slow and dull, this was done at a time when porn films only used dialogue for filler and expelled anything that was real writing. Like Linda Lovelace and Georgina Spelvin, Chambers reconciled her demons and took a giant leap into the seedy world of adult film, only to be made a legend.

Found in a mobile home in southern California, she died as many right-wingers will say, as she lived; worthless and weak. Of course they won’t bring up that most of those idiots who toss dollars their way are most stupid and inane. It was a sad day and we still don’t know the whole story.

I was interest in Chambers when I was in my 20s. Not much of a porn freak and without the Internet, I discovered her through the old tabloids and in reference to Lovelace who was the mega star until she quit and then went on Donahue to tell her story. Chambers still remained an anomaly choosing to continue in the film business and even making guest appearances in “regular” shows and films. In the late 90s, the brothers Sheen and Estevez made a movie about the brothers that made the original film. Rated X was so much better than the film that made the brothers big names – well not so big, but made Chambers both a household name and a national scorn.

When I saw the original, I actually fell asleep with how slow it moved and how neo-artistic they were trying to be. Later I saw her in Insatiable, a film from 1980 which showed that even though the young ones were out in full force this 30-year old could give them a run for their money. It also has John Holmes in it, which once again made for greater subject matter in Wonderland, than he did in any of his porn roles.

The wife of Chuck Traynor, Lovelace’s ex and the man she said pimped her out and made her do those naughty films, Chambers never acted the victim. She may have been , but we will probably never know. For now, she can rest in peace.