WEBVTT - Chapter 1: Enter JennaWorld 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.480 Everyone watches poor No and if they say they don't, 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.200 their motherfucking liars. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.000 Kid Rock. I do porno because that's what makes me happy. 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.639 I fuck all day, I get money. I love what 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.960 I'm doing. There is something wrong with that, Faco sa 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:28.360 Frede performer. 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.200 People often say that the world would be so much 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.559 better if it were run by women, But women have 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.040 as many faults as men. Their faults are just different. 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:45.000 So the truth is that the world would not be better 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.000 if it were run by a woman. It would be 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.600 better if it were run by the right woman. Jenna Jamison, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.399 Welcome to Jeno World. 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.120 Oh my god, this so good. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.880 What does pornography reveal about the American sexual psyche? Critics 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.960 say that porn degrades and disposes of its workers, So 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.120 what's the difference between that and any other job? And 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.120 what are we to make of performers who transcended their 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:48.200 alleged disposability and created profitable brands around their screen personas, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:50.480 like the porn star Jenna Jamison did in the nineties 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.280 and two thousands when she made herself into a brand 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.240 and became queen of all media. But also, why should 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.320 anyone have to become a brand? Just to survive in America? 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.240 Why would anyone want to be famous? And then why 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.920 would everyone want to be famous? How did a parasocial 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.200 connection with a voyeuristic audience become mandatory for everyone with 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:16.120 the advent of social media? How do we maintain autonomy 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.480 in the attention economy? And why is the right wing 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:24.160 actively trying to make pornography illegal again? How can I 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:31.840 nut ethically? Welcome to Jena World Jenna Jamison Vivid Video 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.880 in the Valley. I'm your host, Molly Lambert. You may 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.560 remember me from Heidi World, the Heidi Flyfe Story and 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.360 the Secret History of LA. This time, I'll be your 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.080 tour guide for Genal World, a narrative nonfiction podcast about 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.160 the history of the adult film industry, telling the story 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:52.680 of porn superstar Jenna Jamison and a cavalcade of the 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.120 people who make up the colorful world of X rated films. 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.840 It's the crazy saga of the rise, fall, and rebirth 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.839 of the adult film industry. It has sex, drugs, art, 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.720 lots and lots of money, rock and roll, filmmaking, TV, 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.800 Howard Stern, the Internet, family, and even. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:22.639 Love, love, sex love, sex, love, sex, love, sex, love, 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.480 sex love sex. 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.639 In the nineteen seventies, eighties, and early nineties, mainstream media 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.480 used the tragic stories of several adult film stars to 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.840 paint the porn industry as an inherently bad workplace that 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.320 degrades women and leads its performers into addiction and an 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:46.040 early grave. In the nineties, adult actress Jenna Jamison crossed 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.640 over into mainstream pop culture and helped to normalize making 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.920 porn as just another occupation. During her two thousands media peak, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.160 Jenna helped popularize the radical idea that sex work is 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.960 a real job, requiring safe work conditions and fair wages. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.120 The idea that women are sexual beings who aren't degraded 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:12.480 by sex on or off camera remains controversial. After being 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.320 legalized in the nineteen seventies, porn is now under attack 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.719 on multiple fronts. There are the conservatives who want to 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.279 ban porn entirely with Project twenty twenty five and began 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.680 a new era of sexual repression. There's also the nightmarish 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.719 rise of AI porn, which aims to cut out adult 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:35.360 performers entirely while simultaneously exploiting their images to train visual 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:39.960 models and promote deeply unethical stuff like face swapping filters. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.359 And there's the puritanical way online platforms like TikTok and 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:48.920 Instagram use sexually suggestive content to lure in viewers while 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.440 punishing and banning actual sex workers from selling and promoting 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:57.800 their content online. Whatever you think about porn, its continued 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.560 legal existence is vital to American freedom of speech. It 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.640 is imperative that sexual content remains protected under the law. 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.680 Sex isn't something men do to you. It isn't something 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.039 men get out of you. Sex is something you can 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.840 dive into with Gusto and like it every bit as 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.560 much as he does. Nina Hartley. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:29.160 Performer Jenna Jamison combined her talent at performing on screen, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.719 skill for marketing herself, an ability to speak up smartly 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.320 for sex workers during what would turn out to be 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.640 porn's last financial golden era. If she managed to make 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.279 both art and money from an industry that is deeply 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.680 corrupt and set up to exploit artists, well, that just 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.720 makes her a woman in film. 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:54.200 I'm a powerful woman. I think that's intimidating to a 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.000 man on every level. That's why I always go out 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.440 of my way to be ultra nice and ultra sweet 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.200 and COI because it makes people feel comfortable, and I 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.159 want people to feel comfortable around me before I put 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:09.360 them in a headlock. 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.440 This is a story about the American dream at the 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.760 end of the twentieth century and the collapse of the 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.000 American Empire at the turn of the twenty first. It's 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.800 about one woman's self directed rise to power in an 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.839 industry that was unknowingly experiencing its final rise to one 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.719 last big climax of profit. It's about the people who 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.240 make adult films and the place they once made them, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.760 LA's San Fernando Valley Suburbs. This is an American fable 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:44.960 about money, love, sex, and familia. People seem to forget 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.480 that adult performers are actors playing roles, and because there's 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.800 now so little depiction of sex and mainstream American media, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.080 Horn takes on the load, so to speak, of representing 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.160 all sex and intimacy, which it was never meant to do. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.960 Porn depicts sexual fantasies about power and control, and what 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.040 people like to watch doesn't necessarily correlate to what they 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.160 like in real life. Oh my god, honey, there's a 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.480 lot of fear mongering that easy access to porn sexually 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.880 dead ends its viewers, but nobody gives viewers credit for 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:22.760 being able to differentiate media from real life. Consuming sexual 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.640 images cannot be compared to, nor will it ever replace, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:31.680 the human experience of touching a real person's body. Is 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.440 porn really the reason idealized images of beauty are becoming 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.440 ever more unreachable? Or is porn just an easy target 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.320 to deflect away from larger issues of how the human 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.280 image can be visually idealized into an imaginary fantasy, a 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:52.160 tradition that goes all through art history. I'm just asking questions, 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:57.120 much like Joe Rogan, who will show up here later on. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.120 We get paid more than the men we call the shots. 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.200 We say who we want to work with. In what 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.080 way is that degrading? That's us taking hold of our 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:10.040 life life. 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.880 The history of porn is also about shifting media format. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.320 As a medium, porn is always changing to fit new 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:23.720 technology and always slightly ahead of mainstream media. Paul Thomas 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:27.480 Anderson's Boogie Nights covered the eighties shift from film to video, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:31.520 when porn moved from theaters into homes with VHS players. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.360 Porn had its own studio system, which began in the 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.160 seventies peaked with DVDs in the early two thousands and 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.959 collapsed as streaming online content to hold just ahead of 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:48.360 the mainstream Hollywood studio system collapsing into streaming. Jenna Jamison 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.760 bridged the gap between the old age of print magazines, videotapes, 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.680 and DVDs and the new era of websites, social media, 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:01.200 and streams. During her reign as the of porn she 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.240 epitomized the perks and pitfalls of selling your personality and 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.720 physical image for profit. Where being camera ready was once 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:12.840 reserved for professional performers, now everybody knows how to perform 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.240 when a camera is on, and a camera is almost 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:24.520 always on. Your porn has always reflected American culture back 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.920 to itself. It's possible to consume media and not agree 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.600 with its politics or take them on. I call this 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.800 the top Gun theory. Watching Top Gun doesn't mean you 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.040 suddenly endorse the US military or that you believe Tom 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:41.040 Cruise is an ace military pilot in real life. For 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.200 some reason, we seem to know that movies like Top 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.680 Gun are just movies, that they're fantasies. But when it 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:51.319 comes to porn, there's some kind of slipperiness. The nineties 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:55.000 also saw the popularization of third wave feminism, which embraced 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.040 an idea that women could use sexual allure as part 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.120 of their self concept of power. I did not anticipate 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.760 that the feminists rise to power in the bedroom and 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:08.439 boardroom by postmodern girl boss media stars like Madonna and 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:14.000 Jenna Jamison would be followed by decades of sexist backlash. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:19.080 In real life, desire and beauty are deeply subjective and individualized. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.400 If everybody was only attracted to one media ideal of beauty, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.640 it would be eugenics. I don't think we're going to 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:31.080 completely eradicate unreachable beauty ideals, which span from the Venus 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.920 of Willendorf to big titty hentai Ai. But I do 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.120 think we've lost the plot when it comes to media 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:41.439 literacy and knowing that the images on screen are false fantasies. 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.320 We need to move past the seductive perfection of idealized 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:51.280 images into the messiness of real attraction, intimacy, and the 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:56.920 soft fallibility of human bodies. Making horny movies like any 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.600 job can be done fairly or in a way that 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.720 explodes it's its workers. Growing up in the Valley, I've 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.600 always been interested in porn as a low budget secondary 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.520 film industry that went from a legal too autorist cranking 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.920 out films that briefly made more money than Hollywood's despite 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.160 most people being too embarrassed to admit they watch. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:23.480 The best sex takes place in the mind first. 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:29.160 For a young, beautiful woman, the possibilities seem endless. You 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.080 can try cashing in on your youth and beauty, but 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.520 you will run out of collateral and need other skills 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.640 to fall back on. Eventually, you might make a lot 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.600 of money if you're smart, lucky, and cash out at 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.720 the right time, but there's also a high chance you'll 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.600 lose it all to the house, which almost always wins. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:49.600 If you're not careful. You might also get caught up 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:52.920 in the high rollers' lifestyle, addicted to spending money and 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.480 gambling with your life in an endless party that leaves 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.280 you feeling empty inside. You could even start to lose 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.080 your own sense of self to the perfect image up 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:02.720 on the screen. 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.760 In this business, you get to see all the double 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.920 standards that women are held to in society, and it 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.880 is important to keep from perpetuating them. One way is 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.120 by refusing to allow anyone to disrespect you. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:21.800 So what do you do if you're a young woman 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.719 who exactly fits the beauty standards of your era as 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.719 a skinny, white blonde with big boobs, and you want 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.040 to become independent from your family and escape medical debt 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:35.800 induced poverty. Working against you is the limited timeline afforded 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:38.839 women who become valued as sex symbols by heterosexual men, 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.079 as well as possibilities. You might burn out from overwork, 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:47.719 only climb up halfway, or fall off entirely. If you're 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.320 Jenna Jamison, you spin the Roulette wheel of faith. 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.120 I remember Jenna. You know she was so beautiful. I 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.360 was pretty overwhelmed. I knew that Jenna was going to 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:07.240 be a heartbreaker right away. Larry Mizzoli, Jenna's father. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:13.559 I miss my mother more than I can express. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.280 Jenna Marie Mizzoli is born on April ninth, nineteen seventy four, 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.720 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Aires. Her mother is a 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.880 showgirl and her daddy is a cop. This is how 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:31.800 Jenna's parents met and fell in love. Lawrence Larry Mizzoli 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:36.079 is born in San Joaquin County, California, in nineteen thirty nine. 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:40.800 His mother, Wanna Lee Dilbeck, Missoli is an Oklahoman whose family, 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.800 the Dilbecks, goes back to the British colonists. His father, 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.360 Henry Lawrence Massoli, is the son of Italians who immigrated 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.400 to San Francisco's Little Italy. The Missoli's claim of family 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:57.040 connection to Italian American nineteen fifties baseball star Joe DiMaggio, 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:02.280 allegedly Jenna's grandfather's second cousin, Jolton. Joe DiMaggio gained his 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.640 fame as a New York Yankee, but he was born 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:10.679 Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio in Martinez, California, to Sicilian immigrants delivered 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:15.120 into a family dynasty of fishermen. I couldn't verify the 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:19.280 Massoli DiMaggio connection, but I do believe all the Italians 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.640 living in northern California at that time made a nice 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:31.320 sacchi a pio. After high school, Larry Massoli joins the military, 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.160 gets sent to Vietnam, and becomes a cold blooded mass murderer. 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.320 The United States government then asks him to go to 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.880 the Congo as part of a CIA program to trade 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.320 counter insurgents during the Simba Rebellion. 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.240 It's interesting because when you first go over there, you know, 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.200 you try to be so righteous. And I grew up 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.920 with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and they never shot 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.600 anyone in the back, you know, his white hats against 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.320 the black hats, and yet to do everything fair. While 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.920 I found out and war the best way to come 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:08.680 home alive is to sneak up on people and shoot them. 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.240 Larry Mossoli briefly tries to retain his humanity under the 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.920 conditions of warfare, but quickly descends into killing everybody in sight, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.320 including innocent civilians. The United States government gives him its 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.480 most violent toys for the massacre. 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.320 I'll come up to a village and instead of going 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.200 house to house, I would level the whole place. Now, 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.359 I'll call in the P fifty one mustangs. We used napalm. 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.920 I had a contingent of Howitz's and we went from 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:44.560 village to village, killing them all. We just didn't care. 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:47.680 We didn't care. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.560 Rather than war turning him to pacifism, Larry Mizzoli becomes 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:57.160 a steward of American violence back home too, first for 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.960 the Italian mafia and then as a cop. He funnels 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.040 his post traumatic stress into more violence because he's too 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.480 fucked up to function normally in society. 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.520 I couldn't cope in the world, you know, I couldn't 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:12.800 carry on a conversation. 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.480 When jenal World returns, we'll find out how Jenna's parents 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:30.200 met and fell in love. Oh yeah, welcome back to 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:38.200 jenal World. Jenna's mother, Judy, is born Judith Brook Hunt 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.680 in Wichita, Kansas, on April twenty second, nineteen forty one. 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:47.560 A Taurus. Her parents are Doane Casper Hunt and Audrey E. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.840 Smith Hunt. The Hunt side of the family consists of 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.920 German immigrants to the Midwest and more British colonists. 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.320 There was no one else in the world for me 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:03.480 but Judy, the only woman I ever loved. Twelve years 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.160 that we were together, I didn't even look at another woman, 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:11.040 and finding her was like a fairy tale. You read 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.440 about these perfect love stories, but you never think they're 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.000 going to happen to you. 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:21.080 Larry miss Oli ends up in the biggest little city, Reno, Nevada, 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:25.600 working a dubious job in partying. Larry's crew in Reno 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:31.960 includes Johnny Anastasia, nephew of Umberto albert Anastasia. Albert Anastasia 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.240 was a mob guy nicknamed the executioner who was instrumental 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:40.400 in murder incorporated the mafia's contract killing branch. Larry miss 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.639 Oli is also good friends with another NEPO baby of 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.280 a famous man connected to the mob, Frank Sinatra Junior. 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.120 The guy was drunk. He said, you're a singer. You're 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.960 a Sinatra. Ain'tia? I said, if I'm standing in a 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.720 garage doesn't mean I'm a car. I couldn't stand it. 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.639 Here my own voice, Frank Sinai Junior. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.399 Frank Sinatra Junior has a long standing engagement at the 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.919 Harris Casino in Reno. Living in the shadow of his 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.720 ultra successful father provides him the publicity benefits of the 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.000 Sinatra name, but with it comes the downside of having 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.639 a famous workaholic father who is almost never around in 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.320 an era when fathers weren't expected to do much hands 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.200 on parenting anyway. 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:29.000 At home, he was dad. He was terribly, terribly human. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:31.680 This is what the penalty is when you have someone 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.959 that has been famous for so long, the legend starts 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:35.840 to eclipse. 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:36.480 The man. 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:43.480 Nevada holds special meeting for Frank Sinatra Junior at nineteen, 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.159 while trying to launch his own singing career, he was 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.760 kidnapped for ransom. This finally got his dad's attention, and 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:55.640 Frank Junior was safely handed back to Frank Senior in Reno. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.280 The media spectacle of Frank Sinatra's sons kidnapping and safe 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:02.560 return was drowned out by a much bigger media spectacle 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.720 a few days earlier, the killing of President John F. 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:11.160 Kennedy during a motorcade in Dallas. Larry Is also budds 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.359 with William F. Harra, son of rich politician and lawyer 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:18.560 John Harra. Gambling was illegal in the state of California, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.760 so Bill Harra developed a workaround for bingo called the 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.359 Reno Game. The authorities repeatedly shut Bill Harra down, but 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.679 his dad would bail him out. In nineteen thirty seven, 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.440 Bill Harra took his Reno Game to Reno itself, where 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.719 gambling had been legalized in nineteen thirty one, along with 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:40.280 fast divorces, in an effort to create tourism there. Bill 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:44.040 Harra became a guiding force in Nevada's casino development and 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:48.399 gambling regulation laws. He was married six times, including a 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.159 four month long marriage to country singer Bobby Gentry in 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.879 nineteen sixty nine that inspired her to write Fancy, a 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.560 story song about a poor teenage girl who becomes an 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.840 escort to sugar daddies and remains proud of her life choices. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.200 Fancy is a huge hit for Gentry and a breakthrough 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:09.880 women's lib song for the Old boys Club of mainstream country. 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.280 Larry miss Oli, Frank Sinatra Junior, and the executioner's nephew 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.280 spend their nights carousing in Reno. They often end up 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.119 at Bill Harra's house, where Bill invites old stars like 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.680 Mickey Rooney to hang out. They bring party girls over 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:27.640 to Bill's place in limos chartered from the local clubs. 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:31.399 They have their own reserved tables at every joint in town, 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.639 including one called the Golden Hotel. There's always a warm 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.080 seat ready for Larry. At the Golden Hotel's showgirl review 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:45.360 the Golden Girls. One night. Among the lineup of gorgeous 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.000 goals and sequins and feathers, Larry spots a new show 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:54.119 girl with blue eyes, a deep tan, dark coal cat eyeliner, 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.280 and nude frosted lips. She's a natural blonde under the 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:03.640 black Cleopatra wig she wears for the show. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.680 From the moment I laid eyes on Judy, I knew 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.600 she was the one. I mean, even though she was 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.919 one of identically costume women on stage, she just radiated 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:17.000 in comparison to everyone else. I mean, to this day, 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:18.320 I still can't explain it. 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:18.760 Now. 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.640 I certainly wasn't expecting it. It's like what my mother 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.480 used to say about being struck by lightning. Now I 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.840 looked at her, she looked at me, and I went, WHOA, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.080 that was it. It was amazing. I mean, that had 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.920 never happened to me in my life. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.159 Larry already has a girlfriend named Barbara, who works as 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.919 a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, but he sidelines her to pursue 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.159 Judy while the other show girls come out to the 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.280 lobby to shoot their shot with the high rollers each 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.000 night after the show. Judy is shy and always stays backstage. 0:21:55.040 --> 0:22:00.000 This only strengthens Larry's resolved to meet her. Judy already 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.920 has a boyfriend too, a local bartender, but one night 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.080 Larry convinces Judy to join him and his friend's roving 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:12.159 after party. Larry tells Judy he works at a grocery store, 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.080 but he sure knows a lot of celebrity's sons and 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.879 other well connected people in Reno for a bag boy. 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:22.040 Larry and his friends have a security detail of football 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.560 players from the University of Nevada, and Frank Sinatra Junior 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.760 has his own bodyguard on account of the kidnapping his quarterback. 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:33.560 Bodyguard scare off Judy's boyfriend and bring back in tell 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:37.400 that Judy is a twenty year old virgin. Judy lets 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.000 Larry buy her one ice cold coke and he takes 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:42.880 her to see his good friend Frank Sinatra Junior performing 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:46.800 at the Reno Haas. Judy decides he is worthy of 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:51.560 devirginizing her if he makes her an honest woman. Larry 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.240 doesn't want to settle down and commit to one woman 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:56.840 for the rest of his life quite yet, but he 0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:59.080 knows this is his one shot with Judy and he 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:02.879 doesn't want to fuck it up up. After they consummate things, 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:05.600 he starts weeping because he feels so close to her. 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:11.399 He proposes shortly after, and she accepts. Now engaged, he 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.800 comes clean about his real profession, hijacking trucks carrying fur 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:20.600 coats and stereos for organized crime. She accepts this about 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:22.000 him too. 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.639 Judy was an extremely intelligent girl from which Tuk Kansas, 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:30.480 you know, not jaded, not very worldly, but very genuine, 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.359 you know, very sweet. Judy's whole thrust in life was 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.680 to be a wife and mother. 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.199 In the few pictures I have of my mom, she 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:49.359 looks so beautiful, fragile and sophisticated, like a swinging London model. 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:57.800 Showgirls are sexual fantasies made it to commerce. Semi nude 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:01.320 erotic dancers originate in Paris at clubs like the original 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:06.240 Follies Burgeire and the Moulin Rouge, while burlesque dancers have 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:08.720 been taking their clothes off in the US for years. 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:12.520 The showgirl review concept comes to America in nineteen oh 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:17.439 seven via Broadway impresario Florenz Zigfield Junior, who make stage 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:22.000 stars out of his Zigfield Girls. In nineteen eighteen, Follies 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:27.240 Burgeire introduces the first nude showgirls in Paris. Showgirls make 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:29.919 their Las Vegas debut in nineteen forty one at the 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:34.960 l Rancho Hotel Casino during breaks between musical acts. In 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:39.440 nineteen fifty two, the Sans Casino introduces showgirls wearing the flashy, 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:44.080 spangled peacocky costumes that become their signature Las Vegas look. 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.200 During the fifties, there are publicity wars between the showgirl 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:53.560 reviews and the flourishing casino ecosystem. The battle to have 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:58.040 the most glamorous showgirls advances at rappac mainstays like the 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:02.159 Desert Inn and the Sands. As showgirls take center stage 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:05.760 with their own shows. The idea of beautiful semi clad 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:10.480 women as diversion between acts, turns into boxing match ring girls. 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:15.399 In nineteen fifty seven, Harold Minsky, the adopted son whose 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:19.360 heir to the New York burlesque dynasty. Minskis brings topless 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:23.320 dancing to Las Vegas, escalating the casino arms race to 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:28.119 produce the most spectacular live show. The Tropicana, known as 0:25:28.160 --> 0:25:31.840 the Trop is the luxurious crown jewel of the Vegas strip. 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:36.320 The Parisian Follies Bergeire franchises itself there in December of 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:40.879 nineteen fifty nine, advertising its shows as the cultural intersection 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:45.240 of Broadway and Hollywood in the Desert. Like all Vegas 0:25:45.280 --> 0:25:49.120 stunts and frills, showgirls are bait to draw tourists into 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:53.800 the casinos to gamble. The trop crowd wears evening gowns 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:56.919 and suits to the Follies Burgeire show at the Fountain Theatre, 0:25:57.320 --> 0:25:59.760 which is known as the Pink Room for its flamingo 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:03.880 pink furniture and curtains. The Trop has a net over 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:07.000 the orchestra pit because of how often the showgirls and 0:26:07.080 --> 0:26:11.440 heavy headpieces topple off the stage. 0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:14.240 I quit my job, I sold everything I had. I 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:16.679 got in my car and I drove to Vegas and 0:26:16.720 --> 0:26:19.800 we got married. And if she lived, I would still 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:21.560 be married to her to this day. You know I 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:24.600 would never have left her. Let me tell you. It 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:28.240 was the best twelve years of my life, even if 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:30.679 I had the worst life in the world. Afterward, I 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:35.680 knew I'd always have that. I mean, who gets so lucky? 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:39.920 Judy gets hired at the Trop for the Follies burge Aire. 0:26:40.640 --> 0:26:43.840 The newlywed Missolis immediately start trying to get pregnant, but 0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:49.159