Tina Russell: Searching for the Lost Girl of Porn – Podcast 62
The Rialto Report
Ashley West
4.8 • 531 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2016
⏱️ 107 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some of the first adult movies that were made in New York in the early 1970s starred an attractive and slender woman with long dark hair. If you hung around long enough to read the credits, you’d see that she was called Tina Russell.
For a short time in the early 1970s, she was the biggest name in adult films. She was the original porn star.
Except that she was unlike other porn stars you may have come across. She looked happy, intelligent, and innocent, like the girl next door. In films she often appeared with her husband Jason, and in interviews she spoke passionately about wanting to make adult films that appealed to everyone. ‘Pretty fuck films’ she called them. She wanted bigger budgets that would allow directors to make artistic statements that would make everyone sit up and take notice.
And then along came the success of ‘Deep Throat‘ (1973) and Linda Lovelace, and Tina Russell was slowly forgotten.
The Rialto Report wanted to find who Tina Russell really was. Why did she make adult films at a time when it was all so new and such a taboo? Where did she come from and what was she like? And whatever happened to her after she left the film industry?
We tracked down people who knew her to find out what really happened to her. Friends, family, filmmakers, and fans. People like Jason Russell, Harry Reems, Andrea True, Fred Lincoln, Marlene Willoughby, Carter Stevens, Ultramax, Tallie Cochrane, John Amero, Ed Seeman, Alex Mann, Jamie Gillis, Georgina Spelvin, Gerard Damiano, Jeffrey Hurst, Tony Richards, Annie Sprinkle, Marty Hodas, Eric Edwards, and more. All of them talk here for the first time about their memories of Tina.
12 years in the making, 25 interviews. The Rialto Report is back.
This is Tina Russell’s story. The lost girl of porn.
For more pictures from Tina Russell’s life, see here.
With special thanks to Julia Knippen for her expert voiceover skills, Shane Brown for his immaculate taste in music, and Something Weird Video for the best selection in golden age films.
This episode’s running time is 107 minutes.
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Tina Russell
One of Tina’s earliest publicity photos
Tina and Jason – at the Nook of Knowledge for the ‘Porno Star’ publicity tour
Tina poses with one of her favorite cats, and referred to this as her ‘pussy photo’
Tina returned to making loops at the end of her career
The post Tina Russell: Searching for the Lost Girl of Porn – Podcast 62 appeared first on The Rialto Report.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Adult films started in 1972 with the release of Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, |
| 0:05.7 | and the emergence of stars like Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers. |
| 0:10.0 | Except that it didn't. In truth, explicit sex films were being shown in theatres well before then. |
| 0:16.1 | And some of the first adult movies that were made in New York starred an attractive and slender woman with long dark hair. |
| 0:22.9 | If you hung around long enough to read the credits, |
| 0:25.5 | you'd see that she was called Tina Russell. |
| 0:45.3 | I was always fascinated with Tina Russell. For a short time in the early 1970s, she was the biggest name in adult film. She was the original porn star. Except that she was unlike other porn stars you might have come across. |
| 0:53.3 | She looked happy, |
| 0:54.8 | intelligent, and innocent, like the girl next door, and in films, she often appeared with her husband, |
| 1:00.3 | Jason. In interviews, she spoke passionately about wanting to make adult films that appeal to |
| 1:06.2 | everyone. Pretty fuck films, she called them. She wanted bigger budgets that would allow directors to make |
| 1:12.1 | artistic statements that would make everyone sit up and take notice and then along came deep |
| 1:17.9 | throat and linda lovelace and Tina Russell was slowly forgotten sure she continued to appear in films |
| 1:24.3 | but her moment had passed new actresses were now in demand, and she found |
| 1:29.3 | herself pushed aside. That was tough for someone who had been such an advocate for these new |
| 1:34.2 | movies, and she struggled to cope with the rejection. I wanted to find out who Tina Russell |
| 1:39.8 | really was. Why did she make adult films at a time when it was all so new and such a taboo? |
| 1:46.8 | Where did she come from and what was she really like? And whatever happened to her after she |
| 1:51.5 | left the film industry? Over the last 20 years, I've tracked down people who knew her to find out |
| 1:57.6 | what really happened to her, friends, family, filmmakers and fans. |
| 2:02.4 | And many of them talk here for the first time about their memories of Tina. |
| 2:07.5 | The American poet Muriel Ruchizer once said, |
... |
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