The Devil, You Say?

The inside front cover ad in the May 1973 issue of After Dark: The National Magazine of Entertainment was for director Gerard Damiano's The Devil in Miss Jones, a picture that folks in-the-know say bridged the gulf between art house cinema and pornography.

I've never seen the movie, despite it being christened with legitimacy by mainstream critics like Judith Crist and Bruce Williamson, so I can't attest to its artfulness. I did watch the trailer though, and the movie sounds intriguing.

Miss Jones stars Georgina Spelvin (last name misspelled in the ad, but no matter, it was a common adult film starlet moniker) as a dead woman who makes a bargain with the devil's minions that were she allowed to return to the living she would commit every waking moment to lust and carnality. Satan could not resist that deal and off she went to do just that.

Spelvin -- nee Shelley Bob Graham -- turned 90 in March. According to her bio she appeared in more than 70 adult films during the 70s and early 80s (that's sort of hard to believe but whatev). Spelvin also appeared in mainstream pictures and on television, often in cameos as herself.

With such an impressive record of adult film performances, I am tempted (sic) to dub her "Porn's First Lady," but alas that title is already taken. 😆