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9 1/2 Years Behind the Green Door: A Mitchell Brothers Stripper Remembers Her Lover Artie Mitchell, Hunter S. Thompson, and the Killing That Rocked San Francisco
It's the 80's just before the advent of AIDS, and we are behind the scenes at the entrancing Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater, which gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson has declared to be "the Carnegie Hall of public sex in America." The theater and its steamy live shows are a countercultural venue for celebrities in entertainment and sports, and for San Francisco politicians and journalists.
They are drawn by the beautiful strippers and the backroom hospitality of their outrageous porn king hosts, Artie and Jim Mitchell-who directed the groundbreaking porn film, Behind the Green Door, starring Marilyn Chambers.
Simone Corday, who danced at the O'Farrell and was a girlfriend of the late Artie Mitchell for nearly a decade, shares her unique story and her insights. She is the only woman insider to write about this insular but captivating world during this period, when she was close to the impulsive Mitchells, and a friend of the O'Farrell's honorary Night Manager, Hunter Thompson.
Corday's unusual background of having an MA in English, along with her honesty, irreverent sense of humor, and keen focus as an observer, make this a delicious expose. Corday gives a vivid account of three Mitchell Brothers films she took part in. They include the disastrous Behind the Green Door, The Sequel, a grandiose safe-sex epic with characters from Greek mythology, and their documentary on Hunter Thompson, titled The Crazy Never Die. She shares memories of her unconventional, passionate relationship with "Party Artie" Mitchell. His affectionate personal and domestic side, along with his love for his children, are remembered fondly. His taste for cocaine and advancing alcoholism-that led him to disappear on binges with a succession of young dancers-is also recaptured, as well as his volatile temper, his impish sense of fun, and his charismatic, macho persona.
Corday sheds light on Jim Mitchell's motives for shooting Art to death, and on the murder trial that follows. She reflects on her experience in the sex industry, and on her relationship with a notorious club owner. From the fun she had performing in the O'Farrell's spotlight as the theater's nemesis, then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, to her heartbreaking visit to Artie's grave a few short years later, this is a sensational ride. To learn more about the book or contact the author, please visit the author's website www.greendoorbook.com
They are drawn by the beautiful strippers and the backroom hospitality of their outrageous porn king hosts, Artie and Jim Mitchell-who directed the groundbreaking porn film, Behind the Green Door, starring Marilyn Chambers.
Simone Corday, who danced at the O'Farrell and was a girlfriend of the late Artie Mitchell for nearly a decade, shares her unique story and her insights. She is the only woman insider to write about this insular but captivating world during this period, when she was close to the impulsive Mitchells, and a friend of the O'Farrell's honorary Night Manager, Hunter Thompson.
Corday's unusual background of having an MA in English, along with her honesty, irreverent sense of humor, and keen focus as an observer, make this a delicious expose. Corday gives a vivid account of three Mitchell Brothers films she took part in. They include the disastrous Behind the Green Door, The Sequel, a grandiose safe-sex epic with characters from Greek mythology, and their documentary on Hunter Thompson, titled The Crazy Never Die. She shares memories of her unconventional, passionate relationship with "Party Artie" Mitchell. His affectionate personal and domestic side, along with his love for his children, are remembered fondly. His taste for cocaine and advancing alcoholism-that led him to disappear on binges with a succession of young dancers-is also recaptured, as well as his volatile temper, his impish sense of fun, and his charismatic, macho persona.
Corday sheds light on Jim Mitchell's motives for shooting Art to death, and on the murder trial that follows. She reflects on her experience in the sex industry, and on her relationship with a notorious club owner. From the fun she had performing in the O'Farrell's spotlight as the theater's nemesis, then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, to her heartbreaking visit to Artie's grave a few short years later, this is a sensational ride. To learn more about the book or contact the author, please visit the author's website www.greendoorbook.com
363 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 19, 2008
OK, OK, so I love stripper memoirs. Mix it with murder, sex, and a San Francisco back drop, and you've pretty much got a book that was tailored to my tastes.
March 30, 2023
Well either I don't know enough about the major players in the adult industry in the 80s, or these guys weren't as big as she makes out. Was interesting reading, but her giving in to Artie's treatment of her, and her apparent naivety about his drug and alcohol intake being so hectic seems a bit unbelievable to me. No-one in the adult industry can be that innocent surely. She must just be really dumb? Or blinded by love I suppose.
July 28, 2019
This is a work that usually is not on my reading list, but as i read about it I was amazed at how situations in a work environment could be more dangerous than many other workplaces. Of course, the title and the cover tells anyone that you are going to be reading something about the adult entertainment industry where women are degraded, humiliated, and basically stripped of their dignity, honor, and everything else all in the name of entertainment. My belief is that is true only for the patrons since the workers are given short shrift in every possible way and then subjected to the same tortuous "show" several times a night, every night, forever. It is nothing less than human trafficking of the worse sort possible. From that standpoint, it really needs to be affixed to the next waste management truck and sent to the nearest landfill. Just as that begins to sink in, something far more pervasive and dangerous. Those aspects of the adult entertainment industry are the salient points to garner from this work, sad as that is to say.
The author, Simone Corday, provides inside and detained information about the goings on in an adult film establishment, the practices, the planning, the various costumes, and so forth, as well as the exposure to illicit drugs, alcohol, and all of their problems that add to the disaster these "dancers" perform in every night, and most days as well. Human Trafficking is too mild a term to characterize these dens of drugs, sex, and high stakes in more ways than most of us can possibly imagine.
The book covers approximately 8-12 years all in all for not only the author, but for the other players involved. It is not hard to imagine that in this world, competition is a high-stakes game of adult entertainment in every possible way that phrase can be characterized. All of the participants are objectified and humiliated to the lowest possible levels that one can find one's self. Many of the workers leave to find other work, if possible; and, if they are even allowed to do so. Of course, menial jobs at low salaries can be had for a song and a dance, but that was exactly the schtick from whence they came. Every possible avenue of exit is blocked by a limo, an admirer, and lots of cash for some time with the solo attraction of the night.
The day in and out grind of the same old thing from the same old things for the same old things becomes unbearable after a time, the shorter the better for those who are the objects of all the attention unwanted and otherwise. To say that the girls are victims is really not correct, they may start out as victims, but soon they are only slightly below the layer in which slaves were at one time chipped from the country they knew and loved, only to become no better than animals on the farms, plantations, and other areas where people are chattel workers, and are in many ways akin to the "show" girls, and the girls in the "Industry" with Simone.
Simone was the preferred companion for one of the operators of the show where she worked in coastal California. The story is hers, and it was difficult to read to completion. This book has a rating of X in my book, and unless you want to have an accurate view of the seamier side of the California adult entertainment industry, this would be your book to read. The portrayals are accurate, the drugs and dollars were real as well. Some of the big cheeses get taken down, some of the workers do as well, and finally the bosses had a planned assassination in the midst of one night with the author, that ended early enough for her not to be in the line of fire.
The book ends with a never ending court case, a brother dead, killed by his brother, a scandal that rocked most of the small town outside of San Francisco to its knees, and in the end the girl gets out of "the life," and the industry kept the dances coming with new faces and bodies, making scandalous amounts of money, and making all but the performers rich. So it goes . . .
Definitely X_rated for all of the story is about the adult entertainment industry, and the people who are the tread marks under the wheels as the business keeps on plugging along. Read only if you want to cry your eyes out for the victims, those who could not extricate themselves from the morass of the "industry."
The author, Simone Corday, provides inside and detained information about the goings on in an adult film establishment, the practices, the planning, the various costumes, and so forth, as well as the exposure to illicit drugs, alcohol, and all of their problems that add to the disaster these "dancers" perform in every night, and most days as well. Human Trafficking is too mild a term to characterize these dens of drugs, sex, and high stakes in more ways than most of us can possibly imagine.
The book covers approximately 8-12 years all in all for not only the author, but for the other players involved. It is not hard to imagine that in this world, competition is a high-stakes game of adult entertainment in every possible way that phrase can be characterized. All of the participants are objectified and humiliated to the lowest possible levels that one can find one's self. Many of the workers leave to find other work, if possible; and, if they are even allowed to do so. Of course, menial jobs at low salaries can be had for a song and a dance, but that was exactly the schtick from whence they came. Every possible avenue of exit is blocked by a limo, an admirer, and lots of cash for some time with the solo attraction of the night.
The day in and out grind of the same old thing from the same old things for the same old things becomes unbearable after a time, the shorter the better for those who are the objects of all the attention unwanted and otherwise. To say that the girls are victims is really not correct, they may start out as victims, but soon they are only slightly below the layer in which slaves were at one time chipped from the country they knew and loved, only to become no better than animals on the farms, plantations, and other areas where people are chattel workers, and are in many ways akin to the "show" girls, and the girls in the "Industry" with Simone.
Simone was the preferred companion for one of the operators of the show where she worked in coastal California. The story is hers, and it was difficult to read to completion. This book has a rating of X in my book, and unless you want to have an accurate view of the seamier side of the California adult entertainment industry, this would be your book to read. The portrayals are accurate, the drugs and dollars were real as well. Some of the big cheeses get taken down, some of the workers do as well, and finally the bosses had a planned assassination in the midst of one night with the author, that ended early enough for her not to be in the line of fire.
The book ends with a never ending court case, a brother dead, killed by his brother, a scandal that rocked most of the small town outside of San Francisco to its knees, and in the end the girl gets out of "the life," and the industry kept the dances coming with new faces and bodies, making scandalous amounts of money, and making all but the performers rich. So it goes . . .
Definitely X_rated for all of the story is about the adult entertainment industry, and the people who are the tread marks under the wheels as the business keeps on plugging along. Read only if you want to cry your eyes out for the victims, those who could not extricate themselves from the morass of the "industry."
January 20, 2009
This is an interesting and trashy memoir from a former stripper. Gives you some history on how the industry has evolved.
April 18, 2009
I guess I placed my expectations too high. I rolled my eyes ways too many times while reading this one. This woman makes herself sound like a lovesick retard...I won't even get started.
February 19, 2017
The most boring book about taking your clothes off there ever could be.
August 14, 2023
3.5 stars. The author tells a compelling story but, though she REPEATEDLY details how much she loved Art Mitchell, she failed to convey to me the WHY—he sounded like a really difficult man to try to have a relationship with, no matter how vital he was.
April 26, 2021
Some enjoyable celeb gossip and SF stripper craziness. But not enough to keep momentum.
June 16, 2022
Pass on this. Overstuffed with repetitive details, though the author’s writing skill is adequate.
The plot driver is whether or not she will leave the asshole Artie Michell.
The plot driver is whether or not she will leave the asshole Artie Michell.
July 13, 2023
More like 2.5
April 4, 2024
Thanks for sharing your story Simone. Loved it!
December 13, 2016
This tells the story of a college educated former teacher who with her education can only wrangle employment as a secretary. At the age of 33-years-old in the early 1980's she becomes a dancer at a San Fran adult club ran by two brothers who run the club and make adult movies.
She shares her interest in making theme costumes for her shows, and the activities that occur at the club. She falls in luv with one of the owners who treats her badly. It just foes on and on. Swearing, vivid experiences. Occasionally insightful.
She shares her interest in making theme costumes for her shows, and the activities that occur at the club. She falls in luv with one of the owners who treats her badly. It just foes on and on. Swearing, vivid experiences. Occasionally insightful.
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July 1, 2013If you'd like to know what I thought of this book, please contact me directly and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
All the best,
- TB
All the best,
- TB
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews