2B Sex on the Hill
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20. 2007
MAXWELL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
out, burned out."
She turned her erotic film star status — she shuns the word "porn," which she said had negative connotations — into a traveling show that was part erotica, part comedy. She met her husband, Bruce, during one of these tours.
She also became a sex counsellor for several adult magazines, including Cherie, and even covered the 1984 Democratic and Republican national conventions.
Maxwell also began working for a company called Personal Services Club. She performed erotic phone calls for clients who specifically requested her.
"It was just like an acting gig," she said, adding that she received calls from clients as varied as sports figures to University of Kansas students.
"I was very popular in Lawrence," she said.
Maxwell left Personal Services Club in 1995, but kept detailed notes of every call she received, turning them into a book called "My Private Calls." The book was released in early 2005 and is available on her Web site, www.jodymaxwell.com.
"I had 61 and a half notebooks, and picked out 100 calls to include in the book," she said. "I wrote about them from beginning to end, describing callers and their conversations in lurid detail. It's funny, it's straight, it's sometimes sad."
Although "My Private Calls" features highlights from her life and career, she promises that her upcoming autobiography will devote more time to the place that shaped her sexuality and propelled her into porn: Kansas City.
"I'm going to Kansas City/
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Jody Maxwell said she was "very popular" in Lawrence during the 1980s. She spent a majority of her time working in Kansas City and currently lives in California.
Kansas City, here I come/They got a crazy way of lovin' there/and I'm gonna get me some"
— "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison
For a modest city, replete with folksy Midwestern charm, Kansas City doesn't strike most people as a place to explore their sexuality. But, if Maxwell's experience is any indication, Cowtown is a swinging town, or at least it was in the '70s and '80s.
Her column for Cherie was called "Kansas City Stark," and it explored some of the less publicized activities in Kansas City. The Steamboat Arabia, it was not.
'The Spirit of '76' was a swingers club in Kansas City which Maxwell came across while doing investigative reporting for Cherie.
"The first event I went to was at the Ramada Inn in Hickman Mills. There were hundreds of people there."
She describes the scene as a sexual circus, with open doors beckoning passers-by into hotel rooms, naked men and women posing in doorways and, on more than one occasion, people recognizing and propositioning her. At least one unwitting guest was mistakenly put on a floor reserved specifically for Spirit of '76 members.
Another gathering took place in the clubhouse of Brookridge Country Club in Overland Park. Maxwell said the group was generally well educated, and included some well-known Kansas Citians, though she declined to name them.
Ron Jeremy, who co-starred with Maxwell in 1981's "A Girl's Best Friend", has his own theories about how Kansas City may have shaped Maxwell's career.
"There's a giant Ron Jeremy penis in the middle of Kansas City," he said jokingly.
Jeremy, whose endowment is legend in the porn world, told The Kansan that he once flew over downtown Kansas City and saw Liberty Memorial from above, and
Conversation with the Queen of fellatio HUSTLER INTERVIEW Jody Maxwell
This month's interview is with the star of Jerry Damiano's new release, "Portrait." She is being billed as porn's hottest product since Linda Loveelia. Jody is not only a talented actress, but is considered to be the world's greatest cocksucker, with the ability to sing while she performs this art. I first knew that I wanted to interview Jody for HUSTLER after I witnessed her performance in Damiano's film. I felt that I must have auditioned for it once, but singing a song in the process, must have a great deal to say about the art of tellatio and the subtitle "The Great Cocksucker." Publisher of HUSTLER allows me very little time for specific editorial assignments, especially conducting an interview that could have easily been handled by a staff member or free-lance writer, but I decided I'd be damned if I'd let anyone other than myself interview the world's greatest cocksucker.
hv Larry Flvnt
A promotional poster featuring Maxwell was used in Hustler Magazine. Maxwell gained her title as the "Queen of Fellatio" while experimenting with a popular Christmas song.
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thought, "Hey, they made a giant mold of me!"
In all seriousness, however, he said Maxwell was humble in an industry that is fraught with prima donnas. Kansas City, he said, was once home to the Dove Theater, a movie house for porn, which Jeremy called "the nicest theater in the business."
Today, the Dove is Bazooka's showgirls; Jeremy described the theater as classy, neat and clean
— words not always associated with erotica. So perhaps Kansas City's naughty schoolgirl image — naive on the surface, mischievous below — helped shape Maxwell's persona.
"He wanted so much to make porn that hed show off his special talent," self-fellatio, recalled Maxwell.
A HELPING HAND
Jeremy wasn't always the porn superstar he is today. At one point, he was an unknown New York schoolteacher who worked hard to gain recognition.
Maxwell has a laundry list of porn stars she calls her favorites, including: Gillis, Rod Dumont ("A heck of an actor. A heck of a stud."), Samantha Fox and Jeremy.
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But Maxwell said she pushed him to demand more work and money, accelerating his career and helping establish him as porn royalty.
Maxwell has worked with several adult film stars, including Ron Jeremy.
Maxwell has been married for nearly 24 years, and she's proud of her achievements. It is an unlikely career path for the child of Kansas City socialites, who grew up on the Country Club Plaza and was once a White House guest of President Nixon.
She met her husband, Bruce, while she was touring with her stage show. She impressed him off the bat.
name as a teacher. To protect her career, she and her husband declined to give The Kansan their surnames). She also continues to foster her love of writing by editing manuscripts for a publishing house.
"What struck me the most was how smart she was and how she knew about what was going on in the world, more than any of the other people that I knew at the time," he said. "I was entranced and pretty much just listened to world according to Jody for most of our first meeting."
Jeremy, who was a teacher before he entered the porn industry, said Maxwell's acting experience could make her a more exuberant educator.
He's still pretty entranced: "I thank her and my lucky stars every day for her finding me in the crowd."
Her current career is an even more unlikely diversion, at least for a former porn star: She's a substitute teacher in northern California
(Maxwell uses her married
Bruce agreed, saying, "I think that being in the entertainment business is pretty much like saying that you're in the people business. You learn to recognize the signs of what others are thinking or feeling while interacting with you.
"Performing makes you a better teacher," Jeremy said. "The best teachers make you want to listen, want to learn ... they make everything entertaining."
"And lets face it; she's not going to be offended by someone calling a spade a spade."
Although she is open about her past, it's not something Maxwell dwells upon. She has more important things to think about today. As a teacher, she can create deeper impressions than any skin flick.
"People have told me I've turned kids' lives around," Maxwell said.
And although Jeremy has not remained close in touch with Maxwell, he's pleased to hear she's doing well.
"There should be more happy endings in porn."
Edited by Dianne Smith
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