The Happy Hooker
The “Happy Hooker” Refuses to Fade!
By Carolyn Abate
SAUSALITO, California (Reuters) - As several naked couples watched a live demonstration of sexual technique, Xaviera Hollander, the former prostitute and author of "The Happy Hooker," stayed dressed but freely shared details of her past lovers, men and women alike.
Hollander, 62, was in the San Francisco area to attend the screening of a new documentary about her, to speak at a sex workshop and to reflect on her colorful past that made her a matriarch of the sexual revolution.
"I want to be remembered as a living legend. I don't want to disappear like Mae West or Greta Garbo," she said in an interview.
During a three-and-a-half hour seminar led by an outgoing couple, Hollander -- who insisted she was not an exhibitionist -- let the others do the heavy breathing. As the woman leading the workshop assisted by a male partner moaned with pleasure, another woman in the audience was so moved by the show that she too went into ecstasy.
Hollander watched the event sponsored by the Center for Sex and Culture passively from a few feet away. But as her memoir of more than 30 years ago tells, she has seen it all before.
Born Vera De Fries in Indonesia to Dutch parents, Hollander and her life are the stuff of movies, and four years ago, she approached director Robert Dunlap to document her story.
The filmmaker, who is married to Hollander's cousin, jumped at the chance. He spent the next few years following her around Europe, interviewing friends and past lovers and searching through thousands of family photos.
WARTIME SUFFERING
The movie "Xaviera Hollander: The Happy Hooker" begins somberly with a little-known fact: For the first three years of Hollander's life she and her parents lived in a Japanese concentration camp during World War Two in Indonesia.
From there the film continues through her humble beginnings as a secretary, her first foray into prostitution and her rise to fame after the release of "The Happy Hooker." Throughout, Hollander provides detailed accounts of some of her more memorable sexual encounters.
The film, which has not yet found a distributor, also tackles rough spots, including her family's backlash when they discovered her profession. Hollander's mother was outraged; an aunt burned the book.
Her father -- with whom she was very close-- had died years earlier. She says had he lived, she probably would not have become a prostitute. "I wouldn't have wanted to disappoint him," she said.
That is quite a statement for a woman whose fame and fortune is rooted in her sexual exploits. She has written nearly a dozen books on the subject and speaks frequently at seminars and conventions for sex therapists and sex workers. For 30 years she has penned a column in Penthouse magazine title "Call Me Madam."
"I had so much fun," she said about her career. "I was pretty much a one-woman show."
Does she get tired of being referred to as the Happy Hooker? "It will always be the moniker on my back. I don't mind -- as long as they remember me," she said.
Since its release, "The Happy Hooker" has sold 15 million copies. Asked why the book has endured all these years, Hollander attributes it to honesty.
"It was a true book, not a phony book, based on reality," she said, dressed in a cream-colored house coat with bright stitching and flip-flop sandals. "It showed that sex can be fun."
Quick to laugh and pepper her conversation with salty language, her green eyes and pale lips show no signs of botox or plastic surgery. The once svelte body has given way to a heavier-set figure.
For Dunlap, his film is less about Hollander's sexual past than about a woman who overcame enormous obstacles.
"It's the story of an ultimate survivor," he said. "This is a film about a real person. She lived it, she loved it and she will die having done what she really wanted to do."
At her home base in Amsterdam, Hollander also runs a bed and breakfast. Two heart attacks nearly three years ago forced her to give up her other job producing cabaret theater. She was even celibate for two years, she said.
But health issues aside Hollander is not one to sit around. Her next project is another book, a collection of the best of her Penthouse column.
By Carolyn Abate
SAUSALITO, California (Reuters) - As several naked couples watched a live demonstration of sexual technique, Xaviera Hollander, the former prostitute and author of "The Happy Hooker," stayed dressed but freely shared details of her past lovers, men and women alike.
Hollander, 62, was in the San Francisco area to attend the screening of a new documentary about her, to speak at a sex workshop and to reflect on her colorful past that made her a matriarch of the sexual revolution.
"I want to be remembered as a living legend. I don't want to disappear like Mae West or Greta Garbo," she said in an interview.
During a three-and-a-half hour seminar led by an outgoing couple, Hollander -- who insisted she was not an exhibitionist -- let the others do the heavy breathing. As the woman leading the workshop assisted by a male partner moaned with pleasure, another woman in the audience was so moved by the show that she too went into ecstasy.
Hollander watched the event sponsored by the Center for Sex and Culture passively from a few feet away. But as her memoir of more than 30 years ago tells, she has seen it all before.
Born Vera De Fries in Indonesia to Dutch parents, Hollander and her life are the stuff of movies, and four years ago, she approached director Robert Dunlap to document her story.
The filmmaker, who is married to Hollander's cousin, jumped at the chance. He spent the next few years following her around Europe, interviewing friends and past lovers and searching through thousands of family photos.
WARTIME SUFFERING
The movie "Xaviera Hollander: The Happy Hooker" begins somberly with a little-known fact: For the first three years of Hollander's life she and her parents lived in a Japanese concentration camp during World War Two in Indonesia.
From there the film continues through her humble beginnings as a secretary, her first foray into prostitution and her rise to fame after the release of "The Happy Hooker." Throughout, Hollander provides detailed accounts of some of her more memorable sexual encounters.
The film, which has not yet found a distributor, also tackles rough spots, including her family's backlash when they discovered her profession. Hollander's mother was outraged; an aunt burned the book.
Her father -- with whom she was very close-- had died years earlier. She says had he lived, she probably would not have become a prostitute. "I wouldn't have wanted to disappoint him," she said.
That is quite a statement for a woman whose fame and fortune is rooted in her sexual exploits. She has written nearly a dozen books on the subject and speaks frequently at seminars and conventions for sex therapists and sex workers. For 30 years she has penned a column in Penthouse magazine title "Call Me Madam."
"I had so much fun," she said about her career. "I was pretty much a one-woman show."
Does she get tired of being referred to as the Happy Hooker? "It will always be the moniker on my back. I don't mind -- as long as they remember me," she said.
Since its release, "The Happy Hooker" has sold 15 million copies. Asked why the book has endured all these years, Hollander attributes it to honesty.
"It was a true book, not a phony book, based on reality," she said, dressed in a cream-colored house coat with bright stitching and flip-flop sandals. "It showed that sex can be fun."
Quick to laugh and pepper her conversation with salty language, her green eyes and pale lips show no signs of botox or plastic surgery. The once svelte body has given way to a heavier-set figure.
For Dunlap, his film is less about Hollander's sexual past than about a woman who overcame enormous obstacles.
"It's the story of an ultimate survivor," he said. "This is a film about a real person. She lived it, she loved it and she will die having done what she really wanted to do."
At her home base in Amsterdam, Hollander also runs a bed and breakfast. Two heart attacks nearly three years ago forced her to give up her other job producing cabaret theater. She was even celibate for two years, she said.
But health issues aside Hollander is not one to sit around. Her next project is another book, a collection of the best of her Penthouse column.
posted by Skyelin | 12:40 PM
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