Porn Valley- Bill Margold, who reviews movies in the LA Xpress, writes in the December 22 issue: The circumstances surrounding my birth are highly suspect. And how's that for a way to start a Cinema Seen column? But...because of the mothered nature of the three films that will be featured here, I figured that NOW was as good a time as any to reveal something that has been gnawing on my sensibilities for over twenty years.
I was born in Washington D.C. on Oct. 2 1943. My parents "supposedly" were Nathan Ross Margold and Gertrude Weiner Margold. The word "supposedly" is used here because shortly after my father, a highly regarded civil rights activist-cum-lawyer-cum-jurist died from a heart attack in Dec. 1947, I was told that I had been adopted. Of course I don't remember how I took the news, but over the years that ensued, it may well have driven a wedge between the matriarchal figure in my life and me. Gerturde [who understandably changed her first name to the much softer Gene] was a very intelligent lady, with a passion for writing that has never been realized. She was always the best student in every writing class that she took, but she was never professionally published. It frustrated her. And I'm sure that it inspired me to get published. And currently, and quite proudly, I very much consider creating a weekly column for the LA Xpress "being published."
When Gertrude [Gene] and I could no longer "get along" [which was more often than not] she would send me off to various highly respected military schools and highly regarded boarding schools, where, while I hated the "authority" of my surroundings, I was provided with a high intensity education, which certainly got me high grades, and lots of attention, if not love, from my teachers.
I also spent some time with Gertrude's [Gene's] sister, a pleasant lady named Mindy, who, although easily aggravated by my constant rebellion, really went out of her way to make sure that I knew she cared about me.
Gertrude [Gene] refused to have anything to do with me, when, in 1972, I became involved, on all levels, including writing, in the burgeoning Adult Entertainment Industry.
13 years later, around the 1985 Thanksgiving holidays, for some restless reason, I felt that my youngest daughter [Goldie-Bear...that middle name is on her birth certificate] should get to meet her grandmother. So I tracked Mindy down. She was shocked to see me. But then matter-of-factly told me that Gertrude [Gene] had died five years earlier. I winced [slightly], and then matter-of-factly asked Mindy "are you my mother?" You see, I figured that because Nathan Ross was pretty powerful, he had, with Gertrude's full understanding, and perhaps because she couldn't conceive, impregnated my aunt [Mindy], and then manipulated the paperwork of my birth certificate because on it, my mother is listed as Gertrude. Would that qualify as my "being adopted?" Hmmm. But imagine my surprise when Mindy quite matter-of-factly responded--- "I won't answer that quesrion." Bigger "hmmm."
20 years later I'm still "hmmm-ing."
