Jerry Springer? Meet Linda Lovelace

Yes, it's a new opera based on the life of Linda Lovelace, the star of 1972's Deep Throat.

I saw the movie at the Biograph theater in Richmond, Virginia (!) in 1972. The audience was 75% female. For a lot of them I think it was a feminist thing. They checked everybody's driver's license on the way in. I was barely 21 years old, so it was a guilty thrill for me to hang out with the grown-ups.

A few days later a local judge swore out a complaint, heard it in his own courtroom, and issued an injunction on exhibitions of the movie.

The judge's order only mentioned Deep Throat, so the Biograph stood up for the First Amendment by saying that next Saturday night they would have a double feature of The Devil And Miss Jones and Beaver Valley. And admission was free! They thumbed their nose at the judge and said that as long as they didn't charge admission, the law couldn't touch them.

The place was packed that Saturday night, including dozens of police officers. But the first movie was a 1940's black and white romantic comedy, and the second was a Disney nature short.

The Devil In Miss Jones is the porno movie.