Lesllie Bovee, Late Night in 1977 – Podcast 108

There’s a saying that goes, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” We’ve adapted that to say, “Golden age adult film plus time equals The Rialto Report.” And that’s because we’re particularly interested in how people who were involved in the birth of adult film remember that period with the benefit of time and hindsight. But occasionally we wonder: what would it be like to go back to, say, 1977? And listen in on a late-night chat with one of the biggest stars of the era? This episode of Rialto Report is a little different – it’s not a story, and it’s not an interview that we’ve done ourselves. Rather it’s an eavesdrop. A chance to be a fly-on-the-wall almost 45 years ago. It’s a conversation with adult film actor Lesllie Bovee at the height of her career. She was one of the biggest stars in the growing X-rated film business, and was based on the west coast at the time. She’d recently made hit films such as Eruption (1977), Maraschino Cherry (1977), and SexWorld (1978). She talks about the X-rated business and her feelings towards it in an unfiltered way. The conversation took place late at night, and both Lesllie and her interviewer are a little high. But it’s a rare glimpse of what it felt like to be making sex films, and stripping in clubs, at a time when it was still all rather new, unfamiliar, and undiscovered. At different points, Lesllie sounds confident, curious, and self-conscious – a contradictory mixture that is a little like the industry was back then. The conversation is with Carl Esser, a journalist, adult film screenwriter and composer (he made his XXX debut on the 1975 film Carnal Haven directed by Carlos Tobalina), and he also went on to date Lesllie. (For more details on Carl, you can read our article here). This conversation wasn’t made to be broadcast, so it’s not a professional recording, and the sound quality is variable. As a result, we’ve added a written transcription of the conversation below for you to read, and have included previously unpublished photos of Lesllie as well. This is late night with The Rialto Report. And Lesllie Bovee. In 1977. With special thanks to Sky Esser. This podcast is 56 minutes long. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Lesllie Bovee in 1978 Carl: Why did you want to do pornography movies? Lesllie: I had a boyfriend who was encouraging in that respect, but I met him through dancing, and so I was already into a sexy field. And I just took it to its logical conclusion. But the thing that really, really started me off on it was the time I was arrested for lewd and indecent exposure while wearing a full bikini, pubic hair sticking out of the top. Well, that was bad enough. It was actually just harassment. It was happening every other weekend, and two girls were getting taken over the week to jail for lewd and indecent exposure. But when I got to the jail cell, I was asked to take off all my underwear, and was allowed to wear only the dress that I had on top. When I was released from my jail cell, twelve hours later, my underwear had disappeared. I checked. They were not being held for evidence. They’d been stolen by the policemen. I mean, that’s really hypocritical. It was so hypocritical it made me mad. But the thing that really, really pissed me off, was when I… I ended up going to a jury trial on this. Now that’s embarrassing in itself.