The late Chelly Wilson was a New Yorker who epitomized the American Dream. She believed that it was the best country in the world because you were free to do whatever you wanted. What she wanted to do was run a porn empire, according to her daughter Bondi Walters, who spoke with the New York Post.
Born in Thessaloniki in 1908, the Greek-Jewish immigrant escaped the Holocaust and moved to New York in 1939. Her first job was on Dyckman Pier, where she managed a hot-dog cart.
By the mid-1960s, she was one of the leading porn movie queens of Times Square, running five theaters along Eighth Avenue during an era considered a Golden Age for porn.
Queen of the Deuce: a new documentary
Queen of the Deuce reflects the untamed life of Wilson, a daring, adventurous force of nature who shone brightly in a highly male-dominated environment.
Director of the documentary, Valerie Kontakos, used a blend of archival footage, recollections from relatives and friends, audio interviews, and animation to portray her journey—from Wilson’s early childhood and her miserable marriage in Thessaloniki to hiding her children from Nazis and fleeing to America.
Upon arriving in New York, Wilson managed to build a successful career as a porn producer and theater owner while, later, she became a restauranteur as owner of dining establishments.
In terms of her personal life, the documentary also touches upon her second marriage, two female lovers, and her four children.
“She had this magnetism, she knew so many people from all different walks of life,” said her daughter Bondi Walters. “She wasn’t the kind of person who went out to schmooze, she drew them to her.”
Talking about the numerous house guests they had, Walters told the New York Post, “My mom always had people staying with us. They were mostly from Greece, visiting or moving here. We always benefited from it. They were good cooks, so there was always wonderful food.”
Some would even sleep on the floor, on tables, or whatever was available, she recounts in the movie.
Chelly Wilson’s life in film
Wilson started her film career in distribution with mainstream Greek movies and newsreel footage of the war. In 1941, she began producing her own movie, Greece on the March. The year after, she married projectionist Rex Wilson.
Afterward, the restaurant owner and porn distributor rented the Squire Theater 10 years later on Eighth Avenue to showcase Greek cinema. With the popularity of those films rapidly diminishing, she decided to take on another challenge.
In the 1960s, the Greek-Jewish businesswoman launched the production of more sexually adventurous movies that were highly popular for the era. Following those films came the thrillers of the 1970s. The Squire premiered one of its first hardcore films Sexual Freedom in Denmark in the 1970s, for example.
When the accolades and success commenced to trickle, roll, and then roar in she purchased the Tivoli Theater, renaming it Adonis after the mortal lover of Aphrodite, an appropriate rather cheeky name. It was that bold move that would consequently set the grounds for her infamous 1978 gay porn film, A Night at the Adonis.
The legend’s death
Wilson died in 1994 at the ripe old age of 86, though not before one last gesture. She left a letter to her daughters with a shopping list of all the ingredients needed for the food to be served at her memorial. She also gave instructions on how this special day should be celebrated.
“She said people should come to my apartment and toast her,” Walters said according to the New York Post’s report. “And she said that she had done her duty here on Earth and she’s returned to God. I never thought of her as religious, but she obviously did have some very private things, that she kept to herself.”
“She taught me that you can really do anything you want if you believe in yourself,” her daughter said. “And don’t let anybody tell you anything different!”