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| Rene Bond got a healthy amount of press coverage. |
One thing I have accidentally learned in writing this column for over a decade is that America's newspapers have a surprisingly spicy, risque past. Strippers, burlesque houses, and pornographic films were openly advertised in otherwise-ordinary, wholesome daily papers across the country. These were the exact same publications where you'd read Ann Landers or catch up on the latest sports scores. They just treated "adult" advertisers like any other sponsors.
In the 1960s and '70s, fairly bold ads for X-rated movies would habitually run alongside ads for every other kind of movie on the market. It is not impossible, for example, that you could have seen Gerard Damiano's Deep Throat (1972) being promoted next to Disney's Napoleon and Samantha (1972). This is not an exaggeration. This kind of juxtaposition happened nearly every week for years. I constantly come across this stuff in my research. It's why we have newspaper clippings related to Ed Wood's adult films. If they played at an actual movie theater, we probably have ads for them.
This week, I am turning my attention to adult film actress Rene Bond (1950-1996), who starred in Ed Wood's Necromania (1971) and appeared in several more films either written or co-written by Eddie: The Class Reunion (1972), The Cocktail Hostesses (1973), Fugitive Girls (1974), and The Snow Bunnies (1972). She also appeared in the disputed Wood film Bloomer Girl (1972). That's six movies total, more than Tor Johnson, Paul Marco, or Criswell ever did with Ed. Though she occasionally used aliases (including Lilly Lovetree, Lotta Rocks, and Rosemary Camelot), Rene also worked under her own name and was definitely not shy about publicity. So I decided to see what America's newspapers had to say about her.
Rene Ruth Bond was born on October 11, 1950 in San Diego and had, to my knowledge, a conventional suburban upbringing in a traditional, two-parent household. The earliest occurrences of her name in print that I could find come from a Santa Clarita, CA newspaper called The Signal in 1963. At that time, Rene was a member of the Bethel 249 chapter of a Masonic-affiliated youth organization called Job's Daughters. There are several news stories in The Signal about Bethel 249 that mention Rene Bond:
- July 4, 1963: Rene and others were initiated into Bethel 249 during a visit from Dee Barr, who was then serving as the organization's deputy grand guardian for the state of California.
- October 3, 1963: Rene was one of the members of Bethel 249 who participated in an educational field trip to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
- November 28, 1963: Rene was listed as a newly-installed member of the Bethel 249 choir.
- December 19, 1963: Rene and the choir performed at a formal dance held by the organization.
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| Was Rene Bond a choirgirl in her youth? |
The trail goes cold for a few years. Presumably, Rene spent the remainder of the 1960s finishing middle school and high school like any other American teenager. She didn't embark upon her career as an adult actress and model until she was about 18 or 19. As for her earliest film work, sources vary. The Internet Adult Film Database says she started making movies in 1970. The Internet Movie Database says 1969.
Whatever the case may be, as far as press clippings go, we only get to the "good stuff" in the 1970s. I will not attempt to include every single mention of her name in an American newspaper, since that would get quite repetitive, but will instead concentrate on just the highlights.
October 27, 1971: An ad for Rene's film Double Exposure appeared in The Chicago Tribune. This one has proved a real stumper. The earliest adult movie called Double Exposure that I can find premiered in 1973 and did not feature Rene Bond whatsoever. As for Rene's co-star Sandy Todd Johnson, she has likewise vanished without a trace. But it's interesting to see that the makers of this ad already saw fit to include Rene's name in it.
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| Get it? Beaver? Huh? |
November 4-11, 1971: The New York Daily News announced that Rene Bond would be appearing in person at a screening of her film Journal of Love (1971), which was promoted under an alternate title, Proposition 8. This one was directed by the legendary Anthony Spinelli (1927-2000) aka Sybil Kidd aka Sam Weston aka Sam Weinstein (his actual name). In addition to directing over 100 adult films from the 1970s to the 1990s, he was also a character actor. He appeared on such shows as Green Acres, Dobie Gillis, That Girl, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, and more. He's the younger brother of well-known actor Jack Weston.
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| You immature adults, stay away! |
June 2, 1972: A Dayton, Ohio paper called The Journal Herald ran an ad for Country Cuzzins (1972), a softcore film produced by the legendary Harry Novak and directed by Bethel Buckalew. Bond appeared in several more movies produced by Novak during this portion of her career.
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| Shoutout to Midnight Plowboy! |
January 12, 1973: An ad for Stu Seagall's film Teen-Age Jail Bait (1973) ran in The Alabama Journal. The movie's entire marketing campaign was built around Rene Bond. This newspaper ad replicates a bit of the poster. By the way, Rene was neither a teenager nor jail bait when she made this film.
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| Comedy science-fiction, eh? Tell me more. |
August 2, 1974: The Los Angeles Times ran ads for two of Rene's movies: Frankie and Johnnie... Were Lovers (1973) and High School Fantasies (1974). Ric Lutze was her costar in both of them, but he was billed as "Lutze" in Frankie and Johnnie and as "Loots" in High School Fantasies. Regarding the latter: It's interesting that the ad campaign plays up the 1950s nostalgia angle. This was the same year that the long-running sitcom Happy Days (1974-84) joined the ABC prime time schedule.
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| Frankie and Johnny... Were Lovers. |
March 20, 1975: The New Orleans Courier ran an interesting (and slightly snarky) article about Rene Bond by S. Joslyn Fosberg, bluntly titled "Porn Star," complete with a photograph of the actress by Wayne Aucoin. Ms. Bond had just appeared at the historic, now-departed Plimsoll Club at the World Trade Center of New Orleans and had attracted a crowd of 100 spectators.
Brief though the article is, it still contains some interesting information. I was unaware that Rene had appeared on either The Dating Game or Love American Style. I also didn't know her adult film credits numbered 200 by then or that she'd taken a break from hardcore pornographic films after a run-in with gangsters. I suppose this is why she made slightly more mainstream softcore fare such as Fugitive Girls during this era of her career.
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| Rene Bond, porn queen, in New Orleans, 1975. |
April 23, 1975: New Orleans theater critic Al Shea published a more extensive profile of Ms. Bond called "The Darling of the Dirty Movies." This ran in several Louisiana papers: The West Bank Guide, The Orleans Guide, and The East Jefferson Parish Times Advertiser. It is, by far, the longest and most detailed article I found about Rene in any American newspaper.
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| One of Rene's films. |
In the article, Rene Bond talks about her background and gives a lot of biographical details that I hadn't seen elsewhere. She talks of her early acting work with a Los Angeles theater troupe called the Stillwell Street Neighborhood Revue. (I cannot find any other evidence that such a group existed.) She also refers to an early, unsuccessful marriage to a "hippie," and how she got her start in the adult industry as a nude model.
Beach Blanket Bango was made during the brief time that Rene was married to costar Tony Mazziotti. But the cast of that film also includes Ric Lutze, whom the article calls Rene's "ex-lover." I have heard conflicting reports as to whether Rene and Ric were ever legally married. Some sources say yes, others no. But I guess her official line to the press was that she and Ric were just dating.
Other details in the article worth mentioning:
- Rene talks about the numerous problems she's had in the adult film industry, from producers not paying her to mobsters roughing her up. As we already know, much of the X-rated movie business was controlled by the mafia in the 1970s.
- Rene clarifies that, although she is a nude model and adult film actress, she is not a prostitute. Back then, it seems that many people assumed she was and asked her about it when she went on publicity tours.
- Rene compares herself (and not too humbly either) to other X-rated stars of the time, like Marilyn Chambers and Linda Lovelace. She says what sets her apart is her acting ability.
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| An enlightening article about Rene Bond in 1975. |
April 30 - May 3, 1975: Numerous ads for Beach Blanket Bango (under the title Beach Blanket Bongo) ran in The San Francisco Chronicle. The ads promised that Ms. Bond would appear at the screenings in person. What's notable is that the layout of the ad was slightly different each time. Compare all three of these and you'll see what I mean.
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| And it's a musical, too? I'm sold. |
May 3, 1975: The Beach Blanket Bango promotional tour continues! This time, The Sacramento Bee ran a feature story about Rene, again with a photograph. This article is the first to mention her Baptist upbringing and her continuing belief in God. It seems some religious groups were picketing adult theaters at the time. The article again alleges Rene had made 200+ movies (most of which were "pretty awful") and had been in the business for almost six years, again giving credence to the theory that her film career started in 1969.
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| And now you know what someone from Sacramento is called. |
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| I wonder if "Playmates" was a legally-protected trademark. |
July 4, 1975: A repeat of the previous month's ad, though missing the reference to Teenage Fantasies. This time, not only would one of Rene's movies be shown, the lady herself would pose for pictures and sign autographs in the lobby.
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| I'm not so sure about the free breakfast, though. |
November 21, 1975: An ad for an extremely obscure film called Pornodyssey appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. It claims to be a compilation of erotic scenes from "recent hardcore movies." Among the stars: Rene Bond, Linda Lovelace, and John Holmes (billed as "Johnny Wadd"). I can find no other record of this movie anywhere, so it's possible that this was a one-time-only event.
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| A rare Rene Bond movie is advertised. |
November 22, 1975: Along with another ad for Pornodyssey, the Chronicle ran an ad for Girl in a Basket (1975), a "roughie" directed by William Rotsler in which Rene plays a young woman who is kidnapped by a couple (including Ric Lutze) and eventually comes to enjoy her abuse at their hands. I am nearly certain that this story was inspired, if that's the word, by the spectacular 1974 kidnapping of publishing heiress Patty Hearst. This ad actually includes a picture of Rene.
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| Today, these would all just be videos on Pornhub. |
November 23, 1975: Another ad for Girl in a Basket. The reason I am including this ad is that the film was playing at two theaters owned by the infamous Mitchell Brothers, Jim and Artie, who also directed Behind the Green Door (1972). The Mitchells became headline news in 1991 when Jim shot and killed Artie.
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| Better get there when the box office opens. |
August 13, 1976: The San Francisco Chronicle ran a prominent ad for a film starring Rene Bond and John Holmes called The Stylist. Since it's described as "AN EROTIC SHAMPOO!" I'm guessing this is Cream Rinse (1976), a film we will discuss later in this article.
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| Rocking chair loges? What the hell are those? |
September 3, 1976: The Tulsa Daily World ran an ad for Panorama Blue (1974) starring John Holmes and Rene Bond. The title is misspelled as "Panarama." Ric Lutze was also in this film, billed as "Ric Loots," as was Uschi Digard, star of Ed Wood's The Only House in Town (1971), and a couple of Steve Apostolof's regular actors, Con Covert and Rick Cassidy. Panorama Blue is an anthology film consisting of several, seemingly unconnected shorts. Rene's segment is called "Indy 69."
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| Cashing in on that Mandingo fad. |
September 25, 1976: An ad for the film The Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D (1973) appeared in a New Orleans paper called The Times-Picayune. Yep, this is a three-dimensional porno film. The "Deep Vision" gimmick is obviously named for Deep Throat. Rene's character is described as a "bunny waitress," and the ad mentions her appearance in Playboy.
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| It's like they're daring Hugh Hefner to sue. |
November 12, 1976: An ad in The Los Angeles Times declared that Rene would be appearing nude onstage at the Ivar. There would also be a showing of Cream Rinse (1976), a parody of Hal Ashby's Shampoo (1975). Rene starred in that one alongside John Holmes.
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| "Back by popular demand!" |
January 14, 1977: According to an ad in The Los Angeles Times, Rene was again appearing "totally nude onstage" at the Ivar Theatre. Yet again, the film being shown was Cream Rinse. This same ad ran numerous times between January 14 and January 23.
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| Now with air conditioning! |
April 22, 1978: An ad for Rene's movie Do You Wanna Be Loved? (1978) appeared in the Patterson, NJ News. Similar promos for the film ran in several New Jersey newspapers between April 19 and April 22. The film, written and directed by Joseph Bardo under the pseudonym B.A. Smith, opened in Chicago earlier that same year. The film, unseen by me, supposedly contains an amorous encounter between Rene and a man in a bathroom. Rene also sports a T-shirt that reads: "I NEED ATTENTION."
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| "Two's company, three's exciting..." |
September 20, 1978: In my home state of Michigan, The Grand Rapids Press ran another ad for Do You Wanna Be Loved? What makes this one different is the tagline: "Bond is back!" Not only does this show that Rene Bond was a marketable commodity, it's the first instance I've seen of an ad that plays on the similarity of her name and that of secret agent James Bond. The "Bond is back!" slogan has been used to advertise films like From Russia with Love (1963) and has appeared on numerous magazine covers and posters.
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| Bond is back... and Grand Rapids has her! |
July 10, 1979: Rene's adult film career was winding down by this time. An ad for something called Honey Buns did appear in a Montana newspaper called The Missoulian. This was just a retitled version of an older filmed called Head or Tails (1973) with Uschi Digard. I'm including some of the other film ads on the page just to give you an idea of how the world had changed by then.
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| Halloween in July? Why not? |
September 25, 1980: Rene's adult film career finally ended in 1980, but her name was still marketable, as evidenced by this ad in The Shreveport Journal. Once again, a years-old film was being recycled. In this case, it was Donn Greer's Shot on Location (1972). Ric Lutze was in this one, too, but his name was spelled as "Rick Lutz" in the ad. Some of you hardcore Woodologists may remember a slight controversy in 2014 when this film was included in the DVD Ed Wood's Dirty Movies from After Hours Cinema. Though Eddie did not direct this film, it's still possible he contributed to the screenplay.
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| I'll bet the crew was about half-shot on location. |
May 31, 1981: Even at this late date, The Kansas City Times ran an ad for a Rene Bond double feature consisting of one of her later films, Teenage Fantasies: Part II (1980) and the previously-released Do You Wanna be Loved?
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| We've lost that term "co-feature" from the English language. Where did it go? |
May 10, 1982: More of the same. That old reliable, The San Francisco Chronicle, ran an ad for Rene's Do You Wanna be Loved?, accompanied by a picture of the smiling Ms. Bond herself. Please note that Rene Bond is not actually in Olympic Fever (1980), despite what the ad implies. The cast of that film includes Seka, Serena, and Ron Jeremy. It was obviously made to cash in on the 1980 Olympics but was (for whatever reason) still circulating two years later.
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| Who's watching porn in public at 9:30 am? |
November 24, 1983: Oh, how the world had changed in just a few years! By the 1980s, some of Rene Bond's movies were airing on late night television. Here's a representative example from The Sacramento Bee.
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| They never could get Ric's name quite right. |
In 1985, Rene Bond married a man named Lonnie Levine and became Rene Levine. Together, newlyweds Rene and Lonnie appeared on the game show Break the Bank in 1986. I'm not exactly sure what Lonnie's job was, only that he was not part of the entertainment industry whatsoever. Rene was identified on the show as a bankruptcy specialist and (understandably) made no reference to her somewhat scandalous past.
June 1, 1996: The Signal ran an article by one of Rene's high school classmates named John Boston. Rene and John both graduated from William S. Hart High School in 1968. That educational institution was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1996, and Boston reflected upon his alma mater's colorful history. In doing so, he mentions Rene a few times. Little did he know that Rene would die of cirrhosis just one day after this article was printed. She was 45 years old. I am including only the relevant portions of John Boston's much longer article.
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| Memories of one of Rene Bond's high school classmates. |
June 4, 1996: Rene Bond's death received no press coverage whatsoever. Two days after her passing, The Los Angeles Times merely included her name (and a few dozen others) in its Obituaries section. She's identified as "Levine, Rene." In a way, this press clipping reminds me of the ones from 1963, back when Rene was in the Bethel 249 choir. Once again, hers was just one name among many.
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| A death notice for the former Rene Bond. |
December 3, 2006: A decade after Rene's death, John Boston once again mentioned her in The Signal. While his tone in 1996 was somewhat flippant, this passage is wistful and nostalgic. Again, I am including only the relevant portion of a much longer article.
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| John Boston again reflects on Rene Bond. |
This article is not meant to be a complete account of Rene Bond's life and career. Obviously, that would take a great deal more investigation and time. My goal was simply to sift through about 40 years worth of American newspapers and see what they revealed about this actress and about the adult entertainment industry in general. While there are still major gaps in the timeline, I feel I have a better understanding of what she did and how truly famous she was in her prime.
P.S. As for Lonnie Levine, the last I heard of him, he was giving crime scene tours in Los Angeles.
