Queen of the Deuce

I did not know about Chelly Wilson until last night when my wife and I watched this documentary about her incredible life. Here's a remarkable woman who narrowly escaped the holocaust, immigrated to America with five bucks and built a small porn theater empire in NYC against all odds. Chances are, I visited one of her theaters, fresh out of high school in the 80s.

The archival footage is rich. Where there were lacks, the producers used excellent animation, layered with authentic audio interviews. The film flows, you can't stop watching. I found the balance of humor and seriousness just right, considering the range of the material, from the tragedy of the holocaust to the eccentric life Chelsy built.

This is quite the story. And I am lost for words to define it!

But I can best describe it as a wonderful immigration story about a Greek Jewish woman who fled from the nazis, started selling coca cola and peanuts and somehow ended up being the manager of the biggest chain of porn cinemas in New York City during the sixties and seventies.

We get to see her children talk about their late (grand)mother with love and admiration. This Greek Jewish grandmother was one of a kind and the history of this family mixes the history of the Nazis, with an immigration success story, with lesbian and gay lifestyle, because this eccentric grandmother was a fullblown lesbian as well, in a time (the sixties) when it was definitely not something one openly talked about (yet...)

Wonderful. Fascinating. Endearing. And bizar.

A New York City portrait of the sixties and seventies, watched through the lens of a Greek Jewish lesbian grandmother, who was a successful porn cinema owner! How about that!

This is the story of Chelly Wilson who was a Greek immigrant that became a success, owning several porn theaters in New York.

I never heard of Chelly Wilson before watching this documentary. But having grown up in the New York area and sometimes visited the area known as the deuce (there were several camera shops & restaurants) figured I'd give this movie a try. Wow! There wasn't a lot about the deuce but the very interesting person and her life I never heard of.

This movie never slows down. Besides Chelly they talk about her family, friend and associates. Some are direct interviews and some are mentioned in the interviews. Chelly wasn't alive when this was made so while there is old film footage & pics of her, no interview.

This documentary was absolutely fascinating. The kind you will watch more than once.

This is a documentary about a greek woman that migrates to the US from Greece and make it big in the Adult entertainment world that really is less about the adult industry and about how the core of this documentary is about family more than anything else.

If you want to know about New York in the 60's and 70's this is for you.

Its 90mins but it goes by fast.

If you are conservitive this maybe something that you should give a misse too but i do recommend this as a short quick documenntary that is very intresting.

Another line would be that this grandmother is one savy business woman that did not shy away from any challenges and you can see its more about who you know that what you know remember this is back in the 60s 70s.