Fear and Loathing…

While reading about Hunter S. Thompson last night and doing a little research I ran across a web site promoting a book by Simone Corday entitled 9 1/2 Years Behind the Green Door. As part of the research for a book he was writing Hunter Thompson spent quite a bit of time at the O’Farrell Theater strip club in San Francisco and worked as the night manager for a period of time. The book never actually materialized but some of the experiences there were widely talked about and it was one of the bigger strip clubs to have several different stars come out of.

For some of the big wigs in entertainment and politics, the O’Farrell Theater was a serious hang out back in the ’80s. It was run by the Mitchell brothers, Artie and Jim. They are the guys that directed Behind the Green Door with Marylin Chambers. Corday’s book details the time that she worked at the O’Farrell as well as the fact that she dated Artie Mitchell for almost a decade. She also took part in three of the films that the Mitchell brothers were involved in including the documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, The Crazy Never Die.

“Party Artie’ Mitchell was aptly named and had serious issues with cocaine and alcohol abuse and in 1991 Jim Mitchell had had enough and drove to his house where he shot his brother to death.. He was eventually found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison for the deed.

The book details some of the things that led up to the murder of Arty Mitchell and what life was like for the Mitchell’s and Corday back in the eighties in the midst of the sex industry. If you are interested in the book you can go over to Simone Corday’s web site where you can purchase it as well as read free chapters to see if it’s something you might be interested in.