
From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, adult entertainment films dominated the theaters along 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue in New York City, earning it the nickname “The Deuce”. Throughout the week, those theaters played hardcore pornographic movies for those brave enough to walk the chaotic and disruptive street.
And the person who ran those theaters was Chelly Wilson, a Jewish Greek grandmother.
Wilson, a Holocaust survivor, became one of the most influential figures during the era, eventually producing and distributing adult films in theaters that she owned.
Bunkered in an…