SEXIS WRONG

if you’re a nice person, come into Plato’s.”
While there was no velvet rope or VIP list, celebrities visited
the cave, as well. More than a few times, writer-actor Buck
Henry paid a visit. “We used to wander over there in the Saturday
Night Live days to take a look,” recalls Henry. “And, of
course, we went there for the fine food.” (If the hot-and-cold
buffet wasn’t enough, pipin’-hot pizzas were delivered every
fifteen minutes. For a herd of “fat, Jewish rejects,” this was
the highlight of the evening, cracked Goldstein.)
Besides the cuisine, did you engage, Mr. Henry?
“Maybe,” Henry replies coyly.
Regardless, just watching was thoroughly engaging, especially
the orgy room—a huge mattress, sectioned off by a line of
faux plants, right next to the dancefloor. “It was a huge group
orgy, a couple of hundred people at a time. It looked incredible,”
Smith recalls. “The people who went in there wanted
anonymous sex. They didn’t care who they were or what they
looked like. It was not unusual to see a woman being made
love to by five men. You had to be in a zone. They were in a
different place. They were high on sex.” Many were probably
also high on Quaaludes, Plato’s drug of choice, which patrons
stuffed into pouches emblazoned with the club’s logo, the
same ones featured in Vogue and sold at Plato’s boutique for
two bucks.
Of course, there were other things to see, notably Jill Monroe,
the first transsexual centerfold, who would stand up
amidst bodies in the orgy room and ask: “Isn’t there a man
here that can satisfy me?”
Mat Room Rules
No one admitted fully dressed
Couples and single women only
No drinks, food or smoking
on mats
When female leaves, the male must also leave
Respect Thy Neighbor
While sex stars like Annie Sprinkle tackled just about anything
(“I was fucked by a machine,” she deadpans. “It had a
motor and was pumping.”), most of the time the big names
took it all in, dressed. Sammy Davis, Jr. danced with the ladies
as his wife, Altovese, danced in a risqué manner. One
evening, John Wayne gave a nickel-plated .38 to Davis. Thenpro
wrestler and later Minnesota governor Jesse “The Body”
Ventura threw his physique around the cave and wore a Plato’s
shirt in the ring.
Ansonia resident Richard Dreyfuss strolled downstairs to
check out the action and talk to his favorite pornstar, Jamie
Gillis. “He was more impressed with Jamie than the other
way around,” laughed Levenson. Dreyfuss mentioned the
club in a 1978 Esquire article. “I went to watch people screw
and here they all were,” he remarked. The Academy Awardwinning
actor went on to recall a naked man badgering him
for entertainment-lawyer contacts at the club.
Meanwhile, Levenson became something of a celebrity himself.
He wore a shirt that declared, “It’s not easy being a legend
in your own time,” gave away thousands of dollars to
patrons, and even lectured high-school and college students
that swinging was a viable alternative lifestyle. More important,
with Mary often at his side, Levenson sucked up the
interview circuit, including at least two Donahue appearances.
Smith had coached Levenson just to be himself: a poor,
affable, horny schmuck from Brooklyn. “I debated a rabbi,”
Levenson quipped. “It was tough.”
Mary argued that Plato’s was the next step for the women’s
movement. “Many women, too, are brought up to be so
careful and so monogamous and to live a certain way,” she
said on the David Suskind Show. “There’s a certain line of
behavior we’re supposed to follow. When we grow up, we
can make our own choices now. Very often, women have fantasies
about doing certain things, such as being with another
woman, just to experience it. I think this is a beautiful way to
live. There’s so much freedom, especially for women.”
Soon, Levenson was telling anyone who would listen that
plans were underway for Plato’s franchises to open across
the country. At least a dozen Plato’s knockoffs, like Midnight
Interlude and Noah’s Ark, already had swung open their doors
in Manhattan. None could match Plato’s, which was so popular
it inspired a hit disco song by Joe Thomas:
Getting’ hot and bothered
Loosen up your collar
Let’s all do the freak at Plato’s Retreat
Levenson took the song to heart, having sex with bunches
of women a night. “If fucking were an Olympic sport, he
would have won a gold medal,” says Goldstein. Once, to win
a $5,000 bet with Goldstein, Levenson ejaculated fifteen
times over the course of fourteen hours. “We had a doctor
there to make sure it was an actual ejaculation. Hefner got in
on the bet,” remembers Goldstein. During a break in the action,
Levenson confessed to Screw’s Josh Alan Friedman the
secrets of his success: “The club runs itself. I’m in the back
fuckin’ all night. Anyone with half a brain can run a club. I wish
they said I was a genius for thinking up Plato’s Retreat, but it
just happened. No great idea, nothin’ brilliant. I just happened
74 EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT SEX IS WRONG