Ex-Virgin (1958) is my first Orrie Hitt novel. Orrie Hitt (1916 - 1975), dubbed “the Shakespeare of Sleaze,” was a prolific writer of “adult books” from the 1950s through the early 1970s. A resident of Port Jervis, New York, Hitt authored somewhere between 250 and 300 “paperback originals” for the “adult book” market. Hitt usually wrote on a typewriter placed on the kitchen table while his wife and children came and went. While writing, Hitt chain smoked cigarettes and drank one glass of iced coffee after another. Hitt usually worked 7 to 10 hours per day and churned out a new novel every two weeks. Hitt paperbacks are now prized by collectors and Hitt is finally getting some critical recognition as a chronicler of the seedy side of American life in the mid-twentieth century. Hitt is also getting some new life as some of his books are published as e-books for Kindle. I read the e-book edition of Ex-Virgin published by Disruptive Publishing, Inc.
Ex-Virgin is the story of Mary Sharpe, age 17. Mary is the illegitimate daughter of Kay Sharpe who got pregnant with Mary when she was a teenager and has no idea who her father was. Kay lives in a seedy tenement on Ferry Street in the town of Centerville. Ferry Street is a slum area and the red light district of the town. Kay, who is only 35, works for Garfield, an older man who is widowed. As well as being his employee, Kay is also Garfield’s mistress. Mary works at a soda fountain where her large bosom attracts a lot of male customers.
Mary is dating Sam Burger who works at the local gas station. Mary and Sam are planning to be married after Sam is able to buy the gas station from his boss, Mark Dolan. Mary has carefully guarded her virginity and refuses to go “all the way” with Sam. Frustrated, Sam occasionally visits a local prostitute, Anna Martin.
Anna is being pimped by Joe Summers, who works at the lip stick factory and has trouble getting dates because his hands are stained red from the lip stick dye. Joe was from a better part of town, but when his parents were both killed in an automobile accident, Joe wanted to stand on his own two feet without taking charity from anybody. In addition to his factory job, Joe makes extra money by acting as a pimp for Anna. Joe sometimes sleeps with Anna and with Janice Herbert a girl who lives in a tenement on Ferry Street and likes to sunbathe in a skimpy bikini. Joe’s room at Ruby’s, a seedy boarding house run by a former prostitute, is just across the street from Kay Sharpe’s apartment. Joe can look across from his window and see Mary Sharpe getting undressed.
Sam Burger’s parents are both alcoholics who are always asking him for money. Sam is doing well at his job at the gas station. The owner, Mark Dolan, is a middle aged man who is having trouble keeping his young, voluptuous wife Lucy satisfied. Lucy is a gold digger who only married Mark for his money. Mark wants to retire and wants to sell the gas station business to Sam. Lucy seduces Sam and gets him to sleep with her. Lucy then blackmails Sam that unless he cuts her in for one-half of the profits from the gas station after he takes over, that she will tell her husband that Sam raped her and blow up the whole deal.
One afternoon while her mother is away, Mary is assaulted by Garfield who attempts to rape her. Arriving back just in the nick of time, the rape is stopped by Mary’s mother, Kay, who refuses to believe Mary and accuses her of trying to steal her man. Kay orders Mary to get out of her apartment. Depressed, Mary goes to the beach at the river where she loses her virginity to Sam. The next day, Mary moves into a room at Ruby’s boarding house. Joe, who also lives at Ruby’s, goes and gets a case of beer which he brings back to Mary’s room. After getting Mary buzzed, Joe rapes her. Knowing that no one will believe a girl who lives on Ferry Street, Mary doesn’t go to the police.
One day Mary goes to the beach because it is so hot. She is again attacked by Joe who pulls her bathing suit off. Mary and Joe are arrested by the police for public indecency. Meanwhile, Mark catches Sam and Lucy having sex. Janice then tells Joe that she is pregnant by him and wants to marry him. Joe refuses. Joe bursts into Mary’s apartment and again tries to rape her but this time is interrupted by Sam who is coming to talk to Mary. Sam whips Joe’s ass and breaks his jaw. When Janice comes to see Joe in the hospital, Joe realizes that Janice is a good girl and he needs to marry her and take responsibility for the baby. When Sam comes to get his final paycheck, Mark tells him that he knew that Lucy was no good and that what happened wasn’t Sam’s fault. Mark is still willing to sell the gas station to Sam for $400 a month. Sam is more than willing to take the deal. Sam asks Mary to marry him. Mary tells Sam to wait, she wants to make sure that she is not pregnant with Joe’s baby first.
“The big thing she thought about was Sam. He was doing well with the station - he even had his father working - and she was positive that her love for him was real. But she had to be positive of something else before going to him. And now she was sure, all right. She wasn’t pregnant. She could go to him clean.”
Sam and Mary marry and live happily ever after. THE END.
For a “dirty book” this little tale about life in the slums is actually pretty moral. All of these young adults have a great work ethic. Sam works at the gas station and wants a station of his own, Mary works at the soda fountain, Joe works at the lip stick factory. Even Anna the whore works hard at her job. Everybody’s goal is to settle down, marry, have a good steady income and raise a family. Everybody wants to raise themselves up and get out of the slums. It is interesting that what was a “dirty book” in the 1950s would now be considered a morality tale. The sex part of the book would have been considered graphic in the 50s but by today’s standards was pretty tame.
I enjoyed this little pot boiler from “The Shakespeare of Sleaze” and am looking forward to reading more.
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