After several decades abroad, Nanaimo native Prudence Emery finally moved back to 91原创 Island in 2007. But the 83-year-old former film-industry publicist did not trade her starry social circles for her condominium in Oak Bay to fade quietly into black.
Emery used the quietude to write a page-turning memoir, Nanaimo Girl. 鈥淚 wanted to call the book Death By Champagne,鈥� Emery said 鈥� a reference to her once-lavish lifestyle, which orbited around swinging London in the late 1960s and the movie industry in the 1990s. 鈥淏ut the publisher insisted on Nanaimo Girl.鈥�
Emery is a natural storyteller, which serves her well in Nanaimo Girl. Recently published by Toronto鈥檚 Cormorant Books imprint, the book covers Emery鈥檚 life to date, but really soars as she pinballs from 1957 to 1975 between Canada and England.
During one of her return trips to Canada, she worked with visitor services for Expo 67. Her post at the world鈥檚 fair in Montreal was to escort guests, including Liberace, Edward Albee, Hugh Hefner, Jack Benny and Twiggy. Her position put her in contact with national and international media, who clearly took a liking to her no-nonsense, can-do attitude and high-level efficiency.
She was hired as the press and public relations officer for London鈥檚 Savoy Hotel in 1968, and though she was only in the position for five years, her stories of the period are otherworldly.
Among her many interesting asides were experiences with giants of the screen and stage, from a friendship with playwright No毛l Coward to her task of organizing, with Liza Minelli, the actor-singer鈥檚 public engagement to actor Peter Sellers.
Emery also arranged for then prime minister Pierre Trudeau to attend the premi猫re party for Funny Girl, starring Barbra Steisand, whom Trudeau later squired. It wasn鈥檛 all wine and roses for Emery, however.
She moved in and out of relationships with everyone from Jean Charpentier, the 91原创 journalist who later served as Trudeau鈥檚 press secretary, to the son of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.
Alcohol dependency became an issue during her time at the Savoy 鈥� champagne was her vice. But Emery came out of the fog and into a career as a publicist in the film industry, where she spent three decades working with another side of the cultural elite.
The pages of Nanaimo Girl feature photographs of Emery on set with stars of the era: Michael Douglas, Peter O鈥橳oole, Bette Midler, Christopher Plummer, Jeremy Irons and Robin Williams. In conversation, Emery mourned the death of the 鈥渙ld industry,鈥� where cast and crew would socialize together. 鈥淚t was wonderful. It was like being in the film. Now, it鈥檚 much more corporate. I鈥檓 so glad I鈥檓 not in it anymore.鈥�
Her career as an on-set film publicist began with the 1974 horror film Black Christmas. It was the first of more than 120 films she worked on between 1974 and 2010.
Ten of those films, on locations ranging from China to Budapest, were directed by David Cronenberg, for whom she has the highest of praise. 鈥淗e鈥檚 hugely intelligent, but he has a very gentle demeanor. He鈥檚 not fey; he鈥檚 just rather low-key. He runs a set like a babbling brook. It鈥檚 kind of comforting.鈥�
The last film she worked on was Cronenberg鈥檚 2007 movie Eastern Promises, starring Viggo Mortensen, another Emery favourite. The completion of the film coincided with her move back to Victoria, where she had lived on and off for years following home bases in Toronto and Montreal.
She wrote and produced a movie of her own in 2013, Hattie鈥檚 Heist, but her days in the film industry are mostly a thing of the past.
鈥淢oving here kind of took me out of circulation,鈥� Emery said. 鈥淚 guess it was a natural ending.鈥�
There are a few actors whose company Emery did not enjoy, though she would only discuss them off the record. Nanaimo Girl wasn鈥檛 mean to be a tell-all, she admitted. But while she stayed mum on certain subjects, the memoir doesn鈥檛 skimp on details when it comes to her own upbringing.
Emery described herself as a 鈥渞ebel with a cause鈥� during her youth, a baseball-playing, jeans-wearing tomboy who explored every corner of the Island between Nanaimo and Victoria with her family in the 1940s. She lost touch with the area at various points, due to the demands of her job, but came to appreciate what she left behind when she returned permanently in 2007.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e brought up here, the landscape imprints itself on you. The mountains, the sea. And you don鈥檛 realize it. But then you come back, and think: 鈥榃ow, this is so incredibly beautiful.鈥� 鈥�
Emery wrote the book over several years, with a painstaking eye for local detail. She had help from a treasure trove she discovered in her parents鈥� belongings, shoeboxes full of ephemera 鈥� including her mother鈥檚 Nanaimo bar recipe 鈥� and letters she had written during her travels. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have written the book without those letters. There is no way I could have.鈥�
She has kept only select bits of memorabilia from her time in movies, as she donated much of it to the Toronto International Film Festival archives. She does have the memories in her head, however, and has come to trust what she experienced first-hand over what was written down in a movie press kit.
Her instincts were honed to a fine point over decades of experience. She had encounters with ingrates, to be sure. But her fond memories include time spent with raucous rockers Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop in the 1980s, which changed her perspective on the industry.
At first, she was wary of both. 鈥淚 thought: 鈥極h my god, I鈥檓 going to be working with these guys, and they are going to be wild, how am I going to deal with this?鈥� But they both turned out to be the nicest, most down-to-earth, charming guys. I nearly died.
鈥淚ggy Pop was doing an interview with The Globe and Mail and he was called to the set. I thought, 鈥榃ell, that鈥檚 that.鈥� But he came back after on his own volition 鈥� he didn鈥檛 need to be dragged 鈥� and continued the interview. They were really amiable guys. It鈥檚 always a surprise. The ones you think are going to be terrific turn out to be dorks, and the ones you are nervous of turn out to be really cool types.鈥�
Nanaimo Girl is available through Bolen Books, Ivy鈥檚 Bookshop, Munro鈥檚 Books or online at Indigo/Chapters and Amazon.
