The made-for-television film "Beverly Hills Madam" has two major assets. One is the rich amount of absolutely stunning she-babes--Donna Dixon, Terry Farrell--who sashay throughout said production. The other is the positively smashing acting debut of Robin Givens. As one of high-class madam Faye Dunaway's leading prostitutes--the picture's older "Tootie," as it were--Robin makes a definite (favorable) impression. When her character, April Baxter, is canoodling with an older black man, one of Dunaway's customers, we immediately get why the black man is so quickly drawn to her. When we see April at her dance class going through her moves (her ultimate ambition is to be a dancer), her swaying and grooving instantly excite us. And when she's brutally murdered near the end of the film, we effortlessly join in Dunaway's grief for her and with equal effortlessness fully understand why April's murder makes her want to leave being a madam behind. Really and truly, the svelte beauty, the high-gloss charm, and the polished sexiness we've come to admire in Robin was apparent in her professional coming-out. When People Magazine did a story on her around the time "Beverly Hills Madam" was telecast, it quoted her as asking: "(I)f I'm supposed to be so sexy, why don't I have a date?" and concluded its piece by asserting: "Good question, although you somehow get the feeling that she shouldn't be adding her scorecard up just quite yet."Robin Givens's professional debut clearly heralded the fact that this was somebody who would go on to deserve to have a brimming scorecard.
