BijouBlog

By Josh Eliot

It was intended to be a “star vehicle” movie for one of the most in-demand actors of the day, Blade Thompson. Blade burst onto the scene in Matt Sterling’s Score 10 in 1991 playing “Football Player #24” and was matched perfectly with Chad Knight. Score 10 was a pretty awesome movie with a who’s who cast including Mike Henson, Ryan Idol, Dolph Knight, Danny Summers, Chris Stone, Craig Slater and Dcota. Blade was another “it boy” of 1991-92 with roles in Idol Worship, L.A. Sex Stories, View to a Thrill 2 and magazine covers everywhere. It was the same year Catalina sensation Cody Foster’s career took off and they both dominated in the Industry, but they both took two completely different paths in life and career. I wrote extensively about Cody Foster recently in my blog “The Malibu Pool Boy: Cody Foster,” and it was a bit of déjà vu working with Blade Thompson on Behind the Barn Door (1992). But, in this case, Blade didn’t get rattled despite Scott Master’s best attempts. Behind the Barn Door was very loosely based on Robert Walters' (Scott Masters) Nova Studios film Down on the Farm (1982), starring Lee Marlin and available from Bijou Video.

In Behind the Barn Door, Blade and Rush Adams were co-stars with an equal amount of sex scenes. Scott Masters secured a farm location in central California, so it was a good four and a half hour drive from L.A. and, unfortunately for the cast and crew, it wasn’t a designated “travel day,” it was a “shoot day.” Before leaving town, we needed to shoot some shots of Rush picking up Blade in his “Datsun” truck from the back of a warehouse. We could have used the Catalina warehouse, but for some reason Scott had us just pick one at random on our way to the 101 freeway. We were only able to get a single take in a wide shot before we were approached by security and asked to leave the grounds. That shot seems to go on forever in the finished movie, because of all the voice-over it needed to cover. If we could have taped different angles and close ups, the finished segment wouldn’t have been so painful to watch. We were about four hours into our drive through the countryside when the crew in my van started getting on my case because we hadn’t eaten, despite passing a number of fast food and full service restaurants. I finally started flashing the headlights at Scott’s car to get him to pull over. No cell phones back then! Once he did, I ran up and told him everyone was starving and asked if we could we pull over at the next restaurant we saw. Blade and Rush, who were in Scott's, car said that they were hungry too! I was answered with a big obnoxious scream from Scott, basically telling us all to fuck off because we needed to get to the location first and shoot some shots before the sun went down.

I went back to the van with my tail between my legs, and when I told the crew they weren’t very happy. It’s not like I knew the address of the location and could just meet Scott there if we were to pull off for food at a drive-through. His controlling nature had us following behind his car in the van with no other location info, and let’s just say it, he drove like an old lady. As soon as we arrived, the farmer greeted us and we were instructed to set up before it got dark. We needed to get a shot of Blade and Rush running through a field and into the barn. They were dressed like children in elementary school, with their school books in tow, and I felt a little embarrassed for them in their Pee-Wee Herman outfits. Couldn’t we have shot that same angle the next morning? The barn location was booked for two days! It was foolish decisions like this one, not to feed the cast and crew, that always haunted us on Scott Masters’ movies. It was a pattern of inflexibility that we became accustomed to, but that didn’t make it any easier on us. Blade and Rush then shot a J/O together in the barn, but the generator we were using for power was so loud that it was drowning out all the audio. It was decided that we would record voice-over dubs later when we got to our accommodations for the night. It was around 7pm when we drove to our house rental and I was immediately instructed to set up the video decks so they could record Blake and Rush’s voice-overs and then told to go to the local market and pick up something to cook for everyone. I was super pissed and took the photographer Jeff Burton and make-up man Mr. Ed with me, getting them mega-stoned while we drove to the market. We were dying of hunger by this point and started eating Suzie-Q’s and Ding Dongs in the aisles while we shopped, saving the packages so the cashier could ring them up, naturally. Unfortunately, the small mom and pop market sucked! All we could find to make for dinner was spaghetti, sauce from a jar and frozen meatballs. What a shit show.

The next day was not much better, because that generator from hell was so loud and obnoxious it was getting on everybody’s nerves. The sex scene with Rush and Blade was “good,” but they both were totally over Scott Masters' behavior and started talking back to him and getting in petty arguments. We went back to L.A. the following morning, and the day after that we shot Blade’s scene with sexy Rick Bolton in a classic car on the grounds of the Eight is Enough TV show house in Universal City. That actually went off quite well. The other scenes required another road trip to a country estate with a beautiful pond and several out buildings. This time, I took the initiative to load the van up with lots of snacks, drinks and pre-made sandwiches, just in case “Debby Downer” tried to starve us again. You have to realize that it was going on six years of dealing with Scott’s behavior, and I was really at my wit's end with him.

The first thing I noticed at the location was the amazing landscape and how picturesque the property was. Rush Adams was matched with a newcomer, to us, named Tom Katt. Tom Katt went on to work with us for years to come, however Rush only worked in two movies for Catalina and one for Vivid Video called Widespread. Rush co-stared in a little sleeper I directed called Good Vibrations. Good Vibrations was a super quirky, stoner vibe video with a mixed up, messed up storyline, which I made early in my career. I will go on record to say that even though I previously claimed Brother Trouble to be the worst movie I ever made, maybe Good Vibrations takes that honor. I linked a teaser of each - you decide.

It’s too bad Rush left the porn scene, because he had a big fat cock that worked and a macho yet endearing personality. For the Rush and Tom Katt scene, I spotted a fantastic camera angle featuring an incredible pond with a barn and farmhouse in the background. I remember walking Scott Masters over to where I thought we should set up the cameras, saying that it would be “gorgeous” to use that camera angle as a wide shot for the sex scene because it was so incredibly picturesque. He reminded me that the pond was only going to be used as the script warranted, for Blade and Rush Adams to be in a rowboat while Rush tells Blade about his encounter with Tom Katt in “a shower.” What a huge waste it was to only use the pond for a tiny piece of storyline in a stagnant shot with weird voiceover dialogue. With his wishes made known, we went on to shoot the scene in a tiny shower instead of simply modifying the script to have Rush’s dubbed voice-over tell the story about how he had sex with Tom Katt on the shore of that pond instead of a shower. Oy vey!

At least when the tiny shower wasn’t working visually for Scott, I was able to persuade him to move the boys to the front porch of the cabin for some sort of visual interest. Tom Katt and Rush had good chemistry once we got them out of that crammed shower, and the scene was saved.

I think it was Scott’s roommate Don who showed up with three new models midway through our day. Scott neglected to mention to any of us that we were doing a double shift; we had yet another nighttime scene to shoot on another area of the property near some hay bales. Thanks for the notice! We begrudgingly set up after eating the pizzas that Don brought with him. The scene was with Cory Evans, Jason Andrews and Joey Morgan and, despite the circumstances, the scene flowed very well and it kind of renewed our spirit because they were so into each other. I think the only scene without generator noise was a tag-on we shot in L.A. with Bo Summers and Todd Marshall, which I remember absolutely “zip” about. In fact, the generator problem was such a big deal that we had to shoot most of the storyline as voice-overs, which emulated a NOVA film from Scott's past. That could have been a good thing, because I love his NOVA films, but for this project it just didn’t work and the final cut of the movie was a disappointment for sure.

Some believe that, after viewing the finished version of Behind the Barn Door, it was the final straw for the GM. This would turn out to be the last movie Scott Masters directed for Catalina and, in addition, he and John Travis left the company within weeks. When one door closes, another one opens. John and Scott jumped into action and formed the company Studio 2000, where they released many hit movies for years to come. Movies directed by John Trennel (John Travis) and produced by Scott Masters always proved to be a winning combination. As for Blade Thompson, his career as a top box cover star covered the lengthy period of 1991 to 1997. He then transformed his career to that of director, working behind the cameras during the years 1997 to 2003.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

This week, we're reprinting an interview by Mitch Lawrence with Randy Cochran - an important early Black gay porn star - from the May 2003 issue of Black Inches Magazine. In it, Cochran candidly discusses his career during the '80s/'90s and shares about a production he had just directed/produced at the time of the interview.

Black Inches talks with the first African-American nominated for an Adult Video Award for Best Actor. Randy Cochran's career in the adult industry spans sixteen years. During that time, he has worked with some of the industry greats and earned himself a place in porn history as one of the first gay Black porn stars. These days, he operates his own escort service and recently stepped behind the cameras to produce and direct Mr. Cochran's Neighborhood.

Mitch Lawrence: Let's start with the basics. When is your birthday and where were you born?

Randy Cochran: I'm a Virgo, born August 28, 1962 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

ML: Where do you live now?

RC: I moved back to the East Coast two years ago, after fulfilling a twenty-year life plan to life in California. These days, I split my week between Manhattan and a home in Maryland that's two doors down from the house where I grew up. Manhattan has beautiful men, but the air can be harsh. I love Maryland's four seasons, but the city is plagued with street drugs.

ML: What's your educational background?

RC: Being a U.S. Navy veteran and having the free time my profession allows, I've had a chance to study a number of different things. I went to a medically-oriented high school and became a surgical tech in the navy. I've since studied business, cinematography, photography, televison, and botany, just to name a few.

ML: Are those your major interests?

RC: Yes, plus fucking, of course!

ML: How did you get started in the adult industry?

RC: Back in the early eighties, I was living in Hollywood and working three jobs. I stayed so busy that I didn't have the time to spend all the money I was making. I didn't even have a car, very unusual for someone in Southern California. Anyway, I was on the bus one day and read an article that said, "You can't make any money working for someone else." About the same time, some guy told me that I fucked well enough to escort, so I popped an ad in the local gay rag and I was off and running.

Also, about the same time, I answered an ad in Drama Log that was seeking dancers. It was supposedly for a music dance video and I was sure it was legitimate, because there were lots of SAG and AFTRA members in it. As it turned out, a few weeks into rehearsals the producers announced it was actualy an adult production. There were some big cast changes, but I stayed on and ended up starring in my first adult video.

ML: What was the title?

RC: It was a Black Forest Productions flick called Making It Big, which took nearly a year to make. I was in other films that were released earlier, but that was my first and also the one that earned me a nomination for Best Actor at the 1986 Adult Video Awards.

RC: I was the first Black performer to go up for that category. Believe it or not, back then, Black actors still had white voiceovers.

ML: Why?

RC: The need for voiceovers came from a combination of difficulties. Even though Black videos are big moneymakers, they're usually low-budget productions. The earlier ones used inferior equipment for the most part, or the production just didn't have the bucks to have the actors lay down a proper soundtrack. White guys were hired to fix that.

ML: Have you encountered any sort of prejudice from within the porn industry?

RC: Absolutely! The worst was probably my fiftieth film, called In the Black. The producer wanted to make a Black flick, but he didn't want his neighbors to see Black guys going in and out of his neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, so he cramped seven performers and a crew of seven more in a little two-bedroom unit elsewhere. The uncomfortable vibes definitely came across in the finished product.

I've worked on all-Black productions, interracial productions, and on all-white productions in a technical capacity, and unfortunately, there's a pretty big difference between each level. That includes everything from pay scales, dressing rooms, sets, catering, and makeup to technical support. It's just not equal.

ML: What's the climate like in the business today?

RC: A big part of my being in the industry was to get better conditions for Black performers. I've been successful on some levels and believe things have improved in my sixteen-plus years in front of the cameras, but I've recently heard rumors of backsliding.

ML: Do you enjoy making interracial videos?

RC: It's great! I love working with my brothas, but as far as production values, the level is always higher in an interracial flick versus an all-Black production. An exception would be Catalina, which has the most polished of the all-Black productions.

ML: What do you consider to be your best work in video?

RC: Heatwaves - a Catalina production, by the way. It's one of my favorites because of the treatment I recieved. A limo picked me up and took me to a yacht that had belonged to Elizabeth Taylor for a four-day cruise to Catalina Island. The cast was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, and there was great food, hot sex, the works for two days on and two days off!

My second favorite was another Black Forest production, In Thrust We Trust. Believe it or not, my co-stars were hung larger than me, and we had a scene where everyone cums three times. That was fucking hot!

ML: Speaking of dick size, care to enlighten us?

RC: 10" x 7".

ML: Did you have a favorite director?

RC: There are several, actually. First was Robert of Adam and Co., because he was terrific to work for and he taught me a great deal about the industry. Bill Higgins was responsible for those terrific Catalina productions. Gino Colbert is always a joy to work with, and Chi Chi LaRue is wonderfully professional.

ML: What about your less rewarding experiences?

RC: I suppose Lazlo gets my vote for least favorite producer, although I liked him personally. He's the one who killed off Cory Monroe and me in an auto accident. Cory and I delivered a great performance sex-wise, but Lazlo had scheduled too many scenes for one day and needed us to return for dialogue pickups, which give a cleaner soundtrack, eliminate director's instructions, still camera clicks, air and road noise, and so forth. Instead of paying for the extra day, he killed us off in the credits to save bucks.

ML: Tell us about your favorite co-stars.

RC: I like Steve Love, David Ashfield, and Gene Lamar. Brad Leatherwood was great, too.

ML: And your least favorite?

RC: Fortunately, his name escapes me. All I can remember is that he was a really boring sex performer and terribly unprofessional.

ML: How was handsome Ty Jones to work with?

RC: Absolutely great. He should also be included on my list of favorite performers. What a fantastic dick! He was a great friend and we got to play around a lot off-camera. His other half, Ron, used to screw me silly up against the wall.

ML: You worked with some of the early legends in the business. Do you still see any of the old gang?

RC: Absolutely! I spent a weekend with Steve Love in Chicago just a few weeks ago and I got together with Gene Lamar and Paul Hanson for my birthday the year before last. We try to keep in touch.

ML: What's your funniest experience in the porn business?

RC: Something that happened at the end of filming Mr. Cochran's Neighborhood, which was inclued as a blooper. Andre Bolla was sucking dick and getting worked over by a large dildo when he let loose with a huge belch right into the camera. Oops!

ML: You directed and produced your last video, Mr. Cochran's Neighborhood. Can we expect any more videos?

RC: There's talk about doing a trilogy with the old gang. I'm mostly focusing on my escort business. As I said, it predates my film career. I found the video work to be a great mode of advertisement.

ML: How long have you been escorting?

RC: Over twenty years now.

ML: What do most clients prefer?

RC: Bottoming.

ML: And what do you prefer?

RC: Topping.

ML: So that works out really well.

RC: Absolutely!

ML: What are your personal preferences?

RC: I also prefer to top in my private life, unless the dick is larger than mine. I'm a firm believer that one has to know what feels good to make it feel good. I enjoy a good dicking every now and then, and I'm lucky to have had some of the largest pieces in the industry.

ML: Are you in a relationship or single?

RC: I'm a bachelor all the way.

ML: If you were looking, what would be your criteria?

RC: A big-dicked, versatile man who's very butch yet kind and generous. Someone who can accept my lifestyle.

Check out Bijou's 2024 remastered reissue of Randy Cochran's porn debut in Dwight Antoine's Making It Big (Black Forest Productions, 1986) on DVD and Streaming! Plus, catch several other of Randy Cochran's classics through Bijou.

By Josh Eliot

Hands down, for me, the least interesting sexual position, whether you are in a bed or behind a camera lens, is 69. It blows, literally. It’s a bitch to light if you are filming it, a pain in the ass to execute it if you are an actor performing the position and not the most pleasant of views for the guy on the bottom. Now granted, it’s a simultaneous blow job, or a blow and a rim, but I much prefer the guy on his knees looking up with his eyes as he works his partner off. Doesn’t that always look better in a movie or to the receiver? I made a movie called 69: Discover the Secret in 2004 and I’ll be more than surprised, when I go back to watch it, if the movie even features one short segment with the 69 sex position. The title was a play on words and 69 stood for the year 1969, not the sex position.

The movie opens to a glorious black-and white-shot of a secluded home in the mountains of Yucca Valley, California with a half-moon glowing above it. Inside the house, actors Rob Romoni and Andreas Stern play a closeted 1960’s couple watching television as the astronauts walk on the moon for the very first time. Later, Andreas goes out back into the tool shed and discovers a distressed, naked young man who collapses onto the floor. The couple brings the young man inside and discovers he has amnesia but remembers someone calling him by the name Skyler.

Skyler is the main character of the movie, and we follow his journey from young man to middle-aged adult, learning more and more about his existence along the way. Young Skyler is played by Chip Noll, then as the story progresses into the 1980’s, Cameron Fox takes over the role of Skyler. Finally, as we reach modern day in the early 2000’s, Steve Rambo assumes the role of older Skyler. The big names only start there, with sixteen more top stars all contributing their awesomeness to this major movie for Catalina Video! The supporting cast includes Ray Harley, Maxime Cannon, Jack van Dean, Bruno Storni (aka Bruno Storm), Andreas Stern, Alex Steele, Riley Porter, Rob Romoni, Mario Ortiz, Andy Hunter, Jonathan Gabriel, Jessie Cooper, Adriano and the award-winning trio who received the Best Group Scene Award from GayVN: Arpad Miklos, Brad Benton and Jack Ryan. I remember shooting that award-winning threeway with those guys and thinking to myself, “This is the 'scene stealer' of this entire movie.” It was hotter than hot - all three of those dudes had such an incredible sexual presence with each other. They were almost giddy to get each other stripped down and pounce on each other.

Young Skyler is introduced for the first time into the world of sexual pleasure when he witnesses the 1969 gay couple involved in some deep penetration. Shot beautifully in gorgeous black-and-white, this scene rates high among all of my very favorites. Andreas Stern never looked better, and that giant fat dick of his sliding into Rob Romoni’s throat and muscle ass opens the movie with a bang! The following morning, they wake up and realize Skyler has flown the coop. We next see Skyler wandering through the wilderness stopping along a river to rest. This is where the audience begins to see glimpses and flashes of Skyler’s memories in both black-and-white and in color. I was going for a memory montage that looked as though moments from history were implanted in his brain, and I achieved this by using purchased stock footage of major events in history cut to overly dramatic music. When Skyler falls asleep, the time lapses and we move from 1969 to 1992, converting into color along the way

In 1992, Cameron Fox takes over the role, and he is now making his way from the mountains to the desert floor in Palm Springs, California. Cameron Fox started his career in 1999 at the age of twenty-two under contract with Falcon Studios. His first three movies for director John Rutherford were Sting: A Taste of Leather, No Way Out and In Deep: Miles to Go. We were lucky enough to work with Cameron in 2003 for directer Brad Austin’s My Overstuffed Jeans and also his role in 69. Cameron unfortunately passed away at the young age of 36 on June 12, 2014. He will be remembered for his wonderful demeanor and professionality on the set, with award-winning performances highlighting his legacy. A fun, friendly Texas boy who, through our brief time working together, made such a positive impression on myself and the Catalina crew members. Cameron was the perfect choice for the thirty-ish Skyler who falls in love with Adriano when they meet accidentally one day in the desert. Skyler is mistaken for one of the “working boy hustlers” hired for a birthday party and, even though he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Skyler joins in on the erotic five-way with Adriano, Jonathan Gabriel, Riley Porter and Mario Ortiz. After the party, Skyler stays with Adriano and the pair forms a relationship. Suddenly and without warning, the threat of mysterious bounty hunters looking for Skyler is made known. Skyler’s fear for Adriano’s safety forces him to take off in the middle of the night, leaving his lover behind. He makes his way into the nearby mountains, where he lives off the land for a little over a decade.

In a fun and fabulous transition scene, Cameron Fox transforms into Steve Rambo, who takes over the final casting for the “older” Skyler. After living off the land for many years, he is captured by the bounty hunters as the audience learns more about who exactly Skyler is. In his very last movie for Catalina Video (his work with which included a brilliant eight-year career as an exclusive for the company), Ray Harley steps in to play the hero of the movie. He portrays the one person who knows everything about Skyler and wants to help free him from the hands of the military monster, played by Maxime Cannon, who now holds Skyler captive. Maxime Cannon and Ray both starred in His Terrible Twin, Stag Show and Junior's Nude Cleaning Service, but this is the first time they performed together in a sex scene. It was perfect casting for the hottest bottom in our stable of exclusives to be rammed by our biggest dick exclusive. Ray can usually take anyone, but he was definitely feeling it when Maxime’s giant schlong went to town on his ass. It is at this point that we all find out exactly who and what Skyler is and why he was created in the first place. Yes, I said created.

Skyler and the audience are transported inside a digital program, and are introduced to a stable of studs who happen to be the newest “version” of Skyler: newly built Skyler models 2.0 with modern technology preventing them from escaping the military and having to be hunted down, like our character was. The original Skyler is simply out of date. Ray Harley brokers a deal to let the original Skyler return to the desert to spend the rest of his existence with his true love, Adriano, but only after he shares all of the sexual experiences he had along the way with the new group of updated Skyler 2.0s... because you just can’t get that “mouth on cock,” “dick up the ass” or “load on the face” realistic experience from a computer program. Basically, an excuse for a big final orgy to close out the movie.

69: Discover the Secret was my opportunity to dip my toes into a little bit of sci-fi. I had a really good time creating the futuristic world and all the characters living in it. I have to say, the actors all did an awesome job with the outside-the-box personalities. I recently re-mastered a 32-minute “PG” version of the movie for my YouTube Channel and am linking it for you to watch here.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

The year was early 1993, and I was running all over Hollywood looking for a waterproof casing for our Canon L1 camera, which recorded on Hi-8 video tape. The L1 was a smaller camera that we would use when we needed to shoot some footage in any area where we didn’t have electricity. You would think that we could have used our big three-quarter inch main cameras that cost a fortune and gave an excellent quality image, but our producer Scott Masters did not want to buy the rechargeable batteries for them, as the cost was “too much.” Instead he invested in this little piece of shit camera as our solution; I think it cost around $2500. I truly believe I lost a few votes for Best Picture on Single White Male (1992) because of this damn camera. I was told it was a dead heat between SWM and Jerry Douglas’ Kiss Off, which ended up with the GayVN for Best Picture award that year. I was forced to use that damn L1 for all the exterior shots in Single White Male, including the finale where Rob Cryston chases Brian Hart with an ax! Whenever you cut the footage in a scene alongside footage from our main cameras it was so obvious that they didn’t match, and the footage that was shot on some cheap camera affected the viewing experience for sure. The only good thing about the L1 camera, in my opinion, was that I was able to find the casing for it and shot my very first underwater sex scene for a movie called Wet and Wild.

I’ll be the first to say that Wet and Wild is no great movie; it’s kind of all over the place, yet it has an amazing cast and the underwater scene between Aiden Shaw and Rob Cryston is worth the price of admission. The other thing I absolutely love about the movie isn’t in the movie, it’s on the original VHS box cover. Our make-up man at the time, “Mr. Ed,” hand-painted a swimsuit on the naked body of star Tom Katt - who, as everyone reading this probably knows, had an incredible physique at the time, and probably still does. There’s one other great thing associated with Wet and Wild, and his name is Joey Morgan.

The previous year, I worked with Joey Morgan in Down Bi Law (1992), where he played a sheriff looking for an escaped convict in a brothel. It was great to have him back with us, especially because we were shooting out of town, in Palm Springs, on gay-friendly Warm Sands Drive. We were just a few buildings up from the Vista Grande and Atrium, nudist resorts where we normally shot our movies during the era. This time we had a triplex that we rented out for the week and had the private pool area to ourselves. Somehow, while shooting a scene, the crew was talking about porn star/director Paul Barresi, and Joey Morgan had a fun story to tell us about working with him in the past. Everyone on the crew all thought that Barresi was a fucking stud, and so did Joey. When shooting the movie for director Paul Barresi, Joey told him that he was having trouble getting hard - all as a ploy, mind you, as Joey never had trouble getting hard. Joey played it well, saying magazines weren’t working, videos didn’t help, yada yada, and the only thing that would get him hard and able to shoot the scene would be if Paul pulled his dick out and let Joey suck it. That sly little fox! Brilliant! Joey was so proud of himself when he told us the story, and of course we all were so envious! That was very much in character for Joey, not afraid to ask for what he wanted. Like any good blogger, I decided to see if the story lined up with reality, so I searched and searched until I found that Joey Morgan did work on a movie for Paul Barresi in 1992 called Razor Close. It took me awhile to find it, because he worked under the stage name Aaron Gunn instead of Joey Morgan.

Wet and Wild was the one and only time that my partner, Mark Rutter, came along on one of my video shoots. I invited him because we had enough space for everyone to have their own private bedrooms and we were still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship. Joey was totally chomping at the bit for Mark and kept saying we were a hot couple, but of course a threeway was out of the question. As far as I know, they didn’t play around behind my back, but who knows, as I was busy on the set a lot and Mark did kind of look like Paul Barresi!

Aiden Shaw worked in a few movies directed by Chi Chi Larue and Chet Thomas, which I was videographer on, but this was the first time I directed him. What a dream - his huge piece would get hard at the drop of a pin and stay that way until climaxes. The evening he arrived, we shot his oral scene, which basically called for him to slide his hard dick through a lattice wall alongside the face of Joey Morgan, who was relaxing by the pool. Joey worked the very large, fat piece beautifully, making that oral scene really stand out among the others. For some reason, we put vampire fangs in Aiden’s mouth, which the viewer saw through the lattice hole. I guess he was supposed to be sucking off a vampire? Who knows. I think I was in a “smoking a lot of pot” phase and never really completed the script on this movie or explained the vampire fangs. I used to get all over Chi Chi LaRue for showing up to the set without a script, which she would then scramble to write on a paper towel or whatever form of paper she could find. Admittedly, I was guilty of the same thing periodically, because it really was exhausting pumping out two or three movies every month and Mark Rutter did like to party and he kind of pulled me into it for a while. One of the great achievements in our relationship was how I got him to give all that up!

Truly the best scene in the movie was shot the next morning, the underwater scene. I was thrilled to have Rob Cryston back with us, as I knew he could handle Aiden’s dick like a champ. I made sure to set up one camera shooting Rob and Aiden from above ground so I could intercut those shots with the underwater footage. I had my snorkel gear and was ready to go, quickly discovering that Aiden and Rob were the perfect choice for the task. They were both rock hard under the water, which helped me capture some great oral by Rob, while the above-water camera caught all of Aiden’s facial reactions. Scott Masters was a savior when it came to the anal. He sent me to the set with this powder that, when mixed with water, became slippery, where normal lube would have produced friction on the condom underwater. It turns out the powder is what they use when birthing cows. The vet would rub it on his/her arms to “grease ‘em up!” Yikes! The fucking was amazing, as were the underwater cum shots. This wasn’t the last underwater scene I would shoot; I pulled the L1 out of mothballs again for the movie CatalinaVille in 1999.

I remember getting a phone call after the underwater scene from Scott Masters, telling me that Tom Katt’s flight was now landing in Ontario instead of Palm Springs and he wanted me to drive there to pick him about around 10 pm. Ontario was almost as far away as Los Angeles, so I asked if he could tell Tom Katt to take a shuttle to us in Palm Springs. That request was “no bueno” and Scott Masters jumped all over me, stressing me out more than I was already, basically “ordering” me to go. I said I would, but after I hung up the phone I quickly made an arrangement with Dennis from Drake's Bookstore (aka Moist Towelette from my movie The Hills Have Bi’s), who was helping us out. He happily agreed to go when I offered to pay him $100. I was thrilled that I didn’t have to drive 100+ miles round trip to the airport after shooting all day and playing mother to the cast and crew. It was also a major fringe benefit to me anytime I could disobey a Scott Masters order.

Tom Katt arrived and I greeted him in the morning, as I was fast asleep when they got in from the airport. He always looked like a million bucks, never needing make-up, but this time the body make-up would be extensive. Mr. Ed did an incredible job for the box cover shoot. The hand-painted swimsuit over Katt’s bubble butt looked incredible; as you see from the box shot, his thin waist accentuating his built-up chest and hot ass made that picture one of my favorite VHS boxes ever.

Tom and Randy White shot a scene together in CC Construction Company, a fabulous discotheque in Cathedral City that was packed every weekend. Randy, Tom Katt and the other models all danced on stage, and the Catalina sales and management team came down to toss out videos to the crowd. It was a good time, but I seriously don’t remember much because Mark Rutter kept feeding me Gold Schlager shots and it’s a minor miracle that I was able to shoot the remaining scenes (with Joey Morgan and Jason Andrews, as well as Bill Watkins and Ren Lickitt) over the next couple of days. A total blur, as the crew started partying at CC and we didn’t stop until days later when it was time to drive home. I watched those two scenes before writing this blog and I remember “zip” about them. So I guess this is a good place to end.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

By Will Seagers

Hi folks. Will here! And, in the spirit of the season, this week's "Booth Adventure" deals with the brightly colored and festive lights of club life and the party scene. I thought I was done with my "Booth Memories." But, they wouldn't be complete without recalling some of my "light-man escapades!"

My attraction to lighting in general started at a very early age... we're talking three or four years old! My mom used to tell me tales of when she and my father would take me on nighttime outings with them in the car. "See-da-light, see-da-light" were some of the very first words out of my young mouth! They were accompanied by my excitement and pointing, as well. Truth was, I do remember looking at intensely colored lights, such as those red lights atop radio towers and their blue counterparts. Knowing they were coming, I sat prepared to stare at some of these travel markers whose locations I memorized from regular trips that we made to visit relatives and the like. I remember being transfixed by my friends, the deep cobalt blue lights - which would appear later in my life.

Fast forward a decade and a half to my late teens and my experimenting with smoking pot. I wasn't that fond of smoking. But, I did like that the experience lent itself to color appreciation! Also at that late teen stage were a few dablings with the more potent LSD. Once again, not so much a heavy hitter with the frequency of use, but those times I tried it were very visual - particularly in the world of colors!

Moving further down the timeline, I was a young gay man who frequented New York's dance bars and party halls. Lighting was just starting to be taken as a serious accompaniment to the pulsing music of the day. Luckily, I happened upon some of New York City's most tasteful gay private clubs. I took mental notes on the lighting and what I had experienced. It wasn't so much the animation of the lighting - but, the sophisticated palette of hues that I was seeing.

I also noticed from better lighting technicians that I had the ability to "see what I was hearing!" The changes in light both in the instruments and the colors seemed to transition perfectly with the music. Something inside me told me I wanted to do this myself at some point in the future.

That came in my middle twenties when I moved to San Francisco. From the moment I arrived in town, I was enthralled with the ability to take on new projects and be successful at them. Although I had never attempted it before, the time was ripe for me to become a light-man!

I am right now searching through fifty years of "memory fog" to place where and when my first lighting gig was. But it is to no avail. Suffice it to say, I remember playing at some pretty big San Francisco clubs and discos like the Music Hall, Trocadero Transfer and Dreamland on established lighting systems. Not being of my own design, I quickly got bored and moved onto designing lights. It was at private parties-at-large where I got to assemble the gear and gels myself. I also thought it was very important to play up the architecture of a room as well as the dance floor.

Once again, my friend and mentor Bruce Trondson (primarily my audio engineer) welcomed me to ply my talents and imagination at a couple of rather large San Francisco party venues such as at the Long Shoreman's Hall and at The Peoples Temple (YES, of Jim Jones fame!). I was also summoned by Bruce to do the lights for the original party at the Russian River resort, "The Woods!" My design was kept in tack for future use when it transitioned into a permanent club! Both in town and at the River, I designed the lights and did all of the labor-intensive setup. This included cabling, setting up lighting instruments and other special effects and, finally, placing the color gels. Bruce was my godsend in that he could always figure out how to connect the scrimmers (lighting control boards) to power supplies of the various buildings. I was scared to do that (LOL).

 

Last but not least were the crowning events that I lit at San Francisco's Kabuki Theater. Rod Roderick, a famed S.F. showman and entrepreneur, was the MC of the whole affair. He invited me to work as operator and co-designer with John Tadesco of Industrial Light and Magic (yes, that arm of the Lucas film group!).

I was invited several times to Mr. Tadesco's private warehouse. There, I let my imagination go into full gear as we assembled some of the most impressive gear ever to be flown from the ceiling of that great Kabuki Theater.

With the glorious music of Frank Corr filling the Kabuki Theater, I instinctively followed him with my version of synesthesia (seeing what you are hearing). It was during the popular Gino Soccio tune "Oh What a Night" that I pulled out all of the stops and set off on a trail of my own. I had left some "tempo lighting" still engaged so as not to disrupt the energy of the dance floor. But, with defiant glee, I fired up eight emergency halide cans (the size of garbage cans!). These were a type of utility lamp most frequently used in parking lots! I had these gelled with Dark Urban Blue - a very deep cobalt shade (that color that was burned into my childhood memory). They took almost five minutes to come to full intensity. During the build-up time, the whole theater was turned so blue that you could almost taste it. At the peak of the aforementioned song, I shot teal-colored pin spots through this room of blue and then killed the massive blue lights, leaving just the pin spots. The crowd went nuts!!!! Soon, there was a line to my lighting booth with "thank you party favors."

That was a moment I will never forget. And like L.A. Tool & Die in my movies, the Kabuki Theater was the pinnacle in my lighting game, and I moved on from both shortly afterwards.

So, later in life when my mom used to tease me about "See-da-light, See-da-light," I would just nod and grin! If she only knew what came of that! From the folks at Bijou and myself, we wish you safe and happy holidays! XO!

Bio of Will Seagers:

Will Seagers (also credited as Matt Harper), within his multifaceted careers and participation in numerous gay communities across the country in the '70s and '80s and beyond, worked as a print model, film performer, and DJ, just to name a few. He made iconic appearances in releases from Falcon, Hand in Hand, Joe Gage, Target (Bullet), J. Brian, Steve Scott, and more, including in lead roles in major classics like Gage's L.A. Tool & Die (1979) and Scott's Wanted (1980). He brought strong screen presence and exceptional acting to his roles and was scene partners with many fellow legends of classic porn.

Will Seagers, recent photo