BijouBlog

Last Halloween, I wrote a couple of blogs regarding some of America’s most haunted spots. These places just so happen to be located in Rhode Island; one of them (Mercy Brown’s Grave) is just ten minutes from my parents' house inside the Chestnut Hill Cemetery at 10 Round Top Road in Exeter, RI. Another (Vampire’s Grave, where Nellie Vaughn was buried) is about twenty-five minutes from home, located inside the Plain Meeting House Cemetery in West Greenwich, RI. Sockanosett, aka The Bad Boys School, is on Chapel Hill near Garden City, which is about forty minutes away. The “real” Conjuring House is way the fuck out in the sticks at 1677 Round Top Road in Burrillville, RI and was a real bitch to find! Finally, Ladd School (Boys Asylum) is literally three minutes away, with only the Veterans Cemetery standing between the Ladd School property and my parents' neighborhood! (You can catch up and read my two blogs about all of those sites before proceeding, if you like: BAD BOYS SCHOOL blog and VAMPIRE'S GRAVE blog.)

This past July and August, my partner Tony and I went back east to spend a week with my parents and then hit the road to visit Hudson, NY, Boston and Provincetown, Cape Cod. I have to say, Hudson, NY experienced a resurgence like no other! Hudson, a very small city, is a two-hour Amtrak ride from Penn Station and was pretty down and out - that is, until Covid-19 hit. During that time, New Yorkers were buying up properties in Hudson for next to nothing. A city filled with amazing Victorians priced in the $20,000s and $30,000s! My Aunt lives half an hour away, and evidently the city was crime-ridden and run down. We actually were there about eleven years ago and it was pretty sketchy, but now the gays went in, restored the old buildings, gentrified the place (except south of 3rd street) and gay flags are on most businesses up and down the two major streets. Our VRBO was only $168 per night for a two-bedroom in a beautifully restored Victorian. Real estate prices are now a lot higher, where what you could buy for $30k is now over 100K… but even that!!! Boston was exceptional, as well. I thought I would be cheeky and book us into the Eliot Hotel, my namesake, in the back-bay neighborhood right near Newberry Street. What a gem! If ever in Boston!!

The most fun for us while visiting my parents in Rhode Island was dragging them along to all these places they would never go to on their own. The first full day was rain, rain, rain and I wasn’t about to stay in the house watching my dad stare at CNBC with the stock market ticker-tape on the bottom. I told them to get dressed and didn’t say where we were going. Unbeknownst to them, I had mapped out Mercy Brown’s gravesite and Vampire’s Grave on MapQuest (yes, I still prefer the print-out to my phone, don’t judge). I was surprised how close Mercy was to their house, and even though it was pouring rain I had to jump out of the car and get a selfie! They just seemed confused as to why I had to visit this site, so I gave them the whole Mercy Brown story with six degrees of separation to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. They pretended to be interested, but when the story was over they were like, “Where the hell are you driving to?” because we were on some really rural roads. I then started telling the story of Nellie Vaughn and how every kid in high school had a Vampire’s Grave experience, a typically very stoned one. We pulled up to Vampire’s Grave and the sun actually came out so we all ventured onto the grounds and I led them to Nellie’s plot. It had been at least forty-four years, give or take, since I had visited the Plain Meeting House Cemetery and since then the town removed Nellie’s headstone because of all the vandalism. They seemed bored, so I then suggested that we head to Iggy’s for Lobster Rolls and they all, including Tony, perked up!

I let the whole “haunting” thing go for a couple days, until I asked them to direct me how to get to Sockanosset. Also known throughout my childhood as the Bad Boys School, it was always a chilling place to drive or walk through from the moment I first saw it as a kid. I was pleased to see they incorporated some of the old 19th century buildings into a reimagined living, dining and entertainment area. When I saw that the old chapel and hospital building was converted into The Chapel Grill, I insisted we stop there for lunch. They said it was fine dining, and it was, but they had an amazing three-course pre-fix for $25! In fact, I have to say I would move back to Rhode Island for the restaurant prices alone. Where else in the northeast can you get a cheese omelet, hash browns and a grilled, not toasted, English muffin for $6.95 and only fifty cents for each additional item inside it! Not even at Denny’s! The inside of the Chapel Grille was stunning featuring restored stone and beams; so glad they preserved it.

Our last day before leaving, I surprised everyone with tickets to tour the “real” Conjuring House. They shot the movie in Currie, North Carolina, but the Perron family home was actually in Burrillville, RI. I bought tickets from their website while I was back in Palm Desert, because it looked like every weekend was selling out way in advance. Once we finally found the place, we were met by our tour guide, an actual medium. Since we were early, she showed us on her cell phone a previous tour where a cabinet door swung open as a guest walked past. She said the past few weeks were pretty active for the spirits. She told us we could walk down to the field where the famous tree from the movie was located, and to just make our way up to the house around the start time of the tour. We walked down and noticed several glamping sites that were set up in the field and one small trailer camping site. It was pretty cool that they are expanding the experience for guests. They even offer an overnight experience in the house for groups of up to six people for around $1000 and $1300 on weekends. It is popular with paranormal investigators. The glamping sites go for $300 - $400 a night. Not a bad business! (As I write this, I see the business, house and estate - as of August 2024 - is on the market for 1.2 million, Sotheby’s. Oh, if I were younger!) They did have a fire in 2023 and the barn burned down early one morning. The owners explained that it was not the “spirits” but, rather, a worker who did not store his chemicals properly and they ignited.

The group tour, with about thirty attendees, was really well done and the house did not disappoint. In the upstairs bedroom, my dad suddenly yelled out, scaring the shit out of everyone. He was freaking out and said that something tapped him on the back! I quickly looked at my partner Tony and I could tell by his shit-eating grin that he had tapped my dad on the back and quickly stepped away! We let the others know right away. The basement was by far the creepiest for me. It was there that the drawing of the “Crooked Man” from one of the Perron children was located. There was also a deep well (a la The Ring) that was located there. It was explained that houses were built over wells, because if someone wanted to steal their land they would poison their water supply. Having the well in the basement kept it protected.

On our last morning with my parents, we finished our $6.95+ breakfast and were heading back to their house to say our goodbyes and drive to Provincetown. As we left the restaurant parking lot, my dad pointed to a road across the street that looked unpaved for years and overgrown with shrubs. “Ladd School is up that street,” he chimed out. I was like, “What!” He quickly turned and headed towards home. I was shocked to hear that Ladd School was not 500 feet from the entrance to their neighborhood. Once we said goodbye and headed off in our rental car, it took every kind of self-control known to man for me not to turn up that street, but Tony would have killed me and we had that long drive to Provincetown. You can bet your butt my next trip home will include a journey up that road to Ladd School, the most haunted of them all!

I've added a few YouTube links to mini videos on the CONJURING HOUSE, LADD SCHOOL, BAD BOYS SCHOOL, VAMPIRE'S GRAVE (video 1 & video 2) and MERCY BROWN as supplemental materials.

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! In this second of (#?) installments, we'll have a look at the behind the scenes aspects of club life - that "Sacred Territory" known as “the booth” - from the perspective of a guest to a DJ plying his/her trade. That Ivory Tower you might have gazed upon during your many club excursions holds a lot more mystery than you might think!

Myself, I held that territory and the DJ within at high esteem. In just a few years, I watched booths morph into "musical altars" from their very humble beginnings as just a place to play records and put the musical equipment. And with reverence, whether at a simple dance bar or a dance palace, an invisible line existed around "Le Discaire" (DJ) that you never crossed (unless, of course, you were invited!). During my first few years as a disco reveler, I was relegated to the dance floor with the masses - only to cast my longing glances at the booth! That was about to change.

It was after I moved to San Francisco in 1976 that I decided to create some music of my own. Although the town had its own great distinctive sound, I missed the burly, manly, and urban sounds from New York's underground scene. My first partner, Tommy, worked at Hamburger Mary's on Folsom St. It was famous for food, drink and Live DJs. Quickly, I became friends with the house DJs and was always welcome in their booth. They knew my musical aspirations and would let me play briefly when they needed to take a break. That got my motor running!

One of the DJs (Tess) played rock and the other (Lee) played dance music. Lee and I made it a ritual every Friday afternoon for him to come to my place with his bag of new records from the record pool to audition on my home mixing system. This gave me a front row seat to hear all that was new and fresh - good or bad. It also gave me the shove that I needed to start a small cassette taping business for friends, restaurants and small businesses. This grew quickly and favorable word got out about my music.

This leads me to my first gig as a DJ. Somehow, the owner of a new gym opening at Castro and Market was given one of my current tapes and he contacted me. He asked me to play for their grand opening party. I believe the year was 1977. But, I am foggy on the name of the gym, itself. Anyway, this was how I got to meet a legendary sound man Bruce Trondson. Our meeting was not cordial at all. He wanted to know why an unknown like me was playing while there were dozens of S.F. DJs to chose from. He hinted that it was just because I was a porno star. He actually said it right in front of me. I threw major shade and said, "Wait and see." Long story short, he was testing a brand new amp - a Unisync - which literally caught on fire right at the beginning of the party. He was pulling out his hair because he did not have a back-up amp. Being my first official gig, I wanted to play on my own turntables and mixer (and had even brought along a Phase Linear 700 power amp - just in case). Bruce's attitude about me radically changed. He hooked up the Phase 700 and the party roared on! And, the crowd liked my music! From that point on, we started to become friends. Over the years, we became very close and exchanged a lot of creative ideas. I went on to work with him at San Francisco's "Music Hall" on Larkin Street.

P.S. I wasn't using that Phase 700 in my home system. So, I let Bruce hold onto it. He wound up putting it into the Trocadero Transfer sound system as its bass cabinet amplifier! (At 350 watts/channel, it was well qualified to do the job.)

I also did a similar gig at a Folsom Street bar called “The Black and Blue.” There, I hauled my home system just a short distance to the bar. (For a dozen plus years, I lived in the South of Market area at 10th and Howard Streets.) For this venue, I played very low tempo bath house-style (sexy) music since there was no dancing. It seemed to go over well. The men in attendance were hot and flirtatious - I almost lost my concentration on the music! LOL.

In my next installment, I will describe some sexual encounters from Fire Island that landed me in booths in New York as a guest and behind the turntables at San Francisco's “Dreamland!” You never know what "Treat" is going to happen after the "Trick!" Happy Halloween to all!

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

I spent a couple of years working in the San Francisco Catalina studio, which was like living in a dream! With taking over as studio manager after Dan Allman (Cameron Leight) left and getting to direct my first two movies, all looked bright for the future. I can’t remember what scene we shot back then, in December of 1989, but Scott Masters and John Travis were both on set when it all went down. We wrapped the scene and the models were showering off while the crew and I started breaking everything down. The crew was Dan Ross as second videographer, Buddy Jones as the make-up man and my best friend Brian Wayne as the lighting and sound grip. We all knew we would be off for the holidays and everyone was in high spirits... until.

Scott Masters called me into the office, and when I arrived I saw John Travis sitting there, puffing away on one of his Benson and Hedges 100s. I could tell from the instant I locked eyes with him that something was up. They explained to me that they were shutting down the San Francisco studio permanently as it was getting too expensive, and due to the fact that a court ruling was in their favor - shooting XXX in the Los Angeles city limits was viable again. I was shocked - it literally came out of nowhere. They were quick to mention that they wanted me to relocate to Los Angeles and continue on as head of production. However, they were not extending the invitation to any of the crew members or the part time carpenter we had on staff. It was devastating to hear and painful when the three of us broke the news to the crew. Everyone always gave 100% and for them to lose their jobs like this with absolutely no warning and just before Christmas was unbelievable. Scott, John and the models hightailed it quickly after the news dropped, while the crew and I stayed back to try and make sense of it all. It sucked.

About a month after arriving in West Hollywood, I was settled into my one-bedroom condo rental a couple of blocks from Scott Masters' house. I was still in the process of interviewing applicants for my new crew. We needed a second videographer, a still photographer, a grip and a make-up man. My first hire was Reinaldo (Orlando Bello); he was a video production student from Venezuela, and though he lacked experience, I was confident enough to hire him in the position of grip. Warren was a New Yorker with some amazing photos of his make-up work, so he filled that position. Michael Wynter was a very cute James Dean look-alike, a still photographer who I immediately hired even though his book of photos was just okay.

Scott Masters was quick to schedule my first Los Angeles project: Hard To Be Good, a college-based story that we would shoot in Los Angeles and Arrowhead Lake. The cast of ten consisted of Tim Hunter, Mark Robinson, Neil Thomas, Alan Lambert, Charlie Stone, Rick Sands, Tony Davis, Sparky O’Toole, Mitch Cooke and Les Stine as the pledge master. Hunter, Robinson and Cooke, along with myself and the new crew, all headed up to our lake house rental. The house was nice and roomy and we set up in the basement for the opening scene where Hunter and Robinson are going through photo albums as they reminisce about their first time together.

I wasn’t fully prepared to direct a movie and train this new crew at the same time. There were a lot of “deer in the headlights” eyes from the new crew members who didn’t really know how to perform their jobs yet. Hands-on training for three people at the same time as directing was a bit much. I wished Scott or John had broken in the new crew on one of their movies first. Something must have happened when we shipped the equipment from San Francisco to L.A., because the second camera was showing a yellow hue on the monitor that we tried over and over to white balance, but it wouldn’t hold. I truly thought that they could fix it in post-production, so we shot the scenes using both cameras. I would lock Camera 2 on a tripod while I shot most of the assorted angles on Camera 1. Still photographer Michael Wynter jumped in and shot the second angle cum shots using the “yellow” camera. He actually proved himself to be a big help to me on that movie, but his stint with us was short-lived, as he and Scott Masters had an altercation with each other on the next movie we shot, Head of the Class 2. It was unfortunate losing our eye candy James Dean, but it worked out in the end because I then hired Jeff Burton as still photographer, who stayed with us for over a decade. (Read “DREAMLAND: The Other Place” for more on renowned photographer Jeff Burton.)

As things would have it, the yellow shots from Camera 2 were never able to be fixed because, like I said before, we didn’t have great technology back then. Even to this day, the DVD and streaming version still have every other shot with a distracting yellow hue. So fucking annoying. Another scene we shot was with models Mark Robinson and Mitch Cooke in a tried and true scenario of the hot plumber fixing the young boy's clogged sink. What made this one great was that the plumber had a big fat pipe that got rock hard and Robinson knew exactly how to handle it.

Back in Los Angeles, reality set in when we shot the dorm room scene and the fraternity brothers scene. We were shooting in a stark white, typically tacky valley-girl home. It was the complete opposite of working in those fabulous sound stage sets that I was used to. The dorm room scene with Rick Sands and Charlie Stone was cramped and nondescript; in addition, I now knew that we couldn’t fix the yellow hue from Camera 2, so we were down to shooting the rest of the movie on one camera while we put the other in the shop for repair. I then shot another oral scene in that damned 10’ x 10’ white bedroom with Sparky O’Toole and Tim Hunter swapping blow jobs. Sparky, the original valley-boy, like totally, was the only familiar face from our San Francisco days, and I was happy to have him back on set. He was so great as the farmer’s son in Top Man, which we shot in San Francisco shortly before closing the studio, so having him back for our first L.A. movie was comforting to me.

Even though the location was boring, the best scene, for me, with the hottest cast was Les Stine as the pledge-master with Tim Hunter and Tony Davis as the pledges. I remember thinking Stine and Davis were the hottest members of the movie and I can’t believe that we never cast Tony Davis again even though he performed in like 75 movies over that period. What happened? Regarding Stine, he worked in Head of the Class 2 for us and then never again. What’s up with that? He did probably double the amount of movies that Tony Davis performed in. I can only assume that Masters, who was doing all the casting at that time, must have thought them to be over exposed. The only models I ended up casting again for future movies from Hard to be Good were Sparky (of course) as well as Alan Lambert and Mark Robinson, who were both in Brother Trouble and Brother Trouble 2. Those two movies were eventually re-cut into one complete movie for the DVD release. The lead, Tim Hunter, only ever worked in Hard to be Good and, again, I’m not quite sure why. There is another Tim Hunter currently acting in Raw movies, but I’ve researched and it’s not the same guy.

After the Head of the Class 2 fall out with Michael Wynter, I promoted Orlando Bello from grip to second videographer, and he worked with us for a very long time. At some point, years later, Orlando became sick with the virus. Having refused to try any of the medications that were available to help, he succumbed to the disease. When Orlando left the crew for health reasons, I then hired Brad Austin as main videographer and I (mostly) retired from doing camerawork and focused on producing and directing. Brad Austin became one of our top directors with such hits as Cockpit, Hung Riders and Sunsex Blvd. Fun fact: Brad Austin was actually Gloria Swanson’s personal secretary, for years! Some great stories he told us!

I remember not really connecting with Hard to be Good - maybe because of the yellow distracting shots or the college jock storyline forced on me. Whatever it was, Hard to be Good was one of those movies I always tried to forget about. Revisiting it now, I think I was wrong to dismiss it.

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 Josh Eliot

The GM at Catalina Video kind of just rolled his eyes when I told him the title of the latest movie I intended on making. It was going to be a movie solely focusing on a day and a night in the life of the boys in blue. “I hate that title,” he chirped and I came back with, “I love the title! Can’t you just picture it? Some hot stud in uniform bursting out of a box of movie theater popcorn!?” Let’s face it, the title in hindsight is kind of cheesy and lame, but that’s not how I felt back then.

The official title of the movie was Hot Buttered Cop Porn (2006) and the DVD did have a hot stud bursting out of the popcorn box. It just wasn’t the same ol' hot stud I intended to grace the cover. Edu Boxer, a hot European model and a worthy choice, was the star that made the cut. I originally cast another European export, Tamas Eszterhazy, as the actual lead of the movie and cover boy. Tamas is extremely sexy and had a body to die for, but the decision to replace Tamas with Edu on the box was the GM’s. It’s all good, they both are hot, but I felt bad because we specifically shot special glamour layouts of Tamas for the cover, and I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled to see that he was bumped. I guess it was probably the Catalina GM’s way of getting me back for insisting on a crappy title. Very much like the same shit he pulled one year earlier with my movie Menace, a sci-fi sexual thriller, which he re-titled as Cute Enough to Eat (2005). “Cute enough to fucking eat,” are you kidding me! I was not happy about a title so sweet on a movie so dark, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the script’s theme. It really aggravated me, but I just bit my tongue. I was also annoyed because we had some great shots of Arpad Miklos looking “stellar” for the box cover of Menace, but the GM made us re-shoot it with “hot bubble-butt boy” Zachary Pierce squatting over a table of fruit and vegetables. Thank goodness whoever designed the newest DVD cover had the insight to put Arpad back on it. Cute Enough to Eat did well upon release because it was a solid movie, despite its ridiculous title. On YouTube, thanks to The Catalina Collection Channel, it found a bit of a cult following and the team at Red Bubble are still selling a faux movie poster they designed of it featuring Steve Rambo.

But that’s another movie for another blog; here we are focusing in on Hot Buttered Cop Porn.

The movie is strong, damn strong, as proven in the opening scene with super handsome Marcos Pirelli and ultra-hung Mike Power. Officer Pirelli responds to a silent house alarm, discovering Power, who broke into the place. He is coming out of the shower and when asked to “put your hands up,” his towel drops, exposing his larger-than-large cock. Like any good cop, Pirelli cross examines the naked, semi-hard suspect, who agrees to pay the fee for staying at the house with his giant dick. Great sucking, fucking and all that goes with it as the scene unfolds. We shot this scene at cameraman Brad Austin’s house and the rest of the movie at locations throughout Palm Springs and Palm Desert. I even cast my neighbor down the street, Tess Kirby, to play the foul-mouthed female cop in a non-sexual role; Kirby was the name of her cat.

Box cover boy Edu Boxer worked with his real-life lover Manu Maltes in a super-hot scene between these two hairy and handsome studs. What I didn’t count on was Edu’s accent and language barrier, so I threw out the script for their scene and, on the fly, rewrote it while they were in make-up. Manu spoke English very well so I gave him all the lines, while I had Edu play a wounded officer whose vocal cords were damaged, so he needed to respond to Officer Maltes with hand-written notes. If was different, that’s for sure, but actually worked and was a charming way for one officer to seduce another. The scene was hot, but I had to keep yelling at my production assistant because he kept sneaking off, sucking on Manu Maltes every chance he got. That was the same PA from my blog “Ball Broth,” who drank the ball broth! A leopard can’t change his spots!

We went to our old standby gay resort - the INNduldge, Palm Springs - to shoot the bicycle cop scene with Nick Capra, Dario Ventura and Ben Damon. Nick plays the cop busting cruisers on the infamous Warm Sands Drive, but he ends up busting a nut instead of writing tickets. One of those three guys claimed to be the secret lover of a “famous cable newsman” (I’m sure you can guess who he is) and he told us some fun stories about their escapades. The newsman would get off on telling the model to, “Get over here and fuck my pink hole.” Charming. Lots of other fun things, too, and we loved how graphic the stories were! We shot two outdoor nighttime scenes: the first with Sebastian Rio and Scott Spears. Rio is apprehended as he tries to escape a home with stolen goods. Officer Spears tackles him to the ground, only to find out that the suspect is his supervisor's son. The son is a brat and torments the officer, asking him to let him go in exchange for sexual favors. The officer at first declines, but once he realizes that it’s past midnight and young Rios has just turned eighteen years old, he reconsiders.

The real scene-stealer of the movie, in our second nighttime scene, was Marco Montana in his scene with Mike Grant. Montana played a drunk man who gets busted while skinny dipping in someone’s pool in the upper class Rancho Las Palmas neighborhood. His performance prior to the sex scene had all of us in stitches, as he tries to tell the officer that he is the vacant home owner's gardener and agrees to be the officers bitch for the night as long as it will help “Mi Familia.” Great nighttime fucking, poolside, and the two were really into each other, just like one other pair that were red-hot together. That was in a main scene with lead Tamas Eszterhazy and a new discovery for us named Cameron Steele. Tamas, with his rocking, absolutely perfect body, and Cameron could not keep their hands off each other even before we got to the sex. Cameron surprised all of us with his super fat cock. It was so fat, I was concerned that slim and trim Tamas would not be able to take it up the butt. I’m happy to say I was wrong, and he swallowed that thing in an instant! I wish we had discovered Cameron sooner because I would have cast him a lot more!

As it turned out, even though I didn’t know at the time, Hot Buttered Cop Porn would be the last movie I would ever make in my career in the adult industry. If I had known then that it would be my last, I might have reconsidered and maybe done something with a little more punch, storyline-speaking. What it does have, however, is really strong sex scenes, beautiful cinematography and top notch production values, which, to me, was always my top priority. So if I was to go out on this movie, at least it was one I can say I am proud of. Except the music - I have no idea what happened with the music in the movie, because it totally sucks. What was I thinking with the music?

Shortly after making this movie, our GM came to visit me in the desert and dropped the bomb that he was selling Catalina Video to Channel One Releasing. It all happened so quickly, I didn’t really stop to think that I could have possibly brokered a deal to keep the rights to some of the movies I directed. My one regret to this day. That was very naïve on my part.

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.

Here's the continuation of Joseph W Bean's interview with legendary S/M filmmaker Roger Earl, this installment pulled from the Dec '97-Jan '98 issue of International Leatherman magazine. Earl and his collaborative partner Terry LeGrand were behind many of the most influential classic gay S/M films and videos, including Born to Raise Hell (discussed at length in the first installment) and their later Marathon Films releases, including the Dungeons of Europe and Bound for Europe series.

We hope you enjoy this wrap-up of the reprint! (Click here to read Part 1 first.)

Joseph W. Bean: When you went to Europe, were you still shooting on film or were you using videotape?

Roger Earl: I was on tape at that time. But I like shooting with two cameras because I can get through with people a lot quicker and save their energy. You lose the energy when you drag a scene out for three or four hours. When you are using two cameras, it's so easy to just get all of the action, and you don't have to drag them out and keep it on and on.

JWB: In Europe, one camera was Palm Drive Video's Jack Fritscher. Who's the other?

RE: Mark Henry was the other one. Together, Jack and Mark did a great job. I was very pleased with it. On the first three European films, the Dungeons of Europe series. I used one cameraman, a kid from San Francisco. He was someone I met through a woman who did gay porno films. Rumpelstiltskin [editor's correction: R. Stilskin] was her screen name on all these porno films. He turned out to be a dynamite cameraman. He was really a performer; she used him as a model, but he was a cameraman for me.

JWB: When you went to Europe to do that first series, did you know you were shooting for three films from the start or were you just... shooting?

RE: I was shooting everything I could. Then, when I got home, l divided it up into three different films. I was just shooting scenes. I did the same with the other, later ones. I just shot scenes and edited them together.

JWB: So it was two shooting trips, and the first three videos came out of one?

RE: Yes, then we came home and Dungeons of Europe - which includes Pictures From the Black Dance, Like Moths to a Flame, and Men With No Name - was a success. Then, when I was in London on television business, I called Terry [LeGrand, Earl's partner in Marathon] and said, "You should really come over here. There are dynamite people here, it can be a great place to shoot." And he said, ''I'll do it. I'll come over. I'll bring money and a camera. And we'll have to pick up the other people for the crew there." I was sure we could do that, so I told the television star I was working with that I'd really like to stay over for a while. He said that would be fine, and he'd make sure the hotel took care of me. What could I say but, "Great, thank you." Terry did arrive with the camera, but no money. "Well," I thought, "we'll figure out something with Terry. Tomorrow is another day, and something will happen. You know... it will be a miracle." Well, the only miracle was that I called the man I was working for when he got home and said, ''I'm desperate. I need some money. I need about twenty grand." And he said, "The theater owes me that much. Just go over to the theater and pick it up. Tell them I said it's okay. You can have it." I went to the theater, they got on the phone with him, and the next thing... I had twenty thousand dollars in my hand. It was all in pounds, but it was twenty thousand dollars. So I was very grateful to the star I worked with, and promised I'd give it back to him within a year. Terry said all the money that came in would be mine to pay the loan back. But I had to take out a bank loan to pay back the loan I'd taken. I am a man of my word, and he got his money back in a year. Then I also had the bank loan to pay off... It was all interesting. Anyway, I can't talk about Europe without talking about mentioning Christian Dreeson, who was really my Val Martin of the European Films.

JWB: How did you find him?

RE: In Europe, they have this funny little SM magazine...

JWB: Mr. SM?

RE: Yes, it was Toy or Mr. SM, but I can't tell you which one it was. Anyway, there was an ad in the magazine for him, with his beautiful ass... showing just this beautiful ass in the ad.

JWB: He was just advertising for people to play with?

RE: Yes, and I said, "This is somebody I have got to have." It was all in German. I had no idea what the ad said. I really didn't research what the ad said, but there was this ad with Christian in it showing this pretty butt and... I think he was looking over his shoulder. I didn't know how we were going to find him. We were going to have to get an interpreter to see if we could track him down. There wasn't a phone number, you had to write a letter. Anyway, we were working in London, shooting the London segment, and we had this guy as our still photographer, David. I think we found him through Jim Stewart of Fetters. I was still carrying on about this picture of the German boy's butt, and David wanted to see it. He looked and said, "I know him. I took that picture. He comes here all the time. He's a good friend." Of course I said, "Get me this man." David got on the phone, and I had Christian. That's how I got Christian: all my moaning and groaning, and having the stars working right or whatever... putting me together with David who knew Christian. So Christian was a great asset to the European shoot, as you know.

And I care so much for him. As you know, we flew him to the United States, and had a lot of other people were wanting to use him, but Christian was very loyal. He said to me, "I would not do that to you. I would not do that for him." And these other jobs were possible money in his pocket, but he would not do it out of loyalty to us. Now, you have to respect that a lot, Joseph. Things like that mean a lot to me.

So when I went back for the second shoot, I wanted to use Christian again. Of course, I talked to him through an interrupter. I could never speak German, and he wasn't that good with English. I told him I really wanted to use him, and he said I'd have to pay him ten times what we paid before. I told the interpreter, “I'm sorry, but I really can't afford to pay Christian ten times what we paid before, and it's going to be a very sad shame that we come over here to shoot these other films, and he's not going to be a part of it." And Christian said, "You don't know when I'm kidding, Roger. What's wrong with you? I'm kidding, I'm kidding." He was so cute. So everything worked out fine and Christian did Knast.

RE: Christian was certainly easy to work with, just a treat, and then, you know, we were friends and family and all that stuff. But the kid that worked with him, Michael, became a difficult proposition, only because Michael was hooked up with some hairdresser that was ready to ruin everything. Michael was dying to do this film, and he was a sweet, lovely, dear man... with this hairdresser out to put the kibosh on it all. He was going to call the police, have the shoot raided. Anyway, I said, "Terry, deal with this hairdresser. I don't want to know what's happening. You deal with it." And Terry dealt with it, and we had no more problems. I had enough to worry about without some crazy hairdresser having me arrested in Germany. So that got solved, thanks to my friend Terry. I don't know what Terry did, sent the German Mafia after him or what-the-fuck, but I never had a problem with it afterward.

In Dusseldorf, where we did Fit To Be Tied, we had an interesting situation. We went down to this bar - that's where we got a lot of our people, in bars - and there was this hot bartender, a really hunky guy that I wanted to use. So, finally, we talked him into it. He really wanted to do the film. I must say that Terry was wonderful about this. Before we even arrived, he had set up things with people over there. He had three or four actors already hired before we got there, but I wanted this guy. Of course, Terry talked him into it. He explained to Terry that he had a lover. You know, we would really have to be careful... as long as we were not showing the film in Germany... so on and so forth. So fine, we start shooting the next day, and shoot with him. He was in one of the first scenes we did, and he was giving us a wonderful performance. We were almost through, and my actors for the second scene started coming in, and - one of them is his lover. Yes, an actor who walked in for the second scene was his lover. It was mind-boggling for the two of them. It was unbelievable, but we finally got it. The lover did the second scene. He was the one that was in the cage. It was just one of those things that happen on a shoot.

RE: Then when we were in Amsterdam, of course Rob of Amsterdam was very instrumental in helping us and couldn't do enough for us, introducing us to people, and letting us use his facility, and...

JWB: This was after Rob himself was gone, though, right?

RE: Rob and Dai [his lover] were both there, but Dai was not well at the time, and Rob talked to us about how they'd set the date [for Dai's suicide] and so forth, which turned Terry on. That is why he wanted to become a citizen of Amsterdam, so he can be euthanized or whatever. But Rob was so helpful, so wonderful, even though Dai was very sick at the time. We went to the hospital to see Dai. He couldn't have been better to us. Then, while we were talking to Rob in his store, talking to him about what I wanted to do, what I could use and so forth... well, we were downstairs, and this guy kept following us around; everywhere we'd go, this guy would be hovering around us. Well, pretty soon my camera man came over to me and said, "Roger, this guy wants to be in your film." I said, "Oh, well, I'll be happy to talk to him." I talked to him for a couple minutes, told him we hadn't set everything up yet, asked for his number so I could him when I was able to give him the date, place, and time where we could use him. And he said, "Fine, fine. I really want to do this." I asked if he understood what this film would be, real SM and all. "Yeah," he said, "whatever you want."

Later, I called him and his wife answered. She said he wasn't in. I said I'd call back, and she asked if I was with the film company from the United States. I said I was. And she said, "Oh, my husband wants to do your film, anything you want him to do. He'll do anything you want. He's dying to do your film. You just tell me when you need him and he'll be there. I told her when I needed him, and he was there. I made damn sure he sucked dick and did it all. And he did it willingly and happily. These interesting things just happen when you're shooting.

You know, besides these SM films, I've shot what we call vanilla films too. One that comes to mind that was kind of interesting is Fade In, where I put Jon King in a spider web and all this shit. While I was shooting this one scene, with this very young good-looking kid... he looked like one of those wonderful Iowa farm boys with this slim body, but he was all muscle, every part of his body was muscle. He had this beautiful alabaster skin and was just a cute, cute kid with an ass to die for. And I had this big burly type guy that was fucking him, 'cause this wasn't an SM film. You know, the big guy was doing all the fucking, We had this kid just spread out and the guy was going at it. I'm sitting at the monitor, and we're on a close-up of this big guy pounding the hell out of the kid's butt, pounding him hard, which was so wonderful. All of a sudden, I hear snoring. I turned around and the kid is sound asleep and snoring. I got up, went over and tapped him on the shoulder and said "I've got to get a little more reaction out of you." I couldn't believe it. I mean he was snoring at the top of his lungs. So these are some of the experiences of a pornographer.

There's another thing I wanted to bring up: the Southern California Drummer Contest. I got to be a part of that, and it was a wonderful experience for me because I got to produce and do some creative work in a live aspect. One of the most memorable and wonderful parts of it for me was Jeff Snyder, who had been in contests all over the country - New Orleans, New York, everywhere - and had always come in second, always the runner-up. He did a fantasy with Sky [Renfro], who took off her shirt and did this whole wonderful thing... It was magic, it was wonderful. They came to me and said that Sky wanted to do this topless, and I said, "Fine, do it anyway she wants. I don't care." Of course, Jeff came in first place. He won Mr. Southern California Drummer and deserved to. He was so thrilled, I can't tell you. He was so happy, so elated... but three weeks later was dead and never got to come to San Francisco [for the Mr. Drummer finals]. I think it meant so much to him to have won, and everybody was so all over him because the fantasy was just so great. I was a part of this thing that meant so much to this kid just before he died. That, to me, was a nice part of my life. I was so happy to be a part of that.

Anyway, Joseph, those are the things that I kind of thought about and wanted to mention.

JWB: I have a few more questions I think people would like to hear you answer. Okay?

RE: Absolutely.

JWB: Before you got into making porn, I assume you were doing something at NBC that was related to making film, like directing or something like that. If not, how did anyone get the idea of you doing an SM film?

RE: I started working in the wardrobe department at NBC twenty-five years ago or more. I was working in wardrobe and I was kind of a pushy motherfucker at the time, just as I am today. I started telling the production office they shouldn't be shooting this here, they should shoot it there, otherwise you're going to have to wait for these... You've scheduled this all wrong, do it this way. So they ended up asking me to be a production manager and the director of the show; that was The Dean Martin Show. The director of the show was a really scary tyrant. He was also an incredible genius, a genius director, and just being around him really taught me so much. I learned daily from him: directing, editing, how to handle stars, etc. And George [the friend who talked Roger into making Born to Raise Hell] knew what I was learning. I had talked to him about it, and that's why he pushed me into it. He said he knew I could do it.

JWB: He was right, absolutely right. It's a long way from Born to Raise Hell to the beginning of the European videos. Obviously, you did a lot of older films and videos in that time, and some of it must have been satisfying. Still, if I were in your shoes, I would have been sort of hungry all that time, waiting for this next big beast, the next SM hit.

RE: Oh no, I did like Fade In and Fade Out, and Men of the Midway, which was a fun film to do. Tim Kramer was in that, and he was in Gayracula and in New Zealand Under Covers - a wonderful kid to work with. He was originally a Falcon star - Falcon's the one that really gave him his break - and he was one of the ones that I made [Names Project] quilt panels for. I mean, I really enjoyed working with people like that. It was in that period that I made Chain Reactions, too. That one was bought by HIS, and they edited it because they panicked; they thought they were going to get in trouble for what I did. But, yes, I did a lot of films in between.

JWB: Sounds like you were just as satisfied by the vanilla films as the SM ones.

RE: Yes. Everything I did, Joseph, I tried to do as a creative thing. For me, any film that I've ever done is... well, it's not erotic for me. It's not a turn-on or anything like that, as you well know, having done videos yourself. There's nothing erotic about it. Everybody says, "Oh god, I'd love to do that. It's so erotic." But it's not. Your mind is working a thousand miles a minute trying to make sure you'll be able to edit this tape, checking that you've got all the shots you need. And you've got people coming to you from here, there, and yon with problems. There's nothing erotic about it.

JWB: No, a shoot is ruined if too many people on the set are thinking it's sexy.

RE: Well, I keep my set as minimal as possible. I mean, there are absolutely no guests on the set. There is no way a performer can perform with guests. I try to keep as few people on the set as possible. I don't even allow a make-up man on the set. When I need a make-up man, he's called in, but he's not allowed to stay on the set. I have even decided I want to shoot without a still photographer. Instead, I'll have the photographer come in, and we'll pose in positions for him before the shoot. I'll do it again after we shoot the scene if I need to, but it costs a day and a half of work to take all the fucking camera clicks out of the picture, and that's a lot of money. Anyway, I'll tell you, Joseph, nine times out of ten, most of the pictures taken during a shoot aren't used, and I can pose pictures that will be used. We're better off to pose it. So that's my feeling. I've never done that before, but that's how I would like to work.

JWB: When did you finish shooting the last of the European SM scenes? I know the last one - Loose Ends of the Rope - was just released.

RE: It's been about four or five years since we shot that. It was lying around in the can for that long.

JWB: And you haven't shot anything since?

RE: No, there's nothing in the can. It's all done. Everything is done, over, finished.

JWB: Does that get you crazy, not shooting?

RE: It does and it doesn't. Terry keeps saying we've got to do this again, we've got to make some more product. He is so incredibly tied up with the AIDS services work that he's doing, that I don't know how he could make time to shoot more films. He can't even take time to have lunch with me, so I don't know how the hell he thinks he's going to have the time to shoot a film. You know what I'm saying. He's so busy that I don't see how he can be a part of any more filming, and that breaks my heart because he's been such a integral part of this whole thing for me. As I told you before, he's important to this work, with all his chutzpah and shit. He's the best at what he does, he's absolutely the best.

JWB: I'm still wondering about a question I asked you before you even came in for this interview: Where does the vision or genius or whatever it is come from? For me, the difference between a Roger Earl SM film and most of the stuff that's supposed to be SM is a kind of vision that gets off of the screen and into the viewer's groin.

RE: I don't know. I can't answer that. All I can do is just tell you the way I work. I get the guys together and tell them I do not intend to interfere with them unless they get in trouble, or I need something from them so I can get a shot, or if they' re going someplace that is worthless to me. I tell them I want them to follow their own feelings and do their own thing. Then, if I feel that they are getting too heavy, going too light, too this or that, I will stop them. But, other than that, I just tell them to get into each other and pay no attention to any of the other people on the set. “Just forget that we're here,” I say, “and give me a scene between you two hot guys.” Now, I want them to realize I'm putting this on film, that this is forever, so therefore, they should go as far as they can, understanding they'll never have to do this again. I tell the performers, "I mean, it's not like you're home playing with some guy and tomorrow you may be out playing with somebody else. Beat the shit out of his ass so it's bright red. He'll have two, three weeks to heal up before he goes again. Just go as far as you can go, because this is forever." And I usually get good performances out of the guys that way. I have had to stop people for one reason or the other and say, "Well, this really isn't working, guys. Now, let's talk about it. Let me give you some suggestions and see what you think..." That's the way I work with them. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I don't take my eyes off the monitor all the time I'm shooting, because I'm editing in my mind as I shoot. I'm picturing the whole film and always checking whether it's going to have that kind of electricity, that kind of going-to-the-groin thing. I mean, it's got to get me going, looking in that monitor and picturing my editing; otherwise, it ain't working and that's when I stop it and try to figure out what's wrong. So I don't call it genius. It's just a feeling that I have. It's just a feel that I seem to have with it. I like SM. I like pornography. I like nudity. I like all of these things. And I do not like to watch a film where the guys don't strip down naked. I want to see nudity. I love nudity. I love the human body. These things are very important. I want to see that asshole spread wide. I think an asshole is a beautiful thing. I want to get down there and kiss it. I try to think... because I'm such a connoisseur of porn, I try to watch every film that I can. I waste so much time watching porno films and I try to use all of this as an education for myself. What are the hot things that people are doing? My god, look what he did there! That was dynamite! These are the things that I try to keep in mind, things that make my blood churn.

JWB: Apart from your own, what are the great porn films?

RE: I think many films, not all films, but many films have little pieces of genius and little pieces of magic in them. I can't say that the magic or genius in any film - including my own - extends through the entire film.

JWB: A couple of yours stay magical for me throughout.

RE: Not in my mind. But that's wonderful. I'm glad to hear it.

JWB: For me, the genius is ever-present in Born To Raise Hell and Marks of Pleasure, end to end in both of them. And my all-time favorite scene is the slapping scene in Marks of Pleasure.

RE: I love both of them, myself, I really do. I think that there are so many films that have that little spot·of genius, that little spot of magic. That's what I call it. It's absolute magic that makes the blood boil, and it's heaven, but it's hard... To me, it's really impossible to sustain that through a whole film. You know, you get as close as you can, but you can't sustain that through an entire film. I agree with you that the slapping scene is really the best piece of Marks. That's the little bit of magic for me.

JWB: Can you give me Roger Earl in twenty-five words or less?

RE: Small town guy from the Mojave desert, population of thirty-five people. That little town is gone now. A freeway bypassed it and it no longer exists. My mom and dad were like the Grapes of Wrath, the Pikes coming from Arkansas to California. Their car broke down in Ludlow and they never left. My dad ended up buying a garage/motel...

JWB: The whole town, in effect?

RE: It was basically the town. I went to school fifty miles one way and fifty miles back on the school bus. Totally small town, and the only child in the town of thirty-five people. Since I was the only child, I could do no wrong, was spoiled rotten. Absolutely spoiled rotten by everyone in town. I used to carry on with hitchhikers. I could have gotten out in the middle of the street and sucked somebody off, and nobody would have believed it, because I was the kid that could do no wrong. My dad used to lease land out to the Marine Corps for desert maneuvers, and I got thrown off the base because I was "interfering with the Marines.” It was just an interesting, wonderful life.

JWB: Then, was it in your teens that you moved to L.A.?

RE: I moved to San Bernardino, went to a junior college there, then I moved again and went to college in Los Angeles. I graduated with a Bachelor of Professional Arts degree. Then went to work at NBC.

JWB: So you actually went to school with some idea of doing what you ended up doing.

RE: No, I was going to be an interior decorator. I never became an interior decorator. I ended up, right after I got out of school, going to work in television.

JWB: And your two careers started almost simultaneously right there.

RE: Right. When I got out of school, opportunity kind of knocked and fell in my lap, and I took it. And I never became a decorator, which was fine with me.

JWB: I think we're all lucky that you didn't become a decorator; everything you decorated would have been redecorated by now, but the tapes don't change.