BijouBlog

Model Mike Radcliffe was on his knees getting hungry for anyone wanting to stick their dick into his mouth. This college professor and somewhat of a “Midnight Cowboy” would be the first to tell anyone that he was cock hungry. He wore it as a badge of honor, and when he starred in the movie The Slutty Professor it couldn’t be any closer to the actual truth. Mike came to us in 1999 and I’m not exactly sure, but I think he “cold-called” us and I just so happened to pick up the phone at the Catalina offices. He only had very minimal experience in front of the camera in a movie for BG Enterprises in 1997 called Private Punishments 7. He is a big guy with a “Herculean” body and a personality that is completely unintimidating.

When we met and took pictures, I knew right away that I could get him in front of the camera within a very short time. I told him about a movie that I was currently shooting called Score, starring Ray Harley and about eighteen other stars of the era. With the big budget movies, I was always afraid to take a risk on what I considered a video virgin. However, I had a role - still un-cast - for someone to play a cop who, while patrolling a local cruising area, throws himself into the action. With his build and stature, I instantly knew that I wanted him in that part. When I told him about it, he got very excited and I think I remember him saying that he wanted to be in the movie so badly that he would even do it for free. Although his mentioning that intrigued the “producer” in me, there was no way I was going to let that happen. Since it was only an oral scene, I felt that hiring him was a risk I was willing to take. He wanted to get into the business so badly that I wouldn’t have had the heart to turn him down.

We shot the park scene on the large property of a rural estate in the Laurel Canyon, above Hollywood. The cruisers in the park were seasoned stars Andrew Lennox, Tuck Johnson, Leo Masters and Scott Davis. The cop, Mike Radcliffe, jacked off while watching Andrew, Leo and Tuck working each other’s dicks with their mouths. Unexpectedly, Scott Davis walked up behind the horned up officer and, before I could even say “action,” Radcliffe was down on his knees sucking his dick like a mad man. I had to yell cut and school him on the fact that we actually needed to be rolling the cameras to shoot the transition and he had to wait until I called “action” - he couldn’t just “jump on it!” We had a good laugh about it.

Once we covered the oral, he politely asked me if it would be okay if Scott Davis shot his load all over his face. I said, “Oh, would you like that?” He told me he would, and that he would really love it if all the guys in the scene did, as well. I hadn’t really thought of that scenario when planning out the scene, but suddenly I realized that having this cop totally give into the moment would really make this scene shine. “Okay, but you can’t be a hungry guzzler, you have to keep your mouth shut when they blow their load on you.” He said, “Whatever you say, I’m just excited about having them all shoot on my face.”

Who was this hungry cum receptacle I just hired? The crew was like, “Is this that guy’s first movie?” His naivety was actually kind of cute when he came up to me at one point to say that it was okay if I wanted to have the guys fuck him. I explained that it was an oral scene, but he didn’t really get it and replied, “That’s okay, I don’t mind, I would really like them to fuck me.” Once I told him that Catalina was only paying everyone to do oral, but not oral and anal, he finally understood.

As expected, he worked every last one of them right up to their explosive loads, which naturally landed all over his face. For some reason, Andrew Lennox shot a load from hell, and as you might imagine I had to keep repeating to Mike, “Close your mouth!” Lennox’s load was going on and on and on and I felt like I was getting laryngitis repeating to “Hungry Hilda” to shut her fucking mouth. It was actually pretty impressive to see this new model give 110% and still ask for more! It was after shooting this scene and when I got through paying everyone that I got an idea that came to me out of the blue, obviously from what we just shot. I went to the still photographer to tell him about the idea I had and he was up for it. I then walked over to Mike Radcliffe who, believe it or not, was helping the crew pack up the equipment and load it into the van. I asked him if he would like to make another $100 by posing for some still photos that we would use for an ad to promote the movie. He said yes, so we stopped loading the van and set up for it.

I envisioned an ad for the gay porn magazines that might tease the imagination and be a little jarring at the same time. At home I had (and still have) the original movie posters for Mark of the Devil and Last House on the Left. These two 1970’s posters were made for shock value, piqued your imagination and demanded your attention. The Mark of the Devil movie poster shows a girl with her tongue being pulled out. I obviously couldn’t emulate that one, even though I wanted to pull out Mike Radcliffe’s tongue every time it popped out of his mouth looking to lick up a drop or two during the cum shots. The Last House on the Left poster, however, had had some potential. A girl slouched over, against a tree, obviously distraught from being put through the mill by a bunch of guys in the park. The poster featured a warning line that said, “To Avoid Fainting, Keep Repeating: It’s Only A Movie … Only A Movie” - written over and over.

Having that image in my mind, I propped Mike Radcliffe, in full cop uniform, up against a tree and we dripped soft soap all over his uniform and chest to appear like loads of cum. In hindsight, I should have slouched him over in the photo as well, looking exhausted like he had just been worked over. It would have worked better with my tag line that would say something about “sucking everybody off.” But instead, we had to make it a wee bit more sexy. I left the set a happy camper, knowing this would be a cool ad that would make the viewer’s imagination run wild and hopefully hook them into purchasing the movie. We went back and forth at the offices and settled on the slogan. A few weeks later, the art department had the ad completed and I thought it looked great.

Unfortunately, not one magazine would accept the ad with the fake cum all over him - not one of them! I was very disappointed, and we had to re-design the ad with a photograph in his clean, “un-seasoned” uniform. I’d say that Mike Radcliffe’s performance in Score opened the doors for him to have a pretty damned good career shooting fourteen more movies somewhat exclusively for Catalina Video from 1999 and 2002. Some movies include: Walk on the Wild Side (1999), Day Trade (1999), Escape to Echo Beach (2000), Voyager (2000), The Slutty Professor (2000) and Ride ‘Em Cowboy (2002). The Slutty Professor was, in fact, written by Mike Radcliffe, as he based the movie on actual sexual “experimental research” he did with his real-life students. Once he finished his tenure with Catalina, he went on to work for All Worlds, Oh Man! Studios and Pacific Sun, and performed in what I believe was his last movie for Bacchus Releasing in 2011. I hear that he is well and living in New York City; I wish him the best and loved the period of time that we worked together.

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! As this blog's title might imply, it wasn't my foot that got me in many booths! It might have been some other body parts! Regardless, over the years they have worked their charms.

Back to the story. If my memory serves me, the year was 1979 and the place was Cherry Grove, Fire Island. My partner Tommy and I were on "The Island" having a ball on vacation... a slightly different experience for me, as I had worked the prior three years in The Pines as a waiter, bartender and lifeguard.

We started off our vacation in Cherry Grove at The Belvedere - that landmark Victorian guest house situated on the Bay. Our accommodations were acceptable. But, not being air conditioned and with unusually high heat and humidity as I remember, it was uncomfortable to say the least.

A friend in need! While out one night, we ran into a dear buddy that I made during my three years working on the "Island" - Dr. Bob. We mentioned our Belvedere predicament and he generously offered his guest room to us. We snapped up his offer! Bob was a legend on the Island and in New York's gay scene in general. People would drop by his place in the city and on the Island routinely for a quick "pick me up" B-12 shot to help with endurance through the long sleepless NYC and Fire Island weekends.

It was here that I met another of my sound engineer legends and best buds - Lew. Although he was a good-looking and very intelligent guy, the sparks never flew from my side. Although I knew for the first couple of years he wanted to terrorize me with his sizeable appendage! Our first encounter was an orgy that took place in Dr. Bob's bay-facing backyard. There were four or five of us, naked and aroused, watching a slightly younger guy sucking the daylights out of Lew's ten-pounder! The next thing I heard was Lew's request - "Why don't you suck it?" That was directed at me. I liked Lew but I didn't feel any chemistry. Plus, I was in the early stages of a relationship with my partner who was right there next to me... It was awkward. However, the rest of the guys all lined up, so Lew was fine!

That chance backyard encounter started a friendship. At the time, I lived in San Francisco. Lew flew out from N.Y. frequently to San Francisco for mini-vacations and also to ply his trade as a sound engineer. It was this part of him that I really took to. He soon found out that I had aspirations to be a "sound man." We spoke frequently and at great lengths about the principles of the audio world.

I visited Lew in N.Y. at his fourth story walk up apartment in Chelsea frequently. Being at one of the high points of my porn career, he loved taking me to many of the clubs whose sound systems he designed to "show me off." Although it was not one of his clubs, we visited Paradise Garage! Here, after a tour of the dance area, he took me to the booth to see its wonders and meet the legendary Larry Levan. Larry was cordial but totally preoccupied with his music. The booth was a technical marvel with its hydraulically-mounted platform upon which the three Thorens turntables were mounted. This platform not only served to isolate the gear from vibrations, but could be custom tailored to the height of each performing DJ! The sound was legendary and I soon made it to the dance floor to take part in the Saturday night ritual!

Although not "In Bed" with Lew - so to speak - that whole situation changed with with my next "beau" from the Pines, Michael. Our dreamy encounters in the Pines solidified into a real brick and mortar dance palace called Dreamland. That will be the topic of the next chapter! Keep those Capezios on and ready to dance!

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

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.