BijouBlog

His hot hung blond self was everywhere, and here he still is at Bijou Video, appearing in a stunning repertoire of films: Philip St. John's Getting It, Nova's stunner Heroes, LeSalon's supersexed Cabin Fever, and our new release Tough Competition, among others.
 

Though physically he embodied the Falcon Studios ideal of a gay porn stud, he was no cardboard figure. Interviews from the period reveal a likable person with a healthy, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and a refreshing honesty.

Some tidbits from an interview in Male Review:

What's your favorite color?

I like electric blue, it's more modern. Beautiful!

(Someone on our copy of the interview wrote a snarky Who cares? Well, one has got to start somewhere in an interview.)
 

What was the most tempting offer you've ever had from a fan?

A really handsome man came up to me a Greg's, said “Are you Jim Bentley? And immediately gave me the biggest lip-lock, and I loved it! He reached out and took what he wanted. He was only in town one night, so he took me back to his hotel. Fortunately, it was the Beverly Wilshire.

Who is your fantasy co-star of the existing porn stars?

I have a new discovery that I'm about to release to the world …

Let's say somebody who's already active though.

I'm usually the top, but I'd like to have someone just take my ass down on screen, I'm not sure who. It's a difficult question to answer. I'd say Al Parker.

Do you show your own tapes to your friends?

Yes, I see it first with a friend. I never watch it alone. I have a couple of friends who will tell me the truth.

Do your films turn you on?

It's hard to look at myself on the screen at first. Eventually, it swings around and becomes erotic again.
 

And from Inches magazine, here's another fun fact: He used to sell figs for living. Yes, figs, of all fruit, a Biblical one!
 

He went from figs to bigs, that is, being one of the bigs in the gay porn world during a exciting and frightening time: a gay sexual liberation, revealed in well-produced, well-acted films that revealed the power and beauty of gay sexual expression; and, simultaneously, the AIDS crisis which would decimate the actors in those films.

Where is he today? He did not die like so many of his generation, but lived, according to Josh Thomas at this source, to write an autobiography, The Last Time I Drew A Crowd.
 

According to the source, he is raising figs again.

His movies available at Bijou Video still, many years later, raise dicks.
 

By Josh Eliot

Any fan of gay adult cinema, specifically movies made in the 1970’s and 1980’s, is sure to have followed the career of Derrick Stanton - spelled “Derek” in his early features, then modified for the more extensive list of titles in his film history.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1955 and standing 6’ tall, Derrick started working in the adult film business in his early 20s. Having formed a friendship with cinematographer/director Barry Knight (Brian King), and sometimes working as his sound man, Derrick was introduced into gay adult films by Barry in late 1976 with his debut film, released in 1977. The two had a steadfast bond all the way up until Barry’s death on June 16, 2005. Barry started his career in the mid 1960’s with a series of TV commercials for Salem Cigarettes, before co-founding Jaguar Films in 1971 with Monroe Beehler and Gerald Strickland. Barry Knight and partner Russell Moore worked together on such 70’s hits as The Experiment, Greek Lightning and The Insatiables.

Director Kevin Clarke connected me with Derrick Stanton, who is currently 70 years old and living in Southern California. I reached out to Derrick to see if he would be interested in a Q&A, specifically addressing the eleven movies he shot for director William Higgins, and he graciously agreed. I was personally familiar with Derrick's career and his movies from my time working at Catalina Video, as they distributed all of William Higgins' early work. I found Derrick agreeable, candid, humorous and very forthright. This 2026 interview celebrates 50 years, give or take a few months, since the young man stepped in front of the cameras, not realizing his screen presence, visibly high sex drive and stunning ejaculations made him a gay household name back then and an icon of adult cinema today.

Barry Knight, plus box cover & clips from Hardhat, Derrick's first movie, before the spelling change

JE: It shows that you started your career in the business in late 1976, working in the movie Men Under The Hardhat aka Hardhat (Jaguar Productions, 1977). But around the same time, you also worked in a number of loop, intended for the booths at adult magazine shops. Were the loops shot first or was Hardhat?

DS: Hardhat was my first “film.” I was discovered by cinematographer Barry Knight, who became a great friend. He saw filming the male body as an art. Anyone in front of his camera looked amazing. I truly miss him.

JE: Was Hardhat a “music enhanced” movie or your first “talkie?”

DS: Both actually.

JE: What was your very first day on the set like?

DS: I was working with the lead Adam Mitchell doing a romantic sailing sequence on his catamaran with soaring music. Barry Knight and his partner Russell cared about their craft and they believed in romantic gay connections. The first day was interesting, in that it was a whole new world for me. My tendency to be an exhibitionist helped me connect to a rather artificial set, as they all are. There was no Viagra then, but I could get hard by performing and showing off. I was supposed to be a bottom for Adam’s huge, girthy cock but he was too fucked up (high) and couldn’t perform. His sugar daddy was on the set and had supplied him with drugs, so for my first scene I ended up topping him. I told Barry I was going to cum and proceeded to begin to shoot on Adam’s back. Barry started to zoom back, when I told him I wasn’t finished and kept cumming even more. Barry slowly zoomed back in. That was the first day I performed as Derrick “mega load” Stanton. It was filmed in a house up in the hills above Sunset. Everyone was really nice.

JE: Regarding the “loops” you worked in, some were released years later in what is likely an out of print DVD called Vintage Gay XXX Volume 2 from Manville Classics. However, BijouWorld has preserved some of your old loops in Games Boys Play and Cruisin’. Additionally, I saw a sling scene on the internet with you and J.W. King. What do you remember about shooting those “loops?”

DS: That sling scene is quite prevalent on the internet. I was topped by the incredibly handsome J.W. King, a smooth talking, sexy Texan, a true professional on the set. I can still remember his long cock sliding in and out of me. Another loop later on was with Jack Wrangler, set in a dry sauna. I was a bit intimidated by this legend, but loved his beautiful huge cock inside me. He wore full body makeup, which would occasionally smear on me. He made sure he looked good in every aspect of the shoot… done by director Steve Scott. Steve was fun to hang out with and a decent person, but quite strict on the set. Jack and I worked seamlessly together.

JS: In 1978/79, your career really started to take off with a bang! I see that you worked in The Grease Monkeys, The Idol, Bad Bad Boys (aka Bad Boys) and L.A. Tool & Die (uncredited, with Casey Donovan). What are your recollections regarding those movies?

DS: (On Grease Monkeys): I was not the lead, but supported the stars, especially in my beach scene with Kip Noll. The shoot went long and tourists started to gather and watch. We kept going, but we knew we needed to get out of there fast because the park rangers were nearby. Kip Noll was topping me on the beach and we used Vaseline for lube, but some sand got on his dick, which really started to hurt. If you listen closely right at the edit where he pulls out and cums, you can hear me say, “Pull it out.” It was painful, but we finished and left. We could see the rangers arriving just as we began to drive away… whew!!

(On The Idol): My scene in the shower apparently became a most-watched scene. I was turned on by the literally steamy sex in the shower. I really got in to it. Did I say I was an exhibitionist?

(On Bad Bad Boys): Another movie lovingly filmed by Barry Knight. One co-star was Johnny Dawes, a super-hot sex machine who enjoyed showing off too. The two of us later did a shoot together for Joe Tiffenbach. We weren’t acting - we really got off on each other.

(On L.A. Tool & Die): My uncredited scene with Casey Donovan was at first intimidating, because again I would be working with a legend. We had a chance to chat with each other for about an hour before our scene together. What a genuinely sweet man he was. He immediately put me at ease. Topping him felt amazing, in that his ass seemed to pull my entire body into him. Pulling out and cumming without touching myself (as ordered by Joe Gage) was easy. It was, as poet Jim Morrison once wrote, “...a great golden copulation.” We filmed in an old building in downtown Los Angeles. The ground fog was created by a kind of insecticide that floated close to the ground… quite noxious. Joe Gage was quite meticulous, so the shoot went long for art’s sake.

JE: This same time period, you met William Higgins and starred in an impressive list of movies for the director: Jack Wrangler, Jocks (1979), The Boys of Venice (1979), Rear Deliveries (1980), Class of '84 (1980), Class of '84 Part 2 (1981), Brothers Should Do It (1981), These Bases are Loaded (1982), Members Only (1982), Printers Devil's (1982), Class Reunion (1983) and Route 69 (1984). How were you introduced to William Higgins?

DS: By Barry Knight.

JE: I’d like to focus on your experience while working on the eleven movies you shot for Higgins. Jack Wrangler, Jocks and Boys of Venice came out in 1979. Which one was shot first?

DS: Boys of Venice.

Derrick Stanton with Eric Ryan in The Boys Of Venice

 

THE BOYS OF VENICE (1979)

JE: In The Boys of Venice, your roller skating scene with Eric Ryan set the tone for the entire homage to Southern California beach boys. What do you remember about shooting on the Venice Boardwalk and the subsequent scene in the bathroom? Also, whose idea was it to keep the skates on for the sex scene?

DS: I already loved skating at Venice beach. The bathroom scene was actually filmed in the small restroom near the projector room at the Century Theater. It was my idea to keep the skates on. I also wanted to include me peeing in the toilet. Cameraman Barry Knight was on the floor literally cuddling the toilet bowl. I apologized to him for accidentally peeing on him a bit. Roller skates were not conducive to good aim! Barry said he loved getting peed on. Eric Ryan was a really kind person and had quite the muscular build. His fat cock inside of me felt amazing. A few months later, I went to skate at the Venice Boardwalk wearing the exact same outfit from the movie. A stranger came up to with an astonished look and said, “OMG, it’s you… you really are a boy from Venice.” I sheepishly replied, “Yup.” Great fun indeed.

JACK WRANGLER, JOCKS (1979)

JE: There are a lot of one-timers in this movie. You shot a scene with a mustached guy, not sure of his name, in front of a blank backdrop. What are your recollections of this day on the set?

DS: I do not remember this scene.

REAR DELIVERIES (1980)

JE: In Rear Deliveries, you worked with Shawn Victors in the photo developing studio. I want to add that you looked really current and trendy for the time period in your Blue Oyster Cult black t-shirt! The scene seemed to flow beautifully with lots of kissing and flip flop fucking. Shawn was hard the entire time you were fucking him, and when you came I counted nine big squirts. Was this a genuine connection between the two of you?

DS: Yes, definitely. Shawn Victors was quite sensual. Yes, I was a huge Blue Oyster Cult fan. Hey... some gays love metal.

JE: Later in the movie, you were in a threeway with Shawn Victors and taxi cab driver Guy DeSilva. You and Shawn were outside the Pacific Design Center, then followed Guy into a T-room. What was the dynamic between the three of you on the set?

DS: To be clear, threeways are almost always two and a half-ways, as one guy is kind of a third wheel. For us, it came naturally to interact to create more “great golden copulations!” At the end of the shoot, Higgins discovered that his eyepiece on the camera was out of focus. All footage was useless. He demanded we re-shoot right then and there. I told him I would have to be paid double, which he reluctantly agreed to. I did provide him with another cum shot that day. Yes, I was old reliable, indeed.

Brochures from Jocks, Rear Deliveries & Class of '84

 

CLASS OF 84 PART 1 and Part 2 (1980-81)

JE: In Class of '84 Parts 1 and 2, you and Jeremy Scott shared the sloppiest dorm room I’ve ever seen in my life. Luckily, your full scene together took place in the mountains. Big Bear or Lake Arrowhead?

DS: Big Bear as in Ballin’ in Big Bear (one title).

JE: The strongest scene in the movie is between the two of you, and I’ve not seen many occasions where you ate someone’s cum after climax. Coaxed, or just came naturally?

DS: Jeremy was a gorgeous man with a big mushroom-head cock. Higgins was in love with him and there was frequently tension on the outdoor set between them. I love outdoor sex. I love eating cum, and in personal sex life I love felching (eating cream-pies), then snow ballin’ (swapping cum in a kiss). That morning of the shoot, I ate a big breakfast and took a dump in the woods prior to the shoot, but it wasn’t enough clearance of the tar on my chocolate bar. Higgins was annoyed. But hey, you all want to know the truth behind the scenes... 😆 John Waters style? Ha-ha.

JE: In '84 Part 2, you have two scenes: the first was with Karl Hansen, who played a doctor. Your cum shot under the exam table stands out as a highlight. Did you drench Higgins?

DS: Higgins thought that doctor scene was a mistake because of the different body types. Some fans pilloried him for his casting. It is interesting that a fan reached my DMs and told me that this scene was his absolute favorite. Yes, I lived up to my ability to drown co-actors, directors and cameramen!

BROTHERS SHOULD DO IT (1981)

JE: In Brothers Should Do It, Kip Noll pounds and pounds and pounds your ass like nobody's business. It was a highlight, and you came while getting fucked. Surely the experience must have stuck with you over the years - what do you remember about it?

DS: Kip and I were not even supposed to be paired in this film, but between scenes we sexually connected on a nearby patio. Higgins saw this, stopped filming another scene and ran over to capture this genuine sex connection. Kip and I were sexually “in the moment.” He said that he liked me because I was “a regular kind of guy.”

JE: Many have voiced their opinions of Kip Noll in real life compared to his screen persona. What was your impression of Kip Noll in real life. Did you socialize outside of work?

DS: Kip was quiet and a bit introverted until the sex started. Feeling that big cock of his inside enhanced our already momentary sex connection, so cumming hands free was a genuine “great golden copulation.” After our scene, he asked me to go out with him on the town of West Hollywood. I really wanted to, but I had a boyfriend waiting outside in our car. We would’ve had a blast together, since we were at our peak porn careers then.

***

We’ve nearly reached the halfway point, and hearing Derrick Stanton’s recollections of his times back in the day is priceless, in my book! In Part 2, we’ll pick up with Derrick talking about the rest of his releases for William Higgins, starting with These Bases Are Loaded. Derrick left the industry at the request of his partner in 1984, but re-surfaced in 1995 to receive a Hall of Fame Award. At the awards ceremony, Derrick met director Jerry Douglas, who persuaded him to return to the screen in 1997’s Family Values. What was it like for Derrick to be back on the set thirteen years after retiring from the business? We’ll address all of it as our Q&A continues in my next blog: Derrick Stanton Talks About Life on the Set Part 2, 1982-1997.

 

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.

 

You can read Josh Eliot's previous blogs for Bijou here:

Coming Out of my WET SHORTS | FRANK ROSS, The Boss | Our CALIGULA Moment | That BUTTHOLE Just Winked at Me! | DREAMLAND: The Other Place | A Salty Fuck in Saugatuck | Somebody, Call a FLUFFER! | The Late Great JOHN TRAVIS, My POWERTOOL Mentor | (Un)Easy Riders | 7 Years with Colt Model MARK RUTTER | Super NOVA | Whatever Happened to NEELY O’HARA? | Is That AL PARKER In Your Photo? | DOWN BY LAW: My $1,000,000 Mistake | We Waited 8hrs for a Cum Shot... Is That a World Record? | Don't Wear "Short Shorts" on the #38 Geary to LANDS END | How Straight Are You Really? | BEHIND THE (not so) GREEN DOOR | The BOOM BOOM Room | CATCHING UP with Tom DeSimone | Everybody’s FREE to FEEL GOOD | SCANDAL at the Coral Sands Motel | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: The Castro Theatre | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: The Midnight Sun | RSVP: 2 Weeks Working on a Gay Cruise Ship | VOYAGER of the Damned | I'M NOT A LESBIAN DIRECTOR | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: THE FOLSOM STREET FAIR | Diving into SoMa/Folsom: A TALE OF TWO STUDS | BALL BROTH | My 1992 “Porn Set” Diary | Out of Print | There’s a Gloryhole WHERE??! | LUNCH HOUR: When the Big Boys Eat | IN and OUT and All ABOUT | UNDER the COVERs with Tom Steele | 8 Is Enough on Sunsex Blvd | Steve Rambo & Will Seagers For Breakfast | The Many Faces of Adult Film Star SHARON KANE | The ALL-MAN Magazine Interview: The Man Behind Catalina Video | Captain Psychopath | BAD BOYS SCHOOL | VAMPIRE'S GRAVE | The Making of CatalinaVille (PART 1) | The Making of CatalinaVille (PART 2) | Private Dick & The Young Cadets | Meet RAY HARLEY | The GOLD COAST Gold Rush Boys | Colt Model MARK RUTTER: In His Own Words | Bringing in the BIG GUNS | “WHAT THE F@CK?” Moments | You So RUSSO | Bond, SCOTT BOND | I Just Watched: KILLING ME SOFTLY | Sex in Tight Places | Calling GLORIA | DOWN FOR THE COUNT | More Than a Mouthful | When JON KING Returned to Catalina Video | Junior Meets the BEAR Patrol | A Taste for Leather and Fur | Straight to Bed | The Hills Have Bi’s | The Malibu Pool Boy: Cody Foster | New England Summer | The Making of RUNAWAYS 1989 | The Making of FULL SERVICE 1989 | Hot Buttered Cop | The Making of HARD TO BE GOOD 1990 | The Real CONJURING HOUSE | It’s Not a Crime, It’s a SCORE | I Just Watched: Steve Scott’s SCREENPLAY (1984) | Wet and Wild | 69: Discover the Secret | What Really Happened BEHIND THAT BARN DOOR! | I Just Watched AL PARKER & WILL SEAGERS in WANTED | Secret Boys Club | Jawbreaker Pt. 1 | Jawbreaker Pt. 2 | I Just Watched CRUISIN’ THE CASTRO | 80s/90s Porn Star RYAN YEAGER | ADAM Film World’s GAY VIDEO GUIDE | ERIC STONE: Ranger in the Wild | THRILL ME with a SINGLE WHITE MALE... | The SPOILED BRAT | BUSTER & STEVE YORK | LANCE, TEX ANTHONY & MICHAEL GERE | KIP NOLL: The First Real Twink Superstar | THE GREASE MONKEYS | The "Other" Idol | The AMERICAN Way

By Will Seagers

Hello folks, Will here!

Well, it's been some time since I have signed on with that line. I hope you all have been well in the interim!

With a title like the above, I'll be digging back - way back - in my memories of men with whom I have had the Pleasure! After recently celebrating my diamond birthday, I thought it might be a good idea to write about these guys while I still have it fresh in my mind! But, then again, how could anyone ever forget the experience of being with likes of Al Parker, Bruno, Jim Bentley and of course Richard Locke!

There were other heart throbs of that time and slightly later with whom I never got to experience the pleasures. But, I do have a vivid imagination. And, here at Bijou you are just a click away at bringing them right into your own man cave!

Al Parker - Icon of the ages.

I never even knew that I was going to make a film with him until that very day. It was an early Falcon production - Weekend Lockup. I was freshly transplanted from New York to San Francisco via an offer from Chuck Holmes, the studio's owner and creator.

We had a lot of fun working on the scenes that day... if you could call it work! I really hit it off with Al and his lover, Steve Taylor, who co-starred in the film. At the end of the day, these two invited me to their home in Manhattan Beach for a weekend of our own kind of lockup! Needless to say, I didn't get to see much of the beach! Boy! Those two were real sex machines.

Bruno - Another face and body that you saw plastered all over gay media!

This particular meeting and shooting was quite unusual. My friend, Lou Thomas (of Target Studio fame), had arranged for me to take off a couple of hours off from my lifeguard job at the Boatel (of Fire Island Pines fame). He was friends with my boss, John Whyte - the Boatel owner. Lou had made arrangements with owner of a beautiful Pines home, complete with pool, as our set for the day. Once again, I was taken by surprise as I was only told hours before that I was "on loan" from John.

As I remember, it was a Wednesday afternoon when I sauntered up to the beachfront location and first laid my eyes on Bruno. We had never met and I really did not know what to expect. I mean, yes, I had seen my fair share of his pics. But, I did not know what a gentle giant he was and how passionately and authentically he performed. If I were not already in a relationship, I could have easily fallen for this tall, dark and sensuous man! Alas, we only had that afternoon. But, he left his impression!

Jim Bentley - "Is it true blondes have more fun?"

If it's Jim, the answer is a resounding YES! Energetic, fun and sex to the Moon and back are my memories. We met on the set of Cabin Fever. Although there was a fairly large cast, sparks started flying between us immediately. We didn't need a script or props - all they needed to do was to keep enough film in the camera! Off camera, we developed a really fun relationship. Of course, sex was at the center. But, we had other mutual interests, to boot.

When I first went over to his Polk Street apartment, he warned me that there was a huge "cage" in his living room. Me, being a bird fancier all of my life, I thought that was really cool.

After a night of endless flip-flopping, I awoke to see his huge cage uncovered. Ironically, he was breeding Moluccan Cockatoos. I had a beautiful female of that species at home named "Gloria!" She took to Jim right away leaping from my shoulder right to his. He loved her, too. Such a nice man. And, so many memories!

Richard Locke - (Speaking of Icons!)

Well, I did know in advance that I would be working with Mr. Locke via the crew that interviewed me for the part of Wylie in L.A. Tool & Die! My interview took place in San Francisco. But, the movie was shot in Los Angeles.

Richard and I were both living in S.F. at the time. Somehow, word got out about the two of us and this upcoming blockbuster. Another studio asked us to film Cruisin' the Castro before the filming in L.A. It was a smaller production, but was packed with some steamy sex scenes. That's where Richard and I first "met!" It was really good chemistry on the set... one whose formula we were able to keep alive and hot for our L. A. adventure.

He had a natural sexiness that I found irresistible. One that kept me panting despite the lighting, sound and many other techs present to give this film its "major studio" feel. I also love Richard's professionalism. We were there to make a fuck flick and by golly that's what we did! Yeah, it's work... but, somebody's got to do it!



I hope all of you folks out there have steamy and fun memories that Cupid and his arrows can dig up for you to relive! Happy Valentine's Day!

Will! 💖

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.

 

I first went to the Bijou Theater in 2008. It was a snowy day that March. I was in my last month of being 21 – quite an eventful year. It was weeks after I met my first real girlfriend, who I would wind up being with five and a half years. At the beginning of my 21st year, I had my first kiss. (I was a very late bloomer.) Months later, I first had sex (in the bathroom of the longstanding goth club, Neo, another Chicago landmark that closed mere months before the Bijou Theater in 2015). Shortly afterwards, I began going to S/M events and getting curious about the sexual spaces in the city.

The snowy March evening in question, I attended one of Bijou's Wayward Sisters parties with a group of friends. These parties were a blast. They generally got good turn outs and lively crowds – mostly younger art students and predominantly women, though a big mix of folks were present, including Bijou regulars. (There were intentionally never any gender restrictions at the Bijou, unlike many other gay adult businesses. Bijou owner Steven Toushin welcomed all adults and his attitude was always, “No one should be left out; it shouldn't be an exclusive space.”)

At these parties, David Boyer from Chicago's leather bar, Touche, would hand out beers in the back garden and spank the recipients. People DJed in the theater area and danced on the stage and, upstairs, explored the space, cruised, had sex, talked to each other through glory holes. That night, I wound up in the sling in the dungeon, making out with two of the girls I'd shown up with, while some Bijou regulars stood around in the dark and jacked off, a few of our other friends peeping at this display through a window. I later went outside and saw my dude friends and some other guys standing in a circle on the balcony with their dicks whipped out, comparing them while deep in conversation.

About six months after attending this party, I wound up answering a Craigslist ad seeking an editor for a gay porn company; an ad so brief it was almost cryptic. When I went in for the interview, it was a very pleasant surprise to realize it was for Bijou and that, in addition to the theater, Bijou was also a vintage gay porn company. I was a filmmaker with a particular interest in '60s sexploitation films and LGBTQ film history and a burgeoning interest in '70s porn, so this was extremely up my alley. I very much wanted the job, even more after Steven discussed the company and its history and philosophy, so I was thrilled when I picked up the call confirming that I got it.

The Wayward Sisters events were still running when I got hired at the Bijou office and, in total, operated for around a year and a half. Steven recalls once showing up at a Wayward Sisters party with his partner and doing a flogging and fisting scene in the dungeon. As they played, party-goers wandered by and started gathering, their conversations soon growing silent as they watched intently. Afterwards, a group of young women came over to talk to his partner and pay compliments about the scene. I went to one or two more of these parties before they wound up being discontinued not long after the person who originally ran them moved to Europe.

But let's back up much further, well before my time.

The Bijou Theater opened in 1970 in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood on Wells Street, where it was in the proximity of several other gay and sexual businesses. The first film that played there was Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech, named after the Nixon dog. The next was a gay porn film. In 1980, it expanded to a second floor, with a maze of glory hole booths and a dungeon room. By then, it was open 24/7 and people partied there late into the night. Touche and other gay bars would bus folks over and the crowd from Carol's Speakeasy, located next door, regularly spilled into Bijou (sometimes for free through its back door) after hours. During these decades, the theater endured numerous police raids, obscenity busts, bomb threats, and more, but it kept running. In addition to porn films on Bijou's screen, these first few decades saw live performances on stage by many of the films' major stars, including Al Parker, Richard Locke, Lee Ryder, Peter Berlin, Jim Cassidy, and Casey Donovan (and Colt stars later on in the 2000s).

From 2000 to 2002, Miss Tiger and her Erotic Cabaret, featuring the Bijou Boys, took to the Bijou's stage. Drag performer Miss Tiger's events were elaborately staged erotic revues featuring theatrical pieces, humor, musical numbers, strip shows, live sex acts, and more. One notable show incorporated a Gregorian chant playing as a man came out dressed as a priest and with four men dressed as choir boys. They all read from Bibles, then the choir boys took turns sucking the priest's dick on stage.

Not long after I began working at the office, a fellow employee asked me if I wanted to help out with one of the theater's strip shows. I wound up running lights and music for these each month. Another co-worker, Bryan, took over as host for a long while and he incorporated stand up comedy into the Nude Revues. We often made elaborate videos to feature during the intros and during intermission. Finally, Michael, who worked in the box office, took over hosting. He had a great rapport with the customers, which made for a comfortable flow. (At the final Nude Revue before the theater's closing in 2015, he ended the show by singing a poignant song, which brought tears to many an eye in the crowd.)

Bijou held a big 40th anniversary party in the first months of 2011. This was hosted by David Boyer, and the packed audience took in live music performances of classic gay porn theme songs accompanied by dancers (one of whom poured orange juice all over her naked body to a very noisy cover of the theme to Arthur Bressan Jr.'s 1984 film, Juice), videos about gay porn history and Bijou's history (both viewable at the bottom of the Bijou Theater page on our website), words from Steven Toushin, a two foot tall ejaculating dick cake (made by my girlfriend), and a strip show.

During the 2000s, more people were approaching Steven with interest in doing events at the theater, as the dynamic at the bars was changing. The first huge event to be staged there by organizers from outside the theater during my era in the 2010s was the release party for the vintage gay porn soundtracks of Patrick Cowley by Dark Entries Records on Valentine's Day of 2014. DJs played in the dungeon (which got crowded, hot, and sweaty) and others played downstairs on the stage while clips from the movies Cowley scored were shown on screen. This event illuminated some new possibilities for hosting parties in the space that were influential during the theater's final two years, during which we worked with many different organizers and artists.

Later that month, a friend of mine staged reading of an erotic play he'd co-written about Abraham's Lincoln alleged gay relationship. This event segued into a year or so when a friend in the same circle proposed doing monthly variety shows at the theater. I helped him run these and they were chaotic, sometimes thrilling, and often messy installments called Upstairs/Downstairs, featuring performance art, video art, experimental film, punk bands, noise musicians, installations, DJs, and stand up comedy. Some highlights: a performance featuring a corn cob strap-on covered in I Can't Believe It's Not Butter; legendary Chicago bands and performance artists taking to the stage and finding creative ways to utilize the space; a night when I had to mop milk, piss, and cum off the floor of the dungeon after the show; and a fake human sacrifice and haunted house.

With these and following events, inspired by the broadly mixed crowd and dynamic use of the building seen in the Wayward Sisters and Patrick Cowley parties, we tried to find more opportunities for newcomers - across a range of ages and genders - to feel welcome in the theater, while also hopefully being an interesting change of pace for the customers who had called it home for decades. Finding this balance was tough and sometimes tense, but a worthwhile endeavor. Steven was interested in people trying new and different things at the theater and he gave them pretty much free reign in what they planned (basically unheard of), though he often suggested to organizers that one successful approach to the uniqueness of the Bijou was allowing things to unfold throughout the entire venue. The staff of the theater went above and beyond during the events in these final years, which often required a huge amount of extra work.

During this span of time, S+S Project hosted an exciting show highlighting the work of many talented local artists, including installations of artwork, video art screening in the theater, and performances on stage and upstairs (featuring nudity, lard, and balloons). Afterwards, we hung around late into the night in the dungeon while DJs kept playing.

A couple of large queer dance parties were thrown by Chances Dances – one for Halloween and one for Valentine's Day. These included DJs, performers, vintage lesbian porn, and more.

The Men's Room parties also came to the Bijou during this time and hosted several events. These quickly turned massive, culminating in a sprawlingly large and debaucherous one during the IML weekend of the theater's final year. These nights featured music on both levels and erotic performance art (once incorporating fireplay and once featuring piercing play; in the latter scenario, a disco ball was strung up to the performer's cock and balls and when the needles pierced into his chest were tugged out, blood spilled down his body and onto the disco ball).

In the same era, we held an intimate memorial service in the theater, hosted by the folks I went to my initial Wayward Sisters party with, for their friend Wiley, a long-time Bijou regular who loved the place and had recently died. His friends shared memories and screened videos they'd made with Wiley in the theater to a small gathering that also included theater attendees and employees who'd known him.

In the fall of 2015, we got the terrible news that the Bijou was being forced to close, as the result of a legal battle with its landlord. We quickly scheduled a series of events for its final week, David Boyer running several great Touche parties and classic porn films playing 24/7 on the screen. We set up one last party on the theater's final night in operation, and I welcomed anyone who was interested in participating to contact me. We had an overwhelming response.

The night saw wild performance art in the dungeon, live music, beautiful dance performances on stage, DJs doing disco sets in the dungeon, classic porn clips in the theater, erotic videos by local artists screening upstairs, a photobooth and roaming photos by GlitterGuts (all of which you can see here), and I even, in one gorgeous moment, walked by to see a person sawing out a section of the glory hole booths while fucking someone. (Several panels were removed for posterity, Steven keeping some and the person who removed them continuing to this day to install pieces of the Bijou in art shows and other spaces around the country.)

Many friends and strangers talked and fucked. Intergenerational conversations were happening throughout the night, as many people from all different points in the theater's history (and newcomers) showed up. I finally managed to have sex in the theater (in one of the booths, with my then-girlfriend). People were so appreciative of the space, each other, and the history, and being able to be free to do whatever they wanted there, engaging enthusiastically in the way I'd always hoped for. A few asked if they could keep the faded vintage porn film posters on the wall and we took these down and gave them out. One DJ (who'd been involved in putting on several previous events) played an entire new score to the Frank Ross classic Made in the Shade in the theater, which thoughtfully included a sample of the lead performer's final line: “I know I'll have many other homes, but never a place like this.”

This party ran until the next morning. As the remaining stragglers lingered, I found myself alone in the dungeon as Donna Summers' Last Dance came on the playlist, and I danced and cried.

The rest of that day is a blur. I may have napped in the office or not slept at all. A few of us, including Steven, David, Bijou's custodian Shrodney, and I, had to take down the screen and clear out any remaining equipment by the end of the night before the property was turned over to its new owners. We climbed ladders to disconnect lights from lighting rigs, cleared out the projection booth, and packed everything up. Shrodney and I made a final pass through the upstairs, which was a wreck from the party (we didn't have to clean up after it for once), and removed lightbulbs and signage and took photos of the graffiti on the remaining glory hole booths. We headed down the spiral staircase for the last time and shut the door to that room, placing a peacock feather we found, left over from one of the previous night's performers, on top of the door frame.

We all finished our work and headed out, locking the front door for the first time in 35 years. Steven had to install a lock for this, because the front door didn't even have a functioning one – the theater had been open every day all those years, even through fires and bomb threats, since it became a 24/7 establishment in 1980.

Weeks later, a large group of my friends, moved by their experiences there, held a beautiful memorial service for the Bijou Theater in their own space, which was deeply in the spirit of the venue. I've seen its spirit continue on in gatherings of friends, sexual spaces, and porn screenings since, and hope to continue to catch glimpses of it as the years pass.

By M. Webster

In 2019, Robert Alvarez, co-founder and editor of the groundbreaking and influential early gay porn studio and distribution company, Hand in Hand Films, kindly took the time to do a phone interview with Bijou.

Along with his partner Jack Deveau, as well as Jaap Penraat, and, later, Kees Chapman, Alvarez co-founded and was at the helm of Hand in Hand Films. Formed in 1972, a mere few years after more permissive legislation in the U.S. began allowing for the exhibition of hardcore films, the studio undertook ambitious and elaborate cinematic productions, expanding the ideas of what a pornographic film could be, and constructing their ideas into a large catalog of outstanding and entertaining narrative features. They additionally became an early distributor of the work of a number of other gay adult filmmakers, as well as their own product. A highly collaborative enterprise, Hand in Hand's films combine the creative influences of all of their participants. They continued making films until 1982 and distributing until 1988.

Alvarez, a skilled editor with a background in dance and experimental and documentary film, elevated Hand in Hand's output with his technical polish and creative flair, helping to create the distinct style and high quality level of the studio's output. From character dramas, to comedies, to outrageous psychedelic and horror films, his work on Hand in Hand's productions covered a range of tones and genres, but maintained Hand in Hand's cinematic quality and particular sensibility. With some of the studio's wilder and more avant-garde films and sequences, Bob applied complex and experimental editing and post-production effects, leading critics to frequently praise the “Alvarez effects” that enhanced scenes and often created some of the movies' best moments.

In the conversation that follows, Bob discusses his artistic background and influences, Hand in Hand's formation, his relationship with Jack Deveau, his editing style, the studio's philosophy, and more.

Bijou: I am curious about some of your filmmaking influences and your experimental film background.

Alvarez: Well, I’ve always loved movies. And, in addition to that – this goes back to 1958, maybe – I started going to see some experimental films that were being shown in a little storefront place, and I got to know about Kenneth Anger and Gregory Markopoulos, for whom I worked. Not even worked – I assisted [Markopoulos], is more like it. And then I ended up being in one of his films. And then there was Warhol, but Warhol didn’t really influence me that much. I wasn't a great fan of his movies, but I did follow certain ones. Chelsea Girls is one of his early ones that I more or less liked, because it was so outrageous. The most influential [experimental filmmakers] for me were the ones that I just mentioned.

In addition to that, one of the first things that I came to New York to do was to become a dancer, because I started studying in Florida when I was about 18 or 19 and decided that New York was the only place that would be smart for me to go to. So I moved here and I kept studying dance and going to auditions, and so forth. After a while, I wound up doing Summer Stock and then a touring company. I did it ‘til I was about twenty-five and then I just decided that I should not continue to pursue it, that I should do something else. And, of course, the thing that came up in my mind first was film. I worked for [the animator] Francis Lee while I was doing the experimental film part of my life. He worked with this thing called photo animation. And he also made some experimental films, as well as regular ones.

I started getting more into film and wound up working for another animation man who did commercials for NBC, and then from that I went onto NBC and became assistant editor to the supervising editor there, and after that I got my first editing job. And, in between, I did some other stuff and wound up doing the documentaries [Woodstock, An American Family] and working freelance for mostly – it was Channel 13; it’s now PBS - until 1971 or ‘72.

It was my partner who I convinced we should get into the business of making movies, which is a story in itself, but, anyway, we turned out our first film, which was Left-Handed, and it was very unlike any other gay films that I’d ever seen. I became more and more interested in how far we could push the envelope, you know. Wakefield Poole, a pretty good friend of mine, made Boys in the Sand prior to this and that was a big success. And so we decided we would do ours, and that’s when we did Left-Handed. And ours was quite different, of course. We tried to take it from a different gay slant than just porno, give it some kind of a plot and characters and motivations, and so forth, as well as some editing that I did that I think was somewhat experimental.

Bijou: Had you edited any pieces that were that experimental at that point in time, or were you kind of getting to develop some of those techniques in your editing style on Left-Handed?

Alvarez: I actually was influenced by… I never got over being a dancer, and I was interested in dance and choreography, and so forth. When I started editing, I began to feel that there were a lot of similarities in certain aspects of editing to choreographing, and became a real fan of Bob Fosse, among others. So I used a lot of their techniques, but I also used some other techniques that I learned back when I was seeing experimental films, that involved quick cutting and a lot of - especially in Markopoulos - a lot of very extended dissolves, and things, that were quite beautiful. And I used those things, myself, as well as my sense of rhythm and cutting to music, which I loved to do, because that really gave it movement; some emphasis, depending on the music that we used. And we had original music for Left-Handed that came from a friend of ours, a guy that was a sound mixer, who had a small band. He composed some music for us.

Bijou: Yes, those are wonderful pieces.

Alvarez: Anyway, I really enjoyed it, because I was doing it like I wanted to do it, and I was given a free hand to do whatever I did. So that more or less gives you an idea of how I got started, and where.

Bijou: I didn’t realize you came from a dance background, also. I know some other people involved [in making gay porn in '70s NYC] were from that background. Did you get connected to anybody through the realm of dance that wound up working with you?

Alvarez: Well, I had known Wakefield slightly back in Florida, because he was in a ballet company and I was in a different one. We met at some kind of convention. We got to know each other and we were sort of, not buddies, but… We were in two different locations in Florida. But when I came to New York, I saw that he was dancing, and, also, he did some choreography. So I got to know him pretty well.

Bijou: Do some of the people involved in Ballet Down the Highway come from those connections?

Alvarez: They did, but they weren’t friends or anything. They were people that we cast, who were dancers, to be in the ballet scene, as well as the lead in the movie, who was a Dutch young man [Henk Van Dijk] who came with a choreographer that we got to know from the Netherlands ballet, and became rather close friends with after this lover of his appeared in our film. Anyway, we got this young man, who was studying dance, and he was not a great dancer, but through editing and so forth, I made him look better. (laughs) You know?

Bijou: (laughs) It does look good.

Alvarez: He always remarked on that, you know, how I made it look like he could really dance. Other than that, the other people that were supposedly in this company he was dancing for were cast from, I guess, one of our casting calls. We put out casting calls for some of our films, like in Show Business [the newspaper].

Bijou: Is that how you found most of your performers - casting calls? I noticed, with Hand in Hand's films, there’s some crossover between people you have in the crew and the cast, and some people that I don’t see in any other [adult] films. I was curious where the Left-Handed cast came from or if you knew some of them from social circles, as well.

Alvarez: The Left-Handed cast, I’m not sure, because I wasn’t involved in the casting, directly. That was Jack Deveau, who was, of course, my partner, and the guy who was primarily the producer/director - you know, the whole shebang. He used to put out casting calls. And, I think, we knew the guy who played the lead. We knew both of them. And so they agreed to be in it. And then we had an orgy scene at the end that was a lot of other people that we weren’t particularly friends with but somehow got to be in this, our first film. And I’m not sure whether they were cast directly, or they were cast through friends, or something. But that’s more or less how that happened.

Bijou: How did you and Jack meet? I don't think I know that.

Alvarez: Oh… That’s a kind of a story in itself. We met several years before. I met him, actually, at a performance of an opera by Gian Carlo Menotti called The Saint of Bleecker Street. It was written up in the papers as being a really good production, and blah blah blah. I had a friend who wanted to be an opera singer, and I think he told me about it and said, “Do you want to go see it?” And I said, “Yes. I definitely want to go see it.” Because I knew who Gian Carlo Menotti was and I’d heard some of his other work and always liked it. But anyway, I went to that and, during intermission, this young man came up to me, you know? And we started talking, and so on, and so on, and so forth. And I had a feeling that we were… we were evaluating each other. (laughs) Also, it turns out that his mother was part of the orchestra. She played the viola. During that intermission, she came out, and he said, “Tell me your name really quick, because there comes my mother and I want to introduce you.” (laughs) So we met and… She’s a wonderful lady. Just a wonderful, wonderful person. Anyway, I immediately got interested in knowing more about him. He invited me to go out with him after the opera, which I did. And that was the beginning, you know? And, little by little, we became more and more involved until we decided to live together. It was good. We had a sort of an open relationship - not completely open, but rather. And so there were a lot of other sexual experiences that I had that were not with him, but were influenced by him. I’ll put it that way. (laughs) He was very interested in people that he’d meet off the street who were either hustling, trying to make a little money, or sailors, you know. He had a very great gift of gab, so he could charm anybody - and did. (laughs)

Bijou: Yeah. It sounds like everyone loved hanging out with him, from all the people I’ve spoken with about him.

Alvarez: Yeah, he was a lot of fun. He was a funny character.

So anyway, we had this relationship, never really committing to a long-term thing, but it kept going, kept going, kept going, and we ended up being together for twenty-one years. And at that point, he died, and so... It was a long, long relationship. And I loved him very, very much. And vice versa.

But I always thought it would be great if we could work together. Incidentally, another person that was greatly responsible for Jack getting the courage to get into this and actually direct people was [Rebel Without a Cause star] Sal Mineo, who became a friend of ours some years before.

Bijou: Yeah! I was so curious where you knew him from.

Alvarez: We met him in Madrid, and he was getting ready to shoot a film somewhere in Europe. I can’t remember the name of it. Anyway, we got to know each other, and while we were there, we went out together. And he was sort of… not just coming out, I guess, but he was definitely coming out. (laughs) And so he enjoyed being with us, and was always a good friend.

And then a little later, we got into the film business and decided to become our own distributors, because we didn’t trust any of the distributors. Everybody that had dealt with the distributors had been pretty much ripped off by having copies of their films made and sold, and all kinds of stuff that went on. We felt it was better if we could set up a business to distribute our own movies and not sell them, which a lot of other gay filmmakers were doing. Instead of selling them to make a quick buck, we’d keep the movies and then rent them out to the exhibitors and charge them a percentage of the gross. And, of course, they were never exactly honest, either, but we found ways to kind of get around that. When we showed our stuff in New York, we had somebody counting the number of patrons that would go into the theater, so we had an idea of about how much money we should be getting. But anyways, that’s a whole other area of the business. And, incidentally, that’s how we met [Bijou owner] Steve Toushin, because he started renting some of our films, and we liked him. He was always really very nice and very fair.

Bijou: I was wondering about Good Hot Stuff [Hand in Hand's documentary about their studio] showing in Paris. I read that that was the first gay porn film to show in France. I was curious about that trip over there and what that experience was like.

Alvarez: It wasn't the first film. It was the first American explicit gay film ever shown in France. We hooked up with a man named Norbert Terry in France who had apparently shot one or two movies that were in French. I always wanted for us to go there and be shown with subtitles and (laughs), you know, the whole thing. Because there’s a lot of narrative to Good Hot Stuff; Jack and some of our actors talked about being in the films, and so forth. We opened in Paris at two or three theaters. And they made a big deal out of promoting it. And, sure enough, we ended up outgrossing the [Robert Altman] movie Nashville, which was also playing there (laughs) - and Nashville is a classic film.

Bijou: (laughs) Yeah, that's amazing.

Alvarez: Jack and I had been to Paris a couple of times before, and we loved Paris... I still do. It’s a magical city and I love it. So we ended up, eventually after we made some more films, making a deal with a guy who was a producer in Paris, and contracted to make a movie in French and we would share the profits. It turned out to be a disaster, but we released the movie anyway.

Bijou: Was that Le Musée, [also known as Strictly Forbidden]?

Alvarez: Le Musée, yeah. I had to end up using our work print, because they had confiscated our original negatives from the lab, so I had only the work print to work with.

Bijou: Oh wow, they confiscated it?

Alvarez: Yeah. They figured they had a legal right to do it, because we ran out, I guess. We didn’t continue working on the film. We left, and when we went to get our original negatives, found out that they had already been taken by the production company, and they weren't about to give it up.

Bijou: Wow.

Alvarez: Which is too bad, because it was really a beautiful film in many ways.

Bijou: Yeah, the footage is gorgeous from that film.

Alvarez: Yeah, the color footage is really good. And that’s only the work print, so you can imagine the original.

Bijou: Oh wow. I see, so the B&W is the work print?

Alvarez: Yeah, that’s all from the work print.

Bijou: Oh!

Alvarez: And I decided, from my experimental film days (laughs), “Hell, I’ll just mix them all up,” you know, and we’ll have B&W and color.

Bijou: I like that about it. I thought that was intentional. It felt intentional, watching it. (laughs)

Alvarez: That’s what I tried to do - make it look like it was intentional. I wasn’t happy with it, completely, because I knew what we could have had, but we didn’t want it to go to waste, so we released it. And made some money on it, you know.

Bijou: Yeah, I still think it’s a great one, but that would be sad knowing that you lost a good chunk of footage. What was your philosophy on making the Hand in Hand films at the time?

Alvarez: Well, almost all of them were shot in New York, and we dealt with New York situations and stories. I mean, Left-Handed is certainly that. And several others we did were about typical New York scenes. Some of our slighter stories had New York characters in them, and we used New York as a kind of a backdrop for everything. So we decided our films would have that element, as well as kind of a freewheeling style where we made it seem like being gay was a normal thing, long before (laughs), long before [many gay rights advancements]. We were just assuming that our characters all were gay and that’s how they talked, as normal people would talk.

Bijou: That’s true, that is kind of distinctive about your films - now that you said that - versus some other studios. In Hand in Hand's films, most of the people are already out and it’s set within gay life and that’s not, like, a huge ordeal with it.

Alvarez: Yeah. And another film that we did early was… Well, we worked with this guy Peter de Rome on his first feature-length film. ‘Cause he had done some short films on 8mm. We ended up blowing up a lot of them to 16mm, and then adding a couple of his [other] short movies, and making a movie, after that, called Adam & Yves, which took place in Paris.

Alvarez: Another chance to go to Paris; I didn’t go to, but Jack did. We made the film that Peter de Rome directed. Well, Jack actually directed it more than he did, but…

Bijou: Oh really?

Alvarez: But we gave him the credit, because it was his idea, and his concept and the whole thing about shooting some of it in Paris.

After Adam & Yves was released, we started working on a film which was a little more intricate… a lot more intricate, actually (laughs), called Drive. And I did a lot of quick cutting and switching from one scene to another, like in the middle of a sex scene; kind of making a comment about what was coming up, you know, sort of like a prequel to what was going to happen.

Bijou: Yeah, I love the edits in that movie.

Alvarez: And it took place in this decadent disco that was run by the character named Arachne, whose goal in life was to rid all men of their sex drive. But she would do it by castrating them, up to the point where she found out that there was this drug being developed... This was funny, too, because this was long before Viagra or any of that stuff. But there was a drug being developed that would kill the instinct or the desire to have sex. So she wouldn’t have to be mutilating people anymore. (laughs) So her goal was to go out and get this drug and the scientist. She was an evil character. But as far as the movie goes and my involvement in it, I was very taken by this and I loved the idea that some of it took place in a disco. And there was a scene that was kind of a tribute or take off on Marlene Dietrich’s gorilla suit sequence in [Blonde Venus]. But we did our version of that with the character Arachne, who was in drag, of course, and I loved it. I think it really works well. And that’s one of the scenes where I cut to the disco. And we had original music for it. Now, I did my best to cut to the music, and then I intercut with the sex between the detective and his partner. So we go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until the scene at the disco became a climax when the Arachne character takes off the gorilla head and out she comes. And so that was the end [of the scene], and that was in vivid color. And at the same time, the couple was climaxing in their scene, and so the two climaxes kind of coalesced together.

Bijou: It's a great sequence.

Alvarez: That’s what I mean about our films. I mean, there was so much… Not to make art, necessarily, but to make something that would be contemporary, of the day, and also would get us… We always had the goal, really, to get into regular movies - mass market movies - eventually, and this was sort of going to be our training ground. And, for a while, it looked like we could do it. I know Wakefield had the same desire and almost made it. But the whole business changed so quickly, and it became corrupted, and more of a “quick buck” kind of thing, and so forth. There were exceptions. There were a few filmmakers that were rather important at that time, and one of them was a guy by the name of Tom DeSimone, who ended up working with us on a couple of movies.

Bijou: Right, he shot a couple of them, didn't he?

Alvarez: Oh, he shot many films. That’s a whole other story. It’s in the book [Good Hot Stuff: The Life and Times of Gay Film Pioneer Jack Deveau], in the chapter on Tom DeSimone. Anyway, we liked him, because his movies - the movies he made, himself - were more substantial, and often had plots, and so forth. There were a few people like that. Another one was Fred Halsted who, in L.A. Plays Itself, used a rather - not only shocking - sequence, but also some underground film tactics.

Anyway, I was talking about Drive and how that was a departure from everything.

Bijou: Yeah! That’s the first really kind of elaborate effects piece that you did, right?

Alvarez: Yeah, exactly. I took some of the disco stuff to an optical house and had them do several things to make it more unusual. You know? I incorporated a lot of stuff like that in all our films, if possible.

Bijou: Right. Destroying Angel has couple of those great sequences, too.

Alvarez: Right, Destroying Angel, especially.

Bijou: I love that one.

Alvarez: Yeah. And there’s one called Fire Island Fever, which has a sequence where one of the characters accidentally takes a tab of acid and we kind of see what he’s seeing through his eyes as he is high, which is a fantasy sex scene with what turns out to be one of the characters that he meets at the end of the film. Anyway, I tried as much as possible to incorporate some more daring kind of editing. You know, make our films look different. And they did. (laughs) For the most part, they did.

Bijou: Yeah, they did!

Bijou: Oh, I wanted to ask you about Kees Chapman.

Alvarez: He was also, I think, from a Dutch background. But he was an American; I think he was born here in the States. His lover had been one of our actors early on. [His lover] was actually in Drive. He played the scientist. He had long blond hair. For the movies, he was [named] Mark Woodward; to us, he was his real name, Sydney Soons. And he became an employee of ours, and was helping Jack with keeping track of the finances and getting the movies sent out to the exhibitors, and all that.

Alvarez: After a while, he and Kees ended up breaking up, and then Kees kind of took over his job, and became even more of a necessary part of Hand in Hand Films. And he also ended up doing some camerawork for Jack, as well as directing, and so forth.

In fact, he shot the sequence I directed in In Heat, which was shot in a dance studio. It was guys taking a ballet class, and then the teacher takes a break, and during that time, the boys get together and have sex. And eventually, the teacher comes back and he joins the crowd. (laughs) So that was one small segment that I directed, because I’d always wanted to, but I didn’t want to impose on Jack’s ideas, you know, because he had plenty of ideas.

Alvarez: In fact, Kees and I tried to make a full film, with Kees directing, after Jack died, but it turned out that I couldn’t use the footage; it was too dark and just a mess. And I’ve always thought I should take that footage again and look at it again with today’s technology, you know?

Bijou: Oh, you should. I bet it could be enhanced a bit, yeah. That would be interesting. What was the premise?

Alvarez: I’m not too sure, except I know that it had the lead character going to Fire Island and having several encounters there. And finally, at the end, I think he gets back with his lover that he had at the beginning of the movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at it.

Bijou: I bet it could be brightened.

Alvarez: Yeah. I think with today’s video technology, especially, a lot of things can be certainly improved. Steven’s done that already. I’m very pleased with the way he has kept our movies up to date.

Bijou: Oh, I'm glad.

Alvarez: Oh, let me finish with Kees. Like I said, he became part of our group that ended up being Jack, Kees, and myself, who were the principal people. We had another partner for a while named Jaap Penraat. But that ended at some point and… Not too happily, but it ended.

And that’s when Kees became interested in working for us and kind of took over Jaap’s position, and started working with Jack directly. He was a terrific guy. And I was very surprised when he died of AIDS because… He must have gotten it from his lover, Sydney, because Sydney also got it and also passed away. And, a year or two later, Kees became ill and he died.

So that left it just up to me, and that’s where I finally decided - after making that little film, which was kind of satisfying for me - that it was time to get out of the business. That’s when I started looking for people that might be interested in buying the business, buying all the material, which turned out to be Steve. And I’m glad it was, because he’s been the most trustful of the ones that I talked to about it. There were other people interested, but I knew what would happen. We wouldn’t be who we are today if it had gone to somebody else and they copied our films badly and, you know. It would have been awful. So I’m glad Steve had some real interest in keeping it as a sort of a record of what was happening in the time when they were made, and so forth, which was one of the things Jack…

Speaking of the philosophy, you know, he said that these films were like literature and that if we kept them - you know, rather than sell them - we would end up eventually having them seen over and over and over again and be a representation of what it was like in the days that we shot them, you know? Because most of them were contemporary stories of people at that time. So that’s kind of what his philosophy was. He would make films and try to incorporate things that were relevant to the time that we were shooting in.

Bijou: Yeah, that was probably a conscious effort from the start, even from Left-Handed?

Alvarez: Yeah. It’s funny. After making Left-Handed, and then making a few others, I kind of became a little bit… It wasn’t embarrassed exactly, but… Left-Handed is, no question about, it a crude film. We didn’t shoot in sync sound, we had to dub in the voices, and so forth, and we did it as best we could. And then, Left-Handed always bothered me, because, to me, it wasn’t professional. And looking back at it now, I find I like it very much, you know? (laughs) I like what we were doing.

Bijou: Yeah, I think it's great.

Alvarez: And the fact that it was different. It was different than any other gay sex film that was ever made.

Bijou: Yeah, it is! It does stand out. Even the non-sync sound does something really interesting in it. Its style feels really different, even from your other work.

Alvarez: Yeah, yeah. To me, now, the dubbing almost becomes like a narration, you know? Like it’s almost purposefully done that way (laughs), you know, after the fact. But anyway, I ended up really liking Left-Handed a lot, because it sort of set the mood, also, of my type of film editing. And a lot of the techniques I used in Left-Handed, I used later on in other films that we made, so it kind of was our benchmark movie, being our first.

Bijou: That’s interesting you mentioned developing some techniques there, because in terms of developing cutting hardcore sequences, since the genre was pretty new in the era, were you sort of figuring that out from scratch or… I mean, you’d seen some other [porn] films, but… What was that like developing how to cut and how to pace those sequences?

Alvarez: Well, for one thing, our films, sometimes they got criticized because they weren’t explicit enough, whereas some films are almost like a medical study.

Bijou: Yes. (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alvarez: Ours were more like – at least I felt and Jack felt – to capture the sensuality of the sex or the dynamics of a sex scene, and whatever shot said that the best is the shot that we used. So we didn’t go in for, like, where you can see every pubic hair, you know? (laughs)

Bijou: (laughs) Yeah. Right. Because that B&W sex scene from Left-Handed is, I think, very beautiful and erotic, but it’s far from being like a medical, durational kind of sex scene.

Alvarez: Yeah. And that B&W sequence in that section, Jack did on purpose B&W, because he said, “We’re going to do like The Wizard of Oz, only backwards.” (laughs) In The Wizard of Oz, it’s in B&W until Dorothy goes through the door, and goes into Oz, and it becomes Technicolor. [And in Left-Handed], when it becomes a dream sequence, it turns into B&W film. And that’s how that came about. And with things like that, you know… I mean, we did that before anybody else [in sex films] did that. Maybe some people followed us, you know, and did the same sort of thing, but… But my cutting, especially, I really loved the idea of creating a piece, a sex scene that had some rhythm to it and some sense of movies, of real movies, you know?

Bijou: Oh yeah, that’s a good distinction, because the sex scenes do feel cinematic in your films.

Alvarez: Yeah. So that’s pretty much the story of Hand in Hand Films. There’s a lot more. If you look at the book, you’ll see that there is a lot more. (laughs)

Bijou: Oh yes, there is. It's a fantastic read. I’m so happy you all put that together.

Alvarez: The book was written by a German guy [Marco Siedelmann] that I met and got to know at a festival where our films were shown, and he said, “I want to do a book on Jack Deveau.” So I said, “Great!” And he said, “And it should have pictures,” and I thought, well, I have some pictures. I mean, Steve has most of them, but I kept a few for myself. You know, things that were duplicates, and so forth. And so, with that, I was able to help him get this book out.

Thank you to Robert Alvarez for taking the time to talk to us and share stories. For much more information about Hand in Hand Films and a more extensive interview with Alvarez, please check out Good Hot Stuff: The Life and Times of Gay Film Pioneer Jack Deveau.

Bijou is very proud to present Hand in Hand's full film catalog! You can watch their movies on DVD and Streaming.

Further Reading, Listening & Viewing for more information on Hand in Hand Films:

Excerpt from the Hand in Hand Films documentary Good Hot Stuff (1975) on Vimeo and more Hand in Hand clips on our Vimeo and YouTube channels
Bijou Blog - Jack Deveau: Vintage Gay Porn Director Profile
Interview with Tom DeSimone (Part 1 and Part 2)
Blog - Hot House: Behind the Scenes
Ask Any Buddy podcast episodes on movies produced and/or distributed by Hand in Hand Films: Good Hot Stuff, Drive, The Night Before, Adam and Yves, The Destroying Angel, Rough Trades, Fire Island Fever, American Cream, Catching Up, The Idol
Blog - Chris Rage, Arch Brown, & Frank Ross: Hand in Hand to Live Video
Blog - The Backstory of Peter de Rome's The Destroying Angel
Hand in Hand Films Wikipedia entry