BijouBlog

Producer Scott Masters was able to secure some great talent to work for Catalina Video in the 1980s and early 1990s. One of his main discoveries was Matt Powers, who I wrote about in the blog “Some Real What The Fuck Moments While Making Scott Masters' LIFEGUARD ON DUTY.” Scott signed Matt to an exclusive contract, moved him into his home and started a romantic relationship with him. When their breakup happened and Matt moved out of the residence, Scott suffered from separation anxiety and put out the feelers for a new exclusive model to replace him.

This new exclusive model came to us from the state of Colorado and was signed to a multi-picture deal in 1991. The model was Cody Foster, 21 years old, born October 9th, 1970. His very first scene was a J/O in the video Stargazing, which featured solo performances from all of the up-and-coming Catalina stars. He was personable, very friendly and fun to be around. Then we started production on Malibu Pool Boys (1992), his first full feature, which received more attention and instant success than many movies before it. Malibu Pool Boys made Cody an instant star and led to a staggering amount of magazine covers to follow, essentially turning him into the “It Boy” of 1992. Cody was poised to have a long successful career and an exciting life as one of Catalina’s dancers who toured the country. His multi-picture contract and company backing almost guaranteed that. In addition, his Colorado agent had national and international connections with all the gay clubs and event promoters.

I’d say some red flags were glaring to myself and the crew from working with him on Malibu Pool Boys. Shooting the movie started off smoothly, with Scott Masters, Cody and myself taking a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, shooting exterior shots and having a fantastic seafood lunch on the shore. Spirits were high and everyone was excited to start this movie that we hoped would be a “star-vehicle” to make Cody a success. Shooting the first day with Chad Knight was going excellently - who didn’t love shooting a scene with Chad! His dick was always up and ready, so the oral went great. The real trouble started with the fucking. Scott Masters would never - absolutely never - put the full power and finances of the company behind a new exclusive star who was a “bottom,” no way no how. That’s how he felt, and he often verbalized it. This was years before popular power-bottom Joey Stefano hit the scene.

The shooting of Malibu Pool Boys was a classic lesson on how not to start off a working relationship. You see, Cody Foster was a bottom, through and through; he verbalized it to all of us and even tried to reason with Masters, but to no avail. Scott Masters was going to have this hot new exclusive fuck Chad Knight, come hell or high water! Well, I can tell you, that went over like “a fart in church.” Cody would get hard, run into the shot, try to stick it in and go soft almost immediately. This literally went on for hours and hours, and you could visibly see Cody’s spirit dimming and his hostility growing. Still photographer Jeff Burton and I were even a little frightened by certain personality changes we witnessed. It was more than just frustration we were seeing; his anger filled the room, though Scott Masters didn’t seem to notice. Yes, we got some shots in the final movie of Cody fucking, but at what expense? Cody became angrier and angrier and probably felt like his voice wasn’t heard, and his first time with the full crew was probably embarrassing for him. There was no Viagra then, and you could just see him almost losing it every time he had to penetrate Chad. I felt bad for Chad, too; how do you finish a scene with someone who is obviously in distress and ready to explode? Jeff and I both tried to get Scott Masters to just have Cody bottom to release some anxiety on the set, but it all fell on deaf ears. He waited until both models were absolutely exhausted to finally let Chad fuck Cody. Of course, Chad fucked like the star he is and saved the scene. But the damage was done. From that very first sex scene on his very first movie, Cody acted completely different in every single conversation with Scott Masters and the crew.

A couple of days later, it was time for Cody’s second scene in the movie with Arik Travis. Can I just say that Arik Travis never got the full “star-treatment” he so deserved! He is tall, dark and handsome, with a chiseled face and fat piece. I think the only cover he graced was for Fan Male, by Chi Chi LaRue, even though he worked on and off from 1992 to 2003. Total star potential with him! In any event, everyone showed up with a good attitude and the scene went off without a hitch, with Cody doing all the bottoming and no topping. Even though things went well that day, there was this weird tension in the air, almost like Cody was super annoyed to be around all of us.

The next time we saw Cody was when he came to town for his role in Chi Chi LaRue’s Bi-ology: The Making of Mr. Right (1992) with Lois Ayres and Dean Glass, and his role in Reunion (1992). I was shooting Down Bi Law downstairs while Chi Chi was working with Cody upstairs for Bi-ology. Chi Chi later told me that it was a bit tense at moments, where Cody would kind of get a bit pissy and she was scared that I would see Lois’ head rolling down the staircase. Lois Ayres is a strong woman, and the kind of starlet that you don’t fuck with. She might have pushed Cody’s buttons once or twice, causing another tense set. We split the crew in half to shoot simultaneously, and photographer Jeff Burton would run up and down the stairs to cover the still photography for both movies. He kept plopping down and sharing the nightmarish behavior happening upstairs with me. For the movie Reunion, I was the head videographer and we shot it at the 8 Is Enough TV show house in Universal City. All I truly remember is that it was tenser than tense! I’ve blocked out why and how, but Cody became very dark and slightly scary. I was so happy to have never had to direct him - I could always stay on his good side by being just the cameraman, plus a good listener when he wanted to go off.

By mid-1992, when Masters and John Travis departed the company, Cody had one movie left on his contract: Cody Exposed (1993), which I passed on to Brad Austin to direct. He never forgave me for that! Cody’s contract was not renewed, despite his becoming immensely popular with the public. He then went on to work with numerous companies like All Worlds (Hard as Marble, 1992), Falcon (Basic Plumbing, 1993) and Pleasure Productions (Ripped, 1992), despite having numerous run-ins with the law in Colorado. In 1992, a civil suit was filed and in 1993, he had a restraining order against him and was convicted in Colorado for prohibited use of a weapon. I remember hearing that he fired his gun at a government building. In 1994, despite his legal troubles, he worked on three movies: The Bigger the Better 2 (HIS), Workin’ Stiff (Falcon) and Grease Guns (Studio 2000). In early 1995, his popularity was finishing its peak when he worked on Tradewinds (Huge) for Matt Sterling and Whitefire (All Worlds). After those movies, suddenly and without warning, all productions of movies featuring Cody Foster ended.

In 1995, he began serving a four-year prison sentence in a Jefferson County, Colorado jail for retaliating against his wife, who had previously filed charges against him for battery. His wife divorced him while he was in jail. Once out of incarceration he tried to revise his career, this time in the bondage market of adult entertainment as a submissive bottom taking punishment under restraint, which included whipping and spanking. In 2003, despite the change in his looks and image after getting out of jail, he went on to work in Open House (Massive Studios) and Goldenrod (Studio 2000) for producer Scott Masters. Go figure.

He was not seen on screen again until 2006, when he was featured in Tough-Man Bondage (Grapik Art Productions), where he was hanging from all fours from the ceiling while John Bondi sweated his ass off while brutally whipping and spanking him. Those who have worked with Cody state that he had a very poor childhood, suffered from physical abuse when he was young, got married at age 20 and struggled with being in the closet.

On June 7th, 2007, he passed away from liver cancer at age 37. A difficult story to tell, for sure.

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.

One of my absolute favorite movies of all time is Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes (1977). In the movie, a typical American family, with all their faults and neurosis, gets stranded in the New Mexico desert when their RV breaks down. To complicate things, they took the wrong “dirt” road and have no idea where they are. It turns out they are smack dab in the middle of some radioactive area that a local “inbred” family of hillbillies calls home. Oh, and did I mention that the hillbilly family is deformed from all the radiation and also appears to be psychotic? This heartwarming film features the actress who played the mother character from both Cujo and E.T. - Dee Wallace. She got the role in The Hills Have Eyes a couple years after making her minuscule debut in The Stepford Wives (1975). She really stole the show for me in The Hills Have Eyes and I found myself spotting her in countless movies throughout the years, with her newest, to debut this year, called Stream (2024). When someone has screen presence and can stop a scene cold I really take notice. She is one of those actors.

A show-stopper that I worked with ever since Valley of the Bi Dolls (1993) is Sharon Kane. She is also one of those scene-stealing performers to me. Naturally, I knew Sharon Kane would have one or two show-stopping scenes when I cast her in The Hills Have Bi’s (1996), but I had no idea that the supporting cast I compiled would also surprise me with their outstanding “drop the mic” performances. Yes, the script was probably one of the best I’ve written since Revenge of the Bi Dolls (1994), but little did I know how fun, cheeky and campy this movie would turn out to be. So much so that it won Best Bisexual Picture and Best Sex Comedy at the Gay Erotic Video Awards.

Every good bi movie needs a straight scene and a gay scene; I’ll start with the straight. Ever since shooting straight porn star “Bad Boy” Sean Rider in Straight To Bed 2 (the sequel to Straight To Bed, read the blog), we all wanted to get Sean Rider and his fat cock in front of our cameras again! Sean started his career as an adult performer at age 22 in 1993 and retired in 2002. Chi Chi LaRue, who plays a non-sexual role in Hills, was still in deep with Vivid Video and had inside access to the stars of the straight industry. Sean Rider had turned us down numerous times before, but this time he had an interesting proposal. He agreed to perform in the straight scene if and only if I could secure a new starlet on the porn scene named Lexi Erickson. I quickly went to work and drove my ass down to the valley to meet with the main agent in the straight porn industry. He was very welcoming and didn’t hesitate to reach out to Lexi Erickson on our behalf. Like I said, he was a powerful player in the industry and within that initial phone call he got her to commit to the booking, just like that! I couldn’t wait to call Sean and let him know! When the agent hung up the phone, he looked over to me and said, “Okay, who else do you need?” I told him I was also looking for an actress who would agree to do a bisexual scene. He said he had a few, then pulled out a giant book of photos and we started looking at the girls together. The industry was more open to bi movies at this point, but I was surprised that he didn’t “grimace” when I mentioned a bi scene. He was very cool and didn’t even flinch over the idea. The role I was casting was for the cheeky character called “Lupe,” the maid to an affluent Beverly Hills family. She needed to be a knockout, and actress Taylor Dante was just that! From the moment she walked onto the set, her confidence and sexual aura was evident. She ended up stealing the show every time she was on camera! Especially when she had a tit for tat with Chi Chi LaRue and Moist Towelette’s characters. Taylor Dante’s incredible looks and body that popped out of her maid’s uniform commanded attention while she shot attitude in every direction with her eyes and facial expressions. Her big moment was in a threeway with Paul Carrigan and Dylan James, two painters charmed by her beauty! She looked so incredible in that maid’s uniform, she asked if she could keep it, which of course I said yes to. Even though the two actresses were not on set together, her interactions with Sharon Kane were hysterical.

Lexi Erickson was 23 years old, stood 5’5” and had piercing hazel eyes and blond hair. When I first saw her in person, I was blown away by her beauty, looking very down home country girl. I can see why Sean Rider was chomping at the bit to work with her! She looked so pure and natural that I changed her character name to Sara Lee, from whatever it was before. She was meeting the Beverly Hills couple, Sharon Kane and Sean Rider, who were the parents of her fiancé, played by Drew Andrews. Getting Lexi in this role was a game changer, like Spelling getting Sammy Jo in Dynasty, except Sara Lee was sweet and kind. I was also pleasantly surprised that Sean Rider had grown his hair out since performing his J/O in Straight To Bed, where his head was shaven. He really fit the role of the family patriarch. The set up was that Sara Lee’s family was coming for the wedding and to meet her new in-laws. The problem was her family. Chi Chi LaRue, Moist Towelette (Chi Chi’s lover), and their sons from an unknown “daddy,” Alec Powers and Mason Walker, were a hillbilly family so backwards just them being themselves turned the household upside down.

When the father, Sean Rider, sneaks into Lexi Erickson’s room, we all were treated to some crazy fucking so wild that it ripped the condom in about twenty seconds and I felt guilty to even say the word “cut,” because I didn’t want to intrude on their crazy chemistry just to replace the condom, reset lights and move the camera. So we just jumped around the best we could while they fucked and fucked and pounded and pounded! It was hands down the hottest chemistry we ever caught on tape! I remember photographer Jeff Burton coming up to me all concerned because Sean was fucking her so hard. I chimed in and asked Lexi if everything was okay and she let out a big laugh and said, “You bet!” So we carried on; it was very impressive seeing that fat cock penetrating her tight pussy. Sean was like a rabid dog. I was so happy that he was pleased, as it showed in his rock hard boner!

Not to leave the gay boys out, Jake Taylor played the best man to groom Drew Andrews. The twelve-bedroom house was just so small that they were forced to share a bed for the night prior to the wedding. The groom found himself needing just one more hot juicy cock before resigning himself to a life of eating and pounding pussy. There is a great seduction scene between the two guys and I don’t think either of them ever looked better on the screen.

Last but not least, Sharon Kane as the matriarch Clarice, a pissed off, mentally drained wife who has reached the end of her rope with her cheating husband, Sean Rider. She tries to embrace the fucked up hillbilly family by offering afternoon tea, of sorts, but when Chi Chi tastes the caviar and Clarice explains what it is, Chi Chi freaks out and spits it out of her mouth, giving Clarice a face-full. The look on Sharon Kane’s face, full of caviar, is priceless!

Sharon Kane’s acting talents are not the only thing she brought to the table for this movie. She collaborated with Clint Yeager on a duet, which she performs in the middle of the night when she wakes up and realizes her husband is not in their bed. The song, “Desires of the Heart,” is a moody ballad that is a departure for both Yeager and Kane, and they nail it. Clint Yeager sings the opening title song, “White Trash,” which is a rocking tune more his style, and Sharon Kane sings the closing tune, “The Hills Have Bi’s,” as she’s driving off with her new hillbilly family after leaving her husband forever. I’ve linked the songs to this blog, should you like to take a look!

Clint Yeager, who worked in our Catalina offices in the art department, was lead guitarist in the Los Angeles based band GAYC/DC, and was a longtime bartender at Eagle LA. Unfortunately he passed away on August 15th, 2023 at the age of 53. We are all very proud of him and the vast history and legacy he left behind.

To me, The Hills Have Bi’s is so much more than a great viewing experience - from the story, to the sex, to the amazing cast, and all that great music. To me, it’s a celebration of how, when it all works and everyone is on the top of their game, a porno – yes, a porn movie – can be pure magic!

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 M. Webster

Today, we're flashing back to the late '70s/early '80s for a peek at a much earlier time for Bijou. This was within the era when porn features were still at their cinematic height, playing in theaters in major cities across the U.S. In Chicago, the Bijou Theater & Sex Club (which later expanded into Bijou Video), projected many of the great gay porn classics of the time on its screen. The Bijou Theater was in operation from the earliest days of the hardcore film industry, opening in 1970, until its closing in September of 2015, making it the longest-running gay adult theater in the country. It screened countless movies, keeping the classics in frequent rotation up through its final day in operation.

At Bijou, we have an archive of vintage gay newspapers, including larger publications and smaller regional papers, particularly with a large stash of gay papers local to our home base, Chicago. A number of years ago, we scanned in a stack of vintage issues of Chicago gay newspaper GayLife, where the Bijou Theater frequently ran advertisements for the movies playing, improvements to the theater, live performances by big stars (including Peter Berlin, Richard Locke, Casey Donovan [more on his stage appearances here!], and Lee Ryder), video sales (by the later point of the VHS/Beta home video era), and more.

An August 31, 1979 GayLife interview with Steven Toushin, owner of Bijou Video and the Bijou Theater, gives some insight into the business at the time. Here, journalist Dennis Kouba asks Steven a few questions about the Bijou (before reviewing Tom DeSimone's The Idol, a 1979 Hand in Hand Films classic, which had recently opened at the theater, recommended to the writer as being one of “the best [films] in the genre,” a reputation which it still deservedly holds.)

Following are some excerpts from the interview.

"Mr. Toushin proved to be a relaxed and informative gentleman. Originally from New York, he has been active in Chicago's gay business community for several years, owning and managing several establishments... Mr. Toushin is an admitted film buff, seeing at least two films a week. He is well-versed in the film business and appears to be using his knowledge to provide quality entertainment for the gay community.”

GayLife: Why do you play films for only one week?

Toushin: We cannot afford to play a film for more than one week. We die if we play a film two weeks in a row. Frequently, if a film is popular, we will bring it back for a return engagement. Quite a few of our regular customers actually come to the theater weekly to see the films, and they complain if we play the same film more than one week.

GayLife: Where do you advertise?

Toushin: The Chicago Tribune, Gay Chicago, and GayLife. Actually, we have found that the Chicago Tribune attracts the biggest audience. We discovered that advertising in the Chicago Sun-Times did not bring in more patrons.

GayLife: Do you have have difficulty obtaining new films to exhibit at the Bijou?

Toushin: It is difficult to book good new films every week since the gay film market is limited and supply is scarce. We find it easier to book films from New York, especially from Hand in Hand. [Bijou now owns and distributes the Hand in Hand catalog on DVD/Streaming.] It is much more difficult to book films from California since the suppliers do not understand our situation in Chicago and present us with stiff, unrealistic terms. We simply can't afford to book films for several weeks and certainly not at the terms they constantly demand.

GayLife: What is the average cost of a gay film?

Toushin: Twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. The most expensive film to date was Dune Buddies [a Hand in Hand film directed by studio co-founder Jack Deveau, released in 1978], which ran $30,000. That's too much, since the market is limited.

GayLife: Do you have any future plans for the theater?

Toushin: Yes, next spring we plan to elaborate on the Bijou garden, giving it more of a legitimate garden atmosphere. Beyond that, I'm considering bringing in a video viewer so patrons have a choice of two films.

GayLife: Have you ever considered exhibiting any major commercial film?

Toushin: Yes. Immediately after viewing La Cage Aux Folles (Birds of a Feather) [a 1978 French film from director Édouard Molinaro, adapted into the 1996 Robin Williams/Nathan Lane movie The Birdcage], I contacted the studio – United Artists. I asked about the possibility of running it as a midnight show on weekends. At this point, I have received no answer. Other theater exhibitors in Chicago are considering the same.

GayLife: How seriously do you take the interests and demands of your clientele?

Toushin: I feel there is a legitimate need for a theater of this kind. I have a responsibility to our public to keep the theater clean, comfortable, and attractive. I take my responsibility to the gay community seriously.

The Bijou Theater did indeed wind up playing La Cage Aux Folles, a popular mainstream film of the era with a story focused on gay men, for an extended run the following year (1980). Numerous full-spread ads Bijou placed in issues of GayLife that year feature the French film in the mix with its typical fare of gay porn features. Particularly since the work of Hand in Hand was markedly highlighted during the late '70s/early '80s era at the Bijou, the cinematic, artistic, and narrative quality of gay porn films in rotation at the theater was of a high caliber and would have blended well with this addition of a piece of non-pornographic cinema.

In our scans, we have a couple of GayLife articles and letters to the editor praising the Bijou's decision to feature La Cage Aux Folles on the theater's screen.

GayLife, August 22, 1980 letter to the editor:

“I wish to compliment Steven Toushin, the owner of the Bijou Theater, for making an evening at his establishment enjoyable. Usually, a trip to the Bijou is serious business: serious porno viewing and serious cruising. But last weekend, at midnight, Steve scheduled a screening of La Cage Aux Folles, the Italian/French comedy that has been such a hit the last year or so. For the first time in my memory, the theater was jammed with people having a good time. People were actually watching the movie and enjoying it. People were laughing, smiling, and talking to each other at the end of the film. And best of all, there were all types of people, including people who would never have been seen at the Bijou before. I am told that the Bijou will lose money with each midnight show of La Cage, but I'm sure they'll more than make up for it in good will.”

As mentioned in the 1979 interview with Steven Toushin, Bijou's garden did see improvements by the following year, which is also spotlit in Bijou Theater advertisements of 1980.

Bijou maintained this mixing of various types of movies and materials of gay interest in the late '80s and 1990s through its mail order catalog, the most comprehensive gay porn print catalog of the time. In addition to an extensive listing of available gay porn films on VHS/Beta, the catalog expanded to feature an array of other types of video tapes, including LGBTQ documentaries, documentation of LGBTQ events and competitions (such as Mr. Drummer, International Mr. Leather, the Gay Games), sex educational videos, lesbian porn (particularly a large selection from important early lesbian porn studio Fatale Films), and a number of non-pornographic films of interest to an LGBTQ audience, from those popular in gay culture (George Cukor's 1939 film The Women) to LGBTQ underground, arthouse, and independent films (Donna Deitch's 1985 lesbian classic Desert Hearts, John Waters' 1972 Pink Flamingos, and more).

This spotlight on the Bijou Theater's original publishing date coincided with our 2024 re-release of the classic 1994 Bijou Video production Fulton Street from director Mike Donner, unavailable for decades, and now newly restored and re-released on DVD and Streaming! This narrative gay porn feature was set and shot in Chicago. Its complex storyline thoughtfully incorporates weighty thematic material, romance, and character development - and, of particular interest here, its Chicago locales include an extended cruising/sex sequence filmed in the Bijou Theater, itself!

This Fulton Street scene shows action in a couple of spots in the theater that those who have visited are likely to recognize: the lobby where VHS/Beta sales and, later, DVD sales took place (catch glimpses of tons of box covers of Bijou classics, many of which we still carry) and in the maze of interconnected gloryhole booths on the second floor. (Only fellow Bijou Video production A Winter's Tail, an intense 1984 S/M video from Dave Nesor, also illustrates the Bijou Theater's interior.)

Catch Bijou's Fulton Street, plus peek at the mini-documentary on the Bijou Theater page of our website and these tales of events at the Bijou Theater over the decades for more flashbacks!

By Josh Eliot

By 1990, Chi Chi LaRue had a number of Catalina Video features under her belt including the award winner The Rise. The Rise received honors for Video of the Year and Best Erotic Scene with Ryan Yeager and Scott Bond (“The name is Bond, Scott Bond”) at the GayVN Awards. It was a definite high point in Chi Chi’s career with Catalina Video, but one glance at her bio and you see how massive an influence Chi Chi LaRue really was, and still is, to the industry. Born November 8th, 1959 in Hibbing, Minnesota, Chi Chi LaRue moved to Minneapolis and started performing in drag as one half of "The Weather Gals," a drag revue. In 1987, Ch Chi moved to California and was hired by Catalina Video, holding a position in sales and promotion. Excelling at the role of publicist and endearing herself to Higgins, John Travis and Scott Masters, Chi Chi’s directorial debut for the company came in 1989 with Billboard starring Joey Stefano. It should be noted that Chi Chi was directing for In Hand Video prior to being added onto the directorial staff at Catalina Video.

Around the same time as The Rise, 1990, Chi Chi also started a simultaneous successful career for the #1 straight porn company, Vivid Video. Vivid Video was famous for its “Vivid Girls” under exclusive contracts. Jenna Jameson was one of those girls and became close friends with Chi Chi during a time where the straight and gay factions of the industry couldn’t be any more divided. Once the leading girls in the industry welcomed Chi Chi with open arms, it had a ripple effect with the girls' male co-stars and the industry leaders. It was through this connection that Chi Chi thought of a concept that, in my mind, was absolutely brilliant! The leading ladies made buck in the straight industry, but at that time the guys, even though they were famous as well, only made around $400 a scene. About half to a third of what the girls made. Chi Chi was now working regularly with the top guys and girls and came up with an idea for a movie called Straight To Bed. She proposed the idea to the GM at Catalina and he was immediately on board with it. Since the starlets always received the promotion and high rates, Chi Chi thought “Let’s flip the script.” Catalina offered the straight leading men in the industry, at that time, double their normal rate: $800 to do a J/O and another $300 for a glamor magazine photo layout, shot at the same time as filming their J/O. $1100.00 total for a few hours' work. Every male star that was asked accepted! The top straight stars jacking off for a gay company, selling the product to gay men. That would be a first as far as I knew!

Randy Spears was at the top of his game and graced the box cover of Straight To Bed. Randy Spears won the Performer of the Year Award in 2004, 2007 and 2008 for XRCO and also the Best Actor Award for Adult Video News in 1991, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He also received many awards for Best Supporting Actor and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for AVN in 2002, and in 2003 for XRCO. Straight To Bed included other top performers: TT Boy, Sean Michaels, Cal Jammer, Lex Baldwin and Derrick Lane. The scenes were all beautifully shot and edited, and the magazine layouts were a great promotion for the project. The movie won the Best Solo Video Award at 1990’s Adult Video News show in Las Vegas. We were all there to root Chi Chi on!

The entire cast was fantastic to work with and one or two of them brought a girlfriend on set to “fluff” them. Chi Chi’s outgoing personality kept the set light and prevented any awkwardness from occurring. It felt groundbreaking at the time, almost like a stigma was shattered. It goes without saying that the whole crew was just drooling over Randy Spears!

In the later years, Chi Chi’s connections with the straight industry really came in handy as she and I were shooting our bisexual movies back to back, sometimes in the same house at the same time! Her Vivid Video connections came into play when casting the “straight scene” performers in our bisexual productions. Because each Bi movie had a straight scene with no “bi activity,” we were able to secure some of the top girls of the time including: Bionca, Madison, Lois Ayres, Jeanna Fine, Lexi Erickson and Leanna Foxxx. It all was a bit chaotic for our first pair of Bi movies, because we were shooting simultaneously for two different movies to save expenses. Chi Chi was shooting Bi-ology upstairs while I was shooting Down Bi Law downstairs, and we kept yelling to each other to “be quiet” when we were filming dialogue. It was a bit of a shit show, but we always had a good laugh about how loud each of us was when directing! It also helped that the starlets could shoot two scenes in one day. So once Lois Ayres was done with her sex scene for Bi-ology and I finished my sex scene with Patricia Kennedy, they would swap sets and I would shoot Lois in a three way for Down Bi Law, while Patricia Kennedy would run upstairs and get it again on Chi Chi’s set of Bi-ology, with brand new male co-stars, of course! This way the girls would get paid for two scenes in one day, making it desirable for them to accept the roles.

One take away from Straight To Bed was Lex Baldwin, now famously known as Talon in the world of straight porn. We signed Lex Baldwin to a several picture deal in an exclusive contract, starting with the bisexual movie Sex Bi Lex. Gay for pay made a comeback! He went on to star in King of the Mountain, Powertool 2 and Man of the Year. Sex Bi Lex and Bachelor Party: The Big Switch 3 were other examples of when Chi Chi and I shared a location, shooting two movies at once. Jenna Fine was going to jump from one set to another! I remember her telling me in the middle of her sex scene with John Dough for Sex Bi Lex that she was starting the clock. I was like, “What??!” She explained, as she tapped her watch, that I had four minutes to catch the fucking, because she had a whole other scene and box cover to shoot for Chi Chi when we were done. I was like, “Sure, no problem.” I don’t think I’ve ever bounced around with the video camera so fast from angle to angle. Side, side wide, side pan, overhead, underneath. I covered the whole thing with John Dough only needing to insert his cock once into her pussy, because they were so into each other. Jeanna was happy when I said, “Okay, let’s go for the cum shot,” even though I’m sure I got five minutes of fucking out of them and not four! It wasn’t the best set-up, having the girls shoot two scenes in one day, but it really was the only way to get these high profile girls in our movies with their busy schedules and high prices!

Success kept coming for Chi Chi LaRue with Best Director wins at the GayVN Awards for: Songs in the Key of Sex (1992), Echoes (2001), Deep South Parts 1 and 2 (2003 - shared with John Rutherford from Falcon), Wrong Side of the Tracks Parts 1 and 2 (2006) and Link: The Evolution (2008). That list is just the GayVN Awards; I didn’t even mention the sixteen Grabby Awards for everything from Best Non-Sexual Role to Best Screenplay. Chi Chi was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. There’s no doubt that Chi Chi LaRue is the most awarded in the Gay Adult Industry, but in true Chi Chi fashion, and in the words of “The Greatest Showman,” it’s “Never Enough!” So the show is still going on with Chi Chi LaRaw, streaming on a site near you!

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.

Catalina’s slogan “All Kinds of Action for All Kinds of Men,” as I mentioned in part one of this blog, referred to movies with a wide diversity of cast members. I previously wrote about our Black Gold Series, the Freshman Features with twinks, our Far East Features with Asian casts and our Generation Gap Series featuring daddies matched with twinks. In this follow-up, I’ll cover the other series we included in our library of movies.

Our debut Leather Series movie was The Taste of Leather (1993), specifically hiring leatherman Joe Magnum. At the time, Catalina was not a studio you would go to for your favorite new leather movie; in fact, I think we only had one leather feature in our library, the fabulous Tom DeSimone film NightCrawler, so we were far from knowing what we were doing. Yes, William Higgins, John Travis, Scott Masters and Cameron Leight all knew how to dress models up in leather for a random scene, but that was the extent of our knowledge regarding the leather community. Joe Magnum continued on with Catalina in the Chet Thomas production Sex Crimes alongside Phil Bradley and Bill Marlowe, star of the movie Private Dick. His diversity beyond the leather genre kept him busy for years to come.

Out of nowhere, we got the opportunity to shoot The International Mr. Leather Contest in Chicago, starting in 1996. We suddenly had access to the winners and runners up, which was a game changer for our Leather Series category. It was an amazing opportunity to work with Chuck Renslow, the founder of International Mr. Leather. In 1958, he opened the Gold Coast Bar in Chicago, which is believed to be the first leather bar in the U.S., among a host of other bars and businesses like the Chicago Eagle, The Club Baths, Sparrows Lounge and Man’s Country, to name a few. We were definitely in over our heads on our first trip to Chicago, but Chuck welcomed us with open arms, discussed the history of the IML with us and opened his sex club Man’s Country to us for filming. He was with us every step of the way as we set up and shot the IML contest and made sure we had access to each and every contestant that we wanted to follow up with regarding roles in adult cinema. He personally brought the winner of the contest to the set the following morning to shoot the box cover for the VHS version of the show. This is but a “smidge” when discussing the achievements of Chuck Renslow; much more can be found in the amazing book Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. Another of Renslow’s triumphs was as co-founder of the Leather Archives & Museum, a repository for history and a place where future generations can discover the past. Despite the fact that we didn’t know all that much about the leather community, we kept trying with Hell Bent For Leather (1997). This movie starred the winner of International Mr Leather 1996, Joe Gallagher, in his porn video debut, as well as 1996’s Mr. Boston Leather, Beau Lyons. As far as I can tell, Joe Gallagher only performed in one other movie for Director Frank Parker, Leather Factory, released in 2001.

At the 20th Annual IML Contest in 1998, Tony Mills won the top prize and the first runner up was Andrew Lennox from Australia. I swear, when Tony Mills came to the box cover shoot the next morning, our jaws dropped. He was bare-ass in chaps and those ass cheeks looked like two hard basketballs - it was incredible! Brad Austin tried his hardest to persuade Tony Mills to do a porn movie for Catalina but it was a hard “no.” He had an amazing career in the medical industry, so we totally got it, but we were so bummed not to be able to see that “bum” penetrated in one of our movies! We did, however, meet the first runner up, Andrew, at the bar of the Congress Hotel later that day and he was 100% down for it! Months later, we shot and released Australian For Leather (1999) starring the 1st runner up, Andrew Lennox. Andrew was very versatile and went on to do a number of other movies for us including Thrill Me!, Score, SwitchCraft and Spit & Leather (unfortunately). I say unfortunately because in 1999, when we shot Spit & Leather, director Chi Chi LaRue was at the time the “spit queen,” using it in all her movies for other companies. I couldn’t stand it, so she included all that spitting just to gross me out, I’m sure! That was the last IML contest we videotaped, and our leather series took a back seat after that. Cole Tucker was another model with the IML connection, but he entered the contest in 1999 after shooting several movies for us including CatalinaVille and Big Guns 2.

We did, however, return to Chicago to shoot the BEAR Contest once or twice, and in 1997 another diverse category was added when we initiated our Furry Features series. The debut movie was Big BEAR Lake (1997) starring Anthony Gallo and a bunch of unknown hairy bears! Gallo wasn’t exactly a BEAR, but he did have a hairy chest, he grew a full beard for us and looked incredible on the box cover! Furry Men Do! (2000), Bathhouse BEARS (2000) and BEAR Country (2001) started the trend, using our tried and true Catalina style that they adapted to seamlessly. Other titles included BEAR Patrol (2002), BEAR Chested (2002), BEAR Boned (2004), Grizzly (2006) and many others.

Making these movies, we got to meet and befriend “Tit Pig” Steve Hurley, who helped me immensely in finding talent and shooting locations throughout Palm Springs and Cathedral City where he lived. After a shoot one day, he introduced the crew and me to Don and Sweet Sue’s Restaurant that he loved, and in fact I just ate there with friends last week! Steve was able to work in our mainstream movies, as well, and was always such a great energy and presence on the set. He’s dressed as a CHP officer on the cover of Truck Stop Daddy (2003) and worked in the adult industry for over 15 years. I just couldn’t talk about Furry Features without giving a shout out to Steve Hurley, who recently passed away on April 17, 2022 at the age of 64. Furry Features naturally aligned with our Generation Gap Series that I spoke of in detail in the first part of this blog, allowing crossover bookings for our furry friends matched with twinks from our Freshman Features.

Diversity didn’t end there - we even shot a movie called Steel Garters back in 1992. Steel Garters was promoted as a gender-bender featuring a gay, straight and drag cast, and was directed by Chi Chi LaRue. This movie was pulled from the market a mere two weeks after release by Catalina executives due to its controversial content, and remained unavailable for seventeen years! The movie was re-released in 2009.

There were times where we missed the mark in our diversity campaign, like when we made a girl-girl movie called The Women ("I Am Not A Lesbian Director"), but having the freedom and ability to feature all kinds of performers from every race and background really was a move forward for the company and opened the doors for everyone to be included. When it came to Leather and BEARS, help from representatives of the Leather and BEAR communities like Chuck Renslow and Tit Pig allowed the crew to attain a much better understanding of our entire LGBTQIA community. Priceless.

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.