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It was not super simple for me to pick one Jack Wrangler movie to watch for my “I Just Watched” series. He had an iconic career with many great movies to his credit, but they are so well known that I searched for one that was a bit more obscure.

I remember Jack being a household name ever since I was a young teenager. Of course, I didn’t exactly realize that he started in gay porn at that time; I always associated him with straight porn, as that was my only resource. I remember seeing him on the big screen at the Rustic Drive-in back when I was sixteen and seventeen, when my friends and I would hide in the trunk of my Maverick to watch the triple XXX triple feature weekend nights in the late 1970’s. MisBehavin (1978) with Lesllie Bovee and Jack and Jill (1979) with Samantha Fox (Best Actress Winner, 1980) were a couple of films that I recall seeing during that time period.

I quickly learned, when I moved to San Francisco in 1980, that Jack Wrangler starred in many more all-male gay films than straight ones. Jack was introduced in his first hardcore movie Eyes of a Gay Stranger in 1970, followed by High Rider (1974), but his career took a fast-pass forward in 1976 with his appearance in Joe Gage’s Kansas City Trucking Co. On the heels of that classic, he was front and center with a hot-'n'-hairy, sexy co-star named Roger in both Hot House and Sex Magic in 1977 for filmmaker Jack Deveau at Hand in Hand Films. The years of 1978 – 1979, he really exploded on the scene with movies like Arch Brown's Dynamite (1978), Deveau's A Night at the Adonis and The Boys from Riverside Drive (1978), the William Higgins-produced Jocks (1979) and Steve Scott's Wanted (1979) and Gemini (1979).

If I were to compare the movie Killing Me Softly (originally released as Killing Me Gently) to any of those films, it’s a completely different animal. According to internet records, the official release date was 1979, but could it be that in light of the title change it was actually shot earlier and then re-titled and released as Killing Me Softly in 1979? That ole twat Anita Bryant was smacked in the face with a cream pie in 1977 for being a homophobe and a shot in the movie shows a man holding up a “Anita Sucks” sign. In addition, I did see some photos online from the 1977 protests in Atlanta and Louisiana with pictures of people with “Fuck Anita Bryant” and “Anita Sucks” t-shirts. (You know, simply typing those phrases feels really good to me, for some reason!) In any event, no matter when it was shot, what Killing Me Softly does have is a very realistic, and a bit frightening, portrayal of the cruising scene in New York City in the late 70’s.

I was attracted to watching this movie when I saw Bijou’s Instagram story announcing it as their new, freshly restored release. Having worked on all my movies in the Southern California adult film atmosphere I was intrigued by the fact that this 70’s sexual shocker would bring the grit missing from the California Boys theme I was accustomed to. The movie is shot on film and features live audio and music-enhanced sequences, along with interesting narration familiar with that time period of filmmaking. It also features some great locations, including the Brooklyn Bridge, an abandoned pier and the Christopher Street Fair, with Wrangler and co-star Stanley Richards smack dab in the middle of it. The cast, while not immediately noticeable, features Giuseppe Welch of Centurians of Rome fame, along with John Kovacs and David King from NYC Inferno (aka From Paris to New York). Jack Wrangler’s name above the title is significant, because even though he doesn’t have the most screen time, what scenes he does have he “eats up.” Born in Beverly Hills and the son of a Hollywood producer, Jack was in front of the cameras for a TV Series called The Faith of Our Children in 1953 at age seven, and played a medical student on the TV series Medical Center in 1969 at age 23. It's no wonder he took the porn world by storm with his natural acting ability and very well-endowed package.

I personally had never heard of the director Francis Ellie, and there’s a twist I discovered about him. Francis Ellie's directorial work also includes Death of Scorpio (1979), Kiss Today Goodbye (1976), Michael Angelo and David (1976), Men Come First (1979) and Navy Blue (1975), the latter of which also starred Jack Wrangler alongside George Payne (also of Centurians and much more). Francis Ellie was a chosen stage name for “gay themed pornos” for John Amero, a well-known producer and director of straight porn, with both Amero and fellow straight porn/sexploitation director Michael Findlay together credited as “Francis Ellie” for their earlier collaborative releases under the pseudonym. Amero is credited with such straight classics as Every Inch a Lady (1975) and Blonde Ambition (1981) and is the focus of the book American Exxxstasy: My 30-Year Search for a Happy Ending, in which he also discusses Jack Wrangler.

Early in his career, Amero worked for CBS and ABC as an editor, which is evident in the final cut of Killing Me Softly, especially the jarring murder-by-strangulation scenes. While disturbing, one in particular is almost brilliant: as Giuseppe Welch dies from strangulation, his head falls to the side as a huge load of cum drips out of his mouth. One might call that “over the top,” but I, as a director, call that “pure cinema magic”. Not to put out the wrong vibe – yes, there is violence in this movie, a la Cruising with Al Pacino, but there is also a lot of sexuality and sexual tension. Amero (Ellie) was in this business at the very beginning, and his desire for having his work emulate mainstream Hollywood movies is evident in all of his films. The camerawork also deserves a shout out as being very advanced for its time, with angles that have been emulated by others in movies even to this day, particularly the underneath fucking shots on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Wrangler plays Phillip Jordan, an accomplished actor, while Stanley Richards plays Charles Mandrel (are you sure it’s not Manson?). The couple meet on the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC and immediately head to Jordan’s home for a high energy fuck, with Wrangler taking it up the ass, and start a whirlwind relationship. When Phillips is sent out of town on an acting gig, Mandrel is in his own head and in need of a release. Mandrel pounds the pavement of New York, looking for horny guys on the streets searching for immediate pleasure. Unfortunately for his tricks, Mandrel gets a little bit too crazy at the point of their climax and let's just say they won’t be shooting any more loads in the future. One scene in particular with David King playing a construction worker is a standout, featuring great rimming, fucking and creative camerawork. The movie also includes an incredible location for sex: the Brooklyn Bridge. They must have been there at the crack of dawn to shoot the shots at the bridge for the sex scene between Richards and John Kovacs, because its nearly empty of bystanders. However, the bridge in the backdrop and the cars racing beneath the pair while they fuck is pretty incredible to see on screen. Without giving away the ending, Jack Wrangler returns home, discovers the truth about his lover and opens up about it. Opens his hole, that is. Jack takes Stanley Richards' rock hard dick like a champion, with a raging boner the whole time he gets plowed in missionary position.

There’s a lot to unpack in this movie on and off the screen and I am happy to have been able to explore it, especially since it is celebrating its 45th Anniversary. It inspired me so much, I decided to cut a special “PG” version special anniversary trailer to honor it. Watch it now on my YouTube Channel.

And find Bijou's new release of Killing Me Softly on DVD and Streaming.

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.

Skimming through our physical files on performers, I recently spent a few minutes poring over some archived magazine pages containing quotes and interviews with a popular '80s star I'd always enjoyed on screen but had known little about – Michael Cummings, a stage and video performer with a magnetic, playful presence and a specialty for unusual and memorable scenes.

Starting with 1984's Hot Off the Press, Cummings' first scene was with Matt Ramsey - a sometimes performer in the gay porn world, better known as the ultra-prolific straight porn star Peter North. Continuing to work in videos until at least 1989, Cummings produced a large filmography full of collaboration with many other major studios, directors, and performers. As he discusses below, Cummings (who could transform himself into a variety of characters) was often selected to perform in some of the more inventive and eye-catching sequences in his productions, including: a colorful, food-filled ice cream parlor threeway in Al Parker's Hard Disk Drive (1985); a karate-turned-sex session with Scott O'Hara and David Ashfield in Philip St. John's Below the Belt (1985); serving meals and more in the buff in Roger Earl's Sex Lunch (1985); getting down to work at countless offerings from construction site gloryholes in Steve Scott's 2 X 10 (1986); playing with balloons and jacking off with an animate blow-up doll, then sucking off himself and a gorilla mask-clad beefcake in Michael Zen's Mansize (1986).
 

In interviews, Cummings comes across as confident and clear in his ideas about his career and the value of his work. A charming and insightful speaker, he has many memorably clever quotes. From one of these late-'80s mags, pictured here:

“The critics and finger-pointers imagine all porn stars are dum-dums. Why? Simple: they want to believe that someone out there is so groggy and lust-driven, he'd even have sex with them, the jeering critics. On the other hand, I've never yet heard a well-rested, self-confident man – or woman – mock the people who work in the sex industry.”
 

In a compelling, extensive Stallion Magazine interview (entitled, “Michael Cummings: Porn Imp”), Cummings is described as: “[sitting] on a big bed in a little room... surrounded by a jungle of teddy-bears and other stuffed animals, sipping a tiny bottle of ginseng through a miniature straw... The naive visual is deceptive; as we speak, a strong, determined personality emerges...”
 

Conducted during what Cummings calls a period of “over-saturation” when he was on all the porno box covers in the video stores, he details in this interview his thoughts about the nature of performing on stage and screen, his plans for the future of his career, and more. At that time, he was in the midst of setting up his own production company (“Cumming Rays”), which had just made its first video, a solo tape called Teddy's Bare.


Some excerpts...


After discussing the allure of his youthful look -

Cummings: I know, its not going to last long.

Stallion: One day soon, people will start calling you “Sir.”

Cummings: Or “Madame.”


On his persona -

Cummings: A camera can't see things like attitude and it ignores certain flaws, but it can see an aura, it can smell a sense of ease. I come on a set and warm the whole place up. Like a daisy!

Stallion: Like a daisy?

Cummings: Yes, I just warm up the whole room. I do what's asked of me to the best of my abilities, and no arguments. Producers tell me Michael Cummings is a joy to work with, so I get work, over and over again.

Stallion: My original point when we started this interview was that you were very different from the other boys doing porn – that what you project is more playful, more impish.

Cummings: That's Michael Cummings, though, that's not me.

Stallion: You're quite subdued.

Cummings: I'm very shy – very shy.

Stallion: Am I giving you a hard time?

Cummings: No, no – actually, I'm having fun. I'm always nervous. Michael Cummings is the cover-up.

Stallion: How close is the real you to that sweet naughty little character you've created for film?

Cummings: I don't want to blow anyone's image of me, but I can be somewhat of a bitch. I'm very spoiled, and I did it to myself. No one spoiled me but me.

Stallion: How would you describe your lifestyle?

Cummings: Quiet, a homebody. You won't see me out flaunting my public persona. People don't recognize me in person because there's such a clearly defined difference in my look and composure. I'm not at all what I appear to be in photographs.

Stallion: Do you think people are charmed by the lightness and brightness of the character you present onscreen?

Cummings: Yes. He's refreshing. So many of the men in porno are alike.


On making movies -

Stallion: Do you enjoy the process of filmmaking?

Cummings: Actually, I do. It's therapy for me. Not the in-front-of-the-camera stuff but – well, I did the only smart thing a porn-puppy can do. I kept my eyes open and learned. Now that I'm making a transition to the other side of the lens, I can do camera work, sound work, and editing. I can and have put my own production together.

Stallion: That's Teddy's Bear?

Cummings: Teddy's Bare – as in naked, as in buck-ass naked. It's pretty good, I'm happy with it.

Stallion: It's a collection of solos?

Cummings: Three different solos, about forty-five minutes long. It stars Brett Simms, Dane Ford, and me. The guys in it are all under contract. They get a percentage as royalties, so they have the feeling, “Hey, I've got something to show for this, this Michael Cummings isn't all that bad, he cares about my welfare!” I don't want to leave any of these guys... when their careers are over... I mean, where are they going to get a job?

Stallion: When their porn careers are over.

Cummings: Yeah, some of them just sit there and let this business chew them up. I'm sorry to say that a lot of these guys, not necessarily Brett or Dane, but a lot of them just don't have the mentality to prepare for their futures. They think this is going to last forever. It doesn't.

Stallion: Do a lot of boys fear that doing pornography will affect their futures?

Cummings: Yes, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. Society's views are changing. People are becoming more aware of what it takes to expose yourself to this extreme. They're beginning to realize that, indeed, we're providing a service... We're providing an important service and we don't get enough credit for it. We deserve more credit.


On performing -

Stallion: Auto-fellatio. You use it almost as a symbol. The ritualistic way you use your tongue.

Cummings: That symbolizes something to everybody. People will come to me after a show and say, “How do you do that?” or, “I have always wanted to do that!” It's something everyone shares a fantasy about: What would it be like to be on both ends at the same time? It's all facade. My whole stage show is built on illusion.

Stallion: But is it an illusion? Don't you like sucking your own dick?

Cummings: Not really. It's a pain in the ass. I mean literally, it really hurts. I've been doing it every show and it hurts!

Stallion: What audience response pleases you most?

Cummings: When I'm onstage, there's a tremendous amount of energy running through me – so much energy that there's nothing they can think or feel that I'm not in on. I'm right there, right at the nerve-center. I can put anything I want into their minds at that point. I'm actually right up there bending people's minds. I strip them of all their wiles.

Stallion: Do you see the same qualities in yourself on film?

Cummings: Yes, I do. That's why I'm in demand. I have some of the strangest things asked of me when I work, because people are aware of the broad range of my energy level. They know now that they can ask me to call up a certain character, and there he is – they've got it!

Stallion: Were those qualities right there from the start – in your first film?

Cummings: When I first went to see myself on screen, I expected to see something very dull, very flat. And it was very flat and dull, but I looked and I studied, and I asked myself what that character could do to sharpen his edges. What would make him more “Michael Cummings?” Slowly but surely, I began to develop a certain rhythm, my own style. I'm working on a new character now – he's more of a porn-boy, he's real quiet and forceful, and he does less to get the same message across than Michael Cummings does.

***

Cummings' consideration of all angles of his career, including setting up his production company to actually pay royalties to performers (a rare move) and help sustain their well-being, is notable. I've so far been able to turn up very little information about Cumming Rays, though Teddy's Bare pops up with the potential release date of 1987. It seems like Cummings' studio may not have taken off dramatically, but he continued performing beyond this interview and gracing the screen with his much more of his charisma and intrigue.

You can find a number of his classic gay porn appearances on DVD and Streaming through Bijou!
 

When I was casting my movie Object of Desire in 1990, my producer Scott Masters was excited to let me know that a brand new guy on the scene from Canada was going to get the lead role. We sat at Scott’s kitchen table looking over the photos of this new model. His real name was Jeff and he was a year and one month younger than me, born on October 28th, 1963. Jeff’s stage name was Scott Bond and he had just completed work, in a supporting role, for Matt Sterling in the movie Backdrop for Falcon Studios. He had striking GQ facial features and a friggin' 8 pack washboard stomach. In fact, he worked as an advertising model for Eaton's, The Bay and Sears department stores, while attending the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. I was thrilled that I had this new hot model to grace the box cover of this movie, as Object of Desire was my first real passion project. He looked like James Bond, so I can totally see why he chose the stage name Scott Bond! A few weeks later, production was about to begin and I made my way back to my producer's home to meet my “star” who had flown in the night before and was staying in Scott Masters' upstairs guest bedroom. A guest bedroom, I might add, that was made famous in one of Scott Masters' classic NOVA shorts: The Spirit is Willing. It’s one of the loops in the 1983 movie Four in Hand. Drunken Bo Richards and Dino Hard go to bed, their spirits arise from their bodies and they have sex together. Well, anyway, he survived the night in that room without getting fucked by a ghost and was fresh as a daisy for our first day on the set.

When I met Scott Bond, his presence was even more striking than it was in his pictures. He was super friendly, polite and very excited to be working for us in his first lead role. I drove him to our photographer’s studio on the Sunset Strip for his box cover shoot, followed by a couple of hard-dick layouts for magazines. The movie Object of Desire had a “Twilight Zone” theme, entrapping its actors in situations that were somewhat haunting, fantastic and sexually charged all at the same time. The image I wanted for the box cover was to show an aerial shot of a naked Scott Bond sinking into quicksand, as if being pulled down into the earth. My big mistake was using black sand and not mixing it with beige sand; the effect never really landed, but his body and face looked incredible! Honestly, working with him was like working with a good friend, right from the start. He was a smart, intelligent, mild mannered guy who really wanted to do his best for the project and had a great intuition with suggestions and poses to make things look better. His hard shots for the glamour layouts looked awesome too, no hard-on issues at all.

The next day, I arrived at Scott Masters' house again to pick up Scott Bond for the video shoot. Scott rode with me in the white equipment van while the other cast and crew members followed us in a caravan to our location, a remote isolated farmhouse outside Topanga Canyon. We were both excited about the scene. In the movie, Scott’s character owned an antique shop, which included a large mirror that was a haunted portal, unbeknownst to him. The mirror opens up to show a mountainous meadow, Scott curiously walks through the mirror and finds himself back in the 1800’s, being pursued by a rifle wielding prospector played by Nick Romano. The scene went off incredibly well, Scott and Nick had some real chemistry, but it was when it came time for the cum shots that we got our real surprise. Scott’s cum shots go on and on and on and on, stream after stream after stream after stream. How the hell could this perfect 10 have impressed us more? It was literally the icing on the cake! Two slices, please!

The other scenes in Object of Desire also had their “twilight-creepy” edge to them like: Steve Kennedy, Jamie Hendrix and Chris McKenzie in a 1950’s gangster movie where Jamie literally gets pulled into the TV set; Bret Winters and Steve Burns in a vignette where Bret plays a ghostly hitchhiker who forces Steve’s car to crash, leaving them both in an automobile graveyard where victims are literally trapped in vehicles for all of eternity; the Michael Parks and Jason Ross scene, which takes place in “Leather Hell” complete with a wall full of glory holes, with one of those holes featuring a giant pair of balls from none other than Gabriel Rocas (who you might remember from my blog “Ball Both”).

Scott was so incredible to work with that it wasn’t long before he was back in front of the cameras for the Ryan Yeager “star vehicle,” The Rise, directed by Chi Chi LaRue. There is a fabulous scene between Yeager and Bond where they secretly meet in the forest. I mentioned to Chi Chi that we needed to shoot them both talking in only whispers, because I recently viewed the Twin Peaks pilot and there was a scene just like that, so we ripped it off and it came out fabulous.

It was 1992 when Scott returned for his next “star vehicle” movie, Classified Action. Again, he was the lead and was featured throughout the movie. I was in an Andrew Blake Night Trips phase. His movie was so stylish and impressive that I wanted to make Classified Action just like it! Only problem was Andrew Blake had a huge budget and shot on 35mm; our budgets were basically non-existent. Still, I had to try, much to the dismay of Scott Masters, who got pissed when he caught me shooting an entire scene through pantyhose, going for that soft focus sepia tone look. We couldn’t add those kinds of effects in post-production back then, so we had to improvise. He ended up being right though, as once that scene came out on VHS, it looked like mud. But the other scenes' stylized looks really did shine, especially the montages featuring Scott Bond. Again, the performance was stellar and he looked like a million bucks. We were all extremely excited to have Scott back on the set, a model who had it all and then some.

A month or so after wrapping Classified Action, Scott Masters received a phone call from Scott saying that he was retiring from the business because he was getting back with his boyfriend. I wish with all my heart for that to have really been the case. Without us really knowing the details until after the fact, on April 4, 1992 Scott Bond tested positive for HIV and was later hospitalized with complications. After a turbulent year and a half, he passed away on the evening of October 29th, 1993 at St. Boniface Hospital one day after his 30th birthday. It almost seemed impossible, again, and I say again because my producer Scott Masters and I had already been through similar situations before. Every time was shocking, but I have to say maybe this was the most rattling for me. Scott was such a positive spirit, so full of life, with so many life experiences and adventures ahead of him. Scott Bond is and probably will always be someone I continue to think about after all these years. It’s just hard to shake. This young, vibrant and wonderfully tempered man had everything ahead of him. It just feels like such a tragedy to me.

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.

Now I know by the title of this blog, you are thinking: “Oh Sweet! Josh is writing a blog about Bijou Video’s Beat Cop Donnie Russo," and it would make sense to think that by the way I formed the title. The truth is, I’d love to write a blog, again, about Donnie Russo. Some of the most hysterical times on and off the set were with Donnie. When he pulled out his dick on the 10 freeway and raised his hips up so high that the truck drivers passing by could see his boner. That was on the way to a Palm Springs shoot. Or numerous other times we shot together, then would hang out in West Hollywood. Hey, there’s even the best story of all in my blog called “A Salty Fuck in Saugatuck,” starring Lord Russo, when we shot the movie Thrill Me! But I am writing about a different RUSSO. However, I did come across a great recent interview with Donnie Russo by Jim Jordan (thankfully not the douche bag Jordan you might be thinking of) from The Fire Island News. The below “after” photos are from that interview; it’s a great read.

The Russo I am writing this blog about is a bit of a mystery. I came home from a hard day’s work at Petco, yes Petco, sorry to destroy the illusion! My partner Tony and I are both around retirement age and we like to keep active, so we punish ourselves by doing a “Boot Camp” like workout unloading the Petco delivery truck at 4am every Tuesday and then over another couple of days we stock, restock and re-face the store. It’s exactly the job I want, no thinking, just doing… busy work. Those 40lb bags of dog food will keep you in shape! 20+ years of producing, directing and running a production department are behind me. As are the years after that working in customer service as a spa supervisor at the JW Marriott’s 35,000 square foot high end facility. I’m looking forward to retiring soon and winding down the work I do to have time for myself and hobbies that are key for me right now. One of my hobbies that I’ve written about before is re-watching some of the Catalina Video movies we made and cutting clips, trailers and “PG” full feature versions for my YouTube Channel.

I just worked on a movie I produced that was directed by my right hand man on the crew, Brad Austin. It was a movie we were so excited to be able to make. Once the actual sound stage “airplane set” was secured and the cost approved by the GM, it was on. The airplane set was actually used in the opening scene of the original Charlie’s Angels movie with Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu. The movie was Cockpit: Everybody’s Going Down! I used some cool new AI technology and stripped the original music from the background, leaving only the actors' dialogue. I reused two songs from the movie which were great, but honestly the other original “muzak” throughout was simply annoying, so I replaced it courtesy of my CANVA membership. All with the blessing of Brad Austin, of course. I then cut the sequel Cockpit: Survival of the Fittest onto the end of the first movie and made one big brand new 40 minute PG version called Cockpit: The Ultimate Edition. I did this because my dear friend Brad Austin really dreamed of having this done, and like I said, It’s my new hobby. It turned out great! (Click this link for the Cockpit trailer or click this link for Cockpit: The Ultimate Edition, the full movie.) I’m supposed to get Brad over here so we can record the director’s commentary version to put on my YouTube Channel this spring.

So anyway, I got home from Petco (where the pets go) today and I saw this really nice comment pop up on my tablet. The comment was attached to the full version of Cockpit from YouTuber @YouSoRusso. You know at first I thought the same things as you. Is that Donnie Russo’s handle? It’s not, but it’s funny how name recognition works. Here is the comment followed by my response:

@YouSoRusso (edited):
Josh, You really did make some special stuff. Like, you got a group of guys together on a shoestring budget and took us all on sexy gay adventures. In the skies, In Chicago, In Arizona, in Yosemite, In L.A., on a crash-landed island, even to the International Mr. Leather Competition. All in pursuit of making phenomenal stories. Stories that stand the test of time to the point that thousands of people will come and sit down and watch porn films with no porn 25 years after their releases. The vibes of guys just having a good time and some bros coming together having fun always comes through. Thank you for preserving these gems of a forgotten time and here’s to some more remasters!

@TheJoshEliot:
YouSoRusso, I just got home from work and saw your comment pop up. I have to say, your kind words really made an impact with me. Thank you very much. You described my crew and I to a T. Most of the movies were made with just enough money to pay the models, buy the still photographer his Fuji Film, cover our location fees and lunches, without leaving much at all for a prop. Dildo, model airplane, tie-die T-shirts for a certain Boy Band, or to get Steve Rambo a really fancy haircut. We all were in it for the stories we could tell and the love of movie-making. Much to the dismay of the GM at Catalina, we displayed “rebel-ish” behavior. Many times I told my producer I was making a themed movie he approved of and then completely changed what I shot. If I knew my producer, early on, would not approve an idea, I would simply show him one script and go and direct the real one I wanted to shoot. I would just deal with the wrath once he watched it for approval to release on VHS or DVD, and by that time he wouldn’t be so irate, hopefully.

I guess I’m referring to all of this because of what you mentioned. It truly does blow me away that our movies, which we always thought would have a very limited audience, are now seeing the light of day on social media and actually being enjoyed. I also love the fact that I get to tweak them when making their PG rated debuts. I might not feel “so great” if someone uninvolved with the production of them did the same, music changes, editing changes, etc., but I figured if I made them from scratch as writer, director or producer, it kind of entitles us to make a Director’s Cut, albeit 20 to 30 years later. The changes I make on them honestly are all things I would have done in the first place if we had access to things like: a music library, sound effects, color correction, buzz remove, goodness - even slow motion! Or fast motion! The fact is we had zero bells and whistles at our disposal when editing, so we always relied on our imaginations and shot the movies so they would work with our limited editing abilities. Thank you for getting all of this, as shown in your note to me, that means so much. I’ve written so much right now, and as I think about it, I have a blog due two weeks from Friday for BijouWorld.com. I’m going to use your comment as inspiration for that blog and include what we have both written. I’ll go one step further and say I’m titling the blog: “You So RUSSO”... (though I might add a subtitle).

Your comment really hit home with me… and I thank you. You can sign up to get the BijouWorld.com blogs emailed to you each week. I’m currently on my 51st and having a blast reminiscing about the golden days at Catalina Video. Take Care.

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.

Prompted by the beautiful piece on vintage gay porn icon Gene Lamar just penned by author/dancer/musician Brontez Purnell for Them magazine, I wanted to take a moment to highlight this legendary performer through a very brief tour of Lamar's work via photos and interview excerpts.

Purnell's article gives a wonderful summary of Lamar's in-depth June 1995 Manshots interview and of his importance as a Black gay porn star in the '80s/'90s. In that era, Lamar (also credited as Gene LaMar or various other pseudonyms) was one of the most recognizable and popular Black stars, at a time when there were only a handful of big-name Black performers in the genre. The open and engaging Manshots interview (a truly great read) gives valuable insight into Lamar's career history, the origins of his stage name, his co-workers, his family, his relationships, his sexuality, and more. A few excerpts from it sprinkled throughout below...

Gene Lamar, on having sex on camera:
“Well, to me, sex is wonderful. I love it. If I don't feel it, I won't do it. I have to say, as far as the sex part, I'm not acting. I'm for real. I'm enjoying it. I love what I do. I don't know if it shows in the film, but it's real. I've had people come up to me and say, 'Are you for real in those movies or are you faking? Because it really looks like you're enjoying it...' That's basically what I'm portraying – when I'm into it, I'm into it. You know, I cannot get into a movie where it looks fake – there's no sounds, the person just lies there. When I feel it, I feel it. And when I feel it, it comes out. I really didn't get into talking in sex until I started doing the movies. The more experience I got in sex, the more came out. The more I felt it, the more came out.”

Lamar's breakout video roles were in the 1987 releases Black Attack from Catalina and M.A.G.I.C.: Meet a Genie Into Color from Black Forest Productions and director Dwight Antoine. In the latter, Lamar is in the lead, playing a genie who grants wishes from a magic bed. This charming, playful video from the always-excellent Black Forest was a strong introduction to the adult video world for Lamar, and his warm, sensual presence and muscular physique hold attention throughout its runtime.
 

Bijou carries M.A.G.I.C., as well as a couple of other of Lamar's movies (from his very extensive filmography): Jim West's Bullet Videopac 12: Black Bullet (1988) and the Gino Colbert-directed Black Jacks (1989), both of which co-star Randy Cochran and Ty Jones, two other major early Black gay porn stars whose careers frequently crossed paths with Lamar. In the Manshots interview, Lamar also discusses his admiration of Colbert, a frequent collaborator with him as both director and co-star, and a close friend.

Gene Lamar on Gino Colbert:
“He turned out to be one of my best friends. Gino Colbert is my heart – he's my heart. He taught me a lot. He's gotten me into so many different places... He looks out for me... On the set, he's great. He's complimentary, he always has this great, positive attitude. He works well with me, and he knows I'll never give him a bad movie... He knows me, he knows my body like I know him and know his body... When I first did a movie with him, I couldn't believe it. To me, he was sexually a direct image of me. Passionate, knowledgeable. I said, 'Gino, look, we work very, very well together.' I felt that if I spent a lot of time with Gino, being that he's like he is sexually, I could fall in love with him. I love his personality. I mean, there's nothing about Gino Colbert that I don't like. Nothing.”
 

In 2024, we remastered and released another starring vehicle for Lamar from Black Forest and Antoine, The Good Old Days (1988) [again featuring Ty Jones], his next feature with them after M.A.G.I.C.! Simultaneously a sweet romance and a raunchy reminiscence of past anonymous sexual encounters, the video is also notable in how it addresses the AIDS crisis in a much more direct manner than most of its contemporaries. This frankness, while non-standard in the industry, was very in keeping with Black Forest's style, always cleverly and thoughtfully working social commentary and fun creative flourishes into their body of work. (We currently also carry BFP's first feature, 1985's Suckcess, their 1990 romantic drama Tricky Love, and - most recently - the debut of Randy Cochran in their 1986 production Making It Big.)
 

Also with Black Forest and Antoine, Lamar starred in Solos 1 (1988), In Thrust We Trust (1989) [again with Cochran], and Love Thy Neighbor (1990). And with Lamar's extensive filmography, this is only a small sampling of his work, which also included numerous performances for Catalina, Stallion, and All Worlds, among many other studios.

Closing out this "RetroStuds of the Past" installment with one more excerpts from Lamar's interview...

Manshots: If somebody else asked you if he should go into porn, what would you advise him?

Lamar: I would say, “Think about it first.” If you don't want your family to know about it, if you don't want people you know to know about it, if you don't want people coming up to you saying, “I love your movies,” if you don't want to be bothered with any of that, don't do it. If you are your own person – I figure, I'm feeding myself, I'm clothing myself, I'm putting a roof over my head – it's up to me to live my life. If you're living your life for somebody else, don't do it, 'cause it's not going to be anything but heartaches. Because somebody's going to come to you and say, “I saw you in a movie.” (Laughs)

Go read Brontez's article for a heartfelt tribute to Lamar.