BijouBlog

By Josh Eliot

The 1978 Alex DeRenzy film Pretty Peaches was made during what many call the golden age of pornography in America. Desiree Cousteau’s performance won her the 1979 AFAA Award for Best Actress, but she wasn’t the only standout in this classic film. A brand new starlet was cast in a scene opposite Joey Silvera and even though it was her first time on-screen, the audience and critics noticed her energy and gave rave reviews of her performance. This rising star with charisma was none other than Sharon Kane. Sharon Kane and Desiree Cousteau were both working as dancers in DeRenzy’s theater, The Screening Room at 220 Jones Street in San Francisco, when he offered her the role. Little did she realize at the time that she embodied the qualities that superstars are made of. With decades of work featuring the inclusion of diverse roles, great performances and the introduction of her original music into the productions, it’s no wonder that her star shines like no other.

In 1991, Sharon Kane began work on her first project as a director on the movie Stairway to Paradise for VCA Studios. The cast was considered A-list, a testament to Sharon’s nurtured relationships within the industry over the years. She cast Nina Hartley, Randy Spears, Aja, Peter North, Victoria Paris, Lee Carroll, Kay Parker and her very first co-star and friend, Joey Silvera. Based on an original story by Sharon, the script was formed by the man responsible for making her directorial debut possible, Jim Holliday. Holliday and Kane met on the set of Sorority Pink (1989) and continued a true friendship and working relationship with each other throughout the years. The movie itself follows Nina Hartley’s other-worldly experience, including a regression into her previous lives. The movie’s mystical edge, added to both the storyline and sex scenes, sets it apart from the more mainstream themed features of the time period. Sharon waited to read the finished script before writing the official theme song so that she could incorporate a good deal of the movie’s content into the piece. The 1991 original theme song, “Stairway to Paradise,” has a holistic feeling and is enhanced with an addicting melody.

She is credited with creating an enduring legacy within the industry, which included working on set in the role of art director, make-up artist, musician, production assistant and producer. She’s won numerous awards for Non-Sexual Performer, as well, including for her role as Joan in my bisexual movie, Cracked! She’s credited with a solid reputation for creating songs and musical scores used by top directors throughout the gay, straight and bisexual industry. In 2011, Sharon Kane left the industry and relocated to a quiet, rural community. In 2022, she was introduced to musician Jimmy Michaels, who was working on a project with adult actor Richard Pacheco.

Jimmy Michaels started making music at a very young age and, as a member of the hard-rock duo, Waco, he produced and recorded the song “Dark Lady” in 1995, which became a local rock hit in Philadelphia. When the band broke up in 1996, Jimmy thought he was done with music. Nearly a decade later in 2007, associates convinced him to open a studio and label to begin producing and recording indie rock bands. By 2009, he was honored with a listing from the Independent Music Guild of America as one of the top ten mix and mastering engineers in the United States. In addition to engineering music from 2007-2014, he released solo albums, including writing and recording with 1970’s Disco icon, D.C. Larue. With the introduction of “at-home” mixing technology, Jimmy closed the doors to his studio in late 2016. He currently manages the worldwide licensing for Dick Hieronymus and his publishing firm, Mumbles Music.

In 2022, Jimmy was producing audio books for adult film star Richard Pacheco’s two novels he had written. They had the idea of finishing the second book with an original song that Jimmy would write about Richard’s life, and they wanted a female in the adult industry to perform it. Richard suggested Sharon Kane as his choice; the problem was that she was retired and living out in the boondocks somewhere, so it turned into a huge challenge to track her down. Finally, success!

To say that Jimmy and Sharon hit it off on their first phone conversation is an understatement. Aside from sharing the same birthdate, they connected on many levels musically and personally. It was like two kindred souls finding each other. When Jimmy noticed that Sharon added background vocals to his original song, and those vocals enhanced it, he was sold on her talent and immediately asked her to come out of retirement and work on a project he was producing. The project involved 1970’s and 80’s pop hits, and once that was complete, they started working on the Stairway to Paradise album.

Jump forward to the present as Sharon Kane and longtime collaborator, Jimmy Michaels, announce the re-imagined version of her song—with an additional third verse added and an expanded running time of 7:23. The completely new recording gives this 35 year old song a big, bright, beautiful new life! Not only was that 1991 classic given the special treatment by Sharon Kane and Jimmy Michaels, it is also just one song of a complete album. The album, also entitled Stairway to Paradise, features an otherworldly cover of both Kane and Michaels and is packed with new recordings and reinterpretations of works from both Sharon and Jimmy.

On the Paradise album, as well as other releases the duo worked on together, Sharon uses the pseudonym Char Char. When I asked her about it, this was her exact reply:

“I used to have chickens. Jimmy and I would be discussing music and I would abruptly mention I had to 'go feed the chickens'. So he started calling me farmer Char Char. At the time the first album was being released, I was debating whether I should use my real name or another name. So I said, 'What about Char Char?' And there you have it! 😁 It was a nickname from Jimmy.”

This album is one awesome collaboration, and I want to thank them both for sharing the songs with me. The full album is now available, for a reasonable $7.99 price, at Bandcamp.com.

A new interview with Sharon Kane was released recently on Barefoot and Independent’s YouTube Channel, where they discuss her directorial debut movie, Stairway to Paradise, and the new release of her song and music video. The interviewer, Jason, does an extensive comparison between the original song and the re-imagined disco version, before screening his PG-Rated cut of the movie and a follow-up chat with Kane. The full uncut, extended interview between Sharon and Jason was also just released.

UPDATE: I’m happy to announce that their newest project was just released as I was finishing up writing this blog! The pair released yet another album, this one called To Josh With Love. This new album is a remastering and re-working of the songs Sharon Kane wrote and performed in movies I directed for Catalina Video. I am very honored by the title, obviously, and am so thrilled to now have the full uncut, remastered versions of these songs available, complete with all the bells and whistles.

I’ve had a lot of people ask where they can find the soundtrack music from many of my movies, and now I can let them know that for $7.99 they can download them. Unfortunately, Sharon was not able to locate “Friends and Lovers” (CatalinaVille), even after going all the way back to her floppy disc collection! That one will be missed.

I’ve added some great links for you, including:
-The new Sharon Kane interview with Barefoot & Independent and their censored Stairway to Paradise cut
-The new “Stairway to Paradise” music video
-The album download page for Stairway to Paradise
-The newest album release, To Josh With Love
-And the most important—The Official Sharon Kane Bandcamp Page, featuring all of Sharon’s (aka Char Char's) musical releases, past, present and future.

She’s also on Spotify, which I also linked, so add her to your playlist! Her legacy continues!

SIDE NOTE: If you still haven’t had your fill for all things Sharon Kane, check out my blog from two and a half years ago, “The Many Faces of Adult Film Star Sharon Kane,” where I wrote about all of the amazing characters she portrayed in my movies.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

By Josh Eliot

Which came first? The “Pizza Oven” or the “Pizza Boy”? In the case of the William Higgins 1985 film, The Pizza Boy: He Delivers, the concept of the Pizza Boy came first, then Higgins used the movie’s budget to gift himself a pizza oven. Even though the opening shots of a fully cooked pizza-pie coming out of an oven were actually shot in a real pizza parlor, Higgins had one of the rooms in his house transformed into a faux pizzeria, where much of the movie’s storyline took place. Just one of the perks of being the writer, producer and director. Even though the cheap wall paneling and fake brick ruined the realism, it certainly wasn’t the focus for the audience, who was treated to a movie jam packed with hot stars. The film made such an long lasting impact that there were many other studios trying to cash in on the delivery boy theme, but there are only three official sequels released by Catalina Video.

The box cover photo art for Pizza Boy was everything! A 6’ 1” tall, naked muscular stud lying on red satin sheets, looking sexy and vulnerable. I remember those very sheets when I started working with Catalina Video in 1987, as they were part of our inventory in the wardrobe and props department, just like the wrestling uniforms from Down for the Count, which I used years later in SwitchCraft and The Rascal Joins the Wrestling Team. I never thought to take a black light to the outfits or props we had stored at the studio, but if I did I’m sure it would not have been pretty.

Steve Henson was the chosen one to grace the movie poster and VHS cover for the film. He was someone Higgins had pined for since he met him through Matt Sterling in 1984. Sterling’s movie Like a Horse (1984) was a massive hit, which also featured Steve Henson on the cover. He was the new “It” boy of the moment, but exclusive contracts weren’t really a thing back then and the big wigs of the major studios (HUGE, Catalina and Falcon) all played nice—mostly—and shared with each other. Nine times out of ten, Matt Sterling, John Summers or John Travis got a hold of the new studs and prepped them for stardom. In addition to narrating the movie, Steve Henson performed in the final scene of the film with co-stars Chaz Holderman, Brian Hawks and Matt Ramsey (Peter North). Side note: Peter North has a new documentary coming out discussing his career—the trailer is on YouTube! He was such a nice guy when I shot him for Valley of the Bi Dolls, and from what I can see from the trailer, it was not a fluke. My cameraman, Brad Austin, begged me to let him shoot the cumshot from underneath and I obliged, of course. Who knows, maybe I would have taken one for the team if I was single at the time!

In 1985, Steve Henson worked with Troy Ramsey in the opening scene of Pizza Boy. Troy Ramsey also worked for Catalina Video in The Young and The Hung, and Bi Coastal in 1985 for director Tom DeSimone. He returned in 1988 and I worked as videographer with him in The Big One and Powerline. Steve Henson then went on to work for Sterling again in Inch by Inch in a threeway with Brian Estevez and another Pizza Boy alum, Tony Stefano. Tony Stefano made only one other movie in his career before leaving the business, Delivery Boys (1985), where he was introduced as Tony Marconi. Prior to that, he made a couple of solo posing films in 1980 for the Athletic Model Guild. After leaving the business, he worked in New York City as a bartender at Uncle Charlies, then died at age 30 of an accidental overdose. Steve Henson’s career kept rising, with a role in Falcon’s The Other Side of Aspen 2 (1985) with Eddie Marks and Jeff Turk, and in Giants (1987) with Brian Maxon, Cory Monroe, Mark Miller and Bill Bix. In 1989, director Marc Fredericks cast Henson in two scenes for View to a Thrill opposite Adam Grant and Rex Chandler. After that movie, Steve Henson left the industry, and there is little to no information about him since then.

Even though the image of Steve Henson as the original Pizza Boy is burned into the brains of all of us from that era, the movie itself featured an amazing cast of players, which includes Chad Johnson, David Ashfield, Grant Fagan, Brent Woods and Michael Gere, in addition to others. The sequel, Pizza Boy 2: Meat Lovers Special (1999), features Tuck Johnson as the beloved delivery boy with something extra. I produced and Mark Jensen (Mike Skiff) directed the feature. I have to say that Tuck Johnson was always, always one of my very favorite models to work with. Super sexy, handsome, with a big ole dick, all wrapped up into the sweetest, kindest soft spoken guy you could ever meet. I directed him in Boy Band, Voyager, Score, The Rascal, Escape to Echo Beach and others. If you are not familiar with his work, I urge you to look him up; what an underrated, stand-out performer--who never needed Viagra! A powerhouse top or bottom who left it all on the set before going home to where he lived with his mother—so sweet!

Hans Ebson took over the role in Pizza Boy 3 (2000) for director Peter Romero. Hans shone in Hostage in the Grand Canyon (2000) as the kidnapped victim held captive by an escaped mental patient. This storyline was, as Chi Chi would say, “Hot... So hot.” As for his stint as the lead in Pizza Boy 3, it was a little uncooked, so we stopped continuing the series after that one. I’m ashamed to say that I even made the director use a frozen pizza in a scene just to keep the budget on track. However, after Channel 1 Releasing purchased the company, they put out a fresh from the oven new version entitled Pizza Boy 4: Slice of Pie? (2017), starring Xavier Hux and directed by Catalina alum Chi Chi LaRue! I know absolutely nothing about that movie, as I have never watched it, but if Chi Chi was involved, I’m sure it is a solid piece of entertainment. It kind of speaks to the quality of Steve Henson as a performer—when you start with the best, it’s really hard to improve.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

By Josh Eliot

[Originally published 02/28/25]

The first time I remember seeing both Lee Ryder and Rod Phillips was in one of my favorite movies, The Biggest One I Ever Saw. You may or may not know that the two of them actually dated. I personally never worked with Lee Ryder, but I was videographer for a couple of Rod Phillips scenes in what turned out to be the last movie John Travis directed for Catalina Video before moving on with Scott Masters to start Studio 2000. The movie was called Hard Steal, and Rod was cast in the lead as a sexy cat burglar. Director John Travis had worked with Rod Phillips in the past and was developing his comeback. Around the same time, Chi Chi LaRue was on the set of Sharon & Karen when one of its stars, Tony Davis (Hard To Be Good), brought his friend Nick to the set and introduced him to Chi Chi. Nick's amazing looks took Chi Chi’s breath away and he immediately became obsessed with making this stunning new boy a star - a star named Joey Stefano.

Chi Chi’s first order of business was to show Joey off to all the major studios, including Catalina. Producer Scott Masters vowed to never let Chi Chi direct movies for Catalina, so Chi Chi left the company and started working for In Hand Video, building up his directorial resume. When Chi Chi introduced Joey to the Catalina GM, he got an instant green light to direct a movie for Catalina Video starring Joey Stefano, much to the horror and anguish of Scott Masters. Billboard was on the schedule to shoot as the Joey Stefano blockbuster for Catalina, but at the very same time John Travis was prepping for his movie Hard Steal. Part of the agreement for Chi Chi to direct Billboard depended upon him allowing Joey to also take a supporting role in Hard Steal. It was an easy yes for Chi Chi to agree to, but Scott Masters, as always, had the last laugh by refusing to let Chi Chi use his name as director; instead, he demanded Chi Chi come up with a more masculine name for the credits. This is where Taylor Hudson was born. Any Catalina movies with Taylor Hudson as director were all really Chi Chi LaRue. In addition, Scott Masters made me swear that I would never show Chi Chi how we lit and shot our underneath penetration and oral shots, fearing that he would use that technique in other companies' movies. Of course, I did not oblige his order and showed Chi Chi in great detail how we got perfect lighting on underneath shots. Masters was pissed when he saw the final cut for review, but I didn’t care because those camera angles made the movie and Catalina, as a company, look better.

I’ll get into the scenes that Rod Phillips shot in Hard Steal for his comeback, but before that we need to go back and explain how Rod Phillips started in the adult film industry in the first place. A young man named Darris Robert Pyron from Norco, California, when not traveling the world, worked mostly as a florist, with his highest profile job supplying special arrangements to the Beverly Hills Hotel. Darris always dreamed of owning his own flower shop, so he started modeling to save up the money for it. Darris took on the name Lee Ryder and burst onto the scene in 1982 with a solo j/o in Biker’s Liberty, later shooting a full scene in Huge, a music-enhanced movie directed by Matt Sterling. In 1983, he became a “gay-household” name, working in A Few Good Men, Huge II, All American Boys and the mega-hit Spokes for Falcon.

One day in Laguna Beach, California, Lee Ryder locked eyes with Gregory Leslie Patton in the Boom Boom Room gay bar. If you were gay and passing through Laguna Beach, you always made time to stop by the Boom Boom Room. The bar had a hotel attached, which made it very easy for the sex worker boys to connect with their clients. It was midday when Gregory popped in there to kill some time while his car was in the shop. Lee was 24 years old and Gregory was 21. As the story goes from the Rod Phillips (Gregory) interview in Men & Films (Bijou, 1987 - a recent Bijou re-release!), it was lust at first site. Lee Ryder worked his power of persuasion to get Gregory into the adult gay film business with their first role together in a Falcon Studios loop called High Voltage, in a threeway with Mark Hunter. Gregory took on the name Rod Phillips, "Rod" for his big dick and "Phillips" referring to a type of screwdriver. 1984 became a very busy year for the hot, new, in-demand couple, with Lee Ryder starring in Steve Scott’s Screenplay, plus The Biggest One I Ever Saw alongside his beau. Additionally, Rod Phillips made the films Boys Town: Going West Hollywood (Nova Studios) and Windows (Vivid Man). They were both in demand as sex workers and night club performers, but arguments over money, other sexual partners and jealousies resulted in them separating from their relationship and eventually leaving the business. Lee continued making a few movies like 2 X 10 and Sticky Business in 1985 and 1986, then retired. Rod left the business, then made his first comeback in the movies with Too Big For His Britches and Bare Tales in 1988. Dropping out of site after making those movies, he returned in 1990 to star in Plunge (Falcon Studios) and Hard Steal for John Travis and Catalina Video.

In Hard Steal, Rod was paired with Joey Stefano for one of the scenes, and while I’ve read that the two were dating at the time, my memory tells me that they met on our set and started dating afterwards. It makes the most sense to me, but Chi Chi LaRue, if anyone, would know the exact details for sure. I remember the chemistry with these two; Joey was acting very shy around Rod as he recognized him from his movies in the 1980s. One of Joey’s requests to Chi Chi was to work with actors like Jack Wrangler, Cole Carpenter, Eric Manchester and Chad Douglas, but Chi Chi had to explain that those movies were shot years ago and those guys are no longer in the business. I think the fact that Joey recognized Rod from that era really drew him towards him. For Rod’s part, you could just see in his eyes how he was instantly drawn to Joey, not taking his eyes off him even when they weren’t interacting. That’s what I remember and why I really think that was the day they met. They dated, as well, but for an even shorter time than Rod and Lee. Rod, at the end of the day, was really down to earth and not all about the “porn scene,” whereas Joey was up and coming and had lived and continued to embrace the party life. Little known fact: Sometime in 1991, Joey Stefano auditioned with Aaron Spelling's people, at their request, for the role of Matt Fielding, the gay character in the TV show Melrose Place. Doug Savant won the role and did a great job, even with all the limitations on gay characters at that time. Could you imagine Joey in that role?!

After breaking up with Joey Stefano, Rod Phillips left the porn scene only to return three years later for a small role in Chi Chi LaRue’s Hologram (1993). That was his last movie. On May 24th, 1993, Rod Phillips passed away at the age of 32. Rumors that he committed suicide are questioned in Live Journal, stating that he was diagnosed with HIV-related lymphatic prostate cancer, which escalated quickly during the last weeks of his life. Two years prior, on July 10th, 1991, Lee Ryder passed away, also at the age of 32, from complications of AIDS. On November 26th, 1994, Joey Stefano passed away at the age of only 26. It is documented that Stefano had a rough childhood that led him to drug use, including heroin, starting at the very early age of 15. When he did not show up to set one day, producers went to his hotel room and found his non-responsive body. It was later determined by the medical examiner that he died of an accidental overdose of cocaine, morphine, heroin and ketamine. A very sad ending for three very beloved stars of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Two decades in gay porn history that wouldn’t have been remotely the same without them.

Bio of Josh Eliot:

At the age of 25 in 1987, Josh Eliot was hired by Catalina Video by John Travis (Brentwood Video) and Scott Masters (Nova Video). Travis trained Eliot on his style of videography and mentored him on the art of directing. Josh directed his first movie, Runaways, in 1987. By 2009 when Josh parted ways with Catalina Video, he'd produced and directed hundreds of features and won numerous awards for Best Screenplay, Videography, Editing, and Directing. He was entered into the GayVN Hall of fame in 2002.

By Josh Eliot

[Originally published 02/14/25]

The year was 1970. I was nine years old and my parents were getting ready to leave for the cinema with my Uncle Normand and Aunt Irene to see Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I actually remember spotting the advertisement for the movie in the entertainment section of the newspaper, which I was known to scale up and down. Looking at the movie ads always got my imagination going, thinking about what they were about. When they told me the movie they were going to see, I recall yelling out to my parents, “Are you going to see an X-rated movie?!” My mother, looking for a good cover story, said the movie was rated X because of the language. With that, they rushed out the door, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Even at nine years old, I knew what an X-rated movie was - well, sort of. They did take me to see The Graduate when I was seven, after all. This would be one of only two X-rated movies my parents have seen, as far as I know, the other being A Clockwork Orange. Oh and one XXX movie, Deep Throat, but that wasn’t really their thing, so I think the list ended there. The next day, my mother couldn’t say enough bad things about “Beyond,” and I think they actually might have walked out. I guess, thinking about it now, if that generation was expecting a real sequel to Valley of the Dolls and got “Beyond,” it would have been a bit of a turn off. I had no idea at the time that this was my first real introduction, in conversation with my parents at least, to the world of Russ Meyer.

The very first Russ Meyer movie I ever saw was Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! (1965), when our make-up man, Buddy, brought a VHS of it to the Catalina Studio set in 1988. He was surprised that I hadn’t seen the movie, even though it always played once or twice a year at the Castro Theater and also at the Strand on Market Street. When my roommates and I watched it, I was sold the moment Tura Satana appeared on the screen. Russ Meyer's cult favorite follows sadistic go-go dancers Varla (Tura Satana), Rosie (Haji) and Billie (Lori Williams), who escape the nightclub where they perform and head out to the desert to start random acts of violence. Varla, a karate expert, kills an innocent man, and then along with her two friends takes his girlfriend hostage. They run into an old man and his brain-damaged son and problems erupt when they try to rob them blind. The movie is shot in glorious black-and-white, even though the movie poster says it’s shot in “Black-and-Blue.” Blue movie, get it? Russ Meyer’s trademark nudity is nonexistent, but the movie is filled with campy performances, sexually-charged bad-ass vixens and a ton of brilliant one liners! I think the incredible dialogue was what pulled me head-first into the world of Russ Meyer more than anything. I’d be totally lying if I didn’t admit to lifting and rewording a bunch of Mr. Meyer’s “one-liners” at least a dozen times over the years, especially in my bisexual movies. With a budget of only $43,000, Meyer’s stylish camerawork and flair made Pussycat look much more like a big budget movie. Japanese born actress Tura Satana’s original movie debut was a cameo as Suzette Wong in Irma la Douce with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. In Pussycat, she did her own stunts and received critical acclaim for her aggressive character portrayal of “Varla.” She also designed her own costumes, make-up and martial arts sequences. For me, I found the strong sexual female character on screen a role model for the type of female lead I would like to create for my first bisexual movie, which I knew one day my producer would approve for me to make.

Over the years, I literally watched every Russ Meyer movie ever made. I fell in love with Lorna, Up!, Mudhoney, and Blacksnake, but I would say the two standouts were Vixen! and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens. They were the most influential to me when developing my bisexual movies. Vixen! (1968) is a softcore sexploitation film starring Erica Gavin. Gavin plays the nympho wife of a pilot who flies tourists around on wilderness expeditions in Canada. While he’s away, she has a bunch of adventures with a Canadian Mountie, a married couple, and even her biker brother. In my personal favorite, Beneath The Valley of the Ultra Vixens (1979), Meyer pulls out all the stops with a cast headed by starlets Kitten Natividad, Uschi Digard and Anne Marie and a cameo by Candy Samples. Candy Samples, during the 1970s, was a mostly R-rated starlet with roles in Prison Girls 3D (directed by Tom DeSimone), Super Chick (1973) and Flesh Gordon (1974). Candy Samples went on to make hardcore adult films from 1980 to 1989, most notably John Homes and the All Star Sex Queens (1980) and Inside Candy Samples (1984). I would say I watched this movie more times than any of the others because of the downright campiness of its female leads. Little did Sharon Kane know that I would be taking elements from all of these ladies and sprinkling them into the characters she would play in future roles for Cracked, Switchcraft, The Rascal and especially for the three different characters she played in Night of the Living Bi Dolls.

I had very mixed feelings when I first viewed Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) many years after its release, but I can say that it grew on me over the years. I bought a VCD copy (from Japan, on two discs that also play in DVD players) of the movie and still to this day I’ll pop it into the DVD player to play in the background because of the incredible musical soundtrack! Especially the song “Look On Up” I would let it play while doing my “spring cleaning” or some other projects, stopping every now and then to watch the scenes. The music by The Sandpipers, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Stu Phillips is the best, and quite addicting to listen to. In fact, I found most of those songs on Spotify and now have my “Beyond Playlist” for when I am really feeling nostalgic. The Vixen, herself, Erica Gavin joins lead Dolly Read, Cynthia Meyers and Edy Williams in this “Psychedelic Sexual Shocker” that couldn’t be any further removed from Neely O’Hara, Jennifer North or that big screen bore Anne Welles.

A decade or so ago, there was a full set of DVDs from Japan that I purchased on eBay, which contained all of the Russ Meyer movies. The packaging was Japanese-designed, but the movies were great beautiful prints with and without Japanese subtitles. It was a bargain for around $50, but now I see that fantastic offering is no longer available anywhere and the individual movies are selling substantially higher, which is great for the Meyer legacy. Back in the day, we would see Russ Meyer in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show personally selling the VHS, then DVD versions of his movies at a premium cost of around $79. I remember stopping to talk to him once with co-worker Chet Thomas (Sal). He was incredibly nice and was very open with all of our questions. He personally signed each copy he sold during the convention and was on the same floor as the adult companies. I’m pretty sure that’s where Chet purchased his Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens movie poster that he had hanging in his editing room at the Catalina offices. Bosomania was the company name Russ Meyer used for the VHS / DVD / Laser Disc packaging of his library of movies.

A true one-of-a-kind filmmaker whose work has undoubtedly influenced and molded not only myself, but also both the mainstream and adult industries. Passing away in his home on September 18, 2004 at the age of 82, Russ Meyer became one of the first moviemakers in his particular genre to move to mainline cinema without altering his style. Credited with inventing the "skin flick," he also drew praise for the artistic vision and raw energy he brought to his films, many of which are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

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.

[Originally published 02/21/25]

Hi folks! Will here. With some major reflection and a lot of admiration, I wish to give kudos to the people and studios that made the 70s and 80s such a rich era for gay porn.

If ever there was a blog topic that needs to be written about in episodes, this is one!

I depend a lot upon my memory to write these blogs. But, here I actually had to use the internet and its history of the period to "flesh out" its many stars.

I need to mention that there is no rating intended in any of this. I have always looked at the porn industry as one that is very personal. It's whatever floats your boat! All the stars mentioned and the many that I have not, all contributed to the "Mass Pleasure" of this industry.

The studios and their brave creative forces also deserve accolades. There isn't a number one or top rated in this listing either. They all did a great job in bringing us pleasure and "relief!" Here are just a few that come to my mind and hopefully to yours, too.

Bijou, Brentwood, Buckshot, Catalina, Colt, Hand in Hand, HIS Video, Le Salon, Man's Image, Matt Sterling, Nova, Surge Studio, and Target come to the fore of my memory banks, with so many more that I can't bring to mind at the moment.

I guess my own anecdotes over the past few years of this blog have indicated those with whom I have had "good contact." But, there were "So Many Men and So Little Time" to have encountered all of my own fantasies of the day. So, here is the short list from my own "Fantasy Menu!" I hope you don't mind if I skip right to dessert! Yum-yum!

Fantasy co-stars Johnny Harden, Johnny Davenport, Mike Henson, Steve York,
Tico Patterson, Ken Ryker, Gordon Grant, Ken Ryker & Matt Ramsey

Remember, I said the SHORT LIST!

I hope this platter of memories has gotten you as worked up as I am! I know I will need second and third helpings. So, stay tuned to this pastry cart for more! (Wink!)

Bio of Will Seagers:

Will Seagers (also credited as Matt Harper), within his multifaceted careers and participation in numerous gay communities across the country in the '70s and '80s and beyond, worked as a print model, film performer, and DJ, just to name a few. He made iconic appearances in releases from Falcon, Hand in Hand, Joe Gage, Target (Bullet), J. Brian, Steve Scott, and more, including in lead roles in major classics like Gage's L.A. Tool & Die (1979) and Scott's Wanted (1980). He brought strong screen presence and exceptional acting to his roles and was scene partners with many fellow legends of classic porn.

Will Seagers, present day

You can read Will Seagers' previous blogs for Bijou here:

Welcome Matt/Will | What's For Dessert? | On and Off the Set of L.A. Tool & Die | Wanted, Weekend Lockup and Weekends in Hermosa Beach | Honeymoon in the Palms | Birds of a Feather | The Stereo Maven of Castro Street | The Pass Around Boy | The Ecstasy and the Agony | Fitness and Fantasy | Chasing the Boys and Chasing the Sun | Becoming Invisible | The Reverse Story of Dorian Gray | Pin Money | One Organ Leads to Another! | The Wheels of Steel | Feast and Famine | An Alphabet Soup of Powders and Pills | Merry Christmas (and Getting Re-Organized) | Now and Then | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: The Badlands | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: Moby Dick Bar | DEEP INSIDE THE CASTRO: "Just Another Stroll Down the Castro!" | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Hamburger Mary's | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Long Live the Stud! | Diving Into SoMa/Folsom: Club Life..."Hit me with your Rhythm Stick!” | A "Split Ticket": SoMa/Folsom and The Haight! | Staying Vanilla in a Flavorful Culture | A Little Secret | Recollections of the 1977 S.F. Gay Pride Parade | Life's a Beach | Flora & Fauna | Once Is Just Not Enough! | A Love of Cultures – A Knack for Languages! | For the Birds | It's About Time! | The Perfect Storm | Hello Chicago/Adieu Fire Island Pines! | Sex in the Woods! | My Life at the Gym | The Last Picture Show | Cumming Attractions! | The Peter Pan Syndrome | Valentine's Day Reflections | The “Idus Martias” and a Peacock! | Taxing I.M.H.O. | Nope...This Sure Ain't Kansas! | The French Connection | Water Baby | Pride: You Wear It Well! | Life Goes On... | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 1 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 2 | The Dance Floor and the Booth, Part 3 | A Christmas Haiku | It's My Party & I'll BLOG If I Want To! | "Werk!" | Heart Throbs from the Past! | Traveling the Arc | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 1 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 2 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 3 | Music Is My Way of Life, Part 4 | "Brick Wall" | A Gap! | Life in South Beach | Club Memories of South Beach