THE “Other” IDOL

By Josh Eliot

Depending upon which generation you come from, when you saw the name IDOL within the gay adult industry it could have referred to two very different origins. If you were coming out in the 1970’s or early 80’s, you watched Tom DeSimone’s classic The Idol at the cinema or on a top loading VHS player. Similarly, If you were coming out around 1990 and you were watching a movie titled or starring an Idol, Ryan Idol was the headliner in a slew of features using his last name as the first name of their title. But wait, there was a third Idol of interest: the “other” Idol, a young, masculine Massachusetts stud with a flawless body, outstanding facial features and a very fuckable butt that directors put to very good use. If you were a gay porn aficionado in 1994, there was Tony Idol, the younger brother of Ryan Idol – well, for marketing purposes only.

Tom DeSimone's movie The Idol with cast, plus Ryan & "baby brother" Tony Idol

The IDOL

Written, produced, and directed by Tom DeSimone with cinematography by Nick Eliot, the movie’s theatrical release was in 1979. From Hand in Hand Films, The Idol tells the story of a college track star who thinks he might be gay, and is determined to find out. The cast, led by Kevin Redding in his one and only adult gay film, also features Mark Bitler, Nick Rodgers, Greg Dale, Jerry Foxe, Jim Battaglia, Peter Borchard, Darla-Lee Barnett, and Derrick Stanton. The Idol was considered a movie like no other that, to this day, is considered one of the very best gay adult films of its time. Just read some reviews from Letterboxd and magazines:

“One of the most beautiful and romantic coming of age movies in the history of homosexual erotica.” – Patrick S.

“A poignant, gentle and romantic story with sexy guys, believable performances and beautiful cinematography.” – Ben Kinney Harris

“The culmination of everything that Tom DeSimone had spent a decade working towards. DeSimone’s best film?” – Elizabeth Purchell

“The ultimate coming out story! If a person were to see only one sexually explicit gay film in his lifetime, The Idol is that film.” – The Advocate

Ryan IDOL

1990 brought the world a new icon, Ryan Idol, who starred in his first movie, Idol Eyes, for director Matt Sterling. Coming off the success of his Playgirl photo spread in the February 1989 issue, Ryan Idol rose to fame because of his handsome looks, hot body, and debut movie from the most in demand director of the time, Matt Sterling. 1991 brought Score 10 for Sterling, Idol Worship for H.I.S Video, and, in 1992, a gay and straight movie pair for All Worlds: Trade-Off (gay) and Letters From The Heart (straight), where Idol worked with actress Bobbi Blair. In 1993, Catalina Video jumped on the band wagon to shoot the very first movie where Ryan Idol sucks dick – it was called Idol Thoughts. I remember when the GM told me how much he was getting paid to do the movie, I was quite shocked; the amount was more than the budget for one of our monthly releases. Chi Chi LaRue brought Ryan to Catalina, so he directed the movie and I was lead videographer. It was kind of cool to be the first ones to witness Ryan going down on a guy, and I made sure to shoot it beautifully! More movies followed, like Idol Country (1994) and Idol in the Sky (1996), which was his last before retirement from the industry. In 1999, Ryan joined the cast of the play Making Porn, followed by the stage production of Scent of Rain. He also played the role of “Cisco Patron” in the 2007 revival of Terrence McNally’s The Ritz. It’s no secret that Ryan Idol had his share of problems and jail time, but all of that is not really relevant to today’s story.

Ryan Idol's brilliant career

Tony IDOL

From the moment I received his pictures at the Catalina offices, I knew we found someone special. I immediately saw his resemblance to Ryan Idol, and my mind started racing on how we could market him. We would promote him as Ryan Idol’s younger brother Tony, who, unlike Ryan, is a bottom. We initially talked on the phone, and I remember thinking that his accent was so “Boston,” which added to his charm. It reminded me of working with Jake Corbin years earlier, that “Paaak the caa in the yaaaad” East Coast slang. When we flew him to California, we shot his introductory masturbation scene for the movie Stargazing 5, which featured up and coming stars. During that trip, we also gave him a full sex scene in Chi Chi LaRue’s movie Seeds of Love. Tony Idol was the epitome of a video virgin, freshly graduated from high school and still wet behind the ears, as they say. I felt obligated to go out of my way to make sure he felt safe and secure while on the set. I wasn’t sure how sexually active he was at the time, so I constantly checked in with him to make sure he was comfortable as things progressed within the sex scenes. When it came time for anal, he definitely needed to open up with a dildo so he wasn’t so tight for the co-star. We booked extensive magazine layout shoots with him and let him know step by step how we were going to promote his name. He made a number of trips to California in 1994 and 1995 for the following movies: Stargazing 5, Seeds of Love, Idol Dreams, Idol in Exile, Down On It, Revenge of the Bi Dolls, Idol Universe, The Roommate, and Jawbreaker.

Tony Idol's first movie Stargazing (1993) & more from 1994 and 1995

Consensus around the office was that, because we just loved throwing the Idol name around, we might have oversaturated him too quickly. His final scene in Jawbreaker was actually one of his best performances to date, and his scene with Vince Rockland and Hunter Scott was fireworks! I knew it was his last shoot with us at the time and it made me question myself as to why we were not going to book him anymore. There are models we used for decades because they were solid performers, but not necessarily “stars.” He was a solid performer and throughout his time with Catalina he never lost his innocent boyish charm, which is rare – trust me. I did take solace in the fact that when his contract ended with us, Chi Chi booked him in movies with All Worlds Video and Falcon Studios. He was in All Night Long (1996) for Jocks, then Freshman (1997) for Falcon, and his final movie Gold Diggers (1997) for All Worlds. In hindsight, I wish we wouldn’t have been stuck in the Idol box I created. Making him the younger brother of Ryan didn’t really work long term. If anything, when we started our Freshman Features and Generation Gap Features (mature men with younger guys), he would have been perfect for those types of movies, as he was still in his early 20’s. He would have been awesome as the lead in either the Junior or Rascal series that we started later on. A twink with a face and body like that would have really stood out. He is one of the models I still think about to this day; he would be in his late forties/early 50’s at this point. I’m confident with his level head and charm he is doing just fine.

Tony Idol

Bio of Josh Eliot:

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

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