When JON KING Returned to Catalina Video: 12 Years After THESE BASES ARE LOADED

By Josh Eliot

For years, we were housing models at the Holloway Motel on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. Not the most ideal of housing choices since it was located right on the outskirts of “Boys Town,'' but after visiting with the manager and explaining that we would be bringing in models every week, they came up with a $75 per night rate for us. It was awesome, and I might just mention that it never went up all the way until we stopped shooting in 2006. It was maybe a 2-star but definitely not a 1-star. We were always strapped for cash with our measly 12K budgets, so this was a big help. Yes, it was in WeHo near all the bars and night life, but I figured if the model was going to “fuck around” the night before the scene, they would do it anyway. I had no problem never booking that model again if they did and the scene suffered because of it. All I needed to do was reserve the room, and the models would just take a cab from LAX straight to the motel and the manager would check them in then leave a message on my home answering machine letting me know they’ve arrived. I would then call the model to touch base and reconfirm with them to save their receipts from meals, cab fare, etc. for reimbursement after the shoot. It was such a load off my plate to not have to meet the models at the airport and get them checked in at the motel - that was too time consuming!

There were special VIP arrivals that I would make the extra effort to pick up at the airport and get settled in personally - for example, the day porn legend Jon King returned to make a come-back in These Bases Are Loaded 2. The original These Bases Are Loaded was released in 1982 and directed by William Higgins. This was now 1994, and though we had all heard of the legend Jon King, none of the crew or Catalina staff had met or worked with him. Somehow, some way (I think through John Rutherford, who was shooting Wild Country for Falcon) Chi Chi LaRue got in contact with Jon King and brought it to the attention of our GM. It wasn’t going to be cheap, but we all agreed that we could not pass up the opportunity to bring the “old-school” performer back in front of our cameras. Since Chi Chi made the connection, naturally she would direct the movie, which we all agreed should be the sequel to “Bases.” I worked with Chi Chi to develop the script and secure the locations. We also rented baseball uniforms, because it was cheaper than buying them! Jon King was cast to perform in two of the five scenes and to model for the box cover and a glamor photo layout. One scene would be a one-on-one with Dave Logan and the second scene, in homage to the original, was a group orgy. The cast was large with a total body count of twelve including Zak Spears, Donnie Russo, Ryan Block, Andrew Montano and Grant Larsen, among others. Two models shy of the original 1982 movie, which had a cast list of fourteen models including JW King, Giorgio Canali, Chris Burns, Steve West and Derrick Stanton. The stage was set and all the actors were in place for this very exciting moment in Catalina Video history!

According to information on AEBN: Legendary performer Jon King (John Nelson Gaines) was born on January 12, 1963 in Jacksonville, Florida. After being discovered by a Catalina Video representative at a Los Angeles car wash, he attained overnight stardom at 19 years of age in his first movie, Brothers Should Do It, opposite J.W. King, to whom he bore quite a resemblance. The two were not related in any way. In 1982, as his career was on the fast track, Jon stole a Corvette while on a test drive in Gainesville, Florida. He then robbed a Burger King and ended up crashing the stolen car. He was arrested and sentenced to eleven months in prison. Upon his release, Jon made a comeback in the porn world, working on numerous movies including Giants 2 (1983), The Biggest One I Ever Saw (1984, bottoming for Rick Donovan in a standout scene), Wild Oats (1984), Screenplay (1984), and Getting It (1985). In 1989, Jon retired from the porn world and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he enrolled in a two-year culinary school course to satisfy his lifelong interest in gourmet cooking.

I found myself alongside my partner Mark Rutter at LAX, waiting for the passengers to exit the plane. It felt a little surreal to be meeting Jon King for the first time after years of watching his movies while in my 20s. When he came out of the plane, he was instantly recognizable, albeit a little shorter than I expected him to be. I guess J.W. was the taller of the two “brothers.” Please don’t tell me that J.W. King was 5’9”, as well - that will just destroy everything I ever imagined about him!

The meeting was surprisingly quite nice; he had a big smile and a great personality, and was very excited to be working for Catalina again. His presence felt very down to earth, and we all had great conversations on the drive to the hotel in West Hollywood. The hotel was definitely not the Holloway Motel, as Jon was very specific about where he wanted to stay when we had talked on the phone previously during contract negotiations. Jon chose the Le Parc on West Knoll Drive in West Hollywood. It wasn’t $75 a night, I can tell you that, but West Knoll, near Melrose Ave., is a nice quiet tree-lined street, so I was very comfortable housing him there. We checked him in and walked him up to his room, carrying his bags for him, and stayed with him until he got settled in. We sat for a bit, discussing the shoot and specifics, then out of the blue he asked if Mark and I wanted to come back later in the evening because there was a great jacuzzi on the roof. Before I got a chance to answer, Mark spoke up and declined the invitation, in a nice way, making up some excuse. There was no way in hell we were going to end up in a jacuzzi with Jon King, as we both kind of knew what the invitation meant. He insisted on showing it to us anyway, so we all went up to the roof to look at it. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were ready to split, so I made sure to ask him to get a good night’s rest, as the shoot was very important to us and we really wanted to make this comeback special for him with lots of promotion, yadda-yadda. We said our goodbyes, and now it was up to him to behave and be there in the morning when Chi Chi picked him up to take him to the set.

Because this was an important shoot, I felt the responsibility to be there on the set. Even though I was no longer videographer for Chi Chi’s movies, I just wanted to make sure everything went off without a hitch. We didn’t have cell phones back then, or at least I didn’t, so I had no warning before walking into the locker room set at the local studio what the situation might be. As soon as I walked in, I saw Chi Chi get up from her chair and make a beeline towards me. Not a good omen. There were models walking around in jockstraps (their costumes) and the crew was all looking at me to see my reaction, but strangely enough I didn’t see Jon King. It turns out Jon was in make-up, because he needed an extra application of base on one of his eyes. Yes, that’s right, Jon King, Headliner, Box Cover Model and man behind this huge promotion had a big ole fucking “shiner!” A black eye that was so swollen his eyeball was barely visible. Not sure how it happened and not really sure I gave a shit at that point. All I could think about was that this whole project was just falling to pieces right in front of my eyes. There were no luxuries of postponing things or rescheduling. The shoot had to go on no matter what - that was always the case with Catalina. Improvise. The “fix” for the movie was simple, as we just added some storyline about him getting hit in the eye with a baseball, done. He didn’t look that great, especially the close-ups, but what could we do except try to shoot “angles” around it. For the box cover and photo layouts, we just did the best we could with make-up and called it a day. I’m sure the new DVD box looks better than the original VHS box, because we didn’t really have Photoshop then. Now you can just cut out the left eye and copy it over the right eye. I know, I did that for one of my partner’s family photos where his sister had her eyes closed and they wanted that group photo blown up for an anniversary gift. I took one of his sister’s eyes and copied it onto the other sister with her eyes closed and nobody noticed, even though I gave her two left eyes!

It was such a bummer, and in my mind the whole project’s hopes just went right down the drain. I found myself wondering if that rooftop jacuzzi at the hotel was where he got the black eye, but the reason for it really wasn’t that important in the scheme of things. The movie finished production and I knew deep down I would never rehire Jon again. Other than that, it was actually wonderful meeting Jon King, whom we’ve all come to know from his 1980s films. I might also say that Jon was on his very best behavior for the remainder of the shoot. I really do think he felt bad about what happened. After we wrapped, Mark and I drove him to the airport, which, trust me, never normally happened. Once I paid the models, I would give them cab fare to get themselves back to the airport the following day. With Jon King, I felt a special obligation, so we picked him up in the morning and drove him to LAX and said our goodbyes. Looking back on things, black eye aside, it was an absolute pleasure meeting and spending time with this very special icon of gay adult cinema.

Jon King unfortunately died from complications of AIDS in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 8, 1995. He was cremated and his ashes mixed and scattered with those of his beloved dog, who had died some years earlier.

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.