BijouBlog

By Will Seagers

Salut, les gens - Will ici! So, here's an appropriate greeting to go along with my blog title! BTW, it's how I open each blog - but, with a French twist! I have been in love with the French language and culture from a very early age... seven to be exact!

My first two years were spent in a parochial school in the northern New Jersey town of Bloomfield. I was so scared of the nuns that I literally got sick every morning before leaving for school. It was standard operating procedure for the nuns to resort to corporal punishment at the slightest infraction of their strict rules. Add to this my first grade teacher, Sister Marie, who could have been a line backer or a professional wrestler, if you catch my drift. My strongest recollection of her brutality was watching one of my classmates come hurtling out of the far end of the cloak room - some twenty feet - after raising the ire of Sr. Marie! The kids were no angels. But, IMHO, the punishment far exceeded the crimes! Oh, ironically, Sr. Marie was part of the order of "Sisters of Charity." 'Nuf said.

At the end of first grade, my parents decided to buy a lovely home in the Brookdale section of Bloomfield on the other side of town. As fate would have it, the purchase of the house left my family a bit strapped for cash. So, that year in second grade I was enrolled in a public school. Whew! Adding to my delight was my teacher, Miss Garneau, who took the place of my Sumo wrestler. She was lovely and had a kind disposition. As I remember, she had only recently moved to the United States from France. Although she never spoke French in the classroom, her accent left an indelible mark on me. This stayed with me till I got to high school and started to really learn and love the language. With Miss Garneau, I felt "rescued" from the wrestling mat! Merci!

In high school, I never considered myself to be any kind of whiz kid. That was, until I landed up in French I class with an incredibly motivating teacher. Under his tutelage, I quickly blossomed into one of his best students. He had a very direct manner and always maintained complete control over the class. With his precise methods, I learned grammatical structure, vocabulary and lots of idiomatic phrases. I remember using these idiomatic phrases, which seemed to surprise French nationals - as most were not normally included in the language's curriculum. Another of his grammatical gifts was teaching us how to line up the many types of pronouns in a sentence for proper flow. Having a techy side, the mechanics and structures intrigued me. All in all, my teacher was as impressed with me as I was with him. I stayed on with him for the next three years, learning as much as I could about the language and culture.

Originally, I had planned for a career in engineering. My foray into engineering school was short lived. Although, as I have mentioned, I have a techy side, higher mathematics did me in! I left engineering school after only a year. Then, after bouncing around in the party-like atmosphere of a community college, I realized that I did not have the discipline to be a student. And, I couldn't rationalize the continued spending on schools. Oh... and did I mention that I had just come out?! Along with this whole new world of possibilities, I was morphing from an ugly duckling teenager into a desirable young lad. I was having too much fun to buckle down and be any kind of student!

Enter Eastern Airlines... Here I got to mix fun and work! Back in the early 70s after I decided to take a break from school, I remembered hearing advertisements for openings for stewards and stewardesses on New York metro radio stations. I thought... Voilà! I might like to work for Pan Am and use some of that acquired French! So, I got all dressed up and headed into NYC for an interview. Strangely, I never never got to the Pan Am interview. Eastern Airlines' NY headquarters was right en route to the Pan Am building. At the Eastern building, I was cordially greeted and interviewed by a former flight attendant who hailed from Montreal. Detecting her accent, I proceeded to hold the rest of the interview in French. She was amused and delighted. I was hired on the spot! (This was quite a feather in my cap, as most candidates had one or more follow-up interviews.) So, off I went to Miami Springs, Florida to Eastern's training facility.

Training was fun and not too difficult. I was in a large class with a lot of nice looking and pleasant people. At the end on my training, I was assigned to JFK as my base. This was my first of three times that I called NYC my home. Because of my French qualification, I flew between New York's JFK or La Guardia to Montreal. These shuttle flights were called "L'Aero Navette" (Air Shuttle). I was a little nervous using my high school French on board. But, aside from a few chuckles over my accent, everything went quite well. However, after a year of living on Manhattan's upper East Side on a flight attendant's salary, I opted to be reassigned to San Juan, PR for my base. After having several flights there, I wanted to trade the snow shovel for a beach.

I arrived in SJU on July 4th, 1972 with a mop of very stylish long 70s hair. With the 90 degree heat and 90%+ humidity, that didn't last long. I was one of the first people to get a "Clone Cut." Short hair was becoming chic in the early 70s and the upkeep was perfect for my appearance requirements. Although I loved living in San Juan, I had rather 'turbulent" times at my new base. Power outages were a frequent occurrence. And, although I was warned by my co-workers to get a mechanical alarm clock, I did not. I missed two flights in one month. Unfortunately, that was grounds for termination. I was let go. This was a humbling experience, as I returned back to stay with my family in NJ till I got back on my feet.

Although I have never had a job requiring me to speak French since then, it has always come in handy in my other public-related jobs and my travels to France. Yes! In 1988, my dreams of traveling to Paris finally came true! That was the first trip, but certainly not my last!

One thing I noticed is how French-speaking people appreciated a few words in their native tongue. Beware. You might get corrected mid-sentence! LOL! So, even though my fluency was never 100%, my efforts were usually greeted with enthusiasm. And, to this day, I still try to remember all that I learned so many decades ago. You never know when it might be useful! Au revoir!

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, recent photo

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.

By Josh Eliot

I’ve been told my blogs tend to run long so I have to leave some fun stuff out of them. Below are a few previous blogs where I had to leave some “pertinent information” on the cutting room floor. What can I say, I’ve got “more than a mouthful” of things to say that don’t always fit on the page!

In no particular order, I’ll start with the blog that is the most fresh on my mind, since I found a photograph to back up the story I told. It was my 48th blog called: “The GOLD COAST Gold Rush Boys.” In that story, I wrote about the Gold Coast Bar in West Hollywood and the Bijou hit, Steve Scott’s Gold Rush Boys. I told the story about an evening when porn star Anthony Gallo and my spouse Tony Fontana (who were dating at the time) were working front door security at the Gold Coast and were attacked by an unruly patron when they tried to escort him out. I mentioned how the patron hit Anthony Gallo on the head with an object, requiring a lot of stitches, and that the scar was visible in movies shot after that date in 1995. Well, Tony just happened to find the photo of Anthony Gallo right after the incident where you can see just how awful that attack was.

Anthony Gallo fully recovered from that injury and, as far as we both know, is living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Now on to lucky blog #13: “Is That AL PARKER in Your Photograph?” In this one, I went rummaging through my partner’s photos and found one of him with Al Parker and another of him with Estelle Getty. Another photograph I didn’t include because the blog was running long was a photo plainly displayed in our office. A picture if discovered in a pile of photos might cause me to ask, “Is That Charo in Your Photograph?” In the photo, you’ll see Tony was lucky enough to draw Charo’s attention at one of her performances he attended with his friend Art. I must say, she looks the same now from what I see on her Instagram page! Anyway, when Tony and Art got together they were kind of out of control. That evening, they sat at a table with a couple of other “fun” girls who attended the show. Complete strangers, but they all shared lots of laughs with each other. The girls had a camera with them to use when Charo hit the stage. Unfortunately, the two practical jokers, Tony and Art, ruined that moment for them. When the girls excused themselves to the bathroom, Tony and Art thought it would be “cute” to take pictures of each other making silly faces and gestures. They put the camera back on the table just in time so no one knew the better before the girls returned. At the point when Charo came into the audience and right up to their table, the girls went for their camera and started to shoot the pictures but, to their dismay, there was only 1 shot left. The girl freaked out and started screaming to her friend that she thought she had more photos left on the roll. She ran to the gift shop in the lobby to buy more film. Tony and Art played dumb and unfortunately the girls missed it when Charo literally walked up to Tony, put her breast on his head, and Art shot this picture with his Nikon 35mm camera.

I would imagine those girls were really pissed when they got home and developed the film. Blog #6 was called “A Salty Fuck in Saugatuck,” where I talked about making Thrill Me! with Ray Harley, Steve Rambo and Donnie Russo. Donnie and Rambo got into an argument over something as ridiculous as a bumble bee entering the rental unit at The Douglas Dunes Resort in Michigan. Those two stressed me out so much that when it came time for Brad Austin to shoot them together in a sex scene for his movie Deep Woods Inn, I begged Brad to let me off of doing his videography for that day. I just could not be around them; the tension between them was physically making me sick. There was always so much stress on my shoulders because, at any place or anytime someone, could get pissed and refuse to do a scene and we would be fucked. Especially out in the middle of nowhere. That would mean thousands of dollars down the drain if we didn’t return to L.A. with completed scenes. The tension between those two models was just too much - I couldn’t be on that set. Bless Brad Austin for taking it on! Brad of course said, “You don’t have to be on my set. I’ll shoot camera, it’s not a problem.” He was an angel. I was so grateful but could never tell him what I did instead. Lake Michigan is like an ocean and they have miles and miles of sand dunes there. It just so happens those dunes are very “gay occupied,” as we noticed a couple days earlier when we shot a scene for The Men of Lake Michigan, another movie I was filming back to back. I took a ride over to those dunes, hiked a bit, laid my blanket down and it took less than a minute for a few new “friends” to show up. Of course, I had to be hospitable. When I returned to the motel where they were shooting, I was pleased to find out that both Rambo and Russo were cordial with each other on the set, and other than the fact that Russo pounded Rambo extra hard, everything went just “jiffy.” Naturally it didn’t stay that way, as they went back to being enemies later that night!

The final blog I want to add on to is #15: "We Waited 8hrs for a Cum Shot, Is That a World Record?" I certainly had a lot to say about how producer Scott Masters tortured us trying to get Vic Summer’s cum shot. Read the blog if you’re interested - I just can’t revisit that moment again! What I was unable to talk about was the day prior to shooting the scene. Scott Masters evidently had a bottomless budget for this movie, because several wooden box crates arrived at the studio containing a custom set of neon tubes and transformers. For the final scene with Matt Powers and Vic Summers, Scott wanted an all-white heavily draped set with lots of flowing material and four round columns, as elements of a four post bed. In the scene, he wanted the columns to magically come alive with color at their first kiss, and flash throughout the scene. He rambled off quickly over the phone how he wanted the color tubes attached inside the columns, but quickly cut us off when we had questions. I was lost about how to even hook up neon or handle all the wiring. Back then, you couldn’t just Google or YouTube an instruction video. It took us all night to attach wire and get the effects to work. On the shoot day when Masters arrived, he asked us to show him the neon lighting. We proudly turned on the lights, color by color, showing him how we could control each color on its own. We were happy it all worked flawlessly… until Scott Masters barked out, “No, I don’t believe this! You’ve got it all wrong!” Our hearts dropped and our blood pressure started to rise! When he barely described on the phone how he wanted the colored tubes placed, we understood each color would be side by side at the top and bottom of every pole. One red tube next to one blue tube, next to one yellow tube… if you get my drift. No, he wanted the top all red, the bottom all blue, then the next column would be all yellow on the top, orange on the bottom, next column top green... yadda, yadda, yadda. We were mortified but more pissed that he didn’t take the time to properly describe the placement initially. I don’t have to tell you that there was no changing his mind about the order of the tubes. Luckily, I had a full crew to help me unwire and re-wire these fucking tubes and get them properly placed for what turned out to be his lame-ass finale scene. Personally speaking, the way we wired the tubes initially would have looked much better than the re-wired version he demanded. Maybe if we didn’t have to take a few hours to rewire these tubes, the models wouldn’t have gotten bored, lost their boners for each other, and well, you know the (8hr) rest.

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 Will Seagers

Hi Folks, Will here. As usual, I have yet another strange title for you! The name of this multi-faceted adventure won't be significant until we get to the end of the blog. Like the house that landed in Oz, this story will go through lots of turbulence before getting there. But, with the help of of my friends, it turned out quite well.

In the summer of 1975 in The Pines on Fire Island, a seed was planted by my beau of the time, Roger. He told me that he was moving to San Francisco in the fall. I was taken aback by this as Roger was a quintessential New Yorker, never having lived anywhere else in his thirty-four years. He was born in the Bronx, lived in the West Village, and was also a teacher in the NYC school system. To me, he seemed happily entrenched in his metro lifestyle. But, San Francisco bound, he was.

After an intense but brief affair, our relationship morphed into a really solid friendship. Soon, the idea (adventure) of moving to San Francisco grew on me, as well. Ultimately, this would be a move that I would make on my own. Even though I had never been there before, I was not daunted. And, it was not the first nor last time I would made that kind of move. But first, a rather eventful year would transpire before getting there.

Denis, my brilliant and zany former roommate from San Juan (Eastern Airlines days) had won a scholarship to Arizona State University and needed a "companion." Truth be told, it was really his parents' idea, as they were scared to death of him living alone and so far from their New Jersey home. Although Denis was quite book smart (Fulbright Scholar and MENSA member), his street smarts were lacking. Not having a formal plan nor date for my move to the West Coast, I agreed to be his chaperone and roommate for this truly hysterical adventure!

His parents gave him a car. After loading it to the hilt, we left NJ on Route 80 for the trek to Tempe, AZ. I only wish that we had a video camera to record our antics en route. I don't think I have ever laughed as much in my life! Between our two unconventional outlooks on life, there was never a dull moment. I do remember nearly running the car off various interstates in fits of laughter on several occasions! We arrived in Tempe and took up lodgings at an apartment complex complete with pool!

He went to school and I went to work as a bartender... something I had never done before. I relied heavily on my appearance to keep these gigs afloat! A bartender I am not! I also had some small legit modeling jobs at a local agency. I did manage to land a cattle call and get a small part in a crowd scene in the Barbra Streisand remake of A Star is Born. I was within arm's reach of Kristopherson - not so much Ms. Streisand!

As Denis finished up his school year, I was contacted by a dear friend, Lou Thomas, of Target Studios. I had done some print work for him in NY and in Arizona. Lou asked me if I would be interested in working for John Whyte at the Boatel in Fire Island Pines. I jumped at the opportunity (as I had nothing planned for after Arizona). So, back across the country I zoomed!

My summer of 1976 at the Boatel deserves and will get its own chapter in my upcoming autobiography. Suffice it to say that it was a vivid and fabulous experience that I repeated again in the summers of 1977 and 1978! But, the most important events to happen during that first summer were meeting Chuck Holmes (of Falcon fame) and becoming "family" with my Boatel co-workers. Chuck Holmes offered me a job at his SF restaurant, Trinity Place, as well as modeling work with his studios. And, my Boatel co-workers all wanted to move to SF at the close of the season on the Island. Synchronicity, eh?

So, Denis popped up again. He requested the pleasure of my joining him on a trip to Mazatlan, Mexico as soon as I finished up with my Fire Island duties. Naturally, I joined him... but not before seeing "Irma" in Huachuga City, AZ. I told him about SF. But, he said it would only be a week at Mazatlan's beautiful beaches. After he picked me up at Tucson airport, he drove me to see "Irma," the tiny trailer where he lived in Huachuga City. BTW, this was the rather hilly and very green section of Arizona where the high speed driving scenes were filmed towards the end of A Star Is Born. More synchronicity?

We left for Mazatlan from Nogales, AZ on an ancient but beautifully preserved train - a la Orient Express! It was mid-October... and guess what? That's the height of Mexico's hurricane season. So, we had no sun for that week! This made me even more anxious to set sail for San Francisco! After getting back to the U.S. and to Tucson Airport, I finally departed for the "City by the Bay" with only the clothes on my back and a small duffel to stow overhead.

Arriving in San Francisco but not knowing the workings of the BART system, I paid the hefty cab fare to my Castro and 19th St. destination. Although I was offered only the floor of one of my co-worker's tiny flat... this was my liaison in SF! I wasn't concerned about my accommodations - I was finally here! After a few hugs and putting away my duffel bag, I ventured out.

As I eased my way down the steep slope of Castro Street towards 18th and Castro (the gay crossroads of the world), I felt like Dorothy swinging open the door to her house that had just crash landed in Oz. Gazing around at all of the men and the "gaiety" that blanketed the area, I could only think: Nope... This Sure Ain't Kansas!

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, recent photo

By Josh Eliot

In 1987, before opening the San Francisco studio and hiring me to work for Catalina Video, Scott Masters and editor Chet Thomas had stopped productions for Nova Studios and started working for William Higgins. William Higgins was getting ready to hightail it out of the country for Amsterdam and was prepping Scott Masters to become producer for Catalina Video. Scott Masters also signed on to direct movies produced by Higgins until his departure. Scott’s initial movie for Catalina was called Down For The Count. On paper, it was going to be a star-studded sure-fire hit and, despite itself, it was. The cast included European import Sven Ericson, Chad Johnson, Kurt Bauer, Danny Russo, Kyle McGyver, Dave Phillips (actually: Jon Vincent), Joe Fuller, Matt Forrest, David Dabello, Tyler Jensen and Ricky Rhodes. The lead, however, was a tall, handsome, blue-eyed boy named Eric Manchester.

Born August 26th, 1964, Eric Manchester appeared in over a dozen movies released between the years 1987-1989. Such hits like Spokes 2 (1988) and Touch Me: It’s Hot, It’s Tender (1988) for director Steven Scarborough, as well as In Your Wildest Dreams (1989) for director Matt Sterling, working alongside Tom Brock, Justin Cade, Chad Douglas, Leigh Erickson, and Kevin Williams. Movies released through Catalina Video included Down For The Count (1987), Innocence Lost (1987), They Grow ‘Em Big (1988), Head Of The Class (1988) and his very last movie, Powerline (1989).

Down For The Count had everything going for it - until the make-up man sabotaged the entire project. I remember hearing about this movie on the set, long before ever seeing it on VHS. Hearing Chet Thomas and John Travis laughing about the in your face make-up didn’t really prepare me fully for when I first viewed it and then again some 34 years later, as I revisited the movie. The over use of the make-up and eye liner pencils didn’t go over well in the eyes of William Higgins. I’m just imagining that maybe Scott Masters was heavy handed in the make-up department, like he was in the wardrobe department, and just didn’t realize that shooting on video was less forgiving than shooting on film? But certainly he would have questioned the make-up when shooting the close-up face shots, since he could see them in color on the studio monitors? In any case, the movie is plagued with hot models looking very RuPaul’s Drag Race, especially in the close-ups. I’m sure Sven Ericson was a tall hot stud, but you just can’t get past the eyes. It had some naturally good looking guys in it, like Kurt Bauer and Chad Johnson, but it’s hard to look past what was done to them. Seriously, how do you do that to Chad Johnson (Bijou Video’s Perfect 10) and get away with it!? Despite the make-up (and some questionable costume choices - example: men’s sports bra-like tops), Eric Manchester was the true lead of this movie and does a great job playing the oversexed college wrestler who gets in hot water with the coach for banging every guy in latex who crosses his path. Even though Jon Vincent, Kurt Bauer and Danny Russo provide the standout three-way scene in the school shower, this is really Eric Manchester’s movie. I remember being impressed by this icon from the moment I saw him Matt Sterling’s In Your Wildest Dreams - he was totally dreamy!

In 1989, I worked with him on Powerline. From the moment he walked into the San Francisco studio with director John Travis, we were all smitten. Once again, it was a great surprise to see who John Travis would be bringing in to the shoot, as we never knew in advance. Eric’s scene was in a studio-designed dirt pit where they were going to be adding a power pole. I was going to actually be using the exact same set the following day in my debut movie Runaways. I remember being very envious that John Travis was the one who got to direct Eric Manchester, but you know what? I was just as happy to be the videographer for his scene, where I got to be right below him, shooting from underneath, while he got sucked off. I got the better end of the deal, I suppose. Out of the hundreds of models I’ve worked with over the years, Eric, in my mind, had that something extra making him much more attractive beyond his stunning good looks and breathtaking blue eyes. His time in the Navy, stationed in Washington, gave him a “straight, edgy” persona that was very attractive. In fact, years later when Chi Chi LaRue brought Joey Stefano to the set, for the very first time, to shoot the movie Billboard, I was jettisoned back to the set of Powerline in 1989. To me, they could have been brothers. Joey Stefano was a dead ringer, looks-wise anyway, for Eric Manchester.

After shooting the scenes for Powerline, John Travis and Eric Manchester couldn’t wait to “light up” a big boner Eric had with him. The only thing John Travis loved more than his Benson and Hedges 100’s was a good “bone.” I remember thinking that Eric Manchester was even cuter when he was stoned. His blue eyes all red and blood shot from smoking weed were even more sexy, if you can believe it! He was more relaxed and playful with the crew and a lot lighter on his feet. Back then I remember, at least I think I do, that he was definitely bisexual and had a girlfriend back home. He had the straight boy cool jock from high school feel to him, yet would suck, fuck, top, and bottom with gusto and passion. I truly believed he loved being on the set and enjoyed his uninhibited sexual encounters. I was 27 when we shot Powerline and I just assumed that he was older than me, but in fact he was 2 years younger. He carried himself with such confidence. I’m surprised he made a deliberate decision to get out of the business after completing work on this movie. For years, I couldn’t help but to be curious as to where he was and what he was doing, hoping he would someday surface and contact us for more video work. If I even had a hunch, during my years as producer, that I could have tracked him down, I would have moved heaven and earth to get him in front of the camera again. Decades went by with no word about him. As far as we knew, he cut all ties with the industry, and was untraceable. Where was he all these years? Chatter on the internet had him escorting in Seattle and San Francisco throughout the 1990’s. Escorting ads he placed in magazines and sightings on Polk Street from various sources attest to the fact.

When I went on the internet this week to find shots of Eric Manchester for a Down For The Count trailer I was cutting for my YouTube Channel, I was shocked to see a write up on IMDb about him. In 2023, while evidently visiting the city of San Francisco, Eric Manchester was discovered, by hotel staff, unresponsive in his room. He unfortunately passed away from a heroin overdose, and was laid to rest at the Wellston Cemetery in Oklahoma.

He passed away on March 12, 2023 and was 58 years old.

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.