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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Josh Eliot 

In 1990, Scott Masters was finally ready to put Matt Powers in front of the cameras again for his next big star vehicle movie. There was a lot of hype, mostly from Scott Masters, about “Jimmie’s return.” Jim was Matt’s real first name. We were under no illusion that things would run smoothly on this project, because when Scott Masters was in the director’s chair, things were always twice as hard. Lest you forget my previous blog, “We Waited 8hrs for a Cum Shot. Is That a World’s Record?” Scott Masters and Matt Powers were in a dysfunctional relationship and the crew saw first-hand how bad things could get between them. I should preface this by saying the GM at Catalina basically forced Matt Powers to make this movie or else his days of being financed by the company would end. He was probably the most expensive exclusive the company ever had, because his expenses were covered all the time he was “not shooting movies.” The crew and I thought of him as Scott Master’s concubine. It wasn’t like Matt was a pain in the ass or anything, he was actually a really cool guy. The real problem was that Masters treated Matt like a child, micromanaging all his behaviors and even forcing him to wear identical shirts when they would go to porn industry functions. Scott was obsessed with him and didn’t want to share him with anyone and was actually very uncomfortable when Matt was sucking dick or fucking a hot ass in front of him. It made us uncomfortable to shoot the scenes, seeing Masters discombobulated, and he always had to go up to him and be affectionate after each take.

Okay, so the story is set up, and we are now ready to start this big, honking overpriced project. A lifeguard chair and fake backdrop was rented for the box cover (which is beautiful, by the way) and was photographed in an L.A. studio. Then we took off up the California Coast to Morro Bay and Pismo Beach. Things started off smoothly, the drive was nice, lunch in Morro Bay was civilized and then we arrived at the beach house rental.

I was actually very impressed that Scott Masters had the budget to get us a beach house right on the sand! Not that you ever see that in the finished movie. Albeit small and not very nicely furnished, it was an actual beach house on the beach. I didn’t even care that photographer Jeff Burton and I had to share a room that happened to be the laundry room with two twin mattresses on the floor. Upon arrival, we immediately set up to shoot a sex scene between Matt Powers and Ted Cox in possibly the ugliest room in the house. I might have shot it on the beach, since it was so desolate, but totally the director choice. Not really a “What the fuck?” moment.

The oral went okay, then we started with the fucking and Matt was having hard-on problems. By this time, we were all tired from the drive up from L.A. and we wished this scene had been scheduled after a good night’s sleep. After getting nowhere with the fucking, Matt Powers told Scott Masters that he needed something to eat, the hunger was keeping him from getting hard. I’m not sure why, but our producer/director hadn’t accounted for the fact that we needed food on the set. I assumed his vehicle was filled with groceries like we always pack before heading out. Well, it wasn’t. I suggested that we keep shooting and have some pizza delivered. Masters bit my head off, yelling back: “Jimmie’s Hungry! He’s on a special diet, he can’t eat pizza!” He decided that he and Matt Powers would make a shopping list and Jeff, the make-up man, and I would go to the nearest supermarket. So typical. I think Scott Masters somehow always got off on delaying shoots and dragging things out. This was my first real “What the fuck?” moment on this movie. Luckily, good ol' Jeff had a bag a weed with him. We both walked out onto the beach and got stoned while they made their shopping list. Once we finished the joint, we looked around and said why the fuck are we shooting in that tiny ugly room when we have this secluded beach all to ourselves, without another soul in sight?

The scene finally resumed after we shopped, ate and smoked more weed without Masters finding out. Matt Powers did realize we were sneaking out and getting stoned, and he followed us. All it took was a few hits of our joint to get “Jimmie” in the mood, and we finished the scene around 1 am. We were beat and finally got to go to bed in our laundry room/bed room. It was fine as long as we could get some sleep, but don’t you know it around 6 am Scott Masters just had to come into our room, tip toeing, and started loading and running the cum towels into washing machine. I couldn’t believe it, I mean, “What the fuck?” The only time I was more pissed was when he came back and woke us up again by moving everything from the washer to the dryer and starting it up.

The next location was for shooting some B-roll at a marina, where he had Matt Powers jumping on and off a boat, in and out of the water, take after take. In the movie, he was boarding the boat to find smuggled drugs. Jeff leaned into my ear and whispered, “You know, they say that the most polluted water is within the marina, because of the all the boat fuels.” I thought, “Eww, what the fuck!” It actually made me think of another “What the fuck?” moment on a Chi Chi LaRue movie we shot in Palm Springs. Chi Chi had the model, in a public jacuzzi, obviously filled with “jizz,” open his mouth underwater, get a mouthful, then spit the water on his co-star’s ass. Over and over again! Jeff was with me on that shoot, as well, and we were both gagging.

Finally, the big fight scene on a secluded cove. Scott Masters told me that we were going to load our equipment in this rubber motorboat, the boat owner would take it over to the cove and we would meet him there. I didn’t want to load the video equipment onto the boat, and we got into an argument. He kept saying the path to the cove was too steep to carry the equipment down, but I held firm. It was grueling carrying everything down the cliff, but all the models helped and we finally made it, generator and all. We started setting up the lighting and cameras, when we saw the motorboat arriving with its headlights on. Suddenly and without warning, when it got close to the shore it flipped over. That would have been a disaster if all our equipment was on that capsized boat. What the fuck!

It took a layer of flesh to finish this movie, which ended up being Matt Powers' last with Catalina. They fought constantly throughout, as expected, and it really didn’t deliver the punch it should have at the “box office.” The supporting cast was just downright weird; for example, a young long haired blond, looking around 18, played the head of a cartel. Just weird shit-casting. But the strangest thing didn’t happen on the set - it was on the drive home. Just as we were leaving Pismo Beach and about to get on the exit to the freeway, we saw a hitchhiker. He was bearded, disheveled, psychotic looking and his outstretched arm, to “hitch” for a ride, had a hook on the end of it where a hand normally is. I mean, “Seriously, What The Fuck!” He had about as much chance of scoring a “ride” as Lifeguard On Duty had of being a smooth, successful shoot.

Last Monday night, I met up with Jeff Burton to celebrate his 61st birthday and the release of his new Louis Vuitton Fashion Eye book entitled Las Vegas Jeff Burton. All photos by Jeff. Most of the original Catalina Crew will be there, including Brad Austin, Tony Fontana and Peter Romero. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that one of them was going to say “Jimmie’s Hungry” at that restaurant table! Jeff did, and we all laughed our asses off. It was a thrill reuniting with them again, non-stop banter.

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

Hello folks! Will (At Large) here with some thoughts and feelings from the past.

First of all, a big Happy Valentine's Day wish to all of you Bijou fans and readers! Although posting time for this blog comes a little after the fact, nonetheless I am writing this right smack in the middle of Valentine's Day! I hope you all are or will be having a warm and cozy time with those near and dear to you!

Lying in bed this morning in the haze of just having awakened, I wanted to prowl that foggy state to think of what to convey today. The men that kept coming into my memory were my Gemini loves! Not that I haven't had great relationships with those of other signs, it was just too obvious that these guys and their signs stood out! Astrology has been a love and study of mine since the age of 18. And, NO the first thing I ask someone is not, "What's your sign?!" Lol. As a story teller, I just look back and assemble my mental and emotional notes as accurately as possible. Not only have I met and had significant relationships with men born under this sign, but astonishingly right down to one day... May 22nd!

My first 5/22 love was a big and burly man, Roger, whose physique caught my eye on the dance floor of the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove, Fire Island in 1975. Our "dancing in bed" was only matched by our dancing on the dance floor! That summer on Fire Island, whether in the Pines or the Grove, we became a recognized "thing" every time we came out to party. People actually backed away and gave us a little extra room for our (appreciated) dance antics! It was Roger who planted the seed for my moving to San Francisco. He moved there in 1975 and I followed in 1976. My move there was aided by the assurance of a job provided by the owner of Falcon Studios, Chuck Holmes.

So, here we are in 1976 where I'm working my first season for John White at his Boatel/Blue Whale complex in the Pines. I was secretly infatuated with his chiseled good looks. He had recently retired from being one of New York's top male super models. Little did he know that I enjoyed basking in his limelight! This was all a fantasy for me... nothing ever came of it. Oh, and did I mention that his birthday was May 22nd!

Now, staying in that same year, 1976, I took a leap of faith and moved to San Francisco with a troop of my Fire Island work comrades. It was here where I met Tommy (yep, another 5/22!). This was the sweetest set of coincidences! I met him at the bar and restaurant, Trinity Place. It was owned by Chuck Holmes and was one of the jobs that was used to lure me to San Francisco. Tommy was adorable with beautiful brown eyes you could get lost in. I found out in short order that he was a devout Will Seagers fan. After gifting me with a beautiful gold chain and a lovely dinner, we went back to his place and tore things up! That one night blossomed into 13 years! Soon, I found out that he met Roger through a common love of opera. (This turned out to be another 5/22 trait that they also shared with John Whyte!)

Although not born on May 22nd, two more loves of my life were born in the season of Gemini. And, these two men I shared with all of you readers and viewers! I am talking about Jim Bentley and Richard Locke. There was a similar thread to meeting the two of them. We had the pleasure of jumping the gun and getting together before our "screen work!" Believe me, by the time we were in front of the cameras there was no loss of spontaneity. We interacted with the prior knowledge of what a good a fit we were! LOL!

I think that showed with Richard and me on the set of L.A. Tool & Die. It turned out that I got a bit more involved with Jim. We had a lot of similar interests - particularly birds. We both had Moluccan Cockatoos! I had one and he had a pair.

We were in a pretty torrid affair for a while. Me being his senior by a few years, I can actually remember him wearing me out! One thing that I picked up over the years with my Gemini "buddies" is that even if the lust diminishes, the friendship remains.

So, these were "The Days of Our Lives." Some of my cherished and wonderful memories. And, I am very happy to have conjured them up for for all of you on this day of AMOUR!

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

Arguably the best movie director William Higgins ever made was the bestselling hit Big Guns. Released in 1987, it quickly became the movie to see and to share with friends. Big Guns was the winner of Best Gay Film at the 1987 XRCO Awards and honored again in 2003 at the Grabby Awards for Best Classic Video. The lead, and featured constantly throughout the movie, was Mike Henson. The A-list co-stars include Jeff Quinn, John Davenport, Kevin Williams, John Rocklin, Chris Gray, Mike Ryan, Jeff Boote and Rocky Armano. The two other co-stars, Chad Douglas and Kevin Wiles, had the “show-stopping” scene that, at least in our San Francisco flat, was played, rewound, played again and rewound over and over again. Freeze frames sucked on a VHS machine, so you could never really use that as an option to fantasize over. I’m pretty sure I remember being pissed that the rental tape had creases throughout that scene from other renters, prior to us, doing the same wind and rewind. Big Guns was a defining moment for Catalina Video as a company and the wave continued with its sequel, Hot Rods: The Young & The Hung 2. I started working with Catalina Video in October of 1987 and was very well aware of who they were as a company and the history of William Higgins' work, thanks to my local video store on 18th and Castro. I literally felt like I hit the jackpot when Dan Allman (Cameron Leight) told me exactly what company was hiring me. Something left out of the conversations in my two previous interviews with Scott Masters and John Travis before getting their blessing and having a final interview with Dan. Talk about not feeling worthy!

I slowly got used to life on the set. In the beginning, we were not pumping out two to three movies a month like we did starting a few years later. I continued my job as an insurance claims adjuster and got Norma, my manager, to agree for me to have days off when Catalina booked me for shoots. She and her husband owned a franchise video store called National Video and she was just as thrilled as I was when I told her I got my dream job to work in video production. Of course I never told her it was porn; she would not have been on board with that. I told her that tired old story I felt the need to tell time and time again - that I was working on corporate training videos. It worked and she made the accommodations for me. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I got all the employees to throw her a 20th anniversary surprise party to celebrate her time with the insurance company. I got her consent a few days later. I know how to time things! So shoots were sporadic, maybe a few days a month. After getting a few movies under my belt and starting on second camera, Catalina asked me to work at the studio in between productions with Dan Allman for a salary instead of day-pay. I accepted and before we knew it production was increasing. Scott Masters would schedule at least two scenes for two different movies for every set that we built. For example, we built a shower for The Young Cadets and also used it for Black Force, a biracial movie.

In 1988, John Travis made a movie with one hell of a cast called My Best Buddy. This year, My Best Buddy is celebrating it’s 35th Anniversary. To celebrate it and my memories working on it, I cut a little PG trailer for my YouTube Channel and Instagram. Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out.

Dan and I spent a few days putting together a woodsy set. We went to Golden Gate Park and got lots of greenery from the ground as well as fallen tree limbs. We also worked out a deal to rent trees from a local nursery. The set looked incredible; with our night back drop, it came across as very realistic. We shot a scene for Dan’s movie Black Force, which he directed under the name Freddy Murphy instead of Cameron Leight; you know, different era.

A day or so later, John Travis showed up with Doug Niles and his co-star, none other than Big Guns lead Mike Henson. We were never told in advance what models were flying up from L.A . with the directors and this was the first real “star sighting” for me. I knew him from Big Guns, but also In Hot Pursuit, Hot Rods: The Young & The Hung 2, Full Load and Bad Boys Club. It really felt like porn royalty was walking through the door. It turns out he was one year younger than me, born in 1963, and could not have been more down to earth and friendly. He and Doug Niles really hit it off and I was suddenly shown what a real performer behaved like on the set. Totally into the scene, bonding with his partner and knowing how to work a camera. Very little direction needed except for repeating some actions to get different angles. I was lucky enough to work with him again when I directed Sailor in the Wild 2 in 1990 and Powertool 2, co-directing with Chi Chi LaRue in 1991. If you remember, Powertool ends with Jeff Stryker cruising Mike Henson across the street. In the sequel, we opened the movie with Stryker cruising Mike Henson, but replaced the shots of Mike Henson with new ones that we shot, looking a bit older. We intercut it with Styker seamlessly, then he turns and sees Lex Baldwin. Henson bids adieu to Stryker and goes off with Baldwin. (Click this link for a look at the Powertool 2 extended trailer on my channel.) We almost got Stryker for Powertool 2, but negotiations broke down. It’s too bad; I wanted to change his look utilizing a hairy chest and facial hair, but it was not to be.

Another great set that we did not build, but rented, for My Best Buddy was a passenger bus. Kurt Bauer, who I knew from my very first day on the set, and Mike Gregory, who I knew from Young Cadets, were cast for a three-way on the bus. A bus on which, by the way, we also shot a scene for Scott Masters' The Main Attraction and a scene for my first directorial debut video, Runaways. Their co-star was John Davenport, winner of the Best New Stud award at the 1986 XRCO Awards. Another shake-in-my-boots star sighting famous for his giant piece and outrageous cum shots. I remember Dan throwing on a hat and sunglasses when he shot the underneath angle, and he told me to stand back with the fill light or it was going to get a soaking. I first saw him in The Bigger They Come, then Big Guns, Powertool and Innocence Lost, to name a few. It’s amazing what huge hits he was a part of. He was a lot more intimidating than Mike Henson. I want to say John Davenport was more straight-acting than most gay-for-pay guys and really needed constant direction to pull the performance out. The giant hard dick was not the issue, it was up and ready to go, it was more like the energy level didn’t match that of hot Mike Gregory who was always ready to go and Kurt Bauer who, bisexual himself, really let himself go and enjoyed himself while playing with the boys. John Davenport was on the set again the next year in John Travis’s Powerline in 1989, this time with even lower energy or desire to be there. I’m not sure why, but we never saw him again after that. To round off my first set of star sightings, Mike Ryan, another Big Guns star, showed up one day for the yellow bedroom scene in My Best Buddy with the Young Cadet himself, Chris Williams.

Even though the movie Big Guns really featured a packed cast, the movie My Best Buddy was noted by many for having a top notch cast, as well led by newcomer Doug Niles. Niles is the true star of the movie, and if you happen to watch his scene with Greg Stevens, let me know if you notice the flub. Between day one of shooting their scene and day two, Greg Stevens met some trick in the Castro and didn’t make it back to the “models apartment” that night. He was MIA the next morning and we had to wait in the studio until John Travis contacted us saying he returned, which was sometime early afternoon. Everyone was annoyed and stressed, especially John Travis. It was obvious to all that he had partied all night and whomever he tricked with gave him and extreme punkish haircut. Like a tweaker got a pair of scissors and went to town. John Travis was beside himself, breaking his own record of chain smoking. He asked the make-up man (whose nickname was “Wolf-Pussy,” don’t ask me why) to try and make his hair match what it looked like the day before. We even re-shot his close-ups from the day before so it would “kind-of” match! I think we were done with Greg Stevens after that movie. Other than that hideous day, working on My Best Buddy with some real Big Guns was an experience that always stuck with me, as a positive exciting time.

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! It's only been one short month since my departure. I have been itching to get back into writing. I love jogging my memory for all of you...

First off, I would like to thank everyone for their great support and reaction to the "Finale" video I put together with Jules and George. With my friends' help, I think a rather tasty video morsel emerged! Maybe more of them will emerge in the future. One thing we learned - they will need more of a time "cushion" around them as conferring with other creative talents takes more time and organization.

So, here it is the first of my redux blogs. Much like the original blogs they will differ only in when an how often they appear. My guess is monthly. as it is taking longer to dig into my memory banks to furnish you readers with entertainment and facts from the past.

As you can see by the header, the title of this first redux is "The Peter Pan Syndrome - "Don't Wanna Grow Up!" Contained within this title is a question that has haunted me all of my life... "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I have grappled with that question all of my childhood, adolescent years and early adult life without a clear or concrete answer. So, to combat the sheer panic that followed every time I was asked that question, I just decided to remain as Peter Pan - perennially young.

I can't say that I never had a plan... it just never worked out the way I wanted in school! You see, I was actually enrolled in a prominent engineering school in N.J. to study electrical engineering. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I started studies at that school and came out at the same time. Studying engineering required much more discipline than I could muster up at the time. Truth be told, physics and the higher end of mathematics were over my head. All my youth (and to this day), I have had a natural understanding and curiosity of electricity and mechanical things. Unfortunately, that was not enough to get me over the hump of more complicated studies. To this day, I am still building and tinkering with all things electrical, mechanical and audio related. That morphed into selling retail electronics and things of a mechanical nature.

What has gotten me through over the millennia has been my people skills. I was born a natural salesman... it was in my genes. My father had enjoyed a lifelong and successful career in sales. With my gift of gab and being unafraid to strike up a conversation with a total stranger, selling became my default career, as well. Of course, realizing that I wasn't hard to look at made for a good fit, too. I have a direct way with words and a disarming smile that helps to put customers at ease - especially when it comes time to ask them for their money! LOL. So, These skills were what got me through financially in between my films and photo shoots back in my twenties and thirties.

In my forties I realized that things were about to change - a function of aging. The porn industry that had treated me so well in my youth was a bit fickle about the whole topic of age. I decided to bow out gracefully just before my 40th birthday. I had a lot to be thankful for from the prior two decades! But, there was no Peter Pan Syndrome in this business! It was time to lean into my selling and technical abilities.

There seemed to be a recurring redux theme when it came to the jobs I like the most. Twice I did well in retail electronics. First, in San Francisco in the Castro at Eber Electronics. And second at Santa Fe's Candyman - a complex selling electronics, CDs, and musical instruments. Having a bear trap memory and a love of all things electronica, I was a walking Rolodex of models and their technical datum. Both in San Francisco and Santa Fe, I did consultation and installation of home theater sound systems for restaurants, bars and gyms... some of my very favorite endeavors!

Another redux was in furniture. First in N.Y. While at Room Plus Furniture, a made to order company, I learned to do floor plans, and interior design. Then a second opportunity arose in N.M. with a local, well established retailer. Now, with the knowledge of electronics and interiors, I started to mix the two together... much to the delight of a lot of my women customers, who hated having their living spaces cluttered with wires and electronica. It was my goal to hide every wire and make each piece of electronics look like an objet d'arte!

So, this jack of all trades has had a wild ride over the decades - always observing and learning from those around me. Life itself is a school and I have always been, and still am, willing to learn. So, stay young at heart and mind and you will be like me - a Summa Cum Laude in the school of hard knocks!

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