BijouBlog

By Josh Eliot

Over the holidays, with all the nostalgia floating around, I decided to view the 1979 film The Grease Monkeys. It’s hard to believe that I went through so many years never actually watching this movie. In fact, I shot a video in 1989 called Full Service, which I based solely on seeing the movie poster and newspaper ads for Grease Monkeys while I lived in San Francisco. I walked by the Century Theater every single day on my way to the Art Institute. It felt like The Grease Monkeys was playing there forever! A different movie would premiere at the Century, then a couple of weeks later Grease Monkeys was back up on the marquee and the movie poster was back in a frame at the entrance. The same thing happened over at the Mitchell Brothers' Theater with Behind The Green Door. Using only my memory of the movie poster and my imagination as a guide to write Full Service, I somehow I ended up writing a race car scene in my movie. As I viewed Grease Monkeys over the weekend, I was kind of delighted to see that a race car scenario was a very big part of its storyline. Just a cool coincidence, I guess. Speaking of cool, there’s just something about this movie that felt ultra-hip. The way it was directed and shot felt far more progressive than most of the other gay adult films at the time.

In the opening title sequence of the film, the cool factor was over the top when the three leading men, Nick Rodgers, Kip Noll, and Lee Marlin strut down the streets of Glendale, CA in a beautifully shot montage. It was filmed from a moving vehicle, very much like a scene in the 1972 John Waters film Pink Flamingos where Divine sashays down the streets of Baltimore. The sequence had that “wow factor” that made it feel like a mainstream movie. The three leads worked it for all its worth and gave off the vibe of “Loud and proud!” -- decades before “loud and proud” was even a thing in mainstream society! The scene is even more enhanced with a soundtrack number that really made it shine, the kind of ballad where you want to jump to your feet and dance! This move feels realistic due to its locations throughout Southern California. The urban city locale adds to the grit, and only steps away from the urbanness for a hot and sexy threeway shot at Pismo Beach with Noll, Marlin, and Derek (aka Derrick) Stanton. Derrick Stanton remembers finishing up just before the police arrived to the location.

The lead, Nick Rodgers, is the real standout performer in this film, which showcases his incredible face and body throughout. Discovered while working for The Advocate, his naturally masculine demeanor made him a perfect choice to cast in the movie Hot Truckin’ (1977) for Tom DeSimone. Larry LeBlanc was the stage name he used for that movie, but it was changed to Nick Rodgers for his second film, The Idol (1979). When making the movie Rough Cut (1979), director Steve Scott was quoted as saying that Nick had the “best looking dick in the business.” I remember the first time I saw Nick Rodgers in a film -- it was Malibu Days / Big Bear Nights (1982), pounding Giorgio Canali. I became an instant fan, so it was great to see him showcased in Monkeys all these years later. His outstanding good looks were unique, allowing his career to run from 1977 to 1985 when he shot his final film, Arcade, for director Jim West.

Kip Noll is the second of the three leads, and his sexual energy and fun-loving personality really shine in this film. The chemistry between Kip and Lee Marlin is evident every time they are together on screen. Lee Marlin started off in loops that were later released as parts of a compilation called Locker Room Loops: Bucky’s Triple XXX 1 & 3, from Something Weird Video. His first movie was Just Blonds (1979) followed by his role in Grease Monkeys. In 1980, he was on the original cover of Rear Deliveries for William Higgins. Higgins was quoted as saying that Lee Marlin was “funny and clever but, being a kid of the streets, he ended up in and out of jail a lot.” He went on to star in a bunch of movies for Robert Walters at Nova including Men at Work (1981) and Down on the Farm (1981). His career spanned from the late 1970s to 1982, and little is known of him after retiring from the industry. Lee Marlin is a natural-looking solid, beefy stud who gives off some great energy in Grease Monkeys while getting serviced under the auto-lift inside the mechanic’s garage. This standout scene is another iconic balls-to-the wall moment with a hand-held grease gun emulating Lee’s explosive cum shot in customer Richie Shaw’s hungry mouth. When Nick, Kip and Lee get together in the movie, there’s a real sense of comradery, which is evident in a fun scene where they wash the grease off each other’s arms and chests. It plays like a fun montage, showing the guys clowning around as real buddies do, proof that they genuinely all liked each other.

There are a couple more sequences that really help make this movie one-of-a-kind. The discotheque scene where Nick, Kip, and Lee go to dance off some stress was shot brilliantly and gave the trio an opportunity to really go to town on each other. It is like a time capsule of the era that anyone who lived it can attest to. Lastly, there's the memorable Nick Rodgers scene where he fantasizes about having sex with himself. Shot with the use of a body double, things could have gone terribly wrong, but to my surprise and delight it played on screen as one of the hottest scenes in the movie. Nick Rodgers sucking and fucking himself took this movie to a whole other level. It’s exceptional. How is it that watching this movie caused me to become instantly obsessed with Aaron’s filmmaking? How could I have allowed myself not to see this incredible movie until now, 47 years after it’s release? With a script by Robert Werner and stunning cinematography and editing by Brandon Ryan, Mark Aaron was able to bring about a progressive, instantly consuming film, which made all of the top actors seem bigger than life but accessible at the same time. Everything works, from the lighting, the theatrics, the montages, the creative sexual situations, and even having the balls to shoot a real drag race on the I-10 freeway on-ramp! Who was this director with such great instincts named Mark Aaron?

Mark Aaron’s real name was Monroe Beehler, he started Jaguar Productions in 1971 and later became the owner for the Century Theater in Los Angeles, which he used to premiere their movies on the west coast. Jaguar’s productions ended sometime in 1980 and the Century Theater closed in 1988. Aaron previously directed The Boy With the Hungry Eyes (aka) Youthful Lust (1970) and Time It Was (1971) followed by The Rivermen, shot in 1975 but not released until 1980. That’s definitely one I will watch next on Bijou VOD, because I am sold on his style from the Monkeys viewing. After Grease Monkeys, Mark Aaron did not direct any further movies, which is a loss for all of us. As far as I can tell, he seems to have lived a very low-key life all the way until May 15, 2018 when he passed away. Every once in a while, you see a movie that impresses and engages you. Grease Monkeys did that for me many, many times throughout the viewing. I’ll be ordering my physical copy for my collection. Better late than never, it’s a must!

Watch these trailers by Josh Eliot!
Grease Monkeys New Extended Trailer
Trailer for Full Service

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

There were Bob and Jeff and Scott and Marc who used the surname “Noll,” but the “Noll” that brought the name into superstar status was Kip Noll. Bob Noll was the first, a very popular Trademark Studios magazine and solo loop star in the early 1970’s. A masculine, handsome man whose work drew instant attention. When producer/director Mark Reynolds (Larry Ginsburg) discovered an eighteen-year-old named Thomas, he cast him under the stage name Kip Noll, assuming the role of Bob’s younger brother. The two of them did have a strikingly identical appearance and demeanor that Reynolds wanted to play off of. Initially, Reynolds wasn’t convinced that Thomas (Kip) had anything special to offer. Kip’s overgrown hair and bushy moustache hid his most attractive attributes, but once he was clean shaven and polished up, the potential was obvious.

According to a bio written for Live Journal, Kip began an extensive initial career in the Trademark Studios loop business, many released years later in the compilation Surf & Turf from Cream of the Crop Video. Loops with titles I’ll Do It If You Will and Double Your Pleasure featured Kip as mostly a bottom. Most of the loops were shot while Kip had a front tooth missing. Mark Reynolds filmed and released a solo and accompanying magazine which was called The Kip Noll Story in 1978. Kip continued to work in more silent loops for Reynolds (examples: Fuck Truck and Dreamboys) and took over the spotlight as his “older brother” Bob faded from the industry.

After taking a short break from making movies, Kip made a huge jump into stardom when Reynolds introduced him to William Higgins, who cast him in the starring role for The Boys of Venice (1979). In that movie, Kip's deep masculine voice is heard on screen for the very first time, enhancing his desirability to the audience. It also marked his first role as a top when he mounted Greek stud Emmanuelle Bravos who, unlike Kip, only ever worked in this one movie. The film was a smash hit! In 1979, he followed the success of his initial “talkie” with Grease Monkeys for Jaguar, taking top billing alongside Nick Rodgers and Lee Marlin. The macho role he played hit a chord with his audience, but the shoot itself was no walk in the park. Kip described the threeway sex scene on Pismo Beach as his most difficult because of the ice cold water and very vocal crowd yelling down from the top of the cliffs.

Born in Greenwich, Connecticut on August 7th, 1957 Kip's lean muscled frame, shaggy hair, free spirit and east coast upbringing all added to his charm. He is said to have had a very high sex drive. Even though he was a street hustler when Reynolds met him, he was not gay but leaning more straight or bisexual. The drive for him was the money, that was his motivation. 

Shortly after his rise to superstar status, other Noll “siblings” and “cousins” started popping up out of the woodwork. There was Jeff Noll (brother), Marc Noll (cousin), Scott Noll aka Chris Noll (brother). All a schtick from producers and agents trying to cash in on Kip's success. Hell, Scott Masters and I even worked with another Noll sibling in my movies 69: Discover the Secret and Junior Meets the Bear Patrol, Chip Noll, in 2004! Not to be outdone, in 2017 William Higgins discovered Igor Galek, a Czech model who sometimes shot movies under the name Greg Noll! With all those Nolls I mentioned, there are bound to be four or five more, don’t you think? You can see the solo loops of Bob, Jeff, Kip, Mark and Scot Noll in the movie For You Solo Signature Series 6 (1980) from Mark Reynolds and H.I.S. Video.

Kip’s career was on a constant rise. He promoted Grease Monkeys while performing at the Eros Theatre in Times Square with co-stars Lee and Nick. Kip’s next big release was Kip Noll & the Westside Boys (1979) for Higgins, who was all about riding the wave when he planned to star Kip in his next movie Rear Deliveries. Just prior to production, Kip was involved in a motorcycle accident and could not star in the movie. After recovering, he worked with Lee Marlin and Kourey Mitchell for the Mark Reynolds movie Roommates (1980). The hits kept coming with Cuming of Age (1980) which matches Kip, Scott Noll and Steve York, Al Parker’s Flashback (1981) where Kip and Chris Noll have a scene together, Pacific Coast Highway (1981) with Jack Burke, Brothers Should Do it (1981) with Derrick Stanton, Class of ’84 Part II (1981) with Jeremy Scott and The Legend of Kip Noll: Superstar (1981).

The Legend of Kip Noll: Superstar is basically a compilation for most of the movie, where Jon King interviews Kip and asks questions about some of his movie memories from various scenes in his films. A typical comp film until the end, which is more than worth the price of admission. I read that Higgins described how when it came time for Kip and Jon to start their sex scene, they literally ripped the clothes off each other and, before Higgins could tell them to stop (because he was still loading film into the camera), Noll was fucking King on the floor, pounding away like an animal so wildly that Jon King started cumming all over himself, causing Noll to blow his load up King's ass. Without missing a beat, Noll spun King around and continued fucking doggie style. Why weren’t more of my movie sets like that! The film got loaded, Higgins kept shooting and the two kept at it, not even fazed by the fact that they already shot their loads. They came back the next day to shoot the “intro” they had missed and, supposedly, once the intro was shot, the two started screwing again and wouldn’t stop while the crew just packed up the equipment around them. A stark contrast to his off-set life, where it is written that he was dating adult film star Velvet Summers, a petite (4’ 11”) young actress who specialized in bondage themed movies. Velvet was born September 22, 1960 and was also from Massachusetts. She worked in seventeen movies between 1981 and 1984 with titles like Wicked Schoolgirls (1981), The Taming of Rebecca (1982) and When She was Bad (1983).

In 1981, the Follies Theatre opened in New York City and Kip appeared to sold out crowds, which was unprecedented at the time. Noll became famous for incidents where he would have sex with the audience, often putting his erect cock in different audience members' mouths. Quite the showman! His career was more about “on the road” appearances at this point, but he made one final movie in 1983, a movie that he himself financed and directed called Kip Noll’s Casting Couch. Kip was involved in all of the scenes within the movie and it’s said to include the one and only time Ron Jeremy performed auto-fellatio on himself. At this stage in his life, it is reported that Kip Noll got married and worked as a machinist in San Diego. He reappeared again in 1984 for a grand re-opening of the Follies, alongside Lance and Daniel Holt, but no further sightings are noted after that performance. In 1985, rumors circulated of his death but were proven groundless by Manshots magazine. An obituary in a Salt Lake City newspaper shows Thomas (Kip) died on May 21st, 2001 of a heart attack at age 43. Being one of seven brothers, he is survived by his wife and three daughters.

Watch Josh Eliot's excerpts/trailers for Kip's classics!
Kip's interview with Jon King from The Legend of Kip Noll: Superstar
Trailer for The Boys of Venice

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 wrote in Part 1 of this series about Buster and Steve York, two very hot models from the early, early Catalina Video days. I came upon some movies in the Catalina warehouse that were made by Dan Allman, who was assigned to shoot loops for William Higgins to sell as 8mm and Super 8mm reels and for use in his bookstore booths. I spoke about The Big Surprise as one of the movies Dan worked on but I had not yet addressed Good Times Coming (1982) and Spring Semester (1985), his two other VHS movies I saw on the shelf. In Good Times Coming, the movie revolves around a solo scene with a certain new blond model fantasizing about hot studs: T.N.T., Chaz Holderman, Jamie Wingo, Thor, Jeff Holden and Jake Conners. That hot new blond on the scene was named Lance.

LANCE: Born November 25, 1962, Lance took center stage in virtually every scene he was a part of. In Good Times Coming’s campsite scene (original loop title: “Hilltop Retreat”), Lance works with blonde "Mark" and stops the scene cold when he takes his partner’s load on the face, then continues to clean the piece off with his mouth. An onscreen novice adding that kind of magic to a scene was bound to get William Higgins' immediate attention. It was some kind of progressive thinking that compelled Higgins to match Lance with another up and coming star of the time called Leo Ford. Leo was just coming off a career high with the release of Falcon’s Spokes, Steve Scott/Surge's Games and Catalina’s Sailor in the Wild (1983). Story has it that Lance was partners with producer/director Richard Morgan (who also dated Buster at one time) and one day went out for some coffee but didn’t come back for hours. It turns out he went to shoot Leo & Lance for William Higgins instead, and when Richard Morgan found out all hell broke loose. Morgan and Higgins were mortal enemies. Prior to his role in Leo & Lance, Leo was already drawing attention from previous 1981 releases: Flashbacks (J. Brian), and The Summer of Scott Noll (Mark Reynolds). The movie poster for Leo & Lance (1983) was simple yet effective; the one shot of the pair said it all, and the title just kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? The pairing was pure cinema magic, and it’s written that after the movie came out, the pair would work together as male hustlers. They also appeared together on screen again in 1986 for Blondes Do it Best (Richard Morgan).

Some of Lance’s other also very notable releases are Good Hot Stuff (Buckshot), Student Bodies (LeSalon/Magnum Griffin) and Backstrokes (Video10). Lance’s career ran from 1982 – 1988 with his final appearance in Backstrokes, performing in a masturbation-only scene. It is written that Lance grew up in foster homes and had numerous brushes with the law in his early years. On May 26, 1991 in San Jose, California, Lance passed away from complication from AIDS. In a horrific twist, just 52 days later, his former co-star and friend Leo Ford died from head injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. I don’t believe it was the same motorcycle, but coincidentally Leo Ford won a motorcycle William Higgins was giving away in an on-set drawing to one lucky member of the cast of Class Reunion. This was the 1983 William Higgins movie with a ton of guys in a poolside orgy. I was told that the models all worked for free with the chance of winning the motorcycle. Chet Thomas told me the contest was rigged for Leo Ford to win, which he did. I don’t know if that was true or if Chet was blowing smoke up my ass. Surely the models received some payment for all that sucking, fucking and cum guzzling, right?

Finding myself back in the Catalina warehouse, I remember coming upon the VHS for Spring Semester (1985), which I immediately assumed was directed by William Higgins. The movie was shot on film, produced by Higgins and had all the usual attributes like an incredible score by Costello Presley and editing from the team at the time which was Sam Deliloh, Dan Pack and Tony DeVito. But looking closer, I discovered that it was written, photographed and directed by Dan Allman. Spring Semester has an incredible cast headlined by Tex Anthony and featuring Mike Gere, Mark Scott Solo, Grant Fagan, Johnny Shovel, (yes I said shovel) Blake Dawson, Shaun Peters and (introducing) Mitch Henderson. It was Dan Allman’s first real full feature with all the bells and whistles. Tex Anthony and Michael Gere both had careers filled with roles in major hits and roles that gave them both instant notoriety.

TEX ANTHONY: His 1982 debut in the industry was in The New Breed, directed by Al Parker for Falcon Studios, where his stage name was simply “Tex.” John Travis and Richard Morgan were shooting 8mm loop reels and were selling them to adult shops around the state. Travis’ connection to Falcon exposed him to models, one of them being Tex, who he introduced to Higgins. From the get-go, they modified his name to Tex Anthony and 1984 became a very busy year for the young stud, making many movies released in 1985 under the Catalina/Laguna Pacific Ltd umbrella. Hits like The Young and The Hung, The Big Switch, Bi Bi Love and Bi-Sexual Fantasies started his career off with a bang. The infamous watermelon scene where Tex Anthony took the lead made him standout from other actors in the movie as charm and wit exuded out of him. The movie Sex Lunch (1985) from director Roger Earl features Tex Anthony, Cole Carpenter, Michael Ram and Shane Michaels and is currently available on DVD or for streaming on the Bijou VOD site. In 1986, he starred in Tough Iron for director Stephen Lucas, Social Studies for J.D. Slater, Foreplay for Richard Morgan and accepted work from Le Salon, All Worlds and H.I.S. video companies. In 1987, he only showed up in straight movies for Vidco and Standard Video; the titles included Cabaret Sin, Empire of the Sins and Tropical Lust. His final movie was the Private Collection Screen Test (1989) for Telstar Video, where he masturbated only. A soft finish to what was a very strong and successful introduction to the industry, working in scenes from an array of well-known and diverse directors. Unfortunately on June 12, 1992, Tex Anthony passed away from what is reported as complication of AIDS.

MICHAEL GERE: Michael Gere came onto the scene in 1985 with three back-to-back hits: Spring Semester with Grant Fagan, Pizza Boy: He Delivers with Chad Johnson/Sean Gage and The Young & The Hung with Troy Ramsey, Tex Anthony and Ken Kurns. Gere was the original cover boy for the Higgins super hit The Young & The Hung, both on the VHS cover and magazine ads. The following year, director John Travis cast him in the Jeff Stryker mega-hit Powertool. In Powertool, Gere was in the (now infamous) jailhouse scene playing the inmate getting worked over by Johnny Davenport while Jeff Stryker watches and beats off. Later that year, Gere appeared in Two Handfuls from combined directors John Travis, Matt Sterling and Paul Norman. In the movie, Gere is matched with Bill Bix, a hot cowboy who wanders into the local bookstore and ended up inside Gere’s hole. Michael finally got to grace another box cover when he starred in Spike Video’s Sticky Business (1986), which was a parody of Risky Business star Tom Cruise. Michael's short but sweet career in the adult film industry was like a flash, 1985 – 1986, that’s it. Short indeed, but in that time he had roles in arguably six majors hits that still live on as classics today. That’s a pretty great run! Very little can be found about Michael’s life or career after leaving the business.

I considered Buster, Steve York, Lance, Tex Anthony and Michael Gere to be top stars when I was just coming out of the closet in the early 1980s. By the time I saw them again on the Catalina shelves in my mid 20s, they had reached a kind of superstar status in my mind and maybe even in reality as well.

Watch Josh Eliot's trailers for several of these classics!
Trailer for Good Times Coming
Trailer for Spring Semester
Watermelon clip from The Young & The Hung

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

A couple of years after starting work with Catalina Video, they closed our production studio in San Francisco and moved me to West Hollywood. The production department was now a designated section in the warehouse at the main headquarters in North Hollywood. I shared the space with Costello Presley, the now iconic musician who scored most of William Higgins' movies. He occupied a special locked room within the warehouse. He’s an interesting character for sure; I recommend reading my blog “Behind the Not-So Green Door” for more info on him. Everyone else from the editors, art, sales and promotion departments and the management team all had proper offices within the building.

When I had extra time on my hands, I spent a lot of days hanging out with Chet Thomas in the editing suites. Sometimes when I was just plain bored, I would wander around the warehouse looking at all the promotional brochures and VHS videos on the shelves. I was trying to get a grasp of all the content that Catalina was distributing. I spotted quite a few VHS tapes from outside producers and directors who simply had Catalina distribute their movies for them. Movies like Ivy Blues (1985) from director Mark Steel, Flesh & Fantasy (1980), Skin Deep (1982) and Bi Bi Love (1986) from Lancer Brooks aka Tom DeSimone, to name a few. Catalina also distributed all of the early Paul Norman bisexual movies like The Big Switch (1985), Passion Bi Fire (1986), and the controversial Bi & Beyond (1987). Paul Norman was a the pioneer as far as starting the trend on all things bisexual, but there was also a really out there straight movie called Female Aggressors that he directed. I actually found an official “crew” t-shirt for Female Aggressors in the warehouse and the general manager Chris Mann allowed me to keep it. I wore that thing everywhere, as it became one of my first prized gay adult industry possessions. 

In the warehouse, I also discovered a handful of movies photographed and directed by Dan Allman. Dan Allman was William Higgins' long-time art director and cameraman. He was also my boss when I started working for Catalina Video back in 1987. He managed the studio and trained his lover John and me on everything anyone ever needed to know about running a porn studio, from sets to sex. I previously wrote a blog called “Private Dick & The Young Cadets” where I spoke about how Dan directed under the name Cameron Leight; check it out if you’d like to know more. Dan changed his stage name from Dan Allman to Cameron Leight as part of his official segue from 16mm movies to videotaped productions of the mid-'80s. His 16mm titles include Good Times Coming (1982), The Big Surprise (1983) and Spring Semester (1985). The Big Surprise with Buster and Steve York was released, crediting Dan Allman and Mark Reynolds as the contributing directors. Nick Eliot, Tom DeSimone’s long time cameraman, is also noted for photography, surely for the Mark Reynolds-directed scenes. The Big Surprise is similar to the classic original Falcon Video Pacs, where music-enhanced scenes are strung together in what today is called a compilation.

I’ve only discovered, through researching for this blog, that The Big Surprise was a “compilation” movie. You see, back in the day William Higgins owned Drakes Bookstore on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles and the real money-maker were the private movie booths. Those quarters sure did add up. He put Dan Allman in charge of shooting scenes to sell in the form of 200’ to 400’ 8mm and Super 8mm film reels, as well as using them for content in the booths. Mark Reynolds also shot content for the booths that Higgins paid for. The movie shorts that were re-purposed for the compilations were Wet Dreams with Buster and Steve York, Sunkist with Buster and Steve Grant, and A Private Shooting with Buster and Chuck Niles, which all ended up in The Big Surprise. While shorts Buster’s Solo, Yard Work with Jerry and Tim, and Bubble Delight with Devin Stevens and Steve York all ended up in Buster Goes to Laguna, another compilation credited to Mark Reynolds as director.

The scene where Buster and Steve York worked together in Big Surprise was so compelling, when I first viewed it, that I decided to recreate it in a movie of my own in 2003 called Stag Show. I had the original scene playing on a TV while the exact same situation was happening in real life, so I intercut the two. I just so happened to have a nearly identical backyard pool area at my Palm Springs house that matched the one in the movie, complete with the pool filter in an underground pit as in the original. The boys together in that scene were explosive for sure, and my “Stag Show” guys working side by side with them, twenty years later, gave a great performance too! Buster and Steve York were two very hot big boner studs that both had very short yet memorable careers within the industry.

BUSTER: Buster was born August 23rd, 1956 in South Hills Virginia. Even though he was not in a lot of movies, the ones he did make certainly made a huge impact back then. After starting off in “film loops” he then jumped straight into two of the biggest movies of the time: Sailor in the Wild (1983) from William Higgins and The Bigger The Better (1984) from director Matt Sterling. After a hiatus, Buster reappeared in 1986 when he took a supporting role in Falcon Studios' Night Flight. Buster was sporting a completely different, clean-cut version of himself and maybe that wasn’t what his audience was expecting. Night Flight was one of my favorite movies back then and you might be surprised to learn of the directing pair behind it! One might say the “oddest couple” ever to direct a movie together: John Travis and Ron Jeremy. Really??! Yes, according to IMDB. To be a fly on the wall! That was the last of the Buster movies, but two years later in 1988, Buster ran for a city council seat in West Hollywood, unsuccessfully. A few years after that, on May 10th, 1991, he unfortunately passed away at the age of only 34. Buster will always be synonymous with Catalina Video, as his look and image became the epitome of the California boy Higgins went on to showcase.

STEVE YORK: Steve York’s 12” schlong always stole the show no matter who was in the scene with him. Steve’s career started in 1979 with recurring layouts in Blueboy Magazine, the first in the Jan/Feb 1979 issue. Follow-up issues included: Blueboy Presents Steve, The Best of Steve and Roger, 10 Best Men Vol. 1, and the Blueboy Calendar, 1979 and 1980. York’s popularity in the magazine made him very much in demand for the film industry. I’m not sure who cast him first, but it appears that he was introduced publicly in Private Collection (1980, Hand in Hand Films) a group of short films from Jack Deveau, Peter de Rome and Tom DeSimone, with Steve cast on the poster as “Blueboy’s” Steve York. That same year, he worked with Kip Noll and Scott Noll in the Mark Reynolds-produced movie Cuming of Age, as well as having a role in Johnny Harden & Friends (Bijou Video). In 1981, he starred in Boys of San Francisco from William Higgins and Performance from Steve Scott. He next appeared on screen in Dirt Bikes (1983) for Falcon as well as The Big Surprise and Buster Goes to Laguna, which we now know contained old film loops. He then dropped out of sight only to show up again eleven years later in Buttman’s British Moderately Big Tit Adventure (1994), a straight movie for John Stagliano (The Buttman). Not much followed that I can see, then suddenly and without warning, in 1997, director Jerry Douglas was able to track Steve York down and cast him in his biggest production of the year called Family Values. Family Values also featured '80s icon Derrick Stanton in a supporting role, cast opposite current top models of the late 1990s. Derrick’s role in Family Values generated enough publicity to garner him a Hall of Fame Award the same year. Steve York also shot a J/O around the same time for director Michael Zen in the movie Hard to Swallow. I can’t find any other productions after that date, but I do see online chatter stating that as of the first decade of the 2000s, he was doing well and living in Los Angeles.

In Part Two, I’ll talk about three other big boner boys from the other Dan Allman-directed movies that I stumbled on back in the warehouse: Good Times Coming and Spring Semester. Those movies feature stars of the early 1980s that made a huge impact of their own: Tex Anthony (Spring Semester and The Big Switch), Michael Gere (The Young & The Hung and Powertool) and Lance (Blonds Do It Best and Leo & Lance). 

Watch Josh Eliot's trailers for several of these classics!
Trailer for The Big Surprise
Trailer for Sailor in the Wild
Trailer for Buster Goes to Laguna

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 M. Webster

This photo from Arch Brown's 1973 production The Night Before captures a seemingly ordinary convergence on a film set. But the collection of individuals present together in the frame illustrates the intimate, intertwined, collaborative community who helped develop, then redefine East Coast gay porn film/video during the industry's first two decades. Captured during the second year of operation of influential studio Hand in Hand Films, this image depicts the initial connection point of three individuals whose mutually influential careers would continue crossing and joining paths, culminating years later at one of their own studios: legendary fetish video artist Christopher Rage, groundbreaking ultra-early gay porn filmmaker Arch Brown, and man of many hats of the classic gay porn world Frank Ross. The lineage they and their many other collaborators represent spans multiple critical periods and changes, which are reflected in their work: the beginning of the hardcore porn film industry, the socio-political shift from early LGBTQ liberation days to the AIDS crisis, and the technological shift from theatrically distributed film to home video.

Arch Brown was "one of the first above-ground underground filmmakers" according to Christopher Rage (aka Tray Christopher). His erotic filmmaking predated the birth of the hardcore porn film industry; he directed loops for venues like the Eros Theatre starting around 1968, before the shift to hardcore had truly (openly) begun. His movies stood out from the start because of their technical polish and inventiveness. He maintained a playful and trippy style throughout his porn film career, with a penchant for depicting everyday NYC encounters: average guys strolling and cruising on the streets and sites of New York, bumping into their next erotic adventure. 

As Rage described in one of his final interviews, he met Arch after hooking up with a guy who had starred in one of Arch's movies. At a cast screening, Rage (at the time working as an escort and erotic novelist) asked Arch about the logistics of making porn films ("I'm a natural producer type.") and was offered a role in Arch's next production, which he accepted. This was One and Two and... (aka Fantasy Island, circa 1972), Rage's entry into the motion picture porn world. Rage was mentored in filmmaking by Arch during this period of the emerging commercial scene, working with him on set on future productions. He studied his highly efficient, low-waste style: “I would shoot 5:1… I learned how to put together a movie fast."

It was through Arch that Rage met Jack Deveau and Bob Alvarez at Hand in Hand Films, one of the most important early NYC gay porn studios, whose experimental and narrative releases were particularly grand in scope for the ‘70s gay porn world. Arch’s only picture with Hand in Hand, The Night Before, was about to begin production, and Rage wound up choreographing a fantasy dance number for the film (pictured at the top). Jack and Rage hit it off immediately, becoming close friends. This also marked the start of Rage's long working relationship with the studio. He continued to do promotion for Hand in Hand, wrote copy for many of their ads, recorded voice-overs for several films, and - most substantially - co-wrote and starred in the studio's most ambitious project, 1974's Drive, playing, in drag, the lead character/anti-hero, Arachne.

The Night Before also served as Frank Ross’ debut working in adult cinema. Cast for his one and only performing role as one of the leads (credited as Michael Kade), this film was a broad connecting point for Ross, introducing him to both Brown and Rage, as well as to Hand in Hand. He became studio's still photographer and production assistant for most of their remaining movies (probably having taken a number of the photos in this blog and elsewhere on our site!). Ross described Hand in Hand as an excellent school for filmmaking: "Jack was a willing teacher if he thought you had a passion for filmmaking, and it was under his tutelage that I learned so much about the craft of filmmaking. Nobody on the crew had any one specific job. We all wore many hats, from general assistants to lighting, propping, set decoration, sound recording, and slating scenes. It was an excellent school for learning filmmaking from its ground up.” Ross also introduced the studio to his composer friend, David Earnest, who would go on to score many Hand in Hand productions; Earnest would also do soundtrack work well beyond with Arch Brown, further into Arch's career...

This early cinematic era of the 1970s captured the exuberance of the sexual liberation and LGBTQ liberation movements: freewheeling sexuality, cruising, and public landmarks of sex and gathering. Hand in Hand's output illustrates several threads common of East Coast work of the period: experimental film and theater roots, narrative emphasis and clever scripting, heavy focus on public/communal settings, rougher and more mature men than typical of the West Coast porn scene, and interest in the psychological dimensions of sexuality, rarely shying away from emotional complexity or kinky sexual material. This early period was one of experimentation, exploring the possibilities of the genre before its conventions crystalized. What could cinematic sex look like and be? And as Ross noted, the scenes on each coast , at that time, were distinct and tight-knit. "The New York gay porn community was very small and very loyal to each other,” with many points of overlap between the various studios, makers, and cast and crew members.

The technological rupture of the affordable home video camera fundamentally altered porn movie-making and the distribution model. In 1980, Rage borrowed an early video camera, and by 1981, he had debuted his first productions, Superstars 1 and Solojerk. Initially unsuccessful, he edited them together, the same year, into The Best of the Superstars for distribution via Joe Gage’s Gagetapes line with HIS Video. Best of… sold well and provided the funds for Rage to make further work, as well as to found his mail order business and production studio, Live Video Inc., making him one of the forerunners in the shot-on-video market. This quicker, cheaper format allowed for niche productions that the costly film theatrical model could not support, enabling Rage to exclusively self-distribute his more intense, transgressive, and fetishistic movies (including S/M, fisting, and watersports focuses) for a smaller, dedicated market.

The aesthetic Rage developed moved away from the cinematic tradition of Hand in Hand and '70s films and to a style very in sync with early video art: raw, gritty, intimate, and confessional. Shoots were simple and unpremeditated, often consisting only of Rage and the performer(s), plus maybe an assistant or two, and letting whatever the cast wanted to display reveal itself to the camera. The focus moved from public spaces and the gay community at large to private and interior. Rage summoned the subterranean desires and primal sexual compulsions of his performers, displaying them to the home viewer in candid direct address, disorienting montage, unusual and extreme bodily acts, and uneasy juxtaposition of image and sound (all was set to his own original musical compositions and haunting, layered soundscapes). Rage's darker, obsessive tone had been there from the start (clear in his Hand in Hand work on Drive), but deepened in his directorial pieces, driven by his need to make honest, personal, and provocative work. “I was always up to something. I wanted to corrupt society one way or another by saying, "Try this... Look at this... Did you ever consider this?... C'mon, don’t you want to see this... Aren't you amazed that people do this?... Maybe you don't want to do it yourself, but wouldn't you like to see it?”

Frank Ross, through the '70s onward, maintained a remarkably broad and sustained presence in the NYC gay porn sphere (also extending for a period into the West Coast) throughout his extremely lengthy career, moving beyond his work for Hand in Hand to serve in countless roles with a wide array of affiliates and studios. Ross seemingly worked with just about everybody in some capacity. If one were to map out the network of figures in vintage gay porn, Ross is certainly one of the nodes with the greatest number of connections; his list of associates is too vast to fully enumerate (encompassing figures including Steve Scott, Al Parker, Jack Wrangler, Toby Ross, and our own blog writer, Josh Eliot, to name just a few). 

The late '70s through the '80s saw a dense matrix of overlap among the trio and other key players. Rage's only shot-on-film directorial work, 1982's Sleaze, featured photography and editing by Arch Brown. This was one of Rage's handful of movies to be distributed by P.M. Productions, another prolific NYC studio in the '70s/'80s. P.M. also released a large number of Arch's films (including Pier Groups, Harley's Angels, Dynamite, Muscle Bound) - often with soundtracks by David Earnest, and occasionally with Rage's name popping up as photographer/editor. Ross directed extensively for the studio Satellite during the '80s, where he worked repeatedly with iconic performer Joe Simmons; Simmons' porn career began with Chris Rage (in They All Came, 1984, for P.M. Productions) and he remained a mainstay in Rage’s Live Video Inc productions. Arch and Rage collaborated frequently under the Live Video Inc. banner, with Arch doing additional photography for Rage's Wildside (1984), Tramps (1985), and more. J.D. Slater, another of Rage's most frequent stars, appeared in Brown's lone directorial piece for LVI, Rough Idea (1985), as well as in a second 1985 movie for Spike Video, Bring Your Own Man (stacked with a cast of Rage regulars). For both movies, Rage was behind the scenes doing production/photography/music. (A further extension: Hand in Hand's final film, the 1985's In Heat, features a performance by Slater.)

The AIDS crisis brought a new, heavier resonance to Rage’s work, which was always an emotionally honest reflection of what was going on in his life and mind - especially following his own 1987 HIV diagnosis. After learning this news and a taking short break from filmmaking, Rage returned but was having difficulty completing his movies. He brought his friend Frank Ross on board to help him finish his 1989 production Three Little Pigs. Ross: “I was to be assistant director, but was there were more for emotional support. Tray [Chris] wasn't feeling strong enough to get the project done and needed a collaborator.” From then onward, Ross’ presence at LVI increased in importance. The two worked together on a few more pieces as Rage’s health declined, and Rage asked Ross to begin directing for LVI, which he did beginning with Scum, released the same year as Rage’s death: 1991.

Ross remained with Live Video Inc. after Rage's passing, directing more videos through them and becoming the studio’s vice-president for a period of time. After eventually leaving LVI, Ross founded his own studio, 3rd World Video, which operated from the mid/late ‘90s to 2020 (Ross passed away in 2021). Ross credits Rage with introducing him to transgressive, boundary-pushing fetish and S/M material, and Ross brought this to 3rd World Video, an explicit extension of the LVI ethos. Ross: “I tried to continue the legacy of Christopher Rage, who always attempted to break barriers sexually and bring to the screen the reality and popularity of extreme fetishes which no one else would consider or produce... I happily became a porn pariah and enjoyed shocking the world in any way I could.” 

The sustained connection between Brown, Rage, and Ross is one example of a powerful lineage of the kind you’ll find when sifting through the credits and histories of classic porn. Compared to today, the amount of people working in the industry in its initial decades was tiny, so the overlapping and interconnectedness was more apparent. Tracing this one thread: Brown was a foundational figure from the start of the industry and mentored Rage; Ross met Brown and Rage at Hand in Hand where Rage and Ross continued to learn their craft; their three careers intersected again over the years in various places and ways, and with other repeat collaborators; Rage established his own influential studio, where he worked with Brown and Ross; and Ross sustained Rage's studio after Rage's death, then continued that legacy at his own studio until just a few years ago. 

Bijou just remastered and re-released Christopher Rage's Tramps, which you can now find on DVD and Streaming! And keep an eye out in future months for Arch Brown's Rough Idea and other Live Video Inc. productions.

Sources:

-Manshots, April 1991 (Interview with Christopher Rage)

-Good Hot Stuff: The Life and Times of Gay Film Pioneer Jack Deveau (Interview with Frank Ross)

-Gay Erotic Video Index (filmographies; vintage ads)

*Note: Corrected this draft with accurate credits for Brown's 1985 videos Rough Idea and Bring Your Own Man. Both were scored by Christopher Rage, not David Earnest, as previously listed.