BijouBlog

By Josh Eliot

I didn’t give interviews often, back in the day. Not because I was opposed to them but because Mike, our general manager, started alienating the company from the competition. There was a time when he stopped running advertising campaigns, taking part in industry functions and even shunned the critics and award shows. It was like pulling teeth at one point to get him to submit screeners to the committees for award consideration. Luckily for us, Chi Chi was all up in the industry business and she would get whatever they needed from the warehouse and into their hands. We were all at a loss as to why he suddenly became Kim Jong-il and treated the company like South Korea, closing it off from the rest of the Industry. Only he knows why, and thank goodness he eventually pulled the hair that was stuck up his ass and started embracing the industry again. I was working at David Weiss’s House One duplicating facility, making titles for an upcoming movie. They had much superior editing equipment and if Tab Lloyd wasn’t using the equipment they’d let me go over and use it to create cool titles and effects. It was on that day that Ethan Clarke showed up to question me for All Man Magazine. If I had known he was going to take a picture of me that day, I wouldn’t have worn just a white t-shirt to work. Not the best look for a photo. But the cigarette, that was a staple - a bad habit that stuck with me from working on all those shoots with John Travis. Luckily, I quit that habit a few years later.

ETHAN CLARKE: How long have you been working for Catalina Video?

JOSH ELIOT: I started working at Catalina in October 1987, so it’s been sixteen years. Due to some legal technicalities, at the time, they could not shoot gay adult videos in Los Angeles, so Catalina set up a studio in San Francisco, where I was living. I applied for a job as a still photographer because I was going to school studying film and video production. (laughs) Actually, I took some photos that a friend had taken to go along on the interview with Scott Masters and John Travis and presented them as my own, thus bullshitting my way into the job. I did later tell them all about it an we had a good laugh. I was interested in doing video camerawork and directing, but they were only looking to hire someone for still photography. So, I took the job that was offered, agreeing that eventually it would parlay into doing camerawork. The stills I took the first couple of times weren’t that great! But you know, timing is everything. The head of their production (Dan Allman / Cameron Leight) was getting ready to retire. They liked me and made me the second cameraman and hired a new still photographer. When Dan Allman retired about six months later, I was bumped up to head of production. I was totally trained by the best. John Travis or Scott Masters would tell me everything they needed for a shoot. We’d build the sets and one of them would fly up to San Francisco and we’d make a video. Eventually John Travis trained me to direct.

ETHAN: Well you learned from the best.

JOSH: Yes, I did! He’s great, a real sweetheart.

ETHAN: How long did you stay in San Francisco?

JOSH: Since Catalina’s main headquarters was in Los Angeles, when it was legal to shoot there again, I moved down to L.A. It was a major change to find a place to live and find a new crew. Photographer Jeff Burton was the first person I hired, and he stayed with us for about thirteen years. Scott Masters and John Travis moved on to found Studio 2000.

ETHAN: How long did it take you to get used to living in Los Angeles?

JOSH: You know, I came kicking and screaming, but it really didn’t take that long. It was really an easy transition, you can’t beat the weather, and I did live in the heart of west Hollywood. But it did take me a while to get used to the slower pace.

ETHAN: What was the first production you worked on for Catalina?

JOSH: I did stills for BULGE: Mass Appeal with Kevin Glover and Kurt Bauer. The first feature I directed is Runaways starring Jake Corbin and Danny wade. Scott Masters watched everything I did from a monitor in his office and gave me advice. He taught me a lot.

ETHAN: And what is your most recent video?

JOSH: His Terrible Twin, with Andy Hunter in a dual starring role. There are two versions - the two hour VHS and the DVD special director’s cut with a behind the scenes documentary and other bonuses. Last year my big movie was Boy Band; we included a music video in that one.

ETHAN: Who taught all those models their fancy footwork in their dance routines in Boy Band?

JOSH: (Laughs) Well, we taught them about three steps at a time and then would cut the camera, re-position the angle and start filming again, reminding them, “You ended up with your legs crossed. When the camera roll, uncross your legs, spin around and point to the stars.” Cut together, it looks great, as if they did the entire music video from beginning to end without stopping.

ETHAN: You also did the Rascal series.

JOSH: Yeah, we just finished the sixth and final episode, The Rascal’s Graduation Gang Bang, directed by Peter Romero. I directed the first four of the six and had enough! Catalina used to produce two videos a month, but with the emergence of DVDs we shoot one movie a month and re-release a remastered DVD version of an older movie with lots of bonus scenes and photo galleries. They look really good and they’re not just direct linear transfers. Viewers are getting their money’s worth.

ETHAN: Who are Catalina’s current exclusive models?

JOSH: Steve Rambo, Ray Harley and Maxime Cannon who can be seen in our newest release, Super Sized! And he is, with a 12” dick. He’s the epitome of what you want in a performer. The dick goes up, stays up and fucks like nobodies business. He lives in Canada, but I told him if he moved here he would be in every single movie we shoot! Ray Harley’s new movie with Anthony Holloway is Junior’s Nude Cleaning Service from our new Generation Gap Series. Besides those guys and Rambo, we had Chris Champion, Hank Sterling, Ty Fox (for a five picture deal) and Matt Powers. I just talked to Matt the other day. He’s on the East Coast now, teaching martial arts.

ETHAN: What do you think about the new influx of talent coming into the gay adult industry compared to guys fifteen years ago?

JOSH: We used to shoot a lot of straight guys in the beginning. It was often like pulling teeth to get what we needed. There weren’t that many guys doing video work then and many of the models were “gay for pay.” I’m very happy with the selection now. The sex is more aggressive and the models all know what to do! It wasn’t like working with the straight guys who had to be told how to proceed move by move. I love the new breed of models like Jesse Cooper, Tommy Saxx, Jack van Dean, Brad McGuire, Blake Harper and Jason Branch. Blake was going to play the lead in His Terrible Twin but got a mainstream gig.

ETHAN: How much fun was it shooting Pillage and Plunder on a ship? As well as Cockpit 1 & 2 involving airplanes?

JOSH: The ship we shot Pillage and Plunder on was older than the S.S. Poseidon. It was a good video, but you can be sure as shit that I will never set foot on that boat again! The Cockpit videos directed by Brad Austin were great fun. The highlight of the first one was the plane crash, the debris and all that jazz. Cockpit 2 was shot mostly in Yosemite, California. We had a wonderful and secure shooting location on a huge ranch.

ETHAN: What was your all-time favorite movie you directed?

JOSH: Definitely it would be a tie between Revenge of the Bi Dolls and Score.

ETHAN: I’m sure your fans will be anticipating all of Catalina Video’s releases and particularly a reunion of Chi Chi LaRue and Sharon Kane in an upcoming project. Some other of Josh’s movies are: CatalinaVille, Cat Men Do!, Easy Riders, Getting Off in Palm Springs, Jawbreaker and Thrill Me!

It’s funny. Now, re-reading this interview after all these years, I see quite a few subjects mentioned that I recently wrote blogs about. It’s good to see that the details and specifics match and my memories are holding up to the test of 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 Josh Eliot

 

Hands down, the very best part of my career with Catalina Video was the projects I shot with adult film icon Sharon Kane. Muse is a word that comes to mind when I think back about all the projects we worked on together. We first met when Chi Chi introduced her to me. The movie was Valley of the Bi-Dolls and I was casting the role of Ceily Fontana based on the Neely O’Hara role, as you probably already know if you’ve read my previous blog, “Whatever Happened to Neely O’Hara.” I’m pretty sure anyone reading this knows and loves the performance Patty Duke gave in Valley of the Dolls, and as things turned out, Sharon was able to get right up there with her, in my book, and take things up a notch with the original music she wrote and performed in the movie. We took things to a whole other level in Revenge of the Bi Dolls, where I got to imagine how things would have progressed had Jacqueline Susanne written a sequel. Neely gets her revenge on all those who rubbed her the wrong way. Sharon has the ability to say a particular line fifteen different ways. I would create entire movies around her. In the boy/boy movies where she would do a non-sexual role, I made her a central focal point. Case in point, the music agent Nance Freely in Boy Band and the school superintendent Ms. Narkwurst in the Rascal series. In the bisexual movies, she was not only a central character but also a screen vixen, even playing three different characters in Night of the Living Bi-Dolls: Zombie Ceily, Tanya and Margo Peyton. In between my projects, Sharon also worked with other Catalina directors like Brad Austin and Chi Chi LaRue on roles with very diverse personalities.

In The Big Switch 3: Bachelor Party, Chi Chi LaRue’s bisexual movie, Sharon played a stripper jumping out of a giant fake cake we rented, playing upon her days as a dancer at Alex DeRenzy’s Screening Room Theatre in San Francisco where, she recently told me, Desiree Cousteau also worked and was quite a wild child. In Brad Austin’s Cockpit 2, Sharon played Mama, a hillbilly with two sons who held a couple of survivors from a plane crash hostage on their psycho farm. She stole the show in a scene where she was talking to her sons on a two-way radio. In order to get a better signal, she improvised by raising one of her pigtails (wrapped around a metal hanger to keep them firm) into the air and adjusting it like an old TV antenna! The crew roared with laughter! It was moments like this where we fell more and more in love with this fabulous actress. She would literally become her characters and try to think and react how they would, always bringing a surprise and delight to every situation.

In the Rascal series (click link for trailer), she played Ms. Narkwurst, an Ilsa She-Wolf knock off who ran Rossmore Academy where little Ricky Haskell attended. She took him under her wing to her own detriment, as he was too much of a “little monster” for anyone to handle. She nailed the role with her accent, and when her character went blind because she had an itch during her Lasek surgery, she improvised on set again with a show-stopping scene of her falling out of bed then tripping and smashing into anything and everything in her way. In Cracked (trailer link), She played Joan, a bitter mother-in-law who is “dead-set” on getting her deceased son’s fortune away from his surviving wife. Based on the Patty Duke movie You’ll Like My Mother and the Joan Crawford movie Strait-Jacket, this movie is not straight nor will you like this ax-wielding mutha.

 

In Boy Band (trailer link), Sharon as Nance Freely, music director, stole the show away from the boys with her over the top, fouled-mouthed, spoiled rich-bitch character, who would instill fear in anyone and everyone she dealt with. As Miranda in His Terrible Twin (trailer link), she took a different approach as a very grounded, down-to-earth theater performer and singer, drawing upon more of her real life persona. It didn’t pay off for her, unfortunately, because that dirty rotten twin, who was so sweet with her during their duet of “When Trouble Calls,” stuck it to her in the end - not in a nice way. Now, Ms. Challenger, on the other hand, from SwitchCraft (trailer link), was all about handing out the punishment and abuse. Sharon didn’t hesitate to chop off her beautiful golden locks to get into the character of the butch gym teacher from hell, obsessed with firm and tight muscular bodies. When frump Edwina Simplestein, played by Chi Chi LaRue, crossed her path, it sent Ms. Challenger into a frenzy! Challenger smacked around and wrestled to the ground poor Edwina, humiliating her in front of the other students. The tables turned when Edwina got her revenge on the gym teacher in the end, turning her firm body to flab, and breaking bones in her body through (s)witchcraft.

The movie The Hills Have Bi’s (trailer link) was the most different type of role I wrote for Sharon - that of Clarice. She played a rich Beverly Hills matriarch whose husband’s behavior with other women, including their son’s fiancé, causes her to lose her self-esteem. The son’s fiancé, looking like a young Heather Locklear, has a secret in that her mother and relatives are hillbillies, played by Chi Chi LaRue and Moist Towelette. Their visit to the mansion contributes positively to Clarice’s growth as a sexually charged, newly independent and proud woman. Sharon performed two songs, one as a duet with Clint Yeager (“Desires of the Heart”) as well as the theme song (“The Hills Have Bi’s”). That’s caviar on her face in the photo, in case you were wondering.

This is but a quick bullet point blog about my favorite gal in the adult film business. It’s just the tip of the iceberg as she has worked with incredible directors and co-stars for many decades. There is an amazing podcast with her, which was recorded recently and released through The Rialto Report. I was truly blown away with all the information and experiences this wonderful woman has lived through and experienced. If you click on only one link in this blog, this is one to pick. It’s amazing!

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

The first time I met Steve Rambo was in 1992, when our general manager Mike sent him over to the set of Nutt Crackers to fill in for a model who never showed up to work. Steve knew Mike from Drake's Bookstore, which Mike also managed. I think he worked there briefly as a cashier, but I’m not entirely sure. He showed up to the set, a complete porn virgin, with no experience in front of the camera at all. He was personable, friendly and cock-hungry as hell. What started off as a bummer of a day due to the no-show ended up turning for the better once Rambo’s hungry hole(s) started doing their thing. Little did any of us realize that on that day Catalina’s new exclusive was born, and he would end up shooting 67 movies for our company. He won Best Actor at the Grabby Awards in 1999 for his amazing performance in CatalinaVille. The last time I worked with Steve Rambo was around 2006, when his contract ended and he retired from the business.

The first time I saw Will Seagers in a movie was when my roommate Brian brought home the Joe Gage classic L.A. Tool & Die on VHS from a video rental store in the Castro. I think it might have been a double bill that night as I believe we also watched, re-watched, re-wound and watched again The Biggest One I Ever Saw starring Dave Connors, Lee Ryder and Rick Donovan. As I’m sure most of you are aware, Will Seagers had an amazing career, with a couple of his earliest films being 1978's Dune Buddies (Hand in Hand) and Champs (Falcon). 1979 was a very good year for Will with headlining roles in both Fire Island Fever (also Hand in Hand) and L.A .Tool & Die, two instant gay classics. In 1980, he was in Steve Scott's Wanted (Mustang) with Al Parker. I was invited to watch the filming of the jailhouse scene, at age 18, but my nerves got the best of me and I didn’t accept the invitation from producer Frank Ross, who was my boss at the time when I sold tickets at San Francisco's Screening Room Theatre. You can read all about that and the great Frank Ross in my previous blog, “Frank Ross: The Boss.” Will brought his hotness to the screen in many more movies until he retired in 1994, according to IAFD. Will, If I’m wrong about any of this forgive me!! It wasn’t until some point in 2022, when Steven and Jules at Bijou asked me to be a contributor to their blog page, that I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to meet Will Seagers face to face.

Being out of the industry since 2009, I kind of left “all of it behind” and focused on re-imagining my future. I worked as a manager at an incredible spa for the JW Marriott and the Westin Mission Hills in the Palm Springs area and was very happy. It was tough at first, as I had worked in the gay adult industry for 22 years and didn’t really know anything else. But slowly I adjusted, not missing the stress of production one bit! But for me it was always the creative part of developing and making movies that gave me the most joy. Being so far removed from it all, you can imagine how delighted I was when in 2023, within three weeks of each other, I sat down with both Steve Rambo and Will Seagers for breakfast, separately.

After his contract was up, Steve Rambo moved back to Rochester, NY where he was born November 25, 1956. I hadn’t heard a peep from him or about him until Covid-19 when I discovered The Catalina Collection channel on YouTube. It seemed that the movies CatalinaVille and Boy Band had gone viral, with thousands of straight and gay fans around the world watching and commenting on the camp dialogue in the PG versions posted on the channel. There were also dozens of memes created from a Boy Band scene between Rambo and Brad McGuire, one even created with AI showing them singing in Russian. Around the same time, I discovered Instagram, during those long days of staying home due to the virus. I discovered @Jeffreymixed, whose Instagram was featuring Steve Rambo Saturdays, with clips from his movies. Somehow, @Jeffreymixed was the go-between with Rambo and myself and arranged a breakfast at Palm Springs Elmer’s Restaurant for a reunion a few weeks ago, while Rambo was in town on vacation. Seeing Rambo again after 17 years was incredible, it was like we were never apart. Rambo has this intoxicating laugh that hits you like a freight train and trust me, the heads were turning at Elmer’s every few seconds. I think it's gotten much louder now that we are older! We reminisced and had such a great time; after all those years working on the set together, we really became family.

I started communicating with Will Seagers through Jules at Bijou when they got together over the holidays. After that, Will and I worked together on a few joint ventures for Bijou Blogs like our Deep Inside the Castro series and Diving Into SOMA/Folsom series. When my partner Tony and I planned a trip to Santa Fe to see our friends and go to the Pride event there, I contacted Will to see about meeting up for breakfast when we passed through his city. I was thrilled when he agreed, and we met up at a little restaurant joint named Weck’s. I recognized him immediately as he was walking through the parking lot; I have to say, he is very statuesque in height and still features his leading man good looks. We had a great time getting to know each other, sharing stories and learning about each other's interests. I was thrilled to see his blog with all of his plants, which I wish we had time to see in person, as well as his bird collection. Breakfast was yummy, of course, and it was a little surreal being surrounded by so many families who hadn’t a clue about our past histories or what we were discussing. There was definitely an alignment of the stars this summer for me to be able to catch up with both Steve Rambo and Will Seagers in the same month. I’m happy to say they both look great and are in a good and happy place!

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

Living and working in Hollywood / West Hollywood in the 1990s for Catalina Video was very different from shooting movies at the studio we had in San Francisco in the 1980s. Most tourists come to town hoping for a sighting of their favorite celebrity when they purchase a “map to the star’s homes” from a  vendor on the border of WeHo and Beverly Hills. I know I was a little star struck when I had celebrity sightings that happened quite by chance. Once in the Century City mall, my friends and I spotted Michael Nader (Dex Dexter from Dynasty 1981-1989) after the show ended production. In LAX the timing was just right for me to pass Elizabeth Taylor, being pushed in a wheelchair on her way to the gate. I positioned myself just right to get close to her as I passed. I started my stare, and when our eyes locked onto each other I said, “I love you, you're fabulous,” and she replied, “Thanks sweetie.” It was a moment for sure! Helen Hunt used to be a regular for breakfast at Hugo’s Restaurant, and Shelley Winters pulled up and parked her ass at our table one morning for breakfast at the Silver Spoon. It started when she asked us to use our ketchup, then when she finished her meal and her friends left, she sat at our table and chatted with us. Cell phones and selfies weren’t a thing yet, and how I wish I had a photo!

 

Working with Catalina and shooting on location opened itself up to some close encounters – not with celebrities, but with their homes. Fatty Arbuckle was a silent film actor at the top of his career with Paramount, earning three million dollars over three years to star in eighteen silent movies. In the summer of 1921, he was accused of slaying 25 year old actress Virginia Rappe at a gin party in a suite at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Finally acquitted after three trials and his career in ruins, he worked behind the scenes directing under the name William B. Goodrich and died of a heart attack at age 46 on June 29th, 1933. Somehow, Scott Masters got us access to one of Fatty’s previous homes in the Hollywood Hills to shoot the movie The Bite, Directed by Chi Chi LaRue and starring Jon Vincent. I swear the people occupying the place were squatters, because there was little to no furniture, sleeping bags in an upstairs room and we needed to use generator power. It was a bit sketchy, but the character of the gothic interior was perfect for the vampire theme, and a little creepy at the same time. 

The show Eight Is Enough starring Dick van Patten and Betty Buckley ran from 1977 to 1981 and I remember watching it loyally while in my teens. When Masters and I went to scout the location, I was thrilled to see the front of the house (the inside, not so much) where the cast stood in the opening credits. I found out later that they also used the house exterior for episodes of Murder She Wrote (as a mortuary), Quantum Leap and the Rockford Files. For the Scott Master’s movie Reunion (1992) starring Cody Foster, we shot the main sex scene right there on the front porch, showcasing this famous house that was unfortunately bulldozed in 1996. Cody passed away from liver cancer in 2007, but lived a tumultuous life once leaving the industry in 1995. He had numerous run-ins with the law, ending up with a four year sentence in Jefferson County, Colorado for retaliating against a person he had victimized. He was a bit of a loose cannon on the sets and could turn on a dime. I was glad that Scott Masters was directing him, not me. We heard at some point that he’d been arrested for shooting a gun at the State Capitol in Colorado. I have no way of knowing if that was true or not. He returned to the industry in 2000 and 2001 in a couple of bondage movies from Grapik Art Productions.

On a lighter note, Orson Welles  had a beautiful home just a block or two up from Hollywood Blvd. We shot the Brad Austin movie Sunsex Blvd (1993) there with Zak Spears as Norman Desmond, the Gloria Swanson role. Brad worked for some time as the personal assistant to Ms. Swanson prior to coming on board as my right hand man and head of the crew. This movie was very personal to him and a huge success. We cast Max Stone as the character Max, Norma(n)’s driver, as he was a dead ringer. Scott Masters had connections and we rented another one of Groucho Marx’s vintage automobiles for Max to drive Norman in. We had previously rented a different vintage car formerly owned by Groucho for my movie Object of Desire. The reenactment of the shooting scene with the William Holden character falling in the pool and the scene of Norman coming down the stairs for his “I’m ready for my close-up” cum-shot were brilliantly shot in black-and-white. It’s a fun movie to check out!

Last but certainly not least was shooting in Sharon Stone's previous residence. We shot Revenge of the Bi-Dolls there, and from the grand staircase to the humongous master suite, this place was divine! The rooms were so large that we had echo problems with the audio, but the look of the place made our low budget movie look like a million bucks. Chi Chi LaRue and Sharon Kane perform their incredible duet which opens the movie throughout the many rooms of the mini-mansion. I’ve attached a link so you can watch it!

Well, that’s my little contribution to the Hollywood Babylon-esque world where porn and the Hollywood elite had six degrees of separation.

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 with a blog for you! This time a bit more storytelling than the past few photo blogs of late. I have noticed that in my life I have a tendency to return to some of the work that I have enjoyed in my earlier life to experience "The Second Time Around."

I guess the most obvious of these returns is my return to the porn world. This time around, however, is more reminiscing about the great times I had doing "The First Time Around!" LOL. This second time started with a simple reply to the question, “What ever happened to Will Seagers?" Because of the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic, so many of my fellow screen stars had passed. When a death was not published, it was just assumed by many that one had! So, I emailed off a quick reply to the blog editor at Bijou to head that rumor off at the pass and fell into a deep and wonderful conversation that has lasted for about two years now! I did have the eerie experience of seeing myself listed as "passed" once in a gay publication... once was enough of that!

 

One of my earliest jobs (circa age 18) was selling men's clothing at a well known affiliate of Macy's on the Jersey shore. That was repeated two more times. Once in the prestigious Neiman Marcus store in San Francisco - again in the men's department (circa age 40). And, the same placement happened in New York at Bloomingdales - in the men's designer department (circa age 45). Those were tough places to work if you were a clothes horse - the temptation to spend every thing you earned was all around you!

Another realm of selling that I really enjoyed was in consumer electronics. I loved electronic gadgets of all sorts and was quite the consumer. My favorite salesman, Harold, at Eber Electronics in San Francisco, referred me to the manager for an interview. That was a slam dunk. I knew almost everything in the store already! LOL. My second time around in electronics happened in Santa Fe, NM. My partner and I had recently moved there from NYC. I was not too happy with my original job there and was on the hunt for something more satisfying. Voila. I was given a tip that the local and independently owned Video and Hi-Fi store was in need of a salesman. I arrived in a midnight blue Giorgio Armani suit (from Neimans!). The owner was from NY. and a bit taken by my dressing up for the occasion. We hit it off and I was placed as the Hi-Fi manager. Yippee! Although the owner and I would bump heads from time to time, he loved how I merchandised and laid out the sales floor.

Music, music and more music! After I left San Francisco in 1991 and returned to New Jersey, I really had no planned path in terms of my next job. So, I relaxed but kept my ear to the ground for any leads. My younger sister introduced me to her fiance's brother who worked selling organs and pianos. Organs were one of my lifelong loves. So, I scored well in that job and was soon to manage two other stores. Fast forward to 2003 and spin the globe to Tucson Arizona and I find myself playing and selling organs for the second time... albeit a briefer stay. I was too used to being a manager and didn't take kindly to this manager's tactics... so, I moved along.

Mattresses? You know you have seen me on a few of them... But, selling them? For this I needed to consult the Stars! Yes! In my more than 50 years of being an amateur astrologer, I sometimes look to the heavens for answers. In the early 2000s, after a fiery termination at the Santa Fe electronics store, I aimed my head to the sky and mused over a few possibilities. I had a natural knack for selling, from the strong Sagittarius influence in my 6th house. And my 10th house, ruled by Pisces (the career house) dealt with cinema, the arts and affairs of the bed! Selling mattresses came quite easily to me. I started off in this trade in Santa Fe (after my fiery dismissal!), took it to Tucson till 2005, then brought it back to NM where I regained my original position with the original company until my decision to retire in 2019.

So, in my life there have been many "full circles" - returning back to familiar turf. In each of these jobs, it was my intent to bring pleasure to the selling process and make every client feel enriched by the process. I don't miss the quotas and other related pressures. But, I will always miss the wonderful interactions I had.

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