LANCE, TEX ANTHONY & MICHAEL GERE: Big Boner Boys of the '80s, Part 2

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.