The Rialto Report
Audio, photo, and documentary archives from the golden age of adult film in New York, and beyond. Established 2013.
Episodes
Christy Canyon – New York, 1992: Podcast 166
In this era where everyone seems to be chasing follows, likes, shares, and clicks I have to admit I try not to look at which Rialto Report interviews have had the biggest audience. The reason is simple: I’ve wanted to cover all people from the golden age of adult film, regardless of their notoriety, because all stories are interesting and informative, big or small, famous or unknown.
But if you re
Jeanna Fine: Flesh & Blood – Podcast 165
The 1980s and 90s adult film A-lister Jeanna Fine passed away 6 months ago way too young. A few weeks after that, we shared an interview I started with Jeanne but never got to finish. It was mostly about what led Jeanna to get into the adult industry – and the discussion was rounded out by a recording Patrick Kindlon of the band the Self Defense Family shared with us. If you haven’t heard th
Tanqueray – I’ve Always Been Different, Part 2: Podcast 164
In the first part of my interview with Tanqueray, we heard the striking story of Tanqueray’s early life – long before she became such as viral sensation on social media as a result of her appearances on Humans of New York. She was called Stephanie and she’d had a tough upbringing, raised by a strict single mother in an all-white upstate New York area, and then a teenage pregnancy, an unfortunate r
Tanqueray – I’ve Always Been Different, Part 1: Podcast 163
Back in 2014, a woman called Stephanie contacted me at The Rialto Report. She described herself as ‘a designer of erotic costumes’ and shared some memories of the old days when she said she’d made garments for many people in the early adult film business. Vanessa del Rio, Gloria Leonard, Bambi Woods, and others, she said. I must admit I didn’t follow up very quickly – after all, I reasoned, isn’t
Tiffany Clark (1961-2026), R.I.P.
The former adult film star Tiffany Clark passed away this week.
Some might say this comes with the territory when you cover an industry that began almost 60 years ago. But while Tiffany started in the business in 1979, she was only 18 at the time and just 65 when she died of cancer.
Others might ask why I would be sad about somebody I interviewed once almost 10 years ago. But I lucked out with Tif
Beth Anna – Sweet & Savage: Podcast 162
Memory is a tricky thing. Small details can burn brighter than some of life’s defining events. The act of recall and the power of suggestion can fundamentally alter the content of our recollections. Experiences that seem like they should be tattooed onto our psyches can be lost to time.
And memory can be selective. Whether that’s by conscious choice, subconscious bias, or pure forgetfulness varie
Zebedy Colt – Shooting the Breeze with the Eccentric Thespian of XXX: Podcast 161
Zebedy Colt is one of least likely characters we expected to feature in a podcast interview when The Rialto Report first began.
For a start, Zebedy passed away in 2004 at the age of 74, after a wildly varied and peripatetic acting career that had started with small parts as a child actor in Hollywood in the 1930s and continued on to regional theater and summer stock across the country, including s
The Gospel According to Ron Jeremy in 1986, with Barbara Nitke – Podcast 160
Back in the day, everybody seemed to have an opinion about Ron Jeremy – and maybe that was part of his appeal.
He was probably the most ubiquitous of all male adult film stars, and certainly the most polarizing.
In the early days of The Rialto Report, I was keen to interview him. My interest has always been in tracking down stories from the golden age of adult cinema that have never been revealed
The Porn Star and the Foodie: Jamie Gillis & Gael Greene in 1978 Part 2, Lorey Sebastian – Podcast 159
In 1964, Lorey Kaye, a twenty-year-old from New Haven, CT, moved to Manhattan to start a new life in the big city. Lorey was a fresh-faced, dark-haired hippie, who attracted attention as much for her headstrong, determined, street smart attitude as for her striking good looks. She was hired as a waitress in a new nightclub that had just opened in Times Square – called Steve Paul’s ‘The Scene
The Porn Star and the Foodie: Jamie Gillis & Gael Greene in 1978 Part 1, The Other Taxi Driver – Podcast 158
In ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976), Travis Bickle railed against social decay, moral corruption, and the depraved filth he perceived in the near-bankrupt New York City of the mid 1970s. An insomniac, alienated Vietnam War vet, his taxi trips revealed the city to him as a “sewer” filled with “scum” that needed to be “cleansed”.
Around the same time, another taxi drive
Jeffrey Hurst (1947-2025), R.I.P.
It all started over thirty years ago. I thought it would be interesting to track down people who’d been involved in the very first adult films because I was intrigued to learn what they remembered about the time – and find out how the experience had affected their lives afterwards.
Bear in mind, this was over 30 years ago, before the era of social media, search tools, and online databases, so I ha
Jeanna Fine: The Lost Interview – Podcast 157
Jeanna Fine passed away last month.
If you’re a regular listener to The Rialto Report, you’ll know that we like to interview a person from a different angle. It’s a more intimate and personal exploration, rather than just revisiting someone’s fleeting moments on camera. And it can be a challenge to convince someone to open up in that way.
Sometimes it’s quick and easy to persuade a person to
Bud Lee – From Hyapatia and Asia to Only Fans, Part 2 – Podcast 156
Regular listeners will know that over the last few years, I’ve spoken to many female adult film actors who were active from the 1960s through to the late 1980s, and, as interesting as their experiences were, it also made me intrigued to find out what it was like to be a male in the business during the same time.
So a few months ago, I contacted actor/director/agent and X-rated film producer, Bud L
Bud Lee – From Hyapatia and Asia to Only Fans, Part 1 – Podcast 155
The adult film business is unique in that it has usually focused on women as the figureheads and main stars, and therefore often relegated men to the background.
Over the last years, I’ve spoken to many female adult actors – from the 1960s through to the late 1980s, and it’s been interesting to see how their memories, experiences, and lives were affected as the sex film business changed.
Bu
Wade Nichols: ‘Like an Eagle’ – His Untold Story Part 3: The Soap Opera King – Podcast 154
In 1979, Dennis Posa was on the verge of stardom. Against all odds, as Dennis Parker, he’d just released a disco record on a major recording label and was managed by the same team responsible for many of the biggest disco acts of the time. I say, against all odds, because less than 10 years earlier, he’d been a college dropout, the product of a difficult childhood on Long Island who struggled with
Wade Nichols: ‘Like an Eagle’ – His Untold Story Part 2: Disco! – Podcast 153
I’ve always loved movies, especially the films I grew up with in the 1970s. I was seduced by their gritty realism, social commentary, complex characters, and a more honest portrayal of the human condition. And I was fan of that generation of film stars too: always surprising, sometimes conflicted figures, artists more than the celebrities that we have today. Movie genres seemed less important to m
R.I.P. Paul Thomas (1949 – 2025) – Podcast Reprise
This past week I phoned Paul Thomas, former adult performer and film director, also known as PT. I’m heading out to LA shortly and was calling to set up a date with him and his wife. Seeing the two of them when I’m out west is one of my favorite things. It starts sitting together in their backyard under the Los Angeles sun, catching up on what’s been happening since my last visit. Then strolling s
Wade Nichols: ‘Like an Eagle’ – His Untold Story Part 1: The Early Years – Podcast 152
Years ago, I first saw the 1970s adult film Barbara Broadcast (1977) on the big screen, and it made a big impression.
In the film, there’s a scene which shows a man standing behind an industrial kitchen worktable, a shirtless, mustached piece of beefcake that was Wade Nichols. Rugged yet pretty. Lean, toned, and handsome. He looked like the Marlboro man from the distant plains, if that cowboy had
Sue Flaken’s Sliding Doors – The Mystery of the Original Miss Jones – Podcast 151
Who was the original actor cast in the lead role of the golden age blockbuster, The Devil in Miss Jones (1973)?
Not Georgina Spelvin, the talented doyenne of adult films who starred in many pre-video era features, first in New York then in California, and who was the eventual star of the film as ‘Miss Jones.’
No, Gerard Damiano first chose another actress, Sue Flaken, to fill the role, only to cha
Susan Hart – Confidences and Confidence, Part 2: Podcast 150
In the first part of our interview with Susan Hart, we heard about Sue’s early years in 1970s Los Angeles, growing up in a strict Catholic family, running away from home when she was 15, and becoming involved in a bad relationship. She escaped – into the army of all places, before finding a different kind of home, of sorts, as a prolific performer in the early adult video industry.
But what is unu
Susan Hart – Confidences and Confidence, Part 1: Podcast 149
Perhaps one of the less obvious aspects of The Rialto Report is that it may lead to the impression that people involved in the adult industry forty or fifty years ago are all pretty comfortable talking about their pasts and have led serene lives, free of incident, since they stopped making sex films. After all, our podcasts and interviews are filled with people talking pretty openly about their ex
Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Part 4, Rafael Remy’s Story – Podcast 148
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida:
After Dolores Carlos’ retirement from acting in South Florida nudie films in the late 1960s, she still remained close to her circle of Cuban filmmaker friends, and none more so than José Prieto, Greg Sandor, and Rafael Remy. They would still meet regularly, and all three took an active interest in her daughter Marcy
Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Part 3, Marcy Bichette’s story – Podcast 147
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida:
You may remember Marcy Bichette’s start in life from our earlier episodes: she was born Marcelle Denise Bichette in St Petersburg, Florida in August 1950 to a young married couple who had distinctly different ambitions in life. Her father, Maurice Bichette, had married looking for a settled, quiet existence, but her
Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Part 2, José Prieto’s story – Podcast 146
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida:
Manuel Conde had lived several lives even before he moved to Miami, Florida. He’d been born José Conde Samaniego in 1917 in Galicia, in northern Spain, though his family fled to Cuba after General Franco’s fascist coup d’état in the 1930s. And then, in 1959, Castro overthrew the government and enforced Communi
Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Part 1, Manuel Conde’s story – Podcast 145
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida:
Dolores Carlos was from a fiercely Cuban family, even though she was born in Tampa, Florida in October 1930, and never visited her country of origin. Her Cuban heritage and good looks, not to mention her patriotism, came from her father, Gus, and grandfather, Carlos, who had run the family’s cigar making business.
G
Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Prologue, Dolores Carlos’ story – Podcast 144
Cuba may only be 90 miles from the southern tip of the United States – a leisurely boat trip on a calm day – but since the 1950s, the island has seemed part of a distant world, too many communist miles away.
It wasn’t always the case. For years, Cuba was almost an extension of America, almost another star on its star-spangled banner. Links between the two countries dated back to when the Cuban cig
Iris De La Cruz – And Her Daughter Melissa: Street Walking Blues – Podcast 143
A few years ago, I was researching an article for The Rialto Report when I came across a 1980 radio program from WBAI, a popular New York City station that specialized in progressive and alternative voices at the time. This particular show featured a prostitute named Iris De La Cruz.
Iris wasn’t directly connected to the adult film scene in New York at the time – though she was friends with sever
R.I.P. Howard Ziehm: Mona… (and marijuana, music, and M.I.T.) – Podcast Reprise
Howard Ziehm, the pioneering adult film director, theater owner, author, polymath, and friend of The Rialto Report died last week in California.
Over the years, I visited Howard on several occasions at his beautiful hill-top house in Malibu in California – “It’s the home that porn built”, he would joke. And he was right: Howard had enjoyed a long career making and exhibiting adult films, and in hi
Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 4: The Taschen Years – Podcast 142
By the mid 1990s, Dian Hanson could’ve been forgiven for thinking that she’d finally made it – and that nothing was going to derail her career in magazine publishing that had started two decades earlier.
She’d had an improbable and volatile journey, from a troubled upbringing and difficult marriage, to working as a nurse in rural Pennsylvania, before somehow launching an explicit men’s magaz
Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 3: Going Solo – Podcast 141
In the first part of ‘Dian Hanson, Chronicles,’ Dian spoke of her upbringing in the northwest United States, an often shocking family life with a difficult and frightening father – who just happened to be the supreme grand master of a sex-magic cult. It was a difficult childhood that included bullying, sexual assault, and running away from home, culminating in an unhappy marriag
Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 2: The Peter Wolff Years – Podcast 140
Dian Hanson is a unique figure from the world of men’s magazines in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, a world that overlapped strongly with the adult film business.
Last time, in the first episode of this podcast series, we heard about her surprising, and often shocking, upbringing: a hippie and high school dropout from Seattle, her father was supreme grand master in a sex-magic cult, and a childho
Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 1: The Early Years – Podcast 139
If the name Dian Hanson rings a bell for you nowadays, it may be because she’s a senior editor and writer for Taschen, the gold-standard, high-end book publishing company, where she has over 50 books to her credit. In fact, she’s also the so-called head of the company’s Sexy Book division where she’s overseen impressive and weighty tomes that include The Art of Pin-Up, The Book of Butts, Breasts,
NYC Starlets – Part 3: An Afternoon with Geri Miller, Warhol Super-Groupie and Sexploitation Actress – Podcast 138
Geri Miller may not be the most famous name from 1960s sex films, but she may well be the most interesting.
With a story that includes Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Joe Sarno, the Peppermint Lounge, Ringo Starr, Joe Dalessandro, Mick Jagger, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, the Young Rascals, and stripping in front of the Queen Mother’s house, Geri lived a technicolor life in a psychedelic era.
Th
Pat Barrington in ‘Orgy of the Dead’ (1965) – Unpublished Photographs and Podcast (reprise)
The Rialto Report recently acquired a collection of behind-the-scenes photographs and stills from the Stephen C. Apostolof/Edward D. Wood Jr. film Orgy of the Dead (1965) which we are sharing below.
Many of them feature Pat Barrington, which gives us the chance to revisit our podcast about her remarkable life
If you’ve never heard of her, Pat was big in the 1960s, when she was a popular actress,
Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 7, Endgame, Podcast 137
On the previous episode of Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story:
On the heels of a very public divorce, Chuck Traynor and Linda Lovelace were finally separated and began to forge their own paths. Chuck wasted no time partnering with up-and-coming adult star Marilyn Chambers, becoming both her manager and her husband. Linda combined a professional and romantic relationship with producer and choreogra
Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 6, The Marilyn Chambers Years, Podcast 136
On the previous episode of Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story:
To everyone’s surprise, the sex film Deep Throat (1972) had become a financial hit and a cultural phenomenon. And everybody involved was determined to capitalize on the film’s success – and that included Chuck Traynor, husband and manager of Linda Lovelace, the movie’s leading lady.
When the film blew up, Chuck put Linda through
F.M. Bradley: Hiding in Plain Sight – Podcast 113 – Reprise
F.M Bradley died last month just a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday.
I can’t say I was surprised – Bradley had been in a nursing home ever since I found him in 2021 after years of looking. He was bedridden, and we had a few false starts before we finally settled down for our interview due to his ill health. But even though he was unable to walk, whenever we’d video chat it was easy to see
Flesh! The Untold Origin of the Findlays and the ‘Flesh Trilogy’, Part 2 – Michael’s story
Michael Findlay was a young New Yorker, fascinated with film and the mechanics behind it.
Julian Marsh was his alter ego, a movie director possessed with a singular twisted vision.
Richard Jennings was a sadistic, deranged movie character, one-eyed, confined to a wheelchair, and hell bent on revenge.
The films Michael Findlay made seemed to be so single-minded, unique, and personal, that they begg
Flesh! The Untold Origin of the Findlays and the ‘Flesh Trilogy’, Part 1 – Roberta’s story
Sex and violence have been part of movies since the very beginning.
Ever since Thomas Edison made and exhibited ‘The Kiss’ in 1896, an 18 second clip of a couple embracing, moviegoers have been shocked by onscreen depictions of lust. The outrage over ‘The Kiss’ was understandable: it was one of the first films ever shown commercially to the public, and kissing in public was prosecuted at the time.
Lisa Cintrice: Not Being Afraid, Part 2 – Podcast 133
In the first part of The Rialto Report‘s conversation with Lisa Cintrice, we heard about her colorful upbringing, from a mobster father, to becoming pregnant as a teen, and then a shotgun wedding to the brother of a notorious New York strip club manager.
All of a sudden, she found herself at the heart of the New York adult film business, and what’s more, starring in a movie, The Starmaker (
Lisa Cintrice: Not Being Afraid, Part 1 – Podcast 132
Lisa Cintrice had a colorful life: for a start, her father was a New York mobster who was related to the most famous Italian priest of all time, Padre Pio, a man so terrified of God that he manifested stigmata, the same wounds in his hands and feet that Jesus suffered when he was nailed to the cross.
And for much of her adult life, Lisa was afraid too – largely because of her career in adult film.
R.I.P. Herschel Savage (1952 – 2023)
Seventy is no age to die. Especially not for a man as decent and good as Harvey Cohen. But last week, Harvey, who used to be the adult film star known as Herschel Savage, passed away in his home in Los Angeles.
Despite his performing pseudonym, Harvey was a gentle, sweet man, who’d chosen his nom de porn in an attempt to combine the nerdy New York Jewish self that he was with that of the sexual st
Cop Porn: When the NYPD made a Porn Film – Part 2 – Podcast 131
In the 1970s, New York was a city on the edge: it was on verge of bankruptcy, beset by a crime wave, and overrun by the rampant sex industry that was taking over Times Square.
Different people reacted to the city’s critical state in different ways. Some, like Phil Russo, an idealistic cop in the Public Morals Squad, were hellbent on reversing the trend, doing everything they could to identify and
Cop Porn: When the NYPD made a Porn Film – Part 1 – Podcast 130
In 1970s New York, hardcore sex films and adult bookstores raged across Times Square like a forest fire. It was great for the sex business, but it also depressed tourism and commerce, and emboldened organized crime in an already deeply beleaguered city.
The cops fought back, busting theaters and sex shops on a regular basis. It had little effect: most of the sex operators just paid the fixed fine
Neville Chesters R.I.P: How Jimi Hendrix’s Roadie became a Porn Producer – Podcast 77 (reprise)
As we were preparing this weekend’s post, we received news of the passing of Neville Chesters, legendary figure of the 1960s UK music scene, adult film producer (using the name Neville Chambers), and friend of The Rialto Report.
As a tribute we are reprising our 2018 interview with him, in which he talks about his remarkable life.
R.I.P. Nev. (25 June 1945 – 27 April 2023)
*
This story
Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 5, Deep Throat Explodes (and so does Sammy Davis Jr.)
On the previous episode of Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story:
When budding film director Gerard Damiano saw Linda Traynor/Boreman giving head, he stopped shooting the short sex loop he was planning then and there, choosing instead to make a feature-length movie around her unique talent.
Linda had her doubts, but her husband Chuck was all in on the idea, loving the $1,200 payment that came with th
Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 4, The Making of Deep Throat… What Really Happened?
This is Season 2 of Svengali – ‘The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 4, The Making of Deep Throat… What Really Happened?’
Previously on Season 1 of Svengali:
Chuck Traynor was born in Connecticut in 1937 to a single mother. Raised by his grandparents, he relocated to Florida when he was young, joining the marines when he finished high school. After leaving the service, Chuck married an
Punk and Porn in New York City – Part 2: Debbie Revenge, The Punk in the Photograph
New York. Mid-1970s. A new counter-cultural scene emerged. Punk was marked by attitude, antagonism, and angry, anarchic music. It attracted a new breed of musician and fan. Non-conforming, anti-authoritarian. It expressed itself visually in provocative new ways. Ripped T-shirts, leather jackets, Dr. Martens boots, and spiked mohawks. Overnight, punk caused a jagged splash across mainstream America
Sue Nero: Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More (Part 2) – Podcast 126
In the first part of the Sue Nero interview, we heard about her upbringing and subsequent move to San Francisco where she started work in the adult film industry.
In this concluding episode, Sue remembers her move to New York, where she worked at the Melody Burlesk and the Harmony Theater, as well as becoming a fixture in the XXX rated film business.
It’s been a long difficult road. But what’s im
Sue Nero: Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More (Part 1) – Podcast 125
Some interviews take longer to happen than others. As for Sue Nero: well… it’s complicated.
Let’s start at the beginning: Sue Nero was a larger than life, super-hero of a porn star. She harked back to the golden age of Hollywood movie queens – voluptuous, busty and shapely – an hourglass of beauty, but at the same time, she embodied pure sin and lust. She was the girl next door – if yo
Jamie Gillis in Europe, 1977 – His Audio Diaries: “Life Is Easy When You Don’t Know How”
It was early summer in 1977, and the adult film actor, Jamie Gillis, should have been on top of the world.
He was perhaps the most successful and recognizable male figure in the relatively new, relatively glamorous, world of adult entertainment. He’d just starred in The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976), the most accomplished sex film to date – and he suddenly found himself to be a public star of
R.I.P. Kay Parker (1944 – 2022) – The Rialto Report interview
Kay Parker, one of the biggest names in golden age adult film, passed away this last week. She was 78.
Kay was a west coast actor who entered the business through a friendship with performer John Leslie, and an appreciative director, Anthony Spinelli. She featured in well-regarded films such as ‘V’ – The Hot One (1978), Sex World (1978), Dracula Sucks (1978), Firestorm (1984), The Danc
R.I.P. Kitten Natividad – La Reina, Her Last Interview – Podcast 123
Kitten Natividad died in Los Angeles this past week. The cause was kidney failure after suffering from cancer. She was 74.
Kitten was a genuine cult pop culture figure who, over the last six decades, had a wild life and a storied career: she started out as a cook and maid for Stella Stevens – the Hollywood actress famous for ‘The Nutty Professor’ and ‘The Ballad of Cable Hogue’. Then in the late 6
The Trials of Chesty Morgan – Doris Wishman, Fellini, The Law and Me, Part 2 – Podcast 122
In the first part of ‘The Trials of Chesty Morgan’, Chesty endured unimaginable hardships in her life – a Jewish girl growing up in Nazi-occupied Poland, both her parents killed in the conflict, followed by a difficult life in Israel, and the eventual promise of a new life in the United States before her husband was killed in a botched robbery. Chesty decided to become a burlesqu
Bionca: The Daredevil Amazon – Podcast 121
Bionca was one of the more formidable adult film stars of the late golden age. She was a tall, striking performer, appearing in over 350 films and countless magazine spreads for 20 years from 1984 through to the early 2000s. She was known for her often-outrageous on-screen performances and smoldering lesbian scenes, and was one of the first to make films in Europe as well as the U.S. with producer
Deep Throat @ 50: Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 3
In 1970, Chuck Traynor – former Marine, sexploitation dabbler, successful Miami bar owner and less successful drug smuggler, met Linda Boreman – a hippie drifter who’d recently had her newborn taken from her and was recovering from a harrowing car accident. They were both looking for something new, a fresh start – Chuck wanted financial opportunities that would prove his macho wo
Deep Throat @ 50: Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 2
When Linda Lovelace met Chuck Traynor, it would have profound implications for both of them. And it would impact adult film and popular culture in America. If they hadn’t met, there would be no Deep Throat (1972), no porno chic, no mainstream debate about an adult film in the wake of the sexual revolution.
When Linda and Chuck first met, both were at crossroads in their lives. Chuck had been throu
Deep Throat @ 50: Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 1
We all know the story of Linda Lovelace and Chuck Traynor, right?
Linda was the star of the groundbreaking adult film Deep Throat, and Chuck was Linda’s husband and manager. When the movie was released, Linda did tons of television and newspaper interviews sharing how happy she was to showcase sexual liberation and personal freedom. She capped the publicity rounds with a book, ‘The Intimate
Deep Throat @ 50: Searching for the Real Harry Reems – Podcast 117
For a time in the 1970s, Harry Reems was the biggest and most recognizable male sex star on the planet. He was a porn Burt Reynolds, famous for his mustache, his sense of fun, and his sexual prowess. One critic described him as being all the Marx brothers rolled into one, a big mess of zany humor, tinged with a hint of melancholy.
Harry’s public life had a three-act structure:
He was famous becaus
RIP Alfred Sole: ‘Deep Sleep’ (1972) – The Short Film
The film director and production designer Alfred Sole passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 78.
I first became aware of Alfred about 15 years ago when I was looking through the New York Times archives. I came across a 1973 article about a controversial adult film called Deep Sleep. The article caught my eye because the Times almost never covered porn movies and because the story started out
Bill Rotsler’s Gruesome Foursome – Part 3: Uschi Digard
Charles William Rotsler (1926–1997) was an award-winning artist and science fiction author.
Bill was also involved in the burgeoning adult film industry starting in the late 1950s, first as a stills photographer on the set of adult films, and later when he wrote, directed, or acted in over 20 adult films during his career with Boxoffice International Pictures,
In 1966, he created Adam Film Quarter
Deep Throat @ 50: Gerard Damiano – The Director: Podcast 116
The pioneering adult film, Deep Throat, was shot 50 years ago today.
The scene was south Florida, and it was Super Bowl Sunday, January 16th, 1972. The local Miami Dolphins were playing, and so the streets of the city were deserted, meaning it was a perfect time to make a film when you didn’t exactly want to draw attention to what you were doing.
The filmmakers were a group of New Yorkers who’d ma
‘Crime Scene – Times Square’: The Life of Marty Hodas – Podcast 38 (reprise)
Last week a new docu-drama premiered on Netflix. It’s called Crime Scene – Times Square – and we were pleased to be Producers on it.
The show examines how the environment in New York’s Times Square in the late 1970s and early 1980s – a nearly-lawless area rife with drugs and sex work – made it possible for one man to commit, and nearly get away with, unthinkable acts of violence.
Many of the chara
Murder Noir: Who Killed June Mack? Who Really Killed June Mack? – Part 2: Podcast 115
June Mack was dead. And no one was on the hook for her murder.
Somehow being shot by Russ Meyer made her almost-famous, but being shot by a mystery killer made her almost-forgotten.
She’d come to Tinseltown to escape. To start a new life – and she’d been a movie star, bared her charms in magazines, and shared her body in nightly schemes. She made money, bought cars, and lived in clover.
But then J
Murder Noir: Who Killed June Mack? Who Really Killed June Mack? – Part 1: Podcast 114
Somehow June Mack was a footnote in her own life.
She was a footnote in film history after she appeared in a Russ Meyer film, Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens. A footnote for her family who forgot she existed. A footnote in L.A., the jaded city where she’d re-invented herself. And a footnote in a shooting that left her dead.
It seems strange. June Mack was big, black, and beautiful. So why d
F.M. Bradley: Hiding in Plain Sight – Podcast 113
Let’s admit something: as much as the so-called golden age of adult film was a glamorous era, where sex movies competed with Hollywood blockbusters in theaters across the country, it wasn’t the most racially diverse workplace for a male performer.
There was Johnnie Keyes, the African American star of Behind the Green Door in the early 1970s. There was Billy Dee, an accomplished mixed-race actor, w
Wakefield Poole: Theater, Dance and Porn – Podcast 14 (reprise)
The film director, Wakefield Poole, passed away this week. He was 85.
I remember a girlfriend once catching me sat behind a pile of men’s magazines. Playboy, Mandate, Cheri magazine…
I was engrossed in them, oblivious to her or anything else taking place around me.
After looking at me for a while, she commented: “It’s really true. You do read sex magazines for the articles.”
That’s also true
The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp, Part 4: Whatever Happened to Helen Wood? – Podcast 112
In the first part of the mini-series ‘The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp’, I went in search for the enigmatic Deep Throat actor with the mysterious past, who seemed to disappear from the face of the earth back in 1972. I spoke to Gerry Damiano and Harry Reems who worked with Dolly on ‘Deep Throat’, to actors who appeared in other films with her like Fred Lincoln and Jamie Gilli
The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp, Part 3: Whatever Happened to Dolly Sharp? – Podcast 111
In the first part of ‘The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp’, I went in search for the enigmatic Deep Throat actor with the mysterious past, who seemed to disappear from the face of the earth back in 1972.
I spoke to Gerry Damiano and Harry Reems who worked with Dolly on ‘Deep Throat’, to actors who appeared in other films with her like Fred Lincoln and Jamie Gillis, even one of t
The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp, Part 2: Who Is Helen Wood? – Podcast 110
In the first part of ‘The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp’, I went in search for the enigmatic Deep Throat actor with the mysterious past, who seemed to disappear from the face of the earth back in 1972.
I spoke to Gerry Damiano and Harry Reems who worked with Dolly on ‘Deep Throat’, to actors who appeared in other films with her like Fred Lincoln and Jamie Gillis, even one of t
The Secret Life of Dolly Sharp, Part 1: Who Is Dolly Sharp? – Podcast 109
Much has been written about the film Deep Throat since it premiered in New York in June 1972.
You may even know the story by now… how the film was the biggest hit of the ‘porno chic’ phenomenon, how it turned actors like Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems into overnight stars, and how it all broke box office records.
What’s also true is that the lives of those involved were never the same.
– Lin
Lesllie Bovee, Late Night in 1977 – Podcast 108
There’s a saying that goes, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.”
We’ve adapted that to say, “Golden age adult film plus time equals The Rialto Report.” And that’s because we’re particularly interested in how people who were involved in the birth of adult film remember that period with the benefit of time and hindsight.
But occasionally we wonder: what would it be like to go back to, say, 1977? And l
Porsche Lynn: The Other Side of Power (Part 2) – Podcast 107
In part one of our podcast with Porsche Lynn, we heard how she survived childhood trauma, befriended Angel Kelly at modeling school, became a stripper at Michigan’s notorious Cinema X, and made her way to Los Angeles where she quickly became one of the most successful porn stars of her era.
In this second and final episode of her Rialto story, Porsche and I talk about how she founded the Pink Ladi
Porsche Lynn: The Other Side of Power (Part 1) – Podcast 106
Here at the Rialto Report, we focus on bringing original or obscure content to light. We like to unearth stories long ignored, forgotten or under-appreciated, to complement the narratives we already know and reveal a richer, more human portrait of the influential adult industry.
And that’s why it took us so long to ask Porsche Lynn to share her tale. Because we thought Porsche’s story had already
‘Centurians of Rome’ (1981): The Behind-The-Scenes Story – Podcast 105
As The Rialto Report heads into an Easter break, we present an all-new podcast about the making of Centurians of Rome, a story we broke a few years ago, but that has been absent from our site since then.
The film has been the subject of much speculation since the movie was first released in 1981.
– It was supposedly the most expensive gay porn film up to that point
– It was allegedly funded using
R.I.P. Fanne Foxe (1936-2021) – Podcast 82 (reprise)
Fanne Foxe died this past week at the age of 84. She was famous for being the stripper that ended the career of one of the most powerful American politicians of the 1970s – Arkansas congressman Wilbur Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
But Fanne, whose real name was Annabelle, was so much more than a scandalous footnote of history.
While she grew up in small town in Arge
The Hunt for the Real John T Bone – Part 2: Podcast 104
Who is John T Bone – and why did The Rialto Report find him languishing in jail when we looked for him?
John T Bone was one of the more controversial figures in adult film history.
But as we heard in the first episode of our mini-series about him, he was also an enigma wrapped in mystery with a fascinating past. Before he ever got involved in making X-rated films, he was a notable figure on
The Hunt for the Real John T Bone – Part 1: Podcast 103
Who is John T Bone – and why did The Rialto Report find him languishing in jail when we looked for him?
John T Bone was one of the bad boys of 1980s and 1990s adult film, a moviemaker responsible for some of the most controversial moments in X-rated film history. He worked at the cheap end of the porn film business – but his films nevertheless always stood out. It was John, for example, who
R.I.P. Carter Stevens (1944-2020)
Carter Stevens, one of the adult film industry’s true originals, passed away this week.
He started to make his first feature film before the landmark success of Deep Throat, and he was still in the sex business thirty years later.
For a time it seemed like he was everywhere. In the 1970s and 1980s, he directed a series of increasingly popular and ambitious films that included Lickity-Split,
The Murder of Kathy Harcourt: England’s First American Adult Film Star – Podcast 102
Kathy Harcourt was an English XXX star in America in the early 1980s.
She appeared with Lisa DeLeeuw, Seka, Billy Dee, and Ron Jeremy in adult films and 8mm loops.
She featured in magazines, stripped at the Melody Burlesk, turned up at all the industry parties.
And then she was found dead in Manhattan’s East River amidst rumors of a mob hit.
Over the years, her life and death has been a mystery.
U
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