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Marilyn Chambers, Legendary Adult Actress, Dead at 56
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Comments Off
By Mark Kernes from www.avn.com
04/13/2009
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Marilyn Chambers, star of such golden age classics as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable, was found dead Sunday in the mobile home where she had been living for the past several months. She was 56, but would have celebrated her next birthday on April 22. Chambers was found by her daughter, McKenna. No cause of death is yet known, and an autopsy will be performed.
Chambers, who said she began performing under her real name because she was unashamed of what she did, was nonetheless born Marilyn Ann Briggs, and she made 16 movies during the period 1972 to 1986, mostly for the Mitchell Brothers and Caballero Home Video. It was at Caballero that she created the series Marilyn Chambers’ Private Fantasies. During this period, she was married to her manager, Chuck Traynor, and though they were divorced in 1985, when Chambers made her comeback film for VCA Pictures, Still Insatiable, in 1998, she requested that Traynor be present for the filming to lend her moral support. The comeback, however, was short-lived, generating just nine movies, some of which were non-sex roles. Chambers tried her hand at producing as well, creating what was hoped to be a continuing series, Nantucket Housewives, for her own company, Damaged Productions.
More recently, Chambers essayed the voice of title character in the upcoming feature, Porndogs: The Adventures of Sadie, a live-action comedy directed by Greg Blatman, featuring canine actors with voices dubbed by such familiar porn names as Ron Jeremy, Tera Patrick, Evan Seinfeld and Heidi Fleiss.
According to a synopsis on the Internet Movie Database, “Sadie, the most beautiful Yellow Lab in the whole wide world, lives an idyllic, pampered life in the suburbs. One day, she comes into heat and has no idea what to do with her new found feelings and urges. When she learns that her loving owners are about to have her spayed, she runs away to the big city where her sexual adventures begin.”
“We had a great time doing the voices,” Jeremy told AVN. “We went up to San Francisco for it. Marilyn was looking great and really excited about it.”
“My greatest memory of Marilyn is, I was just a kid out of New York 28 years ago, and Bob Vezey was shooting a book, ‘Marilyn Chambers’ Love Positions’,” Jeremy continued. “He was shooting a layout for both Club magazine and for the book, and I had just won a trip to Mexico on Wheel of Fortune, but when he called me to do this, I cancelled three days off my Mexican vacation. So I got to do this book. The book was supposed to be softcore, but I kept getting an erection, because when the pressure is off, you get a boner even quicker. And Bob Vezey was saying, ‘You’ve got to hide it, Ron; we don’t want to see it.’ So Marilyn says, ‘Hide it right here.’ Oh, my God - right into the vagina. And Chuck Traynor looks over and goes, ‘Well, so much for softcore.’ I was in heaven. I was in love with her from that day on, for life. And I stood in when she had a scene with her boyfriend on Insatiable 2; I stood in for her boyfriend.”
The pair had also been signed to appear in an off-Broadway production of “Deep Throat The Play,” with Chambers scheduled to play the role, especially written for her, of Linda Lovelace’s “aging porn star girlfriend,” according to Robert Interlandi, who was handling rights for the project for Arrow Productions.
Lovelace and Chambers had been long-time friends, having both been married to Traynor at different points in their careers.
“They were supposed to do the final contract signing for ‘Deep Throat The Play’ today,” Interlandi said. “It was originally going to run in Boston, but we got kicked out of the theater, so now it’s going to play in mid-July at the World Theater in New York. Funny enough, that’s where Deep Throat originally played, so it makes full circle. But she really wanted to be a part of ‘Deep Throat The Play’ in some fashion, so they wrote her into the script.”
“What a charming woman,” echoed the play’s producer, David Bertolino. “I’m shocked to hear that she passed away. I was just notified this morning. She was starring in our show. We’re opening on Broadway in July, and we’re just devastated over it. I called Marilyn’s house this morning and I was speaking to Peggy McGinn, who is Marilyn’s best friend and also her attorney, and she told me that Marilyn on Friday got my text letting her know that she’d be getting a call from our general manager to finalize the contract today, so she was very excited about coming on board. We’re going into rehearsals in June, and we’re shocked, we’re devastated.”
Bertolino said that Chamber had spent three days with him in New York in January, where she auditioned for the associate producer and director, and “she aced it; she was wonderful.”
Howie Klein, co-owner of Caballero Home Video, also recalled Chambers as “a really nice, very pleasant woman. I liked her a lot.”
“We went on the road together to promote her stuff,” Klein remembered. “We hit Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia. One thing that really sticks out in my mind, when we were in Philly, she took me to this place that had sensory deprivation tanks. It was incredible. We both went in these sensory deprivation tanks. It was really neat. I also took her to IVD’s first open house that [Frank Kaye] had way back in ‘82 in Hightstown [New Jersey]. He was new in the business and he had an open house, so I took her there.”
It was on that same trip that Chambers encountered the publisher of a fledgling adult-oriented magazine.
“The first interview I ever did for AVN was Marilyn Chambers,” said AVN founder Paul Fishbein. “She was in town to promote the theatrical release of Insatiable 2. So I put on a suit and went down to the hotel to interview her for one of the early issues of AVN, and I was completely intimidated, I was nervous and I could barely get the words out. I started to interview her, and she had her bodyguard in the room, but after a few minutes, she sent him out, and in the middle of the interview, she stops and she looks at me and she says, ‘God, I’m horny!’ I didn’t know what to say or what to do, so I just went on to the next question and finished the interview. I was totally terrified of her. And I told her the story about 20 years later and she just laughed her ass off and said, ‘Ah, I probably would have slept with you.’ I was just so nervous around her.”
Chambers’ very first movie, though, was Behind the Green Door, a landmark for its time both because it featured the “99 and 44/100 percent pure girl” - Chambers had appeared recently as the “cover girl” on boxes of Ivory Snow detergent - and because it featured her in a scorching interracial scene with popular performer Johnnie Keyes.
“We were really close,” Keyes told AVN. “I’m still in shock. It’s like it’s not even really hitting me yet. I don’t know what my feelings are. It’s like my brain is protecting me right but the gloom is starting to set in.”
Other performers of the day were more forthcoming.
“She made an impression because she was my first big star in porn,” recalled Tom Byron. “The first day I showed up on the set, we were shooting dialog sequences at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, so I just remember it being a very surreal experience, being with Marilyn Chambers in the place where they shot the fight sequence in Hooper. Plus Redd Foxx came to the set that day. Apparently, he was a friend of Marilyn’s and showed up. I was so green, Marilyn had to teach me a couple of things, like how to put my dick in her ass. As a matter of fact, she might have been the very first girl I ever fucked in the ass, now that I think about it; yeah. I just remember little patches of it, because it was just such a surreal fucking experience.”
On the other hand, Paul Thomas found Chambers and her people somewhat intimidating.
“I was cast in Insatiable 2 opposite her, and when it came time for my scene with her, I was a little bit nervous about it,” he said. “And then she marches in with her manager Chuck Traynor and her hairdresser and a whole entourage of people, and it became more like fucking a corporation than a person, and I couldn’t achieve erection; I couldn’t come close. So they brought in the girl who was about to do the next scene, and she fluffed me, and I got hard immediately, and Marilyn came in and I got soft, and they brought the girl in again and I got hard. I think Shanna McCullough was there too, helping me out. Finally, it just didn’t work, so they called the scene, and I finished it a couple of months later at [Godfrey Daniels'] house with Cara Lott as a stunt butt, and that’s my Marilyn memory.”
Chambers’ final hardcore movie in the early days was Marilyn Chambers’ Private Fantasies 6, for Miracle Films, which produced nine of her films altogether, but during that period, she was making inroads into the mainstream film career that she’d always wanted. In 1983, she starred in the sexy spy thriller Angel of H.E.A.T., and in ‘77, snagged the starring role in David Cronenberg’s horror film Rabid. She also created several sexy titles for cable TV, including Party Girls, New York Nights, Bedtime Fantasies and Sextrospective.
Finally, Chambers decided to once again take the plunge into XXX, signing a three-movie contract with VCA Pictures, all of which to be directed by her longtime friend, Veronica Hart, the first of which was Still Insatiable.
“It was really great, because we had a mainstream writer write it, who had had a couple of very successful books, but he was a big fan of Marilyn’s,” recalled Hart, who took the news of Chambers’ death very hard. “Marilyn had come to [VCA owner] Russell [Hampshire] and we were so thrilled to be able to get her for this three-picture deal, and I was so delighted to be able to work with her because she was my girlfriend and we’d worked a lot of stuff before. We did a lot of R-rated stuff for cable.”
“When I first met Marilyn, I was just getting into the business and she was already such a huge star,” Hart continued, “and when I saw her, she had her entourage around her and Chuck [Traynor] was there, and she was such a big star, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, if only I could be like Marilyn!’ She was so sweet to me, and then it was such a thrill to be able to work with her, first acting in the R-rated stuff, and then directing her in the X-rated stuff. She was such a good actress. We always talked about that we were going to do like a Cagney & Lacey; she always wanted to do some kind of police detective show for cable. She said, ‘Hey, we can do this. We’re good actresses. We can do this.’ And she was just such a great actress and a really good person. She loved animals and she loved kids, and she was just a really, really great gal. I’m so glad I got to work with her and I’m so sad.”
After her VCA contract was completed, Chambers worked a variety of jobs in the Los Angeles area, including salesperson for an adult DVD distributor, salesperson at a used car dealership, and as an animal rescue worker. She also worked as a home care nurse shortly after the death of her parents in approximately 2004.
“She was working at an animal place the last time I knew,” Hart said. “It was like an animal care place. She was hauling bags of feed in, and she didn’t want anybody to know. But she said it was good because she was losing a lot of weight. She had gone through a lot. She lost her mom and her dad, and that was about - I guess that was about five years ago, now. And she went back and she became a home health care nurse, but I don’t think she could make a successful living at it, but she wanted to take care of people. She’d taken care of her parents.”
In all, Chambers appeared in just 23 hardcore films, including Behind the Green Door, The Resurrection of Eve, Inside Marilyn Chambers, Beyond DeSade, Never a Tender Moment, Insatiable 1 & 2, Charli, Up ‘n Coming, Marilyn Chambers’ Private Fantasies 1-6, Still Insatiable, Dark Chambers, Edge Play, Marilyn Chambers’ Guide to Dirty Dancing, Nantucket Housewives, Marilyn Chambers’ Guide to Anal Sex, Marilyn Chambers’ Guide to Masturbation and Marilyn Chambers’ Guide to Oral Sex.
No information has yet been given out about the actual cause of her death, nor what funeral arrangements have been made.
Robert Interlandi: Those Vivid Assholes Have My Beer and Stole my Ice Chest!
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | Deeper Throat TV show, From Gene Ross | No Comments
DEEP THROAT NEWS — BLOG
Story by Gene Ross from www.adultfyi.com
There was no love lost between Vivid’s Steve Hirsch and Arrow Productions’ Robert Interlandi, www.xxxdeepthroat.com during the shooting of the Deeper Throat reality series that aired recently on Showtime.
There’s even less love in the room now, apparently, with Interlandi discovering that Vivid got a hold of his ice chest - a fact which probably needs a little bit of explaining.
In episode 5 of the series which details Vivid’s attempts to remake Deep Throat, Interlandi’s seen stomping off the Vivid set. But what really sets him off is never shown on air.
“I finally got to see Vivid’s rip off of our movie that they call Throat: A Coutionary Tale,” says Interlandi.
“I saw something I couldn’t believe. Then I watched it again. In the first scene before they roll the credits is my ice chest which Vivid stole. When I went on the set with my beer pong table that day, they stole my ice chest and used it as a prop. I had a 12-pack full of beer in the chest.
“So I called up Vivid and told them I want the ice chest back or the money for the ice chest; and I want my beer back. It’s one thing to steal a man’s beer. And it’s another thing to steal his ice chest. And it was a really cool ice chest with wheels and I could pull it down the Las Vegas strip. I was furious and I didn’t know what to do.”
Interlandi says he talked to Ray Pistol about it, and Pistol thought it was funny.
“But this isn’t a publicity stunt- I’m really pissed,” says Interlandi.
“I’m going to sue their ass in small claims court.”
What actually happened which is never shown on camera is this.
“Paul Thomas wanted me to say a couple of lines,” Interlandi explains.
“Then as I’m packing my beer pong table I go where’s my ice chest? What the fuck happened to my ice chest? Then I lit up, crazy. I’m going someone stole my ice chest and they cut that out of the TV show. But now I got legal proof they have my ice chest. I’m sure some Court TV would love to pick this up and I’m seriously pissed. I get pissed when someone steals my beer!”
Interlandi evidently had one more call into Vivid to try and get the matter resolved. Then he called me back.
“Those assholes say that, ‘I need to contact World of Wonder [the reality show's producers] for my ice chest and beer,’” Interlandi relates.
“They Fucking blew me off again! Those Vivid cocksuckers used my ice chest as a prop in their dam movie, and World of Wonder doesn’t have anything to do with it. If this is how they want to be, then I’m fucking taking them to court!”
The Deeper Throat Reality Show - Episode 5; Steve Hirsch to Robert Interlandi: You’re a Punk Kid
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | Deeper Throat TV show, From Gene Ross | No Comments
DEEP THROAT NEWS — BLOG
Story by Gene Ross from www.adultfyi.com
I realize I’m giving away the secrets to the sawing the lady in half trick, but at no time on camera in the Showtime Deeper Throat reality series does Vivid’s Steve Hirsch actually choke Robert Interlandi, Arrow’s marketing director, www.xxxdeepthroat.com.
But Hirsch comes pretty darn close in Episode 5 as Interlandi continues to be irascible, and Paul Thomas continues to play the martyr as Hirsch stops by the shoot to see what all the hubbub is about. In Episode 4, Interlandi got through toilet papering Thomas car because he didn’t see eye to eye with the way Thomas and Vivid were shunting him in their efforts to remake Deep Throat.
By the time this episode opens up, Thomas is in Day 2 of the remake. Thomas describes his reinvention of the plot as a serious murder mystery about a girl with a deformity in her throat. Sasha Grey is playing the lead.
“The next two days are absolutely critical to the success of the movie,” Thomas is saying, not knowing that Interlandi’s about to wreak a little more havoc on the set.
“The asshole Robert’s got to say away from my set,” Thomas is saying.
His prayers basically go unanswered when Interlandi, who was skateboarding earlier in Venice, shows up with a beer pong table and draws the crew into some friendly competition.
Channeling Rodney Dangerfield, Interlandi’s saying he doesn’t get any of the respect that he deserves.
“I represent Arrow, the original owners of Deep Throat. We’re supposed to be their fucking partner but all I’m getting is the runaround.”
Thomas is perplexed.
“I don’t have the slightest idea why he’s doing all these strange things.”
Thomas also believes in the old Al Pacino adage about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer.
“I’m not going to let him know that he’s affecting me or my show,” continues Thomas revealing his strategy.
“I’m just going to kill him with kindness. Let him play his little ping-bong game. But if I’m going to have to stare at this punk’s face all day I’m going to at least put him to work.”
Which means Thomas wants Interlandi to be an extra. Interlandi tries some lines of dialogue but Thomas feels it’s probably best if Interlandi melts into the background.
“I’m so tired of being disrespected- fuck P.T.,” says Interlandi in frustration.
“Fuck Vivid. Fuck the whole fucking project. They can shove it up their fucking ass.”
For her part, Grey’s back is killing her, she’s on her period and she’s late arriving to the set. Also nervous about her anal scene with Evan Stone, Grey expresses the hope that everyone isn’t high on the set but comments later to her boyfriend that everyone was drunk.
On the other hand, Thomas expresses confidence that Grey can dive into her scene cold. But Grey wants time to warm up and is now the object of more gossip because of that.
“She needs to do what she needs to do and I’ll give her more time,” states Thomas.
Marci Hirsch, Hirsch’s sister is using her son Jordan who’s been hired as a P.A. to be a spy in the set. Jordan, in turn, gives her the skinny on how P.T. kicked one of the female performers, Sarah Vandella, off the set.
Grey has an accident, and P.T. muses that Jordan’s getting a crash course in feminine hygiene. Jordan, later, admits that although his mother works in porn, she’s pretty uptight about it.
It’s also brought to P.T.’s attention that Interlandi gave an interview to one of the porn gossip sites about how he wasn’t getting any input. [The site was Adultfyi, but no mention is made of that.]
After reading the post [Hirsch also has a look at it], Thomas comments that, “all of this shit is so inconsequential- who’s got time for it?”
Hirsch also makes a strange comment.
“I never thought I would have a chance to make a new Deep Throat movie and I hope some day my kids understand- really I do it all for them.”
Mentioning that going to the set is one of his least favorite things to do, Hirsch is now informed that he really needs to get to the set to diffuse the Interlandi situation.
“I’ve got a ton of money riding on this,” he says.
Calling Interlandi “disruptive,” Hirsch wonders how you deal with him.
“What is this guy, 8 years old? He’s a punk.”
“He’s obnoxious and childish,” Marci Hirsch adds.
By Day Three of the shoot, Thomas, in abrupt-mode, notes that cast and crew are tired and everyone’s making mistakes. One dialogue scene in particular is going haywire. Thomas complains that a machine shop next door is intrusive and that two of the extras couldn’t deliver their lines if their lives depended on it. One of them is fired for stepping all over the crime scene.
In Vegas, meanwhile, Pistol is getting reports from Interlandi to suggest that Arrow’s going to need to take the bull by the horns and shoot their own version. Convinced that a girl named Ariel whom he auditioned [in Episode One] may have what it takes, Pistol invites a sex educator named Morgan Ray to give Ariel lessons on deep throating and how to overcome the gag reflex with some mouth exercises and a banana.
Interlandi makes attempts at a peace offering by passing out Deep Throat energy drinks, shirts and DVDs - none of which is appreciated especially when Interlandi hands Grey some swag and chats with her while she’s in the middle of taking some pretty girls.
Interlandi’s idea behind this is to piss Hirsch off, and he succeeds. They take it out to the parking lot.
“She’s trying to work,” Hirsch tells Interlandi. “In the most pivotal scene why is it you need to have a discussion with her?”
“We were team deep Throat,” says Interlandi. “I didn’t get to know who the chick is that you picked. You didn’t do a talent search.”
“Are you nuts!?” Hirsch asks.
“You got the usual suspects,” continues Interlandi who reminds Hirsch again that he’s vice president of Arrow.
“I don’t care what you are,” answers Hirsch. “I give that zero credibility, your track record as a producer and director. It’s time for you to head on out. You’re a punk kid.”
“I’m vice president of a fucking company,” Interlandi keeps reminding him. Hirsch has one last comment to make.
“You haven’t shot a fucking movie- thank you, good bye.”
Interlandi kicks a gate on his way out and gives Hirsch the finger.
The Deeper Throat Reality Show - a review; Episode One
Friday, March 27th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Story by Gene Ross from www.adultfyi.com
The Deeper Throat Reality Show - a review; Episode OnIf Kismet is hell, than Kismet brought Arrow’s Ray Pistol and Vivid’s Steve Hirsch for a dance together in the fire.
I say “together” in the sense of a reality show which has been airing on Showtime. The Showtime project was put together by the World of Wonder guys Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato- the gents who did such an illustrious job with the documentary, Inside Deep Throat. Whereas Bailey and Barbato now do an even better job in bringing the inside, inside drama of the adult business to the screen with Pistol and Hirsch slugging it out over the re-making of Deep Throat, an idea which Pistol has had on the plate for at least the last ten years I’ve been talking to him about it. And Pistol, just as long, has been searching for a new Linda Lovelace.
Prompted much by what apparently happened during the behind the scenes of this Showtime mini-series, Pistol is now suing Hirsch, as we speak, over Hirsch’s creation of Deeper Throat. And to tell you the truth, I’m still vague on some of the issues.
Pistol never struck me as the kind of guy who would just relinquish control to something he holds close to the heart, and why he now does this is never really made clear on screen. Although the behind the scenes agreement that brought this Showtime deal to the table was Pistol’s apparent consent allowing Hirsch to produce a new Deep Throat with Pistol being given the first right of refusal to buy it.
But you never get the sense of that except when Pistol says on screen if Vivid screws it up, then Arrow will take their shot.
To that extent is Pistol’s edict to his employees to come up with their own version and cast for a new Deep Throat within a week. In one sequence Pistol auditions a girl named Ariel Kent, and after a thorough gynecologic examination concludes she has what it takes to be the next Linda Lovelace.
The first episode begins with Hirsch chatting with AVN’s Paul Fishbein at the AEE convention telling Fishbein that he needs an encore to the hits he’s had with the re-makes of Debbie Does Dallas and The Devil in Miss Jones. Ever the showman looking to do a bigger and better show, Hirsch hits upon the idea of re-making the all-time adult classic, Deep Throat and wants to talk to Pistol whose company Arrow owns the rights.
[The Butchie Peraino geneological history of Deep Throat is thus explained by Pistol.]
Hirsch has never met Pistol, and this isn’t surprising. I’ve always said that if the entire industry attended a party, half the room wouldn’t know the other half. But the fact that Pistol and Hirsch have their first conversation inside Arrow’s Deep Throat Corvette [a huge reproduction of the Linda Lovelace deep Throat poster is emblazoned on the hood] on the AEE show floor smacks a little of contrivance.
Needless to say, Pistol, a grizzled gent but always a man of his word, ain’t too keen with the idea Hirsch is pitching. But Hirsch is annoyingly persistent and feels he’s the only one who can bring it off. This idea set in motion, the reality show now plays like the Beverly Hillbillies with its notions of big money and societal opposites, all imagined with the Frank Capra touch.
Pistol is obviously Jed Clampett, and Hirsch is Mr. Drysdale. The Capra touch is Pistol being the aw shucks kind of guy who might be mistaken for the country rube that he really ain’t. And, in Capra fashion, Hirsch is playing it obviously with great relish like the city slicker out to connive him. So sets the mood.
“I’m an old marine and in no mood to be fucked with,” snarls the shotgun-toting Pistol at one point in dressing Hirsch down. In other words, he’s showing who’s boss. The only thing missing is the jug and the banjo music whenever Pistol’s on camera because that’s the impression the storyline lends of the man.
On the other hand, Hirsch must also be given credit for being an astute businessman much like Pistol.
[Pistol’s take of himself is that he’s an unconventional businessman which is putting it rather mildly.]
And while Pistol’s not living in a shack by any stretch, Hirsch dwells in this modern Versailles-like residence where he and his wife are kind of like the Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI of the porn business. And this is as much a statement of the industry’s hierarchy of the haves [Hirsch’s sister Marci is seen driving a white Rolls Royce], have-nots and almost haves.
In another segment, it’s mentioned that Paul Thomas who’s directed for Hirsch over 20 years [“way too long,” mutters Thomas] has never been to Hirsch’s house, which if you understand the business and its inflated, artificial sense of personal values and distancing, makes a lot of sense.
To put it all in the right perspective, however, these are all merely pornographers, and they hire “models” who suck dick for a living. Though no one ever seems to get that point across in all those glorifying documentaries about porn.
In the early stages, Hirsch berates PT’s efforts in writing a Deep Throat script telling him he’s got a lot of guys waiting in the wings to take his place if Thomas can’t deliver on a good story. The initial script Thomas comes up with stinks in Hirsch’s estimation, although Thomas is blindly enamored with his own efforts at combining Deep Throat with a Cinderella storyline.
[Someone might remind PT he already made a porn version of Cinderella.]
With Hirsch’s merciless hectoring, Thomas goes back to the drawing board and next comes up with a murder mystery with blood being spilled.
“I think Pistol had a comedy in mind,” Hirsch quips with a dead pan expression. [Thomas most of the time comes off like a space cadet who’s still orbiting in space.]
Hirsch is taking a meeting with Pistol in Las Vegas and flies there on a private jet. Hirsch, his wife and sister are met with a stretch limo provided by Pistol and, from the get-go, Hirsch and Robert Interlandi, Arrow’s marketing manager, are locking horns.
When asked for his opinion, Interlandi, who’s take is that Vivid is “The Evil Empire,” tells Hirsch he saw the re-makes of Debbie Does Dallas and Miss Jones. Apparently Interlandi in flippant fashion didn’t think too highly of those projects judging by his quick-kill put downs, and Hirsch reacts in kind with Marty Feldman’s bug eyes.
[Freeze frame moments of an astonished Hirsch abound in this series.]
Hirsch later makes the comment that Interlandi’s “a moron,” and Hirsch’s wife acts like this is all beneath her dignity to begin with.
Hirsch? He’s right along with her especially when one of Pistol’s strippers attempts to give him a lap dance, and Hirsch shoos her away like a pesky house fly.
“I’m trying to do deals here,” Hirsch keeps reminding his wife every time she flashes annoyance that business calls him to the office.
Because Hanna Hilton [a short haired blonde who wears extensions when performing] might be signing as a Vivid girl, Hirsch, quicker than you can say Octomom, is ready to cut his Vegas meetings short and get back to LA.
Adding a bit of irony to this subplot is the fact that Hilton’s boyfriend is Jack Venice who’s now doing life on a rape charge in Washington. During Hilton’s initial meeting with Hirsch, Venice’s opinion is solicited as though it’s valued as highly as a member of the presidential cabinet. We later discover that one of Venice’s earlier paramours, Meggan Malone, is now also a Vivid girl.
You can’t make this shit up on a soap opera.
Arrow Turns “Deep Throat” and Other Titles into a Merchandising Empire
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
From XBIZ Magazine’s Special March 2009 Marketing Issue
———————————————————–
BRANDING X: A NEW WAY TO MAINSTREAM ADULT
Arrow Turns “Deep Throat” and Other Titles into a Merchandising Empire
By Michael McClay
Arrow Productions, widely considered the oldest established American adult video company is not only porndom’s original trailblazer with numerous classics in its catalog, including “Deep Throat,” the Las Vegas-based company also has the distinction of being a leading pioneer in the area of special marketing. In recent times Arrow further expanded its impact into the merchandising and branding arena, licensing its titles for products other than the distribution and sales of sex videos. www.xxxdeepthroat.com
Arrow has made a significant impact in the energy beverage marketplace with the release of the Deep Throat Energy Drink in May 2007. Then a year later Arrow made its second big marketing splash with the publication in the first of a series of comic books with “Debbie Does Dallas” followed by three other titles: “Candy Stripers,” “The Devil in Miss Jones” and “Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here.” Finally, licensing theatrical posters for “Deep Throat,” “Debbie Does Dallas,” “Candy Stripers” and “The Goddaughter” completed a third major merchandising coup in a process that the company considers the wave of the future. Plans for other items include coffee, film cell wall art, costumes, T-shirts, hats, hoodies, belts, stickers, clocks, watches, beach towels, shot cups, beer mugs and other products.
The long and colorful history of Arrow Productions itself is the stuff of legends and the company’s Marketing Director Robert Interlandi who carries the banner as a second generation member of the organization has created quite an impact with his aggressive, edgy style.
“Even though our entire industry markets product considered controversial and cutting edge to mainstream, the adult industry’s marketing approach is surprisingly stale and static by today’s Madison Avenue standards,” says Interlandi. “Just look at the way mainstream companies market products on cable and the internet. Some of it really pushes the mainstream envelope.”
About four years ago after watching how adult marketed it product to consumers, he presented a marketing/licensing idea to Arrow owner Ray Pistol. Interlandi felt that some kind of consumer product tie-in to their video catalog could make a noteworthy impact. “I thought of what George Lucas did with ‘Star Wars’ merchandising and we thought we could do the same thing licensing with adult, since we had all the classic icons of adult,” says Interlandi. “I felt strongly that it could put us more in the mainstream.”
Several ideas were discussed, especially a beer. But a beer carried certain Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms requirements and the added tie-in to adult entertainment would bring too much Federal scrutiny, especially under the conservative Bush administration. “We’ve got nothing to hide, but we felt it was not a good mix at the time – so to speak,” says Interlandi, tongue in cheek.
Then one day while “hoisting a few” at a local pub with other Arrow staffers, they joked about the beer idea and was asked what the slogan would be: “Never too much head” and “put it in a bottle with an extra long neck.” But as he looked around the room, he saw all the non-alcoholic beverages being used a chasers and imagined a can of a “Deep Throat” beverage between the salt and pepper shakers. “The practical side of me also realized that if the drink were non-alcoholic, we could sell it to a wider base – not just those twenty-one and older, but everybody – especially the younger consumers who might think it cool to drink something associated with X,” he says. The booming energy beverage market seemed a natural.
It put Interlandi on quite a mission and fortunately as a Las Vegas resident many licensing trade shows land there sooner or later. “Just by walking at some shows I learned a lot and I picked up some non-beverage licensees as well. A lot of this is footwork – talking to people, networking…asking what they’re doing. It helped to go out of our little porn bubble. I rubbed shoulders with licensors such as Dick Clark, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and other showbiz icons.”
“Into the Drink”
After a year of lab testing and product research, the Deep Throat Energy Drink debuted at the Adult Expo in 2007 replete with a yellow Corvette emblazoned with the drink’s logo and a mechanical riding bull for brave onlookers.
Arrow Productions launched the Deep Throat Energy drink later in the year and since its launch and an aggressive marketing campaign it has broken into new energy drink marketing and sales avenues. It has been exhibited at over 20 trade shows in the last year and in a number of unique markets including the Fort Worth’s Main St. Festival, South Dakota’s Sturgis Bike Week and many other events/markets unexplored by other energy drink manufacturers. In order to maximize its usage, it is being touted not only as an energy booster, but an alcoholic beverage mixer.
The reviews have been uniformly good, one describing it as having “a slightly berry taste and trending a tad sweeter than your ordinary energy drink, with taste tests concluding that over 90% of the samplers preferred the Deep Throat Energy Drink to its leading competitors.” The drink’s website claims that “the packaging, a tall thin canary yellow can with a retro “Deep Throat” movie poster has proven to be such a hit that people have fished empties out of the trash and took them home as souvenirs.”
Today Arrow’s name and flagship title “Deep Throat” stands out as a perfect example of storybook licensing done right. The Deep Throat Energy Drink, its characteristic yellow and fiery red color theme with the image of Linda Lovelace wrapped around the can with arms spread wide as if to embrace the thirsty consumer looking for an energy fix (and a little titillation) from America’s first official porn queen.
Branding Arrow video releases using an energy drink was a marketing masterstroke and not only are ancillary products in adult entertainment a long time coming, it’s appropriate that the first and most influential adult film ever produced is the flagship article of trade.
According to Arrow and the market, Deep Throat Energy Drink is here to stay; it was as an official nominee for the XBIZ Best Marketing Campaign, it was also nominated for the Best Overall Marketing Campaign at the Las Vegas Adult Expo. Outside the business, the Deep Throat Energy Drink was also nominated for two BevNet.com awards, including Best Energy Drink & Best Overall Marketing Campaign of 2008 and featured in their printed publication, New Beverage Guide.
“This really makes my year,” says Interlandi. “We have worked so hard on the drink. There were days where I would be in the Deeper Throat reality TV for Showtime starting a 9am and then I do a bar promotion with the mechanical bull until 2 a.m. ending up working 18 hours a day. I also can’t believe that we are the first energy drink to be nominated to an AVN and XBIZ award. With the BevNet award nomination it says that the drink is recognized in the mainstream beverage industry also. I feel like Wayne Gretzky scoring a marketing hat trick.” www.deepthroatenergy.com
“Stand-Up Comics”
One of Interlandi’s original ideas in addition to a beverage was a comic book license. For over four years he pursued it, approaching every nearly every large and small publisher. There were many offers, but too many just didn’t seem to fit right. “They had very stale ideas with no unique approach. When you go after licensees, you want to go after quality. I finally saw eye to eye with Terminal Press and I’m glad I went with them.”
After three years in development and production, Terminal Press launched the series in January at the 2008 Adult Entertainment Expo with a post-apocalyptic adaptation of “Debbie Does Dallas” that debuted and unveiled “Deep Throat,” “Candy Stripers,” “The Devil in Miss Jones” and “Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here” four months later at Comic-Con in San Diego as part of its ‘HARD/CORE’ line.
Ironically, that “hardcore” moniker is a misnomer, since the entire series actually has no hardcore images, but rather a softcore treatment for the ‘mature reader,’ placing the characters and concepts from the original films in new scenarios including thriller, horror, fairy tale and crime genres designed for contemporary sophisticated audiences. www.terminalpress.com
“Poster Time”
Since the Millennium’s turn, posters have had a renaissance, especially motion picture theatrical one-sheets. Although no adult motion picture has been in theatrical release since the mid-eighties, many of the vintage titles in release by Arrow were once released in movie houses during porn’s so-called “Golden Age” of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Arrow Productions library includes the aforementioned classics and many are now available online as newly-minted posters, including Gerard Damiano’s original “Deep Throat,” “Debbie Does Dallas,” “Candy Stripers” and “The Goddaughter.”
Arrow has a licensing deal with Vegas-based Acument Entertainment not only to create one-sheets, but canvas poster art, 3D posters and film cell wall art based on Arrow’s classic titles. “I was on a quest for a movie poster license for the past two years,” says Interlandi. “Everyone at Arrow is excited to team up with a company like Acument.
“Arrow’s the type of company that’s thinking like a main stream production company to promote its products and we’re proud to team up with an iconic company like Arrow Productions. The retro porn style is a hot seller and Arrow has tons of great art.” Arrow’s movie posters are available online at www.moviegoods.com
Arrow Productions & “Deep Throat” History
Originally formed in 1969 under the name Vanguard productions, and later renamed Arrow Productions, the company made blockbuster hits such as “Deep Throat,” “Devil In Miss Jones” and “Debbie Does Dallas.” Over the years Arrow Productions has acquired the distribution rights to many production lines including well known titles like “Alice In Wonderland,” “Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here,” “Candy Stripers” and “Taxi Girls.”
But Arrow’s reputation as a video manufacturer and distributor was built upon the fact that they were the original distributors of the single most important and influential sex video ever produced: “Deep Throat.”
The Gerard Damiano sex farce with the silly premise and goofy execution unintentionally set the stage for what would become ground zero for the foundation of the entire modern triple-X adult motion picture business. It led to the genre’s general acceptance in urban America and the birth of “Porn Chic” and subsequent acceptance as a true American pop culture milestone. “Deep Throat” had more impact, influence and visibility than any adult film had before or since. As a theatrical release and at the $600 million boxoffice range, “Throat” actually grossed as much as mainstream 1970 mega-blockbusters like “Star Wars,” “Rocky,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “The Sting,” among others.
The road to merchandising heaven was not easy and the resistance they experienced was even tougher than they realized. “Marketing and licensing X is very difficult and took a long time to be taken seriously,” says Interlandi. “But I think now that after all my struggles people are finally giving us respect. They used to laugh and shun me and now it’s changing. The success and the hard work are finally paying off.
“Someone recently told me that twenty years from now they’ll be calling me a pioneer and I should ‘get ready for it and get used to it.’
“That just gave me the chills. Crazy.”
*****
Arrow’s Deep Throat Products Now Sold at Spencer’s Gifts
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
LAS VEGAS — Arrow Productions Marketing Director Robert Interlandi says that his company’s latest deal over Deep Throat merchandising at Spencer’s Gifts is quite a coup.
“I think it’s just the first of many products that we will have in there,” Interlandi told XBIZ.
On Tuesday, Arrow Productions said it struck a deal with New York-based Silver Buffalo, which will distribute Deep Throat shot glasses on shelves at 690 Spencer’s Gifts stores.
“I hope that everyone buys a Deep Throat shot glass and does a toast with shots of your favorite booze to the final episode of ‘Deeper Throat’ on Showtime,” Interlandi said. “I’m glad it’s over but sad it’s gone.”
Interlandi said tha Silver Buffalo licensed the Deep Throat barware through Arrow. The company also has deals in place for Deep Throat barware, drinkware, games, clocks, watches and home decor.
Arrow — which owns the licensing rights of “Deep Throat,” “Devil in Miss Jones,” “Debbie Does Dallas” and “Tell them Johnny Wadd is Here” videos — has branched out into numerous areas beyond adult in marketing and licensing their icons. The company’s lineup includes the Deep Throat Energy Drink, as well as apparel, costumes, comic books and posters.
Silver Buffalo also has licensed companies such as Miller Brewing, Coors Brewing, Kiss and Metallica.
Dick Clark meets Deep Throat
Friday, March 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
From the Website www.productplacement.biz
On the same day RedZone Capital announced the acquisition of dick clark productions, inc., the licensing show was under way in New York. Participants included Disney, Paramount, Dick Clark and Arrow Productions, who proudly displayed a poster for their classic film Deep Throat right across from the Dick Clark booth.
Dick clark productions, inc. is the owner/producer of some of television’s most popular and exciting entertainment properties, as well as the owner of the world’s most unique and extensive library of live televised music. RedZone Capital paid $175 million
with Six Flags, Inc., (NYSE: SIX) taking a 40% equity interest in the transaction.
Arrow Productions is the oldest adult production company. In information provided to the Licensing show:
“Arrow started the whole Adult Entertainment Industry with the blockbusters like Deep Throat, Debbie Does Dallas, and Tell them Jonny Wadd was Here. Arrow is the true legend in the Adult Industry.”
The poster from Deep Throat (enhanced in the photo above) was an ‘attention grabber’, especially when one explores the total revenue of the film - one FBI source suggests $100 million, but numbers as high as $600 million have also been cited, which would make the movie the most profitable of all time.
Red Zone’s purchase price of $175 million includes The American Music Awards, The Golden Globes, The Academy of Country Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, and 10,000 hours of contemporary live music performances, including American Bandstand’s nearly 900 one-hour broadcasts, and a variety of entertainment and comedy specials or series, children’s programming, talk shows, made-for-TV movies, and more.
In 2002, as a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: DCPI) dick clark productions was purchased for $140 million and taken private by a group of investors including the Canadian pension fund Capital Communications CDPQ, Inc., and Mosaic Media Group. It has remained privately owned since. In 2004, Mandalay Entertainment Group purchased Capital Communications’ interest and announced it would partner with Mosaic Media Group to operate the company, forming the new entity Mandalay Mosaic Television Group.
Earlier this year, RedZone Capital Fund II purchased the Johnny Rockets restaurant chain, one of the fastest-growing American brands. RedZone Capital also is owner of Red Zebra Broadcasting, home of ESPN broadcasts for greater Washington, DC, Richmond, VA, Norfolk, VA; and other assets.
Arrow’s Las Vegas Deeper Throat Party
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Morgan Ray
LAS VEGAS — Celebrate adult star Morgan Ray’s Birthday and her appearance on Showtime’s Deeper Throat at LAX in Las Vegas on Saturday March 14th. LAX will be playing Deeper Throat series as it airs nationally on Showtime this Saturday, March 14th at 11:30pm. Arrow Productions’ reality TV star Robert Interlandi will also be there co-hosting of the party along with the Arrow’s Deep Throat Energy team.
In this episode, Ariel, an aspiring porn star is instructed by Morgan Ray on the art of Deep Throat and later in the series Ariel does her first scene. Arial is scheduled to make an appearance at LAX.
In this week’s episode Morgan Ray is teaching Ariel how to Deep Throat and Robert Interlandi has a huge fight with Steve Hirsch from Vivid. “This is going to be a must see week of Deeper Throat.” says Arrow’s Robert Interlandi, “I turn the heat up on the Vivid camp!”.
At the event the band Switchfoot is performing their edgy music for the club. Afterwards there is going to be a Deep Throat contest like Deepest Throat and Sexist Deep Throat on bananas that will be hosted by Morgan Ray. With the audience as judges the contestants will be able to win tons of Arrow’s Deep Throat swag like DVDs, T-shirts, posters, costumes, shot glasses, and Deep Throat Energy Drinks.
LAX nightclub is inside the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The party starts at 11pm and goes all night please RSVP as soon as possible because it will be a night to remember and space is limited. Admission is free for all industry guests and press if they email Robert Interlandi at bob@deepthroatenergy.com
Would Tommy Gunn Shave His Goatee to Appear in Three’s Company XXX Porn Spoof?
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Arrow Productions -DEEP THROAT NEWS - Press Release
Not Three's Company XXX
Hollywood, CA- Superstar adult male performer Tommy Gunn finally did something he’s never done before to prepare for a role in a porn movie.
The 2007 AVN Male Performer of the Year, star of numerous mega-blockbuster adult movies agreed to shave off his famous goatee and mustache in order to co-star in the year’s funniest porn movie Not Three’s Company XXX due in stores March 3rd from X-Play/Hustler Video.
The New Jersey tough guy was given an ultimatum of sorts by producers Jeff Mullen and Scott David who dangled the coveted role of horny neighbor Larry Dallas in front of the buffed actor like a diamond ring in front of Carol Channing.
“I grew up with Three’s Company and I thought it was a funny sitcom and having been in the business so long wearing the hair and the goatee I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to try something daring. I love working with Scott and Jeff and the timing was perfect to shed the tough guy image”, Gunn said over a chicken lite salad at a famous Hollywood eatery.
“We wanted Tommy Gunn to be in the movie along with Jack, Janet and Chrissy from the moment we began writing the script,” Mullen said.
“Although Tommy had that east coast confidence we were looking for, he also had the goatee and mustache of a cartel leader and that was a no-no for the sleazy but lovable used car salesman Larry.”
Getting the actor to appear without facial hair was more difficult than anticipated as Gunn was initially resistant. X-Play’s sitcum.com producers were reduced to three options: applying torture, begging, or a media smear campaign all of which were finally eliminated.
Tommy Gunn eventually agreed to shave his face clean when he heard a vicious rumor later denied that his Captain Stagnetti character would be killed off in the third installment of Pirates when a cruise liner collides with his 16th Century Galleon ship.
“What the fuck is a cruise ship doing in the middle of the 16th century?” Gunn was heard muttering as he pulled out a straight edge razor and began trimming.
Not Three’s Company XXX tells a hilarious story that leads Larry into a crazy sexual interaction with horny neighbor Lana played bustily by Sienna West and Gunn was the perfect fit. When Jack loses his restaurant job the gang can’t afford rent so Chrissy picks up a night job leading Jack, Janet, the Ropers and Larry to think she’s become a hooker. Crazy, funny & dirty situations result in non-stop sex as gorgeous breasts, booty & snatch abound in this hardcore spoof of the classic ‘70s TV show.
Not Three’s Company XXX has the look and feel of the original ABC television show complete with picture perfect sets, costumes, and an engaging script but brings hardcore sex as something the original viewers could only imagine seeing.
“This is a really funny movie and people will really enjoy it. I had fun making it, Gunn stated”.
“We’re happy that Tommy shaved his face bald to co-star in Not Three’s Company XXX because we really think he did a great job and this is by far the best comedy of the year even though it’s only February,” Mullen said.
“Then why the hell am I not on the box cover?” Gunn exclaimed as he left the X-Play offices. “It’s just a minor editorial fuckup Tommy. We’ll fix it in post,” came the reply of director Will Ryder.
Not Three’s Company XXX stars beautiful rookie starlet Brynn Tyler as Chrissy, Penny Flame as Janet and Van Damage as Jack, The ensemble cast also includes rising superstars Jenny Hendrix and Madison Scott, along with Sienna West, Roxy Jezel, Allyssa Hall, funnyman James Bartholet, Eric Swiss, Scott Lyons, Cynthia Damage the great Ron Jeremy, Dino Bravo along with Nina Hartley as Mr. & Mrs. Roper and the wonderfully clean shaven Tommy Gunn as Larry.
If your favorite store doesn’t stock it, ask them to order Not Three’s Company XXX in stores March 3rd.
Digital Playground’s ‘Nurses’ Streets Today
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Arrow Productions - DEEP THROAT NEWS——
Jesse Jane
WWW.XBIZ.COM Reports —
By Steve Javors
VAN NUYS, Calif. — Continuing the tradition of its hit vocation series, Digital Playground believes it has the cure for what ails you with “Nurses,” releasing today.
Directed by Robby D, “Nurses” stars Digital Playground exclusives Jesse Jane, Stoya, Katsuni, Riley Steele and Gabriella Fox, along with Sasha Grey and Jenna Haze.
“The sex in ‘Nurses’ is insane,” said Robby D. “The girls and guys are porn’s top A-list stars. The sexual heat on set was always turned to high. Throw some slutty nurse uniforms into the mix, and the cast couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. The horniness really transcends perfectly to the screen.”
Digital Playground’s other two titles in the vocation series, “Cheerleaders” and “Babysitters,” were universally well received, with “Cheerleaders” particularly standing out as one of the company’s best-selling titles.
“As a company, we’re always raising our level of quality,” Digital Playground CEO Samantha Lewis said. “Our competition comes from the preceding best-selling and award-winning Digital Playground titles. Consumers and distributors know that ‘Nurses’ is going to exceed all expectations.”
Joone, Digital Playground’s founder adds, “Robby D. continues to outdo himself with each new release.”
The movie’s most noteworthy scene features an all Digital Playground contract girl “girlbang” with Erik Everhard as the lucky recipient of their medicine.
“The DP girl gangbang of Erik was awesome,” Jesse Jane said. “We showed Everhard why nobody rides cock better than the Digital Playground contract girls. Afterwards, he pledged his undying loyalty to the five of us. ‘Nurses’ is the movie to see!”
“Nurses” also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, photo gallery and trailers. The movie, which is being released in a special two-disc set on standard DVD and also on Blu-ray is presented in true 16:9 widescreen format with 5.1 digital surround sound.
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