The Return of John Holmes

John Holmes

The death of a great artist inevitably brings out vultures eager to release and rerelease any works by the now more-profitable deceased. Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley, and Jimi Hendrix fans have all been “treated” to a methodical onslaught of lost recordings, outtakes, demos, and embarrassing studio missteps all in the name of maintaining copyright ownership, preserving the legend, and keeping them good ol’ greenbacks rolling in. A somewhat notable exception has been John Holmes, the man once dubbed “The Sultan of Smut,” but Hustler Founder and Chairman Larry Flynt is reviving Holmes’s filmography with the discovery of two never-before-released hardcore movies starring a young Holmes in what are being touted as his very first performances.

The two features, Balls in Action and The Doctor Is In, apparently constitute the first work of Holmes and were discovered by Hustler’s video archivists and researchers. Flynt called the films “hidden treasures” and “something really special,” declaring Hustler “very excited” to make them publicly available. Robert Smith, Hustler Video’s Director of Operations, said Flynt often purchases large archives of adult material to comb through and that this particular haul yielded a “jackpot!”

Remastered by Hustler Video and currently being prepped for a home video (DVD via Zero Tolerance) release in early 2016, Balls in Action and The Doctor Is In will also make it to Hustler TV and Hustler.com. Expect more information and previews from Mr. Pink’s as they come to light. Until then, check out the best of Holmes’ legendary work, including the Johnny Wadd series, at The Classic Porn.

In Memoriam: Candida Royalle

ca. 1988 --- Candida Royalle --- Image by © Deborah Feingold/Corbis
ca. 1988 — Candida Royalle — Image by © Deborah Feingold/Corbis

Candida Royalle, director/producer/performer, sex educator, feminist, and XRCO and AVN Hall of Fame member has died of ovarian cancer at age 64. Leaving behind a legacy of female liberation and free expression that has clearly informed today’s new generation of feminist pornographers, Royalle will be sorely missed by her peers, fans, and students alike, many of whom have taken to social media to share their remembrances of one of porn’s bravest and most compelling individuals, and the first director to envision a ‘couples’ market.

Born in 1950 in New York City, the future dancer and filmmaker was abandoned by her biological mother at 18 months, a subject that would consume much of her recent time as she worked on a documentary film about the search for the woman that birthed her. While You Were Gone remains unfinished at the time of Royalle’s passing. Though a private detective had located the woman at Royalle’s request, it was not before she had died from ovarian cancer, unknowingly preceding her daughter. The future of the film remains uncertain, though an except can be viewed below.

Entering adult entertainment in 1975, Royalle appeared in roughly 25 pictures before retiring five years later, penning the script to her final film as just a performer. Royalle founded Femme Productions in ’84, producing erotic films based on the notions of female desire and believably passionate couplings, going to great effort to avoid the usual male-centric porn cliches. A published author, public speaker and lecturer, Royalle’s influence on female porn professionals and viewers is almost unparalleled.

Candida Royale
Photo by Daniel Nicoletta

 

My Special Wartime Buddy

My Buddy: World War II Laid BareAmericans love their war heroes. If you don’t, maybe you’re not really an American! Our veterans left their homes and families (and, in many cases, a poverty-stricken future) to fight on the front lines in the battle for peace and global supremacy, many of them losing life or limb in the unbelievably brutal process. Still, love them dearly though we may, there’s plenty left unrevealed about The Greatest Generation… like how great their asses were.

Asses

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of D-Day, Taschen Books has announced the September 2014 release of ‘My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare’, a collection of more than 500 photographs sourced and compiled by Los Angeles photographer Michael Stokes. Edited by noted men’s magazine producer and Taschen veteran Dian Hanson, My Buddy depicts the close relationships formed under the barrage of artillery fire. As encouraged by their commanding officers, ground troops formed “buddy” relationships with each other that ensured they had someone to rely on for emotional support. In times of great, even inhuman stress, playtime is usually a gosh darn riot! And, when your playmates are all strapping young 18, 19, 20-year-old fellas fighting for home and country, it’s pretty easy on the eyes too.

soldiers

In his introduction, ex-Marine and author of Hollywood sexploit memoir Full Service, Scotty Bowers, lays it out in its most basic terms: “You close your eyes for a little bit, but don’t really sleep. It’s raining. You’re wet and it rains, frankly, every day and every night. Some guys huddle together, some don’t, but this is when the buddy bonding starts. You need somebody you can depend on, and they can depend on you. You can tell the type of buddy that you’d want to be with in a foxhole: Someone who is on the ball. Someone who’s not going to get upset and nervous.”

Eschewing the combat photography that has become a staple of WWII tributes and remembrances in favor of showing what a grunt’s downtime might involve – communal bathing, sandy oceanside frolicking, makeshift mountaintop showers, impromptu beefcake shoots on equipment cases, naked rainforest romps during the Guadalcanal campaign, and just plain ol’ semi-naked hand-holding – My Buddy aims to shed a little light on the underreported romances (platonic or otherwise) that spring up where you might least (or most, depending on your perspective on men-in-uniform) expect it: the trenches of War World II.

Vinegar Syndrome to Launch “Netflix of Porn”

Consenting AdultsAs Martin Scorsese works and campaigns for the preservation the most neglected titles in our global cinematic history, so follows Vinegar Syndrome, a Connecticut-based company whose interest in film preservation has a distinctly risque element: it’s vintage porn. Named after a type of celluloid decay that destroys film prints, leaving little but scrap pieces of negative or positive and a distinctly acidic odor, Vinegar Syndrome, which was recently profiled in the New York Times, is a home video company focusing on the erotic, the risque, the exploitation, and the pornographic films of yesteryear.

Having already launched their line of remastered digital, DVD, and Blu-Ray releases (including the monumental dual-format release The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis), Vinegar Syndrome (or Vin Syn to its friends) has spent months readying itself and its fans for a new way to watch vintage porn and erotica in the highest possible quality… instantly.

Skinaflix aims to cut out the middle-man and allow you to view fully restored and remastered erotica classics from the comfort (and privacy) of your own living room. Now inviting users to try the service prior to launch, Skinaflix will soon providing a streaming what the New York Times described as “older X-rated films but geared toward cinephiles.” Whether this service will lead to a rush of competition or fades into irrelevancy sooner than anticipated remains to be seen. So too, thankfully, does a huge and increasing archive of beautifully restored, brilliantly HD-mastered classics like Good Luck Miss Wyckoff, Graduation Day, Sugar Cookies, Last House on Dead End Street, and The Telephone Book. Kudos, Vinegar Syndrome, you surely are doing the Lord’s work.

To see what Vinegar Syndrome and Skinaflix has in store for users, check out this trailer for Vin Syn’s recent restored Blu-Ray release of 1979’s Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff.