The history of gay porn cinema.

[haiducii]

Footy And Things

And now for something completely different, something from modern history. I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment and delight, Jay Grafmiller! But first, let me take a selfie. OK, seriously, let's learn something about foot fetishes and why do people have foot fetishes. :thinking:

Foot fetishism (foot partialism / foot worship /podophilia) is a pronounced sexual interest in feet. Academic studies on the prevalence and membership of fetish discussion groups have found that feet and foot accessories are the most fetishized of all non-genital body parts and objects. Sigmund Freud claimed that people sexualize feet because they resemble penises. Today, a more modern theory suggests that the feet and genitals are roommates in the touchy/feely part of your brain. They could exchange messages, or be cross-wired due to a brain abnormality.

In fact, "foot fetish" is one of the most popular sex terms on the internet. Quentin Tarantino, Ricky Martin and Haiducii are among the world’s more famous foot fans; they are just three of 70 million people with this fetish.

Jay Grafmiller was one of the first pioneers of male foot fetish photography and male tickling video producing. He formed Grafmiller Associates in 1998 (when few male tickling video producers existed) and made several tickling videos over the years. He was a footographer of bare male feet (his were some of the first pics I ran across on the internet.) and have published thousands of them on The Grafmiller Collection, a totally free website at _http://www.jayspix.com/Jayspix/; he also produce M/M tickle videos shown on the same site. HERE you can watch a video directed by Jay from 2006.

Jay was a steadfast patron of MTMTN, the Ticklefest gatherings and the early Foot Friends parties in New York. He generously offered his talents, financial support and other assistance to making many of the foot parties and Ticklefests successful. Jay has also done video work for MTMTN, Sean Bentz and Chris Chase of L0ndonL4dsFeet.com as well as Grafmiller Associates. HERE you can watch a video from huge foot fetish site based in London.

In 2004 he directed the movie ''Tied and tickled'', starring the world's most popular foot models of all time: Evan Heinze, Ian Madrox and Kelly Cooper. ''Tied and tickled'' still stands as one of the most remarkable foot fetish movies (category : twinks) in the history of gay porn cinema. HERE you can see a foot GOD!

Jay’s web site has long been a treasure trove of foot/tickle pics taken by him (Do I have to tell you that I was a huge fan of his work!? ) or gathered from the internet or TV and movies and has been a very popular outlet for many fans of male feet and tickling for years. At this time there were no sites like: Ru55ianGuysFeet, 4sian3oyFeet, Sk8er30Y, M4leFeet4u, 5oldiersFeet, etc. Jay’s photo and video work also influenced many who followed including Xander Beckett, Cat-in-Hat, Bubbafeet, and others. HERE you can watch a video directed by Xander from 2014.

Jay died on 5 May 2011 of complications from lung cancer in Silver Spring, Maryland. Warmest thanks for all of your efforts and contributions to the foot fetish community. Thanks for all you've done, RIP.

 

[gorgik9]

What a great post haiducii!!! I knew you would give me and everybody else quite a different take on gay porn history compared to myself - and that's the great thing!!!

I know I'll learn lots of fascinating things from you!!!

 

[Shelter]

Whow Haiducii - a magnificent post about a fetish I've known but nothing known. This thread really has developed as a thrilling part of gay history.

But btw my greatest fetish is between the thighs! -

 

[haiducii]

Money Makes The Porn Go ’Round

In the 80's gay porn became big business. Chuck Holmes, the founder of F4lcon 5tudios in 1971, made so much money from porn that he became a wealthy real estate mogul, a player in Democratic Party politics, and bought himself a seat on the board of the Human Rights Campaign. At his death from AIDS in 2000, his will turned over F4lcon 5tudios and all its income to a foundation named after him which financed gay and political causes.

F4lcon Entertainment is one of those studios that defined what gay porn was — every manager or studio runner in the business today worked for F4lcon at one time. Throughout its history, F4lcon 5tudios, one of the most recognizable brand names in gay pornography, has introduced dozens of the biggest and most legendary gay porn stars of all time. One of them is for sure Roman Heart, who was F4lcon Exclusive for a really long time and bottomed in tons of F4lcon movies. HERE you can watch a video from above-mentioned San Francisco's studio, starring Roman Heart and Will Helm.

In 2004, Linda Williams, a professor of film studies in the departments of Film Studies and Rhetoric at University of California, Berkeley, said: '' To me, the most eye-opening statistic is the following: Hollywood makes approximately 400 films a year, while the porn industry now makes from 10.000 to 11.000. Seven hundred million porn videos or DVDs are rented each year.''

The pornography industry is estimated to be worth approximately $60 billion in 2007, or, put in a comparative context, equal to Hungary’s foreign debt or Thailand’s total sum of exports. The world leader in the pornography industry is the U.S., which spends $12 billion annually on porn - more than it spends on Hollywood and the sameas on foreign aid.

''Gay video sales and rentals represent a disproportionately large segment of the $10 billion to $12 billion global porn industry, up to one-third or even one-half, by some estimates'', writes Joe A. Thomas in "Gay Male Video Pornography: Past, Present, and Future."

Let's see some current statistics. Every second, there is an average 28,258 internet users watching pornography. Over 35% of internet downloads contain pornographic matter. That is exactly why the business has become so popular, the product is made fast, and has been made easily accessible, in fact every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is made in the United States.The average rate for a male porn star doing straight porn is $500 to $600.

What do gay porn stars earn? While some name brand stars can earn up to $5,000 a scene, the vast majority make about $500 to $1,000 per scene. Since male porn performers get paid significantly more for doing gay porn, many straight men will now do gay porn for the money.

I'm sure everyone knows, that most models from American porn studios located in Czech Republic (BA, BP, WH, etc.) are straight. Almost all of the guys from these studios have girlfriends and you can see them on their Facebook profiles. In fact, "gay for pay" is a common practice in Eastern Europe. Especially to increase a guy's income.

According to H1ggins, gay men want to see straight guys but imagine them as gay, which is partly why 90 percent of the Czech men he uses in his films are heterosexuals, or at least “that's what they like to call themselves.” Not all Czech gay porn models are straight. Some of them are openly gay (like George Basten, Brad Fitt and others) and a growing number identify as bisexual. Btw, did you know that 3el4mi gay porn model Ennio Guardi (real name Pavel Danda) married to Nicole Dandova on 24 August 2013!?

Chris Rock, an American comedian, once said: '' You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese...'' Should I add “and the best bottom gay porn star from the beginning of the 21st century was straight” ? Yes, I'm talking about Kurt Wild (sometimes “Wilde”).

If you know anything about gay porn, you probably know who Kurt Wild is. He described himself as 100 percent straight. He was merely gay for pay. He left the porno industry four years ago. He’s married to a woman and has five kids. Following is an excerpt of a FPG Entertainment studio interview with Kurt Wild, published in 2008.

Q: As a straight guy, you bottom quite a bit. That shows quite an acceptance of human sexuality. Any opinions about that?
A: I think that anyone who shows a lack of understanding about sexuality is shallow. I enjoy male energy, but I’m emotionally and physically attracted to women. There’s room for both.

The guy was everywhere with all the mainstream actors. Brent Corrigan, Dak Ramsey, he’s all over the place. Even with Barrett Long, the famous man with 11 inches. CHECK out that scene and see what you think.

Gay men have always fetishized masculinity and seen straight guys as real guys, says Jeffrey Escoffier, the author of the book "Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore" and a visiting scholar at the NY University Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. “It’s a marketing opportunity for producers,” he says. “A large percentage of gay men see heterosexual men as more masculine than gay men.”

I've been wondering how are we defining masculinity today? Has the entire definition of masculinity been changed? What has happened to gay male self-image? Do we have a crisis of masculinity? Well, that's another subject that should be disscused here.

 

[gorgik9]

The only thing I can say is just what I use to say: Great post!!! And: keep up the good work!

 

[gorgik9]

A totally different version of Curt Wild!!! Ewan McGregor's version from Velvet Goldmine; the scottish lads they deliver! And how!!!

 

[Shelter]

The only thing I can say is just what I use to say: Great post!!! And: keep up the good work!

:agree::agree::agree::agree:
Haiducii I'm deeply impressed and can't await your next lecture.

 

[gorgik9]

If we are good students do we get a diploma at the end, or do we have to pass an exam first? Maybe an oral assesment.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Well with me there'll be an oral exam - VERY ORAL - in my room at the Uni, I don't know about my dear collegue

 

[Shelter]

I hope I can come to that exam as well. I'll promise and declare: I'm very good primed! -

 

[gorgik9]

From celluloid film to video. An interlude.

This is the first in a series posts that I'll name "an interlude" meaning a type of post not about an individual movie or director or a specific group of movies or directors, but rather about things that affected the porn industry as a whole or the gay community as a whole.

But this specific interlude could also be called "demythologization, act 2" if you remember, that I talked a bit about demythologization in connection to the 8mm porn shorts.

Of course I'm not talking about traditional religious myths, but modern secular myths. And a powerfull myth is never just a story that is nothing but false; it's rather a question of simplification and reductionism. Stories/myths are simple and streamlined; history, on the other hand as Oscar Wilde wisely told us, is rarely pure and never simple. (Ah yes, I knew I had to put in The Oscar somewhere...)

It's 31 December 1979 and porn cinema mogul Floyd Gondolli visits porn director Jack Horner's New Years Eve party at Horner's home. Gondolli wants to talk about the future - i.e. video - in a conversation that soon makes Horner sour and pouty...



I like Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 movie Boogie Nights quite a lot, but when he gives us the impression that video totally happened already in 1980-81-82, that's mythology. I want to do two things in this post: 1) Explain why it couldn't happen so fast.; 2) Describe a bit about the consequences of the transition to video in gay porn.

Why it couldn't happen so fast.

At rock bottom it's very simple: In 1978-82 VCR:s still were damn expensive machines with wich you couldn't do very much. Many quality VCR:s cost about as much as - no, not one, not two, but fuckin' three Laptop computers would cost me today. Let's say the HewlettPackard model I bought a few months ago. Damn expensive!

But when much more un-expensive VCR:s started to get introduced on the American and European markets around 1984-85-86, things started seriously happening! Looking from the consumer's end of the market, VCR didn't start getting really popular until the mid-1980s.

Here's a nice link to the history of VCR technology and economy which has helped me a lot to understand what happened in the 80s: Anon URL

How the transition happened and with what consequences.

If there's a consumer, there's also producers and distributors, and what made the big difference wasn't video as a distribution technology, but video as a production technology; i.e. when porn producers started shooting porn on video tape, not on some kind of celluloid film.

Here's a quotation from an interview with porn director Chuck Vincent in Variety 1988 that tells the central parts of the story!

"The market for adult films started slipping around 1982 and in the past three years [since 1985] has dried up [...] Five years ago [about 1983] video companies such as VCA and Caballero would typically advance $ 40-60.000 for the video rights to a theatrical porn film. Then roughly two years ago [about 1986] they stopped making offers - they decided they could do four shot-on-video programs themselves for the cost of video rights to a single theatrical film."

A way to put the same story in other words is when Charles Isherwood in his book about porn actor Joey Stefano tells us, that companies like Falcon and Catalina produced about 6 movies every year in the early 80s, but someting like 25-30 movies every year in the early 90s.

So the gay porn market exploded and as Samuel R. Delany tells us in his book on the life in the New York porn theaters, the good old 35mm film projectors were thrown out in 1986 and the video projectors installed.

Here endeth this specific lesson...

 

[haiducii]

Something dark was on the horizon

Did you know that between six and nine billion condoms are used each year around the world? Are you curious to know when they were first used and who invented them? It’s hard to pinpoint just when the first condom was used. Some researchers have suggested that the ancient Egyptians used condoms — and even dyed them in various colors — but evidence for this is scarce. The rubber condom as we know it today was first widely produced after the rubber vulcanization process was patented by Goodyear in 1844. Anyway, enough with the ''weather talk'' and let's move to the topic.

Once upon a time — from the mid 70’s, when the above-ground gay porn business got started, to the late 80’s — the men who had sex with each other in porn videos were blessedly condom-free. That all changed in the early 90’s when, at the height of AIDS consciousness, gay porn producers began to incorporate condom use into their films as well as prefacing them with safer-sex lectures.

Since 90's, the gay porn industry has adopted condoms as the standard practice in the production of all new videos. The straight industry had left condom use optional, but on the other side it established a rigorous testing policy: while condoms were not required, no performer could work in a production without having had a series of test for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

In the gay industry, the HIV status of the performers was private. They could be either HIV positive or negative and still perform in hardcore videos. At the same time, in their personal lives, gay men complained that ''no plastic barrier'' should be between them and their goal.

In the early 90's, a second wave of AIDS deaths hit the gay porn industry: embodied by the true porn classic ''Plunge'', a movie in which almost every star eventually either died of AIDS or committed suicide. Gorgeously sculpted young men, lush photography and flawless production values shine brighter in this one film then in almost any other F4lcon production that comes to mind. The movie starts with brunet beauties Joey Stefano and Lon Flexx in an indoor hot tub. Check out this video HERE and see how both guys finish with spraying out their hot cream.

In 1998, Bill Gardner and John Singleton decided to invite some friends who were HIV positive to a sex party at their home, says Jeffrey Escoffier, the author of the book "Bigger Than Life''. ''A retired HIV positive gay couple from Palm Springs started H0T Desert Knight5 (HDK) to produce and distribute their bareback sex video.''

In February 1999, they produced their first two films and put them on the net to see what would happen. They were a hit and they've been producing them ever since. Gardner and Singleton created a new market for ''bareback'' — condom-free — gay videos.

One of the HDK's most recognized stars was Jeff Palmer (born as David Zuloaga March 27, 1975 in Argentina). Raised by Evangelical Christians, Jeff left his home in Argentina at the age of 16 to explore the world. By age 20, Jeff had performed in his first porn for F4lcon 5tudios and quickly became one of F4lcon's most-popular models. He left F4lcon in 1999.

After a short hiatus, he returned to the industry in 2001. It was in early 2002 when Jeff signed with HDK after being diagnosed as HIV positive to star in his first condomless film ''Jeff Palmer Raw''. He was tired of making what he calls ''vanilla'' films and wanted to make a movie where their were no limits and no barriers.

And for those of you who believe Jeff Palmer is just a top.....wait to you see the expression on Jeff's face as Tommy Saxx flips him over and RAMS his hard, wet cock up Jeff's hot, tight, quivering asshole! No one knew it was going to happen.....not the director, not the cameramen and certainly not Jeff. It was totally unscripted, and, as Tommy said later, ''I just decided that I wanted a piece of that ass....and once I flipped him over, there was no going back!'' It was the first time Jeff has ever been fucked on camera. Check out this historic moment HERE.

Bill Gardner, the founder and CEO of HDK, Inc., died on Sept. 8, 2010 at his home in Seaford, Delaware after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. He was 62. A year before, Lee Watson took over leadership of the studio.

Since 2003, bareback videos have been among the fastest growing segments of the gay porn market. Many of the top-selling videos are bareback titles. Old-line producers have marketed their ''pre-condom'' classics to the same audience; for example, legendary gay film producer F4lcon 5tudios has recently marketed its early videos as ''bareback''.

In 2014, San Francisco based studio decided to use some decidedly new tech to compete with bareback studios. For it's latest release, California Dreamin', the studio used advanced Photoshop techniques to remove condoms from the final film. While the film itself was shot using condoms, the final result appears as condomless. You can judge the efficacy of the technique by checking out this video HERE.

F4lcon director Tony Dimarco described it as ''a throwback to the classic, pre-condom F4lcon poolside movies from the 70’s and 80’s. In keeping with this concept, I felt that condoms need to be addressed. I wanted to give the impression of a pre-condom movie, but use condoms as we do in every scene we film. I found a way to film the movie safely and effectively, while giving the experience that I had intended and using the hottest modern stars.''

Paul Morris, one of the founders of Tre4sure 1sland Medi4, once said: ''The condom isn't about safety or survival, it's about apology, guilt and relinquishment. Condom use in gay porn is a sexualized way of saying 'Look, we're good boys, normal and responsible just like straight folks'.''

 

[gorgik9]

WOW! and once again WOW!
I've only read it cursorly and I'll have to read it more carefully later this evening, but damn - you make me cry, so much sadness coming up inside me. I'll have to take a very sad and scary stroll down memory lane.

But no mistake - your post is just brilliant.

 

[Shelter]

Gorgik and Haiducii your great posts in this thread are highly recommended! Fraught with tension I'll await your next posts. Thank you so much for these very, very, very interesting reports.

 

[gorgik9]

Another loud and clear voice telling us about the importance of 8mm short film! Thanks a lot dargelos!

About haiducii's brilliant latest post I just wanted to ad a short comment on Joey Stefano (real name: Nick Iacona), who during a short period in the late 80s and early 90s became particularly important as the opposite of that damn plague, Jeff Stryker.

Stryker was the impersonation of homophobia in gay porn; nooo, he wouldn't be fucked, nooo, he wouldn't suck, lick or rim another guy, and of course he wouldn't kiss guys. Buttfucking the other guy was his only business; he was the impersonation of the post-AIDS version of rough trade, but reeking with homophobia.

Joey Stefano was the opposite.

 

[haiducii]

Gorgik and Haiducii your great posts in this thread are highly recommended! Fraught with tension I'll await your next posts. Thank you so much for these very, very, very interesting reports.

Thanks for your kind comment!

Let me satisfy your curiosity I started to prepare a new text for the next week with a working title:

 

[W!nston]

In America the unemployment rate is calculated for those who are on unemployment benefits. Once your benefits run out and you are still unemployed you are no longer considered part of the workforce. These people are considered chronically unemployed. That tactic helps brighten the dismal state of the economy. This is nothing new. It's been this way for a long time. Most people here don't care and don't want to know the truth as long as THEY are not among the forgotten millions the figures ignore.

If you add in those chronically unemployed the true rate of unemployment paints a much different picture.

I was wondering if the same is true in Europe?

 

[trencherman]

Did you know that between six and nine billion condoms are used each year around the world? Are you curious to know when they were first used and who invented them? It’s hard to pinpoint just when the first condom was used. Some researchers have suggested that the ancient Egyptians used condoms — and even dyed them in various colors — but evidence for this is scarce. The rubber condom as we know it today was first widely produced after the rubber vulcanization process was patented by Goodyear in 1844. Anyway, enough with the ''weather talk'' and let's move to the topic...

I guess condom use will always remain contentious and its origin a perpetual conundrum.

 

[Shelter]

Thanks for your kind comment!

Let me satisfy your curiosity I started to prepare a new text for the next week with a working title:

Whow yea - that's the post I've waited for. And to this story I've seen some doentaries. I don't know if I'm correct but many or perhaps the most porn movies from today came from Czech. Well yes I love porn films and I'm watching porn films. But on the other hand - we are protesting against mass husbandry and compassionate the animals - but here are young men exploited for my (our) lust and no one says any word against it (I don't know if this simile will correct). And nonetheless I'll eating the meat of these animals and I'm consuming these Czech porn films - well I hate them and I love them because I "need" them?

 

[dargelos]

Porn cinemas again;
For a beautifuly written description of a visit to a sex fleapit, the Brutus Cinema scene in Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library novel can't be bettered, for accuracy or for the quality of the writing. This is true interactive cinema, what happens on the screen ends up happening amongst the audience as well, if you know what I mean. Since the 3D part of the entertainment is as important as the 2D part I stretch the meaning of gay cinema to just about include those places where the films are mostly hetty but the action in the auditorium is very much man to man.

Like this 40 seater palace of the moving arts which closed down years ago. This sort of cine club shows hetty films to attract the straight men who in turn attract the gay men who go there to suck lots of straight cock.
This sort of picture house even had a song written about it by, who else could it be but Marc Almond.

 

[haiducii]

Whow yea - that's the post I've waited for. And to this story I've seen some doentaries.

Have you watched Wiktor Grodecki's masterful film entitled ''Mandragora''? :thinking: A tragic drama about a small town boy trapped in the erotic underworld of Prague...Watch it, you won't be disappointed!