The Rialto Report

Jeanne Silver – adult film actress and stripper from the 1970s and 1980s – joins The Rialto Report to talk about her life and memories. This episode running time is 68 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Jeanne Silver packed more life and adventure unto her first 25 years than most manage in a lifetime. For a time in the 1980s, she was a regular in New York adult films and a featured dancer at the Melody Burlesk Theater in the city – but her life started on the other side of the country in Arizona where she was born and spent large parts of her childhood. There she grew up with the stigma of having part of her foot and leg amputated at an early age. By the time she hit New York, just weeks after her 16th birthday in 1976, her rebellious ways meant that she was on the run from the law, and the fun was only just beginning. Shortly after her arrival, she was featured on the pages of men’s magazines like Cheri and High Society, and on the big screen appearing in the notorious film Waterpower. News reached the Mitchell Brothers, the renowned filmmakers and theater owners in San Francisco, who flew her out to join them, and there she appeared in her own show and starred in the Alex De Renzy film Long Jeanne Silver. On this program, The Rialto Report welcomes guest presenter, April Hall, as Jeanne Silver grants her first interview in 30 years.   From Jeanne Silver’s Wikipedia page: Long Jeanne Silver is an American former pornographic actress, known for using the stump of her amputated leg to penetrate her sexual partner in her movies during the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to pornography, she had worked as a stripper. She was also featured in the self-titled movie, Long Jeanne Silver. Annie Sprinkle and Silver were once arrested in Rhode Island for producing a magazine that featured a shoot where Silver penetrated Sprinkle with her stump. The typesetter for the magazine that was hired turned out to be an undercover police officer. The police had surveilled them for a month before arresting the group. Sprinkle and Silver were charged with multiple felony counts including obscenity and sodomy-related charges. Their charges were eventually dropped. She was inducted into the Legends of Erotica Hall of Fame on January 23, 2015.   Jeanne Silver photographs:       The post Jeanne Silver: Real Wild Child – Podcast 08 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

Carter Stevens – actor, director, producer – joins The Rialto Report to talk about the highs and lows of his eventful life and career. This episode running time is 68 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Carter Stevens is one of the adult film industry’s true originals. 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, Teenage Twins, Rollerbabies and Honeymoon Haven. He was just as prolific as an actor too, and was a regular, uncredited crew member for many mainstream and adult film productions. He made loops, directed a series of films for the Avon Theater chain, and fought battles with drugs and charges of obscenity and of hiring an underage actress, before re-emerging in the 1990s with a successful fetish newspaper and publishing business. He recently announced his intention to make a comeback and return to directing. Watch this space. On the episode of The Rialto Report, Carter Stevens tells his story.   From Carter Stevens Wikipedia page: Carter Stevens (born October 17, 1944) is a former pornographic film actor, grip, gaffer and lab technician (film processing) and director. He made 8mm loops, appeared in over 50 adult films between around 1973 and 1993, and directed about 40 films between 1972 and 1996, including a series of films for the Avon Theater chain. He fought battles with drugs, a life-threatening heart attack, and charges of obscenity before re-emerging in the 1990s and early 2000s to produce the BDSM-related S&M News, and several print publications.   Carter Stevens photographs:           Carter Stevens today The post Carter Stevens: A Porn Renaissance Man – Podcast 07 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

Barbara Nitke, the on-set photographer for countless New York adult films in the 1980s, joins The Rialto Report to talk about her memories of the industry. This episode running time is 48 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Barbara Nitke began her career as a photographer taking stills on the set of The Devil Miss Jones – Part II (1982) – which was appropriate as her husband, Herb Nitke, had been the producer of the original The Devil In Miss Jones in 1973. Over the course of the next ten years, her behind-the-scenes images captured the chaotic, bizarre and surreal action in front of the cameras, and the quiet, vulnerable, lonely moments between takes. Barbara Nitke worked almost exclusively on New York film sets, with directors such as Henri Pachard, Joe Sarno, and John Christopher, and with stars such as Vanessa Del Rio, Nina Hartley, Siobhan Hunter, Sharon Mitchell and Taija Rae. What’s more Nitke took a tape recorder to the set and interviewed many of these people at length about their thoughts and feelings concerning their role in the adult film industry. It was a fascinating but difficult time for the east coast industry as production increasingly moved west, video replaced film, and the specter of the AIDS epidemic loomed. A selection of Barbara Nitke’s photos and interviews was published recently in a limited edition book, ‘American Ecstasy’, from which the photos below are taken. For more information about ‘American Ecstasy’, visit her website.   From Barbara Nitke’s Wikipedia page: Barbara Nitke (born 1950) is a New York City art photographer who specializes in the subject of human sexual relations. She has worked extensively in the porn and BDSM communities. Nitke was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1950 and grew up in Virginia and Alaska. She is currently a fashion/art photographer, and is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York. Nitke and the porn business Hailed by The Village Voice for her quest “to find humanity in marginal sex,” Nitke has gained worldwide attention for her affecting and powerful photographs chronicling relationships between consenting adults engaged in sadomasochistic activities. Her documentation of sexuality began in 1982 on the sets of pornographic films, towards the end of the Golden Age of Porn. She worked in the industry for twelve years as a set photographer on hundreds of adult films. Her photographs from this period reveal the combination of boredom, surrealism, vulnerability and dissociation inherent in the X-rated world. During that time she also became active as a photographer on mainstream television and movie sets, work which she continues today. In 1991, after the hardcore porn business moved to Los Angeles, she began shooting on the New York sets of fetish and SM movies, which had become the fastest growing segment of the adult film industry. Three years later she attended her first meeting of The Eulenspiegel Society, the oldest SM support and educational group in the country, to see a presentation by underground photographer Charles Gatewood. The couples she met in the SM scene fascinated her, and she began photographing them in 1994. They became the focus of her book, Kiss of Fire: A Romantic View of Sadomasochism (2003). It was among the first mainstream publications to examine the subject of BDSM. Nitke ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce her second book, Barbara Nitke: American Ecstasy (2012), a memoir in pictures and words of her hardcore porn days.   Barbara Nitke photographs:     The post Barbara Nitke: Porn’s On Set Photographer – Podcast 06 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

Annie Sprinkle joins The Rialto Report to remember her early life and the start of her career in adult films in the 1970s. This episode running time is 48 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Annie Sprinkle’s career defies categorization as much as it defies belief; she is a prostitute turned activist, a porn star turned artist, and a stripper turned sexologist. She has passionately researched and explored sexuality in all of its glorious and inglorious forms for the best part of four decades, and has shared her findings all along the way through producing and starring in her own unique brand of sex films, photographic work, teaching workshops, and college lectures. A few years ago I went to see a performance piece that she and her partner, Beth Stephens, produced. I went in the company of two of her fellow actors from the early days of the adult film industry – Michael Gaunt and Jamie Gillis. We sheepishly admitted we didn’t know what to expect in advance but we didn’t care – we were just happy to see Annie. Over the course of the next couple of hours we sat in wonder as we witnessed one of the most moving and intelligent works we’d had the privilege to experience. She is an American original, and we’re lucky to have her. http://anniesprinkle.org/   From Annie Sprinkle’s Wikipedia page: Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American sex educator, former prostitute, feminist stripper, pornographic actress, cable television host, porn magazine editor, writer and sex film producer. She received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1986 and earned a doctorate in human sexuality from the unaccredited Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco in 1992. Currently, Sprinkle works as a performance artist and sex educator. Sprinkle, who describes herself as “ecosexual”, married her long-time partner, Beth Stephens, in Canada on January 14, 2007.   Annie Sprinkle photographs: The post Annie Sprinkle: The Early Years – Podcast 05 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

On this episode of The Rialto Report, Jeffrey Hurst speaks about his career in adult films in the 1970s. This episode running time is 60 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ One of The Rialto Report’s favorite actors of the 1970s adult film scene is Jeffrey Hurst. From his acting ability to his comedic prowess and his trademark vintage porn mustache, he was an underrated and always enjoyable star. And what makes his career even more interesting is that throughout his XXX film career, he was also appearing in off-Broadway plays, commercials (with Sylvester Stallone..), short films (with Glenn Close..) and went on to make appearances in television shows such as Charlie’s Angels and Fantasy Island. And yet – there he was, for most for the 1970s, appearing alongside the acknowledged stars – such as John Holmes, John Leslie, Terri Hall, and C.J. Laing – in a whole string of hard core adult films. He was in big budget productions, quick and dirty one day wonders – and a bunch of 8mm loops too. All the time, he was living a double life – doing his best to hide his involvement in adult film. He hoped no one would actually notice him in porn – just as as he hoped that someone would notice him in his legit work. Jeffrey Hurst was a reluctant porn star. This is his story.   Jeffrey Hurst photographs:         The post Jeffrey Hurst: The Reluctant Porn Star – Podcast 04 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

On this episode of The Rialto Report, Jennifer Welles breaks a 35 year silence to speak publicly about her life and career in films. This episode running time is 51 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “Whatever happened to” is a question that is often asked in relation to the stars of the golden age. But seriously: whatever happened to Jennifer Welles? One moment she was appearing in a string of highly successful films that culminated in the box office smash Inside Jennifer Welles, and then suddenly she was gone. Formerly close friends and colleagues, and even her ex-husband all told a similar story of how her disappearance was as complete as it was sudden. The story circulated that she had made it clear that no one should attempt to find her. How could someone whose image had been so prominently splashed across billboards and the pages of magazines have vanished into thin air? Where has she been for the last four decades? The answers are revealed in this episode of The Rialto Report.   From Jennifer Welles Wikipedia page: Jennifer Welles (born c. 1933) is an American former pornographic actress in films of the 1970s, although she began her acting career in the late 1960s in the softcore sexploitation genre and “roughie” grindhouse films produced in New York. Some of these include: Sex by Advertisement (1967), Career Bed, Submission, and This Sporting House, by pornographic film director Henri Pachard (all from 1969). Career Welles was also a fetish magazine model for such magazines as Bizarre while using the stage name “Liza Duran”. Welles appeared in many films, the best known being Inside Jennifer Welles (1977), which she is also credited with having directed (although the film was actually anonymously directed by sex-exploitation veteran Joseph W. Sarno). She also appeared in some mainstream films, most notably The Groove Tube opposite Chevy Chase. Awards Welles won the Erotica Award for Best Actress in 1977 for the film Little Orphan Sammy, and she was the editor of Eros, The Magazine of Decadent Sophistication in that same year. She became a member of the AVN Hall of Fame in 1996. Personal life Welles left the industry abruptly in 1978 after she married a wealthy fan.   Jennifer Welles photographs and articles: The post Jennifer Welles: The Lady Vanishes – Podcast 03 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

George Payne, star of films such as The Taming of Rebecca, The Story of Prunella and The Back Row joins The Rialto Report for a conversation about his life and career in adult film. George Payne is also a firm favorite of the Rialto Report. He appeared in many New York films – both straight and gay – and straddled the film and video era too. And he could really act; his performances seethe with a nervous, unpredictable energy. He acted for many of the great directors of the era, including Radley Metzger, Joe Sarno, Chuck Vincent, and Phil Prince, and with many of the most famous golden age porn stars such as Annie Sprinkle, Joanna Storm, Lee Carroll, and Lisa De Leeuw. He dated Vanessa Del Rio, and was a fixture on the New York theater and party scene. He was a regular on the pages of adult magazine – both straight and gay – and acted with Jack Wrangler in films by the likes of John Amero. He rarely gave interviews, and has remained an enigma and a mystery. Until now. So who is George Payne? Nowadays he lives quietly with his wife Diane, a former acting agent, in New York, and works occasionally as security or in the bars of Manhattan night clubs. He also still looks great. He works out regularly and takes immaculate care of his appearance. We went to his gym and helped him film a short exercise video. He was keen to show how senior citizens can work out and be as fit as possible. After we finished recording the podcast, we took a few pictures of him. Then he asked if we’d photograph him stripped to the waist. Who were we to disagree? This episode running time is 57 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Here’s the fully clothed George Payne:   The post George Payne: Wild Man of Porn – Podcast 02 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

John Amero joins the Rialto Report to tell the story behind the making of his first film, Body of a Female (1964), which he co-directed with his friend Michael Findlay. This episode running time is 65 minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ It seems only right that the Rialto Report visited John Amero for our inaugural podcast. He symbolizes much about the golden age of the New York adult film industry. John started his career by working with Michael Findlay, a co-worker in the editing department of ABC, on Body of a Female, before forming a partnership with his brother Lem that spanned 1960s sexploitation films such as Diary of a Swinger and 1970s hard core films Blonde Ambition and Every Inch A Lady. John also made a series of gay films under the name ‘Francis Ellie’, and in the 1980s he worked regularly with Chuck Vincent and Larry Revene, and continued to make his own films under a variety of pseudonyms. We recorded the podcast in the same front room that appears in many of John’s films, from The Corporate Queen through to Dynamite – and in most of the Francis Ellis films too. We were even privileged to sit on a chair that was used for many sexual encounters across John’s filmography. John is close to completing his autobiography that covers his whole film career in detail, and features a cast of characters including the likes of fellow filmmakers Michael and Roberta Findlay, Chuck Vincent and Jack Bravman; actors such as as Harry Reems, Jamie Gillis, Ute Erickson and Linda Boyce; New York film distributors Stan Borden, Sam Lake and Bobby Sumner; mobsters Mickey Zafferano and Norm Arno; and not to forget notables such as Anthony Perkins, Montgomery Clift and Joan Crawford too. The Rialto Report will be returning to John’s front room for another conversation soon. But next time we’re interviewing the chair.   Pictures of ‘Body of a Female’ from John Amero’s collection Roberta Findlay in a still from ‘Body of a Female’ Roberta Findlay in a still from ‘Body of a Female’ Michael and Roberta Findlay in ‘Body of a Female’ ‘Body of a Female’ opens at the State Theater in Boston Press ad for ‘Body of a Female’ John Amero today The post John Amero and ‘Body of a Female’ – Podcast 01 appeared first on The Rialto Report.

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