An Interview With The Great Porn Director Toby Ross

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Don't ask me why this thing posted twice. I have no idea.

OP, you sound like you've been around a long time and I agree with your the message of your thread: porn fucks up people. Here's a porn actress that murdered a man and buried him in a shallow grave.

How fucked up is that? Lives ruined and lost. Forever.

Great stuff OP.

Do you happen to have the date / issue/vol number for that issue?

[quote]Bill Eld ended up a homeless street person in NYC wheeling his clothes around town in a shopping cart.

Let's hear more about THIS??

Who will play him in the Lifetime Original Movie??

r8 It says March 1997 at the bottom of each page.

Wow. I remember seeing a clip of the O'Brien Twins.

WTF.

Thanks OP. It's like Kevin Brownlow documenting the early silent films.

The Rialto Report did an interview/photo feature on a guy that photographed a lot of porn stars, strippers and sex workers that worked in NYC in the 1980s. He talked about Bill Eld and featured some pictures of him looking really bad. At that time he was living in one of the porn theaters, in the projection room on a mattress. He had lost his teeth and put his dentures in when photographer came in the room. Another photo appeared to be later on after his crack cocaine habit had became worse, he was looking very gaunt. The photographer lost contact with Bill after that but said he was most likely dead given the path he was going down. He is with Marc Stevens in the photo below, Marc died of AIDS in 1989 after drug dealers took over his apartment and let him waste away without help.

R8 it is from the March 1997 edition

I'm sorry, I see someone already answered R8's question.

I just wondered b/c I thought about adding some of that info to the Wikipedia page for him, that's why I was asking such a specific question, but I think they want more than just a month and year, so I'll skip it.

thanks for the info tho!

R13 Is that photo Aaron Carter and Tyler Posey's Only Fans?

calling ryan murphy, do the marc stevens and bill eld story now !

Interesting and sad. You can find this kind of stories only on DL and I think it is important, thanks op.

You're welcome R19

Here's another interview that might interest those of a certain age. An interview with Chad Knight.

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This stuff is great OP, thanks for posting it.

You're welcome.

Next, another blast from the past. An interview with 90s porn star Tony Zerega.

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I'm assuming Bill Eld has died, even though his IMDB profile shows him as still living.

R7 I think a lot of these people were fucked up before they entered porn.

Thanks for posting the story on Tony Zerega. I remember the name, but not much else about him. Anyone know WHET him?

You're welcome.

Those IMGUR pages are impossible to read. Click on the box or try to move down and the screen goes black.

Loved Tony Zerega, rough looking, thick muscular body, big, thick cock. Miss him.

R40 they don't do that for me. But just save the pages to your hard drive and then you can manipulate them any way you want.

He was right about police harassment in the early days. I did loops and shorts ‘71 to ‘79 in SF. Polizei would stalk known filmers to a location, even following us on a bus ride. Later, 1976ish, the lovely Madame DiFi led the charge against “the filth that had infested the beauty of San Francisco”. Alex de Renzy ended up filming predominantly in Marin to evade the harassment. But exciting times, indeed.

Thanks for posting the interview.

R43 We need to hear more from you! Were you a director or performer?

You're welcome R43.

Well, performer but that would really stretch the definition of that word! In SF, the most lucrative were 8mm loops for the coins until about '75. All of $45 cash a scene. Distributed across the country. A never ending thirst from arcade owners and backrooms of bookstores. Great $$$ since my SF rent was $65 a month. Those loops were shipped around the world. Side note: I remember seeing my picture on a video arcade store front in Amsterdam circa 1974. I almost dropped dead on the spot. Alex was the most influential filmmaker in SF. He really brought adult to this country in 1969 and made it acceptable. Ah, San Francisco in the early and mid 70s. What a time to be alive.

R46 I think you should start a thread and share your experiences!

R46 Were you in straight or gay loops? Alex De Renzy directed straight porn, didn't he?

Oh, loops, predominantly gay but straight now and then. Frenchy’s K&T.

Alex, crew and shorts. To my knowledge, Alex didn’t do loops or anything gay. Maybe someone knows something further. He mostly filmed movies that played at a theater he owned in the ‘Loin. If anyone is interested, there is a fun, short documentary on the early SF adult business. Smut Capital of America, or something like that. Includes a funny character from that time who just recently died. Caruudo(SIC).

Great stuff, thanks for posting, OP.

Link to R49's video. Were you in there, R49?

Features Dianne Feinstein! (In a non-sexual role.)

Yes, that’s it! Nice overview of the time. They did a good job with the commentary interviews. “ We felt kinda naughty”! Thanks for finding that. Hadn’t seen it in many years. Forgot about Lady DiFi and her beret/tam o’shanter hat. Looked like Kathryn had turned into a cat lady. A LONG time ago, in a City that has had immense change since then. We’re all old as dirt now. But good memories nonetheless.

You're welcome R50.

The video brought back some memories for me, too. I graduated from HS in the East Bay in 1970. I think my first foray into the adult bookstore/movie scene was shortly thereafter. But I was too closeted and afraid to go to a gay theater. (That didn't happen until much later. The Campus, Circle J, Nob Hill, etc. were my preferred places, since they had live shows.) But back in the '70s, I definitely frequented the adult movie places --the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell was a favorite. I was an early adopter of home porn -- magazines, of course, but I also had (and still have!) an 8mm projector and a number of "loops."

Toby Ross, like much of gay porn then and now, was obsessed with "straight" performers and could be really nasty to and about actual out gay men in porn. Much like Joe Gage (except Toby never married or messed with women whereas Gage claimed to be straight up until he finally divorced the wife after she had raised his kids - classy guy), he wanted butch clones who were borderline violent to their sexual partners - all in the barely lit dark rooms and had no interaction loads were shot. At least Ross was more self-aware of his own internalized homophobia than Gage and even included extended non-sexual dialogue about gay identity or lack thereof in some of his later films.

Toby Ross just released a documentary on the life and death of Bill Eld. It is called " Bill Eld: American Pop Culture Icon."

From the press release:

[quote]A love letter from cult filmmaker Toby Ross to male model and gay adult film superstar Bill Eld, this emotional docudrama tells the life story of one of the industry's sexiest men. A story rooted in passion, love and heartache, filled with laughter, tears and suspense, the film tracks the international sex symbol's meteoric rise and unfortunate decline into the abyss. Bill Eld AKA BIG Bill Eld was born in Rochester NY in 1945. Abandoned by his mother after his father left never to be seen, raised in orphanages and foster homes he basically raised himself. After graduating from college and becoming a PE teacher In his late teen he switched gears and morphed into an Adajio dancer in the Condor and other Clubs that spread from San Francisco to LA in the early 70s. There were lines around the block waiting to take a glimpse. After appearing in a few films he moved to New York where misery fell in love with him as he ended up dead from cocaine addiction in 1987 at the age of 42. His body was dumped on Hart Island without a name or a stone. A heart breaking story with moments of laughter and tears.

r57 I am unaware of this Bill Eld guy. Let me guess - he claimed to be "straight" until the bitter end?

R58 He was one of the first guys in gay porn to rise to star status. He wasn't very attractive facially (usually had a sullen or "far off" look on his face), but had a very nice, naturally athletic muscular body and a big dick. He did identify as straight, and was married to a woman at one point.

Here's one from of his photo shoots for Colt that made him look his best.

Somewhat related, but I stumbled upon a really amazing blog that has old pictures of the old beefcake guys, mostly of the 50s - 70s.

I wonder what happened to these guys.

"Superstar" Bill Eld. Sure Jan.

Eld had such massive genitalia. It’s always extra sad when a horse hung guy dies. And from cocaine addiction? People died from that?

Did they really “dump” his body on Hart Island? What reason was there to not even give him a grave marker? How can one view this documentary?

Marc Stevens’ decline and death sounds just as sad. Jesus, guys. I wish I could go back in time and save these poor, hot & horny men.

At least Michael Christopher survived. I’m sure he’s fat with adult children now, but that’s okay. May god protect him forevermore.

r57, where would one watch this?

Jinx, R63.

Like R40, the imgur pages do not load for me.

Another couple of vintage Manshots interviews. First up we have producer/director John Summers. And then we'll have performer Scott O'Hara.

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Scott O'Hara Page 1

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Thank you so much, OP. I love this stuff. I’ve kept Chi Chi Larue’s autobiography and have another softcover book of gay porn performers’ interviews, probably from the 90s.

It was interesting reading about Summers’ experience with Mike Henson, the first guy I really liked from the first porn video I ever saw - BIG GUNS. So many details given in that interview!

You're welcome!

Everything I have read from or about Ohara makes him seem unhinged like a man with a death wish - is that interview any different?

I think O'Hara was simply someone whose whole life revolved around sex. I can't imagine a minute a day that his mind didn't think of sex. I don't know if he was a true sex addict or just someone with an overactive libido, but that boy did like him some sex.

R63 It's not available for streaming or download as far as I can see, only on DVD.

I knew Scott O’Hara. He was smart, thoughtful, and quite a nice guy. He saw pleasure as a political issue, especially during peak AIDS, and didn’t give AF what others thought. Was happy to play public provocateur, but didn’t act that way 24/7. He started and edited Steam, an utterly unique journal of writing about sex.

Reading some of these is almost like reading interviews with ghosts. Also, who is Larry Page guy that wanted to be a real actor?

r81 I'm sure he was a great person but he seemed to be eroticizing death more than sex towards the end - never got the appeal. Ditto with the more recent glamorization and justification of barebacking, specifically that weird subgenre of "gift giving" conversion parties that some of the queer studies crowd has taken up - Tim Dean's first person account of his own participation in that scene was ethically questionable but his attempt to justify it with freudian psychoanalysis was even worse.

Scott had many interests beyond sex (art, politics, writing) and definitely didn’t eroticize death. He embraced life through sex and sex positivity, supported emerging writers, and tried to make an impact on gay magazines with the short lived gay glossy Wilde. He was fighting the anti-sex climate of the times. Fun fact: he was also an ardent anti-smoker, as he saw it as a threat to life and health. His HIV+ tattoo was for brave honesty and visibility but also to challenge those who barebacked with their heads in the sand.