My life in porn, MY LIFE WAS! PORN

Between November 1977 (I was a few weeks shy of my seventeenth birth-day) and February 1979 I worked “part-time” for a porn production company in New York City.

Few people today remember that in its infancy (late 1960s) until 1984 (when ALL production moved to Los Angeles) most pornographic motion pictures and “loops” where produced in Manhattan.

In 1977, I managed (in the afternoons after school) a street-corner newspaper stand on 32nd St. and Broadway. One day a photographer approached looking to photograph me.

Now, I hadn’t been «born-the-day-before», so I knew that I wasn’t attractive enough to be anyone’s model & my “gaydar” went immediately off & sure enough it was a pick-up scheme. I did go up to the gentleman’s loft nearby (on 31st St.), smoked some pot, drank some vino, but, when he went for the kiss, I politely declined.

Gay men had attempted to pick me up before, on the subway, in Greenwich Village & at the gay bars I used to hang-out with some friends. I was a young, not handsome, skinny, sweaty Puertorrican kid at a gay bar so, naturally, they assumed I was there to play. I wasn’t, although frankly, I was flattered that anyone, female OR male, might be interested in me.

I should clarify that mine were NOT “gay friends” BUT friends who happened to be gay. This is an important distinction as I did not then, as I do not now, make friends easily or suffer fools gladly, so for anyone to befriend me is a challenge for them as well as a blessing for me. I’ve ALWAYS looked for rare-quality NOT quantity.

I should also clarify that I DID NOT go to the bars to trick guys into buying me drinks in the hopes of something more. I always went in a group and they and I would always make it clear that I was the “straight” one in the group. Later when I became a “FagHag” I did the explaining on my own {but that’s another story for another time}.

The photographer, who obviously had not been honest, accepted my rejection of his entreaties & we settled for a lovely & informative conversation about his career. He was a legitimate photographer who also moonlighted as a porn cameraman. I told him that I was very interested in that business and he eventually made an introduction.

The company, whose name I have to withhold, was owned by two brothers from Turkey. The company was very famous in porn circles and had a middle-eastern sounding name so anyone reading this, who was a contemporary of mine and in the business in the late 70s-early 80s would immediately know what company I’m writing about.

The older of the owners wanted nothing to do with hiring an under-aged kid but the younger of the two saw the wisdom when I explained that I was willing to work for free, for the experience. I also pointed out that I looked and was street savvy and that would be an asset since many of my duties would involve skirting the law.

In 1977, production of pornographic materiel was still illegal in the United States. In NYC no one cared UNLESS a production broke some of the unwritten rules: the use of minors or pets; mixing S&M stories with sexual penetration; scatological play; filming on the streets without a permit and one couldn’t apply for a permit since porn was illegal.

Much to their credit, as they had a number of faults, they were not interested in breaking any of the rules except the last. Their movies involved ALOT of outdoor photography – Manhattan was always a prominent co-star in their flicks. And this is were I came in.

One of my most important jobs was looking-out for “the man”. Cops in 1977 NYC were, as I supposed they still are, a bunch of corrupt PIGS. This has been exhaustively documented and I can attest to it as fact. Fortunately for us PIGS would spend most of their time doing illegal or unsavoury things – too busy to harass us.

Nevertheless, a film production company, even a tiny porn one, spent a serious amount of money in production and equipment to risk having it all confiscated. We used rented 16mm film cameras (this was years before video tape), rented booms (I was also a boom operator), rented trucks or somebody’s car to get the equipment & people around. A confiscation ment that the production company would be on “the hook” for any confiscated equipment.

My other duties involved: I won’t bore you, any shitty job that no one wanted to do or was too candy-assed to do. I’ll say this for myself, I wasn’t as savvy, street-wise, self aware, experienced or frankly as smart as I am today BUT I had FUCKING GUTS. If it could get me in trouble or put my safety in risk I was down for it.

I sometimes think about the consequences of what some of my actions might have wrought and I wince.

As one would naturally expect of a horny teenager involved in a porn production – was I ever in any of the films ? No, RATS!!! But I wanted to & I got my shot.

At first I set about learning all I could about the business and its players. But the porn itch needed to be scratched, so, I began to pester the younger owner for my shot. I wasn’t an Adonis but my pecker was big enough and in those days a mere strong wind would give me an erection.

And THAT erection as well as the “giggles” put the kabosh in Jaime WADD’s career.

The younger owner, eventually agreed, to get me off his back, to film me in a scene with one of the minor players. You folks are not going to believe me but most of the women, the so-called porn stars of the era actually though of themselves as “stars” ~ with all the “diva” attitude that comes with this, self professed, title. None of these “stars” would test with me so he got a nice, shy, skinny, buck-toothed extra to “test” me.

I failed.

First: I could not stop giggling when the director said action! He even tried to silently motion the cameraman to start filming us but as soon as I heard the camera’s engine I would start to giggle. Second: I would also immediately loose my erection.

As you can well imagine, this is a problem. I didn’t even know that I could NOT not have an erection – I had had one almost continuously since July of 1974!

TO BE CONTINUED …