Banquet Provides a Revealing Look at the Porn Industry

We had so many other things to do.

Laundry. Grocery shopping. Mah-jongg with an 85-year-old neighbor.

But the last-minute plea came from a desperate editor: “Can’t you please, please go to Universal City for the porn banquet? I can’t find anyone else to cover it.”

Oh, all right. But this is going to cost you overtime, pal.

In truth it was we, a couple of thirtyish male reporters, who begged to cover Night of the Stars, a recent event sponsored by the Free Speech Coalition, a Woodland Hills-based trade association, attended by about 600 actors, producers, talent scouts and hangers-on in the adult movie industry.

But our motives were more journalistic than prurient. We swear.

With conservative politicians and pundits criticizing Hollywood for excessive sex and violence, the pornography industry must be running for cover. Right?

Wrong.

More than 3,000 adult movies will be produced worldwide this year, more than double the output in 1991, according to Adult Video News, the porn industry’s trade magazine in Los Angeles. About 70% of the world’s X-rated productions are filmed in the San Fernando Valley.

“We hope this event increases our unity and singleness of purpose,” said Nina Hartley, a 325-film veteran whose impossibly voluptuous body was sheathed in a spangled gown. “We have a lot of powerful people allied against us who believe God and moral purity is on their side. . . . They think sex is harmful and therefore we are harmful.”

Eat your heart out, Bob Dole.

*

“This is like my prom,” gushed actress Sydney St. James, 31, as Corvettes and BMWs spilled dumpling-cheeked 21-year-olds in cheerleader outfits, exotic femme fatales in latex and ponytailed hunks in tuxedos into the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Universal.

Certainly this eighth annual bash had elements of a prom. But it also had elements of a rock concert, trade show and Roman orgy.

We had learned of the affair from Dave Stevens (not his real name), a Santa Monica artist who is trying to find work as an adult film actor. Stevens, a blond, muscular surfer-boy type, arrived at the Universal City event wearing skintight black leather trousers, a matching vest and silver-tipped boots. Honoring the porn tradition of creative stage names, he had already adopted the handle “Rowdy Galahad.”

“My first choice was ‘Derek del Lobo,’ ” said Galahad, “but the producer felt that sounded too gay. They told me to try to think of a hero from my youth. And all I could think of was Rowdy Yates from TV’s ‘Rawhide.’ ”

Galahad had a ticket to the $100-a-person event. We more or less crashed the affair by sneaking in a side entrance. It was like walking through the looking glass, tumbling into a parallel universe known only to a few million lonely people with VCRs.

The dining tables, festooned with black, silver and white balloons, were reserved for the top companies in the pornography business: Anabolic Video, World Modeling, Zane Entertainment. The coalition also gave out a handful of awards and put together a floor show starring Hartley and another starlet named Natasha.

But most guests seemed more interested in schmoozing than watching. An actress named Busty Brittany passed out black and gold business cards and media kits with X-rated color photocopies of herself. Galahad passed out about 30 cards, some of which he later observed discarded on empty tables.

Meanwhile, a group of particularly uninhibited female stars took to the dance floor and posed for photographers. At least one revealed a profound disregard for undergarments. Waiters stood nearby, grinning and nudging each other.

*

Through luck and pleading we landed at the table reserved for Vivid Video, a Van Nuys company headed by a mini-mogul named Steve Hirsch. Vivid has signed many of the current top stars in the business: Christy Canyon, Chasey Lain, Nikki Tyler and Racquel Darrian.

Today’s stars, who are tested monthly for the virus that causes AIDS, can sometimes command six-figure annual salaries. Some have fan clubs and agents and nice houses in Studio City.

The porn business has come a long way since the early 1970s, when such movies as “Deep Throat” and “Behind the Green Door” caused an uproar.

The Universal City gathering recognized the industry’s passage from fringe to big business.

“The event brings the industry together,” said Bill Margold, a veteran actor, writer and director in the adult film business. “It’s a bonding, a chance to celebrate the sociological phenomenon that has become the adult entertainment business. We’ve been around for 25 years now.”

But with success has come problems. During the Ronald Reagan Administration, the business became the target of the Meese Commission on Pornography, which threatened to curtail the distribution of adult-oriented material.

The Free Speech Coalition was formed in response, and as an active trade association it still honors anti-censorship crusaders. First Amendment attorney Stanley Fleishman received an award at Night of the Stars for arguing on behalf of pornographers’ free-speech rights over the years.

Increasingly, however, the coalition has turned to the more pressing issue of sex performers’ health. Dr. George Boris, who runs an AIDS clinic in Culver City, received an award for pioneering quick and accurate HIV testing for porn stars. Such bread-and-butter concerns affect even established stars such as Marc Wallice. At 36, the 14-year porn veteran has made 1,100 movies and counting. But now he, like many other older stars, wants to start producing his own line of videos. “I don’t want to be doing this until I’m 45,” he said.

Greg Lahey understands that sentiment. Lahey (not his real name, either) designs video boxes for one of the major porn companies based in the Valley.

“If you blew up this auditorium, you’d end the world supply of adult video,” he said, glancing around the crowded ballroom. “For at least two weeks, until someone else grabbed up the mantle.”

Suddenly, Lahey rose and fled our table as a camera crew approached. Returning later, he explained that his wife, who was not present, would be embarrassed by his attendance. “I always have to be careful,” he said. “She hates what I do. I couldn’t tell her I was coming here.”