Well there is now a controversy in my Picksburgh.  Seems that the Student Activities Council at Carnegie Mellon University is going to be hosting a screening of "The New Devil in Miss Jones", a hard-core porno flick, on campus.  (Note that this is the SIXTH sequel to the original, and, yes, Ms. Georgina Spelvin has a bit part in it).

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09115/965522-298.stm

People are in an uproar but campus officials state they will not intervene.

LyricBoy wonders what all the hubbub is about.  Back in 1977 whilst a student at Penn State, there was a screening of "Behind the Green Door", "The (original) Devil in Miss Jones", and of course "Deep Throat".  But that was during the Golden Age of Porn, when movies actually had plots, and they showed at mainstream theatres and drive-ins.

Could a new Golden Age be upon us? ???

Well there is now a controversy in my Picksburgh.  Seems that the Student Activities Council at Carnegie Mellon University is going to be hosting a screening of "The New Devil in Miss Jones", a hard-core porno flick, on campus.  (Note that this is the SIXTH sequel to the original, and, yes, Ms. Georgina Spelvin has a bit part in it).

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09115/965522-298.stm

People are in an uproar but campus officials state they will not intervene.

LyricBoy wonders what all the hubbub is about.  Back in 1977 whilst a student at Penn State, there was a screening of "Behind the Green Door", "The (original) Devil in Miss Jones", and of course "Deep Throat".  But that was during the Golden Age of Porn, when movies actually had plots, and they showed at mainstream theatres and drive-ins.

Could a new Golden Age be upon us? ???


It's good for business in these times of recession. 

I wanna go to Penn State 'coz I can take a class in porno.  For final exam, you make your own porno flick!

Yeah, they had "plots" in your venerated (or venereal) Golden Age of Porn, but it wasn't exactly Shakespeare!
:P

Stats show most people now watch porn in five minute spurts, so what's the point of a plot?

It's good for business in these times of recession. 

I wanna go to Penn State 'coz I can take a class in porno.  For final exam, you make your own porno flick!

Yeah, they had "plots" in your venerated (or venereal) Golden Age of Porn, but it wasn't exactly Shakespeare!
:P

Stats show most people now watch porn in five minute spurts, so what's the point of a plot?



The purpose of a plot is to hold their attention.  People fast-forward through porn these days because most porn nowadays (I am told) is simply a photographic record of a mechanical act.  :-\\

The purpose of a plot is to hold their attention.  People fast-forward through porn these days because most porn nowadays (I am told) is simply a photographic record of a mechanical act.   :-\\


Before the Golden Age of Porn you had your "loops,"  you know, the old "blue movies," which were as you say a "photographic record of a mechanical act."  Then there was "Deep Throat" and the era of "Porn Chic."  Damiano, Lovelace, Reems, Wadd, Chambers, all the greats.  Then came home video.  Production got cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.  Quantity, not quality.  Film expensive, tape cheap.  You could make 30 videos in 1990 for the same cost as one feature length film in 1975.  Now with the Internet, we've come full circle, right back to where we were with the pre-Deep Throat porn loops. 

Any asshole with a domain name, some cheap video equipment, and a few grand to pay some sorry-azz "models" jonesing for a fix can found a Porn Empire.  As long as you don't knock the girls about too much or get caught with minors, you got yourself a steady source of income.  Just remember to pay Uncle Sam his at the end of the year!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/glasses9.gif

Before the Golden Age of Porn you had your "loops,"  you know, the old "blue movies," which were as you say a "photographic record of a mechanical act."  Then there was "Deep Throat" and the era of "Porn Chic."  Damiano, Lovelace, Reems, Wadd, Chambers, all the greats.  Then came home video.  Production got cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.  Quantity, not quality.  Film expensive, tape cheap.  You could make 30 videos in 1990 for the same cost as one feature length film in 1975.  Now with the Internet, we've come full circle, right back to where we were with the pre-Deep Throat porn loops. 

Any asshole with a domain name, some cheap video equipment, and a few grand to pay some sorry-azz "models" jonesing for a fix can found a Porn Empire.  As long as you don't knock the girls about too much or get caught with minors, you got yourself a steady source of income.  Just remember to pay Uncle Sam his at the end of the year!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/glasses9.gif


Yeah, those grainy "loops" were actually from the pre-Golden Age of porn.  Back then they were called "Stag films" and were usually on 8mm film.  If you were lucky maybe Super 8.  Shot with Aunt Minnie's vacation camera sitting on Uncle Fred's tripod.  The actors usually wore some sort of disguise like a fake moustache and (I still do not know why) black socks.  Stag films were a big thing at the time for batchelor parties.  When loops were big, it was still sort of an underground thing.  Later Golden Age performers like Sandy Dempsey and John Holmes did loops for 6 or 7 years and were relative unknowns... until the big-budget productions came around.  (Mind you in the early Golden Age, $750 was a big budget).  ;D

Then came the Golden Age and things started to change, with the advent of 16mm productions.  At the height of the age, some porn was being done on 35MM, such as China Cat, Eruption, and Prisoners of Paradise to name a few.  Production budgets, advertising budgets, expectations of the actors all got bigger.

Once video came along it was all over...  Then came easy-to-afford breast enhancement and things ratcheted down yet another notch.  Finally, "gonzo" and the web reduced porn to mindless pablum.  (Mind you, even the Golden Age fare was not Oscar material, but compared to today's stuff it was).

This kerfuffle at CMU is the first time in prolly 25 years that I have heard anything about a porn production in the mainstream press.  Heck, back during the Age, you could read through the Picksburgh Press movie section and read up on all the new flicks... some with full-page ads bigger than those seen for mainstream Hollywood stuff.  Now the only advertizing you see is a 150-pixel as on BangBusRocks.com.  ::)

The only time I went to an actual porno theater was when I was 18.  I went to the famous Pilgrim Theater in what was left of Boston's seedy "Combat Zone."  There was a big mean looking black dude in the box office.  I was young-looking for my age, so I thought he was gonna hassle me for ID.  He just scowled and shoved my change back under the Plexiglas.  Well, there were a lotta guys standing up in back wearing raincoats on a sunny day.  I made the mistake of sitting down.  I wasn't two minutes into the show when one of those creepy dudes sat down behind me and started d-d-d-doing something to himself.  I wondered why when the auditorium was nearly empty why he chose to sit directly behind me and d-d-d-do that!  UH-OH...I'M BEING CRUISED!!!!
8-P
See here, the Pilgrim wasn't a gay cinema, but I guess that didn't make no never mind.  I sprinted for the exit and I could see creepo following me, prolly hoping I was a hustler headed for the can.  I was sure glad to be back out on Washington Street.  I strolled passed the Naked-I trying to make cool like I wasn't grossed out.  I guess the 'Zone just wasn't for me!

Well, Max, at least you did not stick to the seat.  ;D

Well, Max, at least you did not stick to the seat.   ;D


Slipping off seems more a danger in that type of cinema.

"Porn Hub" sounds like a good name for an adult store. I bet it's taken though.

Lyricboy, the golden age of porn is long since over. In 30 years it's gone from classic, mostly tastefully done erotic films (with cheesy plots, but at least they made the attempt) to "1 guy, 1 screwdriver" and tentacle porn.  >:(

Ant

"Porn Hub" sounds like a good name for an adult store. I bet it's taken though.

Recommendation: *don't* try the website at work...

"Porn hubbub in Picksburgh" sounds like it ought to be a "First cut is the deepest" parody sub

Lyricboy, the golden age of porn is long since over. In 30 years it's gone from classic, mostly tastefully done erotic films (with cheesy plots, but at least they made the attempt) to "1 guy, 1 screwdriver" and tentacle porn.  >:(

Ant


Sad but true.  In many ways, some of the porn movies from that era were better then some of the "straight" movies.

Since most people were only interested in watching them for sex, that left a lot of producers free to experiment.  And for years movies like "Behind The Green Door", "The Devil In Miss Jones", and others were shown in film and cinematography classes.  Some like "The Opening Of Misty Beethoven" have even been turned into a musical.

Maybe it is time to bring back my "Ask Me About Porn" thread.  ;D