egafd.com

I'm bored with the posts again so in an attempt to stimulate something worth reading here's a question for you.

In the 80's hardcore was very underground in the UK but european and scando producers were churning out photosets and films full of Brit Girls. Get a subscription to the Private site and in the 80's section there must be at least one UK girl in every issue of their mag at that time.

But what puzzles me is that although there were some UK hardcore films being made they were distributed by the usual suspects (Color Climax, Rodox, etc). How was the connection between the producers and the distributers established? Why didn't they just use homegrown talent?

Lets not forget that the internet has globalised porn. Back then you could hardly step into a phone box, pick up the phone book for Germany or Scandanavia and give em a call!! And there were no legal outlets (cinemas) or retail provision for these films so they would hardly be jetting into Heathrow for a meeting or an exhibition.

Sooooooo, how was the connection between the producers and the distributers made? Ben, Remington and others.... enlighten us with some interesting tales.

I cannot add to this in depth as I am too young. And I`m sure the old chaps like Rem will know more than me. I remember the Color Climax and Taboo films advertised in magazines which my dad bought in the very late 70`s/ very early 80`s (still got them somewhere) on 8mm and then later betamax. So the market cannot have been too underground. Also Soho was full of hardcore cinemas before the vcr became popular which coincided with Thatchers government launching a campaign to clean up Soho which they believed had been allowed to become a haven of filth by the previous labour government. I read somewhere that John Lyndsay was sent to prison after the police planted gay s&m stuff in his cinema. The guy who started Your Choice in Amsterdam was another Soho cinema owner who fled to escape persecution. I remember that before the Video Recordings Act 1984 came in most independant video clubs rented out hardcore tapes because prior to the 1984 Act video was not included under the Obscene Publications Act unlike film and photos. Our local club continued renting them after 1984 and was promptly raided by the blue meanies. One of the defence lawyers was a family friend and had to watch all of the vids which were evidence (hard work eh). So I think the British pornographers links with he big euro distributors was fairly strong. They were only a phone call away. The stuff could be shot here by the likes of Remington featuring British models like Uncle Ben (in his Rod Stewart era) and then simply sold to Color Climax etc. I would think the producers would deny any connection with the companies selling the stuff here.

Or am I rambling on but not answering the point about the link between producer and euro-distributors? Even if I am its still a lot more interesting than another LDM/T.May post.

Lets here from the people who were there at the time.

Cheers Magoo. Although your point highlights the fact that my question is flawed your answer has some interesting stuff in it (not rambling at all). I always wondered why there seemed to be so many 'blue movies' knocking around in the late 80s. Obviously left over from the days before all the loopholes were closed.

However, don't let the fact that the question has no legs stop anyone from posting related stuff. Getting fed up with 'Are Trev's Vids.com reliable?' etc!

Perhaps the question should ask what Soho was like in this era instead.

Maybe I'm getting old, but the eighties don't seem so long ago. I remember Soho in the mid sixties, when I was still at school. At that time the girlie mags just showed "tit and bum". Pubic hair was taboo but "art nudes" could be seen, albeit with the model's legs demurely together.
But, in Soho you could buy (at a price) packets of black and white photos under the counter showing the real thing, and they were of very god quality in my experience. Also, there were the strip clubs.
To a dirty young man from a rather respectable background the strip clubs were wonderfully exotic. There were lots of them, and the girls used to traipse round from one to another. If you did a trawl around the clubs the same faces would tend to crop up. They weren't meant to spread their legs, but quite a few did.
The film scene was very undercover, but by the late seventies Harrison Marks was producing spanking films with some lovely girls in them on occasion. I never saw any of the films (too expensive, and you needed a projector) but he published stills in his mags. "The Riding Lesson", mentioned here a couple of months ago, featured a real stunner. It would be interesting to know if this film survives anywhere, and if the blonde model did anything else.
When asked by a correspondent how he managed to get such a beautiful girl to submit to a caning, HM replied it was simply a question of paying enough money. I suspect he paid around ?10 grand at today's prices.
Then of course came the VCR, and the pioneers of VCR smut in the UK were Electric Blue. It was soft, but very high quality, (and very high prices). However, you could rent them anywhere until the VRA came in, and I bought a load from my local rental place when they had to stop renting them.
This reply has been almost totally off-topic. Please forgive me.

I think Jennifer was my fave late 80's early 90's producer.

'See No Evil' by David Kerekes and David Slater has a chapter about the video revolution (the book is mainly about vid nasties though)

'Fleshpost' has stuff about porn and essay about John Lindsay (by David (Headpress) Kerekes)

Also a chapter in David flint's 'Babylon Blue' and quite a few references scattered about Simon Sheridan's 'Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington'.

tenuous link dept.
.......anyone know the name of the blonde model in 80's
pop group "Tight Fit" (Best known for "the lion sleeps tonite")

Great song.Sorry don't know her name.met her once with another
musical act after "Tight Fit" disbanded.If you see Alan Whitehead
(Ex Marmalade) ask him he will probabley know.

Saw her on Top-of-The-Pops 2 last night singing 'Fantasy Island'. She did look quite tidy along with the brunette. A poor mans' Abba though!