Back in 1981 the infamous publisher of Screw Magazine Al Goldstein and the Mighty Monarch of Exploitation Himself Dave Friedman got into a bit of a feud over the “rules” inflicted at the recent 1981 AFAA (Adult Film Association of America) Erotic Awards Show, which had been held at the Hollywood Palladium, with the corresponding Adult Film Convention being held at the Universal-Sheraton Hotel. The AFAA insisted that all male members should wear suit coats and not jeans and t-shirts and that all females should also be dressed professionally, and stay dressed.
Goldstein being Goldstein decided to show up in a motorcycle side-car driven by two Hell’s Angels and dressed as a Roman centurion, and Carol Connors couldn’t help but repeatedly prove she was an all-natural real blonde for anyone that might have had any doubt, or not. AFAA President Sydney Niekerk response to reporters was that Goldstein “Lent dishonor to the affair…” But it would be Uncle Dave’s response to Goldstein’s printed complaint that is worth the price of admission.
Al Goldstein’s initial rant in the August 3, 1981 Screw:
“Real Obscenity lies not in the honest depiction of sexuality but in the AFAA’s slimy, two-faced posturing–accepting the wealth and status of the adult film industry–while at the same time throwing up a blind of respectability and high moral tone to assuage their craven, chickenshit feelings of guilt…obviously we have to strip this semantic facade away and reveal them for what they are–peddlars (sic) of male and female flesh–entrepreneurs of erotic fantasy. There is nothing wrong this. I accept this definition for myself and for those in my business. It’s no less respectable to traffic in sexual dreams than to make escapist (sic) entertainment like THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or STAR WARS or the newest James Bond film. The AFAA would not let porno actresses at the event show a tit or reveal any other provocative charm. For some reason, they want to run AFAA as if it were a meeting of funeral parlor operators instead of show people.”
David Friedman’s response in the August 24, 1981 Screw:
“I probably project the most prominent image in the adult film field. I tell my family,my bankers, my lodge brothers, my fellow Republicans, my friends from San Marino, Short Hills, Grosse Point, Kenilworth, and all those other WASP enclaves that ‘I’m in the adult movie business, the X-rated movie business, the porno movie business, the dirty movie business, the appellation is yours.’ I am quoted and profiled in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New West, Variety, etc…but maybe it takes a little more intestinal fortitude to stand up and sell Sodom and gospelize Gomorrah to the people who wouldn’t be caught dead reading Screw but still might spring for a fin to peek at a sex film. Yes, we set standards of The Erotica Awards. It is our show. The public is not admitted. We can run it any way we damned please. We have all seen our performers nude and in various throes of passion and lubricity. There is not a pubis, penis, pore, pimple or pustule on their lithe lustful bodies we have not seen magnified twelve times life size. We have heard them utter their immoral lines and know all the four letter words, gutter talk and concupiscence catch phrase that are used effectively for shock and value. Since seeing our players in the nude is no great novelty and hearing vulgar language is no great theatrical breakthrough, why not among ourselves recognize and honor our people in keeping with the propriety of our fellow showpersons in the Academy?”
I bet that had Al running to find a dictionary…I know it did me!
