Golden Age of Porn

Pornographic films were produced in the early 20th century as "stag" movies, intended to be viewed at male gatherings or in brothels. In the United States, social disapproval was so great that men in them sometimes attempted to conceal their face by subterfuge, such as a false mustache (used in A Free Ride) or even being masked.{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Dave|title=Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema from the Victorian Age to the VCR|year=2007|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=9781554903023|pages=39, 67–68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBP6yjQwT8QC&pg=PA67}} Very few people were ever identified as appearing in such films; and performers were often presumed to have been prostitutes or criminals. Vincent Drucci is said to have performed in a pornographic film made in 1924.http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id111.htm, My Al Capone Museum [http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id111.htm "Vincent 'The Schemer' Drucci"], Mario Gomes, accessed 14/6/14 Candy Barr, who appeared in the 1950s Smart Alec, was virtually unique among those appearing in stag films, having attained a degree of celebrity through her participation.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/arts/04barr.html?_r=0|title=Candy Barr, 70, Stripper and Star of 1950's Stag Film, Dies |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=January 4, 2006|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 17, 2013}}

In the US, during the late 1960s, there was regular semi-underground production of pornographic films on a modest scale. After answering New York City newspaper advertisements for nude models, Eric Edwards and Jamie Gillis, among others, appeared in these films, which were silent black and white 'loops' of low quality, often intended for peep booth viewing in the proliferation of adult video arcades around Times Square.{{cite news |author-link=William J. Bratton |first1=William J. |last1=Bratton |first2=William |last2=Andrews |title=What We've Learned About Policing |work=City Journal |publisher=Manhattan Institute for Policy Research |date=Spring 1999 |url=http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_2_what_weve_learned.html |access-date=February 3, 2009 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224116/http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_2_what_weve_learned.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |first1=George L. |last1=Kelling |first2=James Q. |last2=Wilson |title=Broken Windows |work=The Atlantic |date=March 1982 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198203/broken-windows | access-date= February 3, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/207131/new_york_guide/times_square_new_york_city.html |title=Times Square New York City |publisher=Streetdirectory.com |access-date=April 21, 2010}} The product of the New York City porn industry was distributed nationwide by underworld figure Robert DiBernardo, who commissioned the production of much of the so-called 'Golden Age' era films made in New York City.{{cite book | title = What Wild Ecstasy |first=John |last=Heidenry |page=323 | publisher = Simon & Schuster | year=2002 | isbn =978-0743241847}}{{cite book |title=Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market |author-link=Eric Schlosser |first=Eric |last=Schlosser |publisher=Mariner Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-0618446704 |url=https://archive.org/details/reefermadnesssex00schl_0 }} Although not the first adult film to obtain a wide theatrical release in the US, none had achieved a mass audience, and changed public attitude toward pornography, as Deep Throat did.

File:Andy Warhol by Jack Mitchell.jpg]]

Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, released in June 1969, and, more freely, Mona, by Bill Osco, released afterwards in August 1970, were the first films depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical distribution in the United States. Blue Movie was reviewed in Variety.{{cite web |last=Comenas |first=Gary |date=1969 |title=July 21, 1969: Andy Warhol's Blue Movie Opens |url=http://www.warholstars.org/andy-warhol-1969.html |access-date=January 20, 2016 |work=WarholStars.org}} Although Blue Movie involved sexual intercourse, the film, starring Viva and Louis Waldon, included substantial dialogue about the Vietnam War and various mundane tasks. In comparison, the film Mona differed from Blue Movie by presenting more of a story plot: Mona (played by Fifi Watson) had promised her mother that she would remain a virgin until her impending marriage.{{cite web |url=http://picpal.com/fleshgordon/fgint3.html |title=Flesh GordonInterview 3 |publisher=PicPal.com |access-date=July 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828123431/http://picpal.com/fleshgordon/fgint3.html |archive-date=August 28, 2008 }} Nonetheless, Blue Movie, besides being a seminal film in the 'Golden Age of Porn', was a major influence, according to Warhol, in the making of Last Tango in Paris (1972), an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando, and released a few years after Blue Movie was made.{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Blue Movie (1969) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062745 |work=IMDb |access-date=December 29, 2015 }}

Also around this time, in June 1970, the 55th Street Playhouse began showing Censorship in Denmark: A New Approach, a film documentary study of pornography, directed by Alex de Renzy.{{cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Canby |title=The Screen: 'Censorship in Denmark' Begins Run |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/17/archives/the-screen-censorship-in-denmark-begins-run-derenzy-is-director-and.html |date=June 17, 1970 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 2, 2019 }} According to Vincent Canby, a New York Times film reviewer, the narrator of the documentary noted that "pornography is more stimulating and cheaper than hormone injections" and "stresses the fact that since the legalization of pornography in Denmark, sex crimes have decreased." Nonetheless, on September 30, 1970, Assistant District Attorney, Richard Beckler, had the theater manager, Chung Louis, arrested on an obscenity charge, and the film seized as appealing to a prurient interest in sex. The presiding judge, Jack Rosenberg, stated, “[The film] is patently offensive to most Americans because it affronts contemporary community standards relating to the description or representation of sexual matters.”{{cite web |author=Staff |title=The Holbein Studios -- No. 154 West 55th Street |url=http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-holbein-studios-no-154-west-55th.html |date=August 3, 2012 |work=DaytonianInManhattan |access-date=June 2, 2019 }}

Nevertheless, afterwards, in October 1970, the History of the Blue Movie, another film documentary study of pornography directed by Alex de Renzy, was released and featured a compilation of early blue movie shorts dating from 1915 to 1970. Film critic Roger Ebert reviewed the film, rated it two-stars (of four), and noted that the narrator tells us "solemnly about the comic artistry of early stag movies".{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Historyof the Blue movie - Film Review |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/history-of-the-blue-movie-1971 |date=August 25, 1971 |work=RogerEbert.com |access-date=June 2, 2019 }}

In December 1971, Boys in the Sand was released and opened in theaters across the United States and around the world,Rutledge (1989) p. 63 and reviewed by Variety magazine.Stevenson p. 113{{cite book |last=Haggerty |first=George E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUf3CQAAQBAJ&q=Variety+June+18%2C+1969+%22Blue+Movie%22&pg=PA339 |title=A Companion to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies |date=2015 |isbn=9781119000853 |page=339 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |access-date=January 20, 2016}} Featuring explicit all-male sex scenes, the film's title is a parodic reference to the gay-themed 1968 play by Mart Crowley, and the 1970 film adaptation The Boys in the Band.{{cite news

|last=Halter |first=Ed |title=Return to Paradise |work=Village Voice |date=June 18, 2002 |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/06/18/return-to-paradise/ |access-date=November 10, 2017}} It led to the formation of several gay porn production houses, among the most notable, Falcon Studios and Hand In Hand Films.

The 'Golden Age of Porn' continued in 1972 with Deep Throat. It officially premiered at the World Theater[http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2664/ World Theater] at CinemaTreasures.org in New York City on June 12, 1972, and was advertised in The New York Times under the bowdlerized title Throat. After Johnny Carson talked about the film on his nationally top-rated TV show{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Jon|title=Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Created the Modern Film Industry|year=2000|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0814751428|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hollywoodvhardco00lewi_0/page/260 260–67]|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodvhardco00lewi_0/page/260}}Chuck Traynor, speaking in the documentary Inside Deep Throat (2005){{cite book|title=Hard core: power, pleasure, and the "frenzy of the visible"|publisher=University of California Press|author=Williams, Linda |year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3wAe48_yfNUC|isbn=0-520-21943-0|pages=156–158|author-link=Linda Williams (film critic)}}{{cite book|title=Handbook of organized crime in the United States|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|author1=Robert J. Kelly |author2=Ko-lin Chin |author3=Rufus Schatzberg |year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWg1Efv5C5UC|isbn=0-313-28366-4|pages=301–302}} and Bob Hope, as well, mentioned it on TV, Deep Throat became very profitable and a box-office success, according to one of the figures behind the film. In its second year of release, Deep Throat just missed Variety's top 10. However, by then, it was often being shown in a double bill with the most successful of the top three adult erotic films released in the 1972–1973 era, The Devil in Miss Jones, which easily outperformed Deep Throat, while leaving Behind the Green Door trailing in third place.Lewis, p.211-212

The 1973 film The Devil in Miss Jones was ranked number seven in the Variety list of the top ten highest-grossing pictures of 1973, despite lacking the wide release and professional marketing of Hollywood and having been virtually banned across the country for half the year (see Miller v. California, below). Some critics have described the film as, along with Deep Throat, one of the "two best erotic motion pictures ever made".{{cite book|title=Offensive literature: decensorship in Britain, 1960–1982|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|author=Sutherland, John |year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udkN4xWi2r0C|isbn=0-389-20354-8|page=136}} William Friedkin called The Devil in Miss Jones a "great film", partly because it was one of the few adult erotic films with a proper storyline.{{cite book|title=The erotic thriller in contemporary cinema|publisher=Indiana University Press|author=Williams, Linda Ruth |year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOiY931rxDEC|isbn=0-253-34713-0|page=134}} Roger Ebert referred to The Devil in Miss Jones as the "best" of the genre he had seen and gave it three-stars (of four).{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=The Devil In Miss Jones – Film Review |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-devil-in-miss-jones-1973 |date=June 13, 1973 |publisher=RogerEbert.com |access-date=February 7, 2015 }} Ebert also suggested the film's box office receipts were inflated as a way of laundering the profits from illegal activities, although such a method would have required organized crime to be paying taxes on their illegally obtained income.{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Inside Deep Throat |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/inside-deep-throat-2005 |date=February 11, 2005 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=February 8, 2016 }}Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, Eric Schlosser, p144

The Devil in Miss Jones was one of the first films to be inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.dirtybob.com/xrco/hall.htm |title=Hall of Fame |publisher=Dirty Bob/X-Rated Critics Organization |access-date=June 15, 2015}} The sound-recording, cinematography, and story-line of The Devil in Miss Jones were of a considerably higher quality than any previous porn film. The lead, Georgina Spelvin, who had been in the original Broadway run of The Pajama Game, combined vigorous sex with an acting performance some thought as convincing as anything to be seen in a good mainstream production. She had been hired as a caterer, but Gerard Damiano, the film director, was impressed with her reading of Miss Jones's dialogue, while auditioning an actor for the non-sex role of 'Abaca'. According to Variety's review, "With The Devil in Miss Jones, the hard-core porno feature approaches an art form, one that critics may have a tough time ignoring in the future". The review also described the plot as comparable to Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit,Lewis, p.211 and went on to describe the opening scene as, "a sequence so effective it would stand out in any legit theatrical feature." It finished by stating, "Booking a film of this technical quality into a standard sex house is tantamount to throwing it on the trash heap of most current hard-core fare."{{cite web|title=History of Sex in Cinema: Porn Chic of the 1970s|url=http://www.filmsite.org/sexinfilms23a.html|publisher=AMC Filmsite (AMC Networks) | first= Tim | last= Dirks | date= n.d. | access-date=September 12, 2013}}{{cite book|title=The encyclopedia of guilty pleasures: 1001 things you hate to love|publisher=Quirk Books|author1=Sam Stall |author2=Lou Harry |author3=Julia Spalding |year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqaOE25UiMsC|isbn=1-931686-54-8|page=182}}{{cite book|title=The history of sex in American film|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|author=Pennington, Jody W. |year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfAKgZ68a9AC|isbn=978-0-275-99226-2|page=56}}{{cite book |title=Historical dictionary of the 1970s |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |author=Olson, James Stuart |year=1999 |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00olso_0 |url-access=registration |isbn=0-313-30543-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00olso_0/page/125 125]}}{{cite book |title =The Devil Made Me Do It |publisher=Georginas World |year= 2008 |author-link=Georgina Spelvin |first=Georgina |last=Spelvin | isbn = 978-0615199078 | page= ??}}SF blogs, David-Elijah Nahmod Thu., October 10, 2013 [http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2013/10/porn_star_georgina_spelvin.php Forty Years After The Devil in Miss Jones: Georgina Spelvin's Happy Ending]

{{See also|Pornification}}

An influential five-page article in The New York Times Magazine in 1973 described the phenomenon of porn being publicly discussed by celebrities, and taken seriously by critics, a development referred to, by Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times, as "porno chic".{{cite news |last=Blumenthal |first=Ralph |title=Porno chic; 'Hard-core' grows fashionable-and very profitable |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/21/archives/pornochic-hardcore-grows-fashionableand-very-profitable.html |date=January 21, 1973 |work=The New York Times Magazine |access-date=January 20, 2016 }}{{cite web | last = Jan Willem | first = Geerinck | title = Porno Chic (blog) | url = http://www.jahsonic.com/PornoChic.html | website = jahsonic.com }} Some expressed the opinion that pornographic films would continue to extend their access to US theaters, and the mainstream film industry would gravitate toward the influence of porn.From a 1970s interview with Linda Lovelace, shown in the documentary Inside Deep Throat.{{cite news | title = Mafia Money Infiltrates Pornos Movie Business | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19751012&id=uIcpAAAAIBAJ&pg=828,4533369&hl=en | work = Daytona Beach Morning Journal | date = October 12, 1975 | access-date = September 5, 2016 | quote = "If the trend continues, these people are going to become a major force in the movie industry within a few years," said Capt. Lawrence Hepburn of the New York Police Department's organized crime division. "The movie business is going to be like the garment business, riddled with Mafia influence." }} Several Golden Age films referred to mainstream film titles, including "Alice in Wonderland" (1976), "Flesh Gordon" (1974), "The Opening of Misty Beethoven" (1976) and "Through the Looking Glass" (1976).

Supreme Court's 1973 Miller v. California decision redefined obscenity from "utterly without socially redeeming value" to lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value". Crucially, it made 'contemporary community standards' the criterion, holding that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment; the ruling gave leeway to local judges to seize and destroy prints of films adjudged to violate local community standards. The Miller decision obstructed porn distribution.

The Devil in Miss Jones, as well as Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, were prosecuted successfully during the latter half of 1973; the Supreme Court's Miller decision closed much of America to the exhibition of adult erotic films, and often led to it being banned outright. Porn films would not feature as prominently in the mainstream movie business as they did in the Golden Age,{{cite book|last=Green|first=Jonathon & Nicholas J. Karolides|title=Encyclopedia of Censorship|year=2005|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0816044641|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofce00gree/page/44 44]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofce00gree/page/44}} until the emergence of the internet in the 1990s.{{cite web|last1=Tongue|first1=Stewart|title=Crowdsourcing Column: Mainstream vs. Adult|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/technology/Crowdsourcing-Column-Mainstream-vs-Adult-553023.html|website=AVN.com|publisher=Adult Video News|access-date=July 24, 2014|archive-date=June 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613210411/http://business.avn.com/articles/technology/Crowdsourcing-Column-Mainstream-vs-Adult-553023.html|url-status=dead}}

In the aftermath of Miller v. California (1973), with the consequence of fragmenting distribution in the American film market and putting mass box office returns beyond the reach of pornographic films, the brief commercial foray into the production of pornographic films with higher artistic and cinematic production values that occurred between 1972 and 1973 was not sustained. With their relatively modest financial means, a predicted move of organized crime into Hollywood failed to materialize. Pornographic films continued to be a highly profitable business, and thrived throughout the rest of the 1970s, leading to the concept of porn "stars" gaining currency. Ostracism of porn performers meant they almost invariably used pseudonyms. Being outed as having appeared in porn usually put an end to an actor's hope of a mainstream career.Nitke Barbara, in {{cite web |url=http://atomiclegdropzine.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/american-ecstasy-the-photography-of-barbara-nitke-and-the-golden-age-of-pornography/ |title=American Ecstasy: The Photography of Barbara Nitke and The Golden Age of Pornography |date=February 4, 2014 |publisher=AtomicLegdropZine.wordpress.com/ |access-date=June 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527071231/http://atomiclegdropzine.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/american-ecstasy-the-photography-of-barbara-nitke-and-the-golden-age-of-pornography/ |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |df=mdy }} An indication of the returns still possible was that a 1976 release, Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy, favorably reviewed by film critic Roger Ebert in 1976,{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Alice in Wonderland:An X-Rated Musical Fantasy |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/alice-in-wonderland-1976 |date=November 24, 1976 |publisher=RogerEbert.com |access-date=February 26, 2016 }} reportedly grossed over $90 million globally.{{cite book|last=Hollingsworth|first=Cristopher|title=Alice Beyond Wonderland: Essays for the Twenty-first Century|year=2009|publisher=University Of Iowa Press|location=Iowa City, IA|isbn=978-1587298196|page=182}} Some historians assess The Opening of Misty Beethoven, based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (and its derivative, My Fair Lady), and directed by Radley Metzger, as attaining a [https://books.google.com/books?id=dWX4AAAAQBAJ&q=Metzger mainstream level in storyline and sets].{{cite book |last1=Mathijs |first1=Ernest |last2=Mendik |first2=Xavier |title=The Cult Film Reader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWX4AAAAQBAJ&q=978-0335219230+%22The+Cult+Film+Reader%22 |publisher=Open University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0335219230}} Author Toni Bentley called the film the "crown jewel" of the Golden Age.{{cite web |last=Bentley |first=Toni |author-link=Toni Bentley |title=The Legend of Henry Paris |url=http://www.playboy.com/articles/the-legend-of-henry-paris |date=June 2014 |work=Playboy |access-date=January 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204030128/http://www.playboy.com/articles/the-legend-of-henry-paris |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last=Bentley |first=Toni |author-link=Toni Bentley |title=The Legend of Henry Paris |url=http://www.tonibentley.com/pdfarticles/playboy/RadleyMetzger_AuteuroftheErotic_ToniBentley.pdf |date=June 2014 |work=Playboy |access-date=January 26, 2016 }}

In general, after 1973, adult erotic films emulated mainstream filmmaking storylines and conventions, merely to frame the depictions of sexual activity to prepare an 'artistic merit' defense against possible obscenity charges. The adult film industry remained stuck at the level of 'one day wonders', finished by participants hired for only a single day. The ponderous technology of the time meant filming a simple scene would often take hours due to the need for the camera to be laboriously set up for each shot.{{cite web |url=http://susannahbreslin.net/blog/2013/11/21/cx246pc0b0u1ooo36fyytpnrt4hv78 |title=From Sexploitation Star to Porn Star: An Interview with Colleen Brennan | author-link=Susannah Breslin |first=Susannah |last=Breslin |publisher=Susannah Breslin official site |date=November 25, 2013 |access-date=June 13, 2014}} Repeated sustained performances might be required on cue at any time over the course of a day, which was an issue for men without the recourse to modern Viagra-type drugs. Production was concentrated in New York City where organized crime was widely believed to have control over all aspects of the business, and to prevent entry of competitors. Although their budgets were usually very low, a subcultural level of appreciation exists for films of this era, which were produced by a core group of around thirty performers, some of whom had other jobs. Several were actors who could handle dialogue when required. However, some participants scoffed at the idea that what they did qualified as "acting". By the early 1980s, the rise of home video had led to the end of the era when people went to movie theaters to see sex shot on 35mm film with production values, ultimately culminating with the rise of the internet in the 1990s and beyond.

{{further|Feminist views of pornography}}

The 'Golden Age' was a period of interactions between pornography and the contemporaneous second wave of feminism. Radical and cultural feminists, along with religious and conservative groups, attacked pornography,{{cite journal |last=Chenier |first=Elise |title=Lesbian Sex Wars |url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/lesbian_sex_wars_S.pdf |date=2004 |journal=GLBTQ Journal |pages=1–3 |access-date=December 30, 2015 }}{{cite book |last=Brownmiller |first=Susan |title=In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution |publisher=Dial Press |url=https://archive.org/details/inourtimememoiro00brow_0 |url-access=registration |date=1999 |work=Dial Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/inourtimememoiro00brow_0/page/360 360] |isbn=0-385-31486-8 |access-date=December 30, 2015 }} while other feminists were pro-pornography, such as Camille Paglia, who defined what came to be known as sex-positive feminism in her work Sexual Personae. Paglia and other sex-positive or pro-pornography feminists accepted porn as part of the sexual revolution with its libertarian sexual themes, such as exploring bisexuality and swinging, free from government interference. The endorsement of female critics was essential for the credibility of the brief era of "porno chic".{{cite journal|title=Bad Sex: Second Wave Feminism and Porn's Golden Age. |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/40b50274e13643f23165423cb36337ca/1 |journal=Radical Society|date=October 2002|first=Loren|last=Glass|volume=29|issue=3|pages=55–66}}{{cite news|last=Bailey |first=Cameron |title=Blow-by-blow accounts |work=NOW Toronto |date=February 2005 |volume=24 |number=24 |url=http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=145887&archive=24,24,2005 |access-date=2008-03-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928090629/http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=145887&archive=24,24,2005 |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |df=mdy }}Weitzer p. 52{{cite book|title=Porn studies|publisher=Duke University Press|author=Williams, Linda |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdWZ8JD5dkkC |isbn=0-8223-3312-0 |page=320}}

The Golden Age of Porn, between the years 1969 to 1984, was split into two waves: the first wave (the "porno chic" era), between the late 1960s to early 70s; and, the second wave reportedly "between the late 70s and early 80s".{{cite news |last=Salucci |first=Mariavittoria|title=The History of the Sex Wars - How feminism split because of porn |url=https://www.nssgclub.com/en/lifestyle/24941/sex-wars-feminism-porn |date=January 22, 2021 |work=NSS/NapleStreetStyle G-Club Magazine (nssgclub.com) |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223023254/https://www.nssgclub.com/en/lifestyle/24941/sex-wars-feminism-porn |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |accessdate=February 22, 2022 }}{{cite news |last=Morrissey |first=Tracie Egan |title=Sorry Second Wave Feminists, Porn Stars Are Actually Emotionally Stable, Self-Confident Women Who Weren't Molested as Kids |url=https://jezebel.com/sorry-second-wave-feminists-porn-stars-are-actually-em-5963606 |date=November 27, 2012 |work=Jezeel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223130432/https://jezebel.com/sorry-second-wave-feminists-porn-stars-are-actually-em-5963606 |archive-date=February 23, 2023 |accessdate=February 23, 2023 }}

Major pornographic film actors of the first part of the 'Golden Age', the "porno chic" era, included:

{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Bobby Astyr
• Rene Bond
• Rebecca Brooke
• Rick Cassidy
• Marilyn Chambers
• Zebedy Colt
• Carol Connors
• Desireé Cousteau
• Casey Donovan
• Eric Edwards
• Samantha Fox
• Michael Gaunt
• Jamie Gillis
• Terri Hall
• Annette Haven
• John C. Holmes (a.k.a. "Johnny Wadd")
• Robert Kerman (a.k.a. "R Bolla")
• Johnny Keyes
• C. J. Laing
• Gloria Leonard
• John Leslie
• Linda Lovelace
• William Margold
• Sharon Mitchell
• Constance Money
• Wade Nichols
• Kay Parker
• George Payne
• Rhonda Jo Petty
• Darby Lloyd Rains
• Harry Reems
• Vanessa del Rio
• Candida Royalle
• Herschel Savage
• Joey Silvera
• Georgina Spelvin
• Annie Sprinkle
• Marc Stevens
• Jessie St. James
• Paul Thomas
• Jennifer Welles
• Marlene Willoughby

}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Tracey Adams
• Juliet Anderson (a.k.a. "Aunt Peg")
• Colleen Brennan
• Jerry Butler
• Tom Byron
• Christy Canyon
• Desireé Cousteau
• Barbara Dare
• Billy Dee
• Lisa De Leeuw
• Debi Diamond
• Jeanna Fine
• Veronica Hart
• Nina Hartley
• Ryan Idol
• Ron Jeremy
• Angel Kelly
• Brigitte Lahaie
• Hyapatia Lee
• Traci Lords
• Amber Lynn
• Ginger Lynn
• Porsche Lynn
• Shauna Grant
• Shanna McCullough
• Kelly Nichols
• Peter North
• Seka
• Long Dong Silver
• Randy West
• Bambi Woods
• Jack Wrangler
• Ona Zee

}}

At the time of the maturation of the second wave, movies increasingly were being shot on video for home release.

As their popularity rose, so did their control of their careers. John Holmes became the first recurring porn character in the "Johnny Wadd" film series directed by Bob Chinn. Lisa De Leeuw was one of the first to sign an exclusive contract with a major adult production company, Vivid Video, and Marilyn Chambers worked in mainstream movies, being one of the first of a small number of crossover porn actors.

Major producers during the first wave of the 'Golden Age', the "Porno Chic" era, include:

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Gerard Damiano
• Gregory Dark
• Alex de Renzy
• Radley Metzger (a.k.a. "Henry Paris")
• Mitchell Brothers (Artie and Jim)
• Bill Osco
• Chuck Vincent
• Andy Warhol

{{div col end}}

With the rise of video, the dominant pornographic film studios of the Second Wave period were VCA Pictures{{cite news |last=Connelly |first=Tim |title=It's Now Official: Hustler Acquires VCA; Deal Comes a Year After Vivid Pact, Cementing Hustler As... |work=AVN |date=May 2003 |url=http://business.avn.com/articles/9322.html |access-date=December 1, 2011 |archive-date=September 3, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903140044/http://business.avn.com/articles/9322.html |url-status=dead }} and Caballero Home Video.{{cite book|title=Skinflicks: The Inside Story of the X-Rated Video Industry|publisher=AuthorHouse|author=Jennings, David |year=2000

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VCVm7sc5JsC|isbn=1-58721-184-X|page=125}}

Some of the best-known adult erotic films of the period include:

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Alice in Wonderland (US, 1976)
• Barbara Broadcast (US, 1977)
• Behind the Green Door (US, 1972)
• Blue Movie (US, 1969)
• Boys in the Sand (US, 1971)
• Café Flesh (US, 1982)
• Caligula (US-IT, 1979)
• Candy Stripers (US, 1978)
• Centurians of Rome (US, 1981)
• The Cheerleaders (US, 1973)
• Debbie Does Dallas (US, 1978)
• Deep Throat (US, 1972)
• The Devil in Miss Jones (US, 1973)
• A Dirty Western (US, 1975)
• El Paso Wrecking Corp. (US, 1978)
• Flesh Gordon (US, 1974)
• The Image (US, 1975)
• Insatiable (US, 1980)
• Inside Desiree Cousteau (US, 1979)
• Inside Jennifer Welles (US, 1977)
• Kansas City Trucking Co. (US, 1976)
• L.A. Plays Itself (US, 1972)
• L.A. Tool & Die (US, 1979)
• Maraschino Cherry (US, 1978)
• Memories Within Miss Aggie (US, 1973)
• Mona the Virgin Nymph (US, 1970)
• Naked Came the Stranger (US, 1975)
• The New Comers (US, 1973)
• New Wave Hookers (US, 1985)
• New York City Inferno (France, 1978)
• A Night at the Adonis (US, 1978)
• Nightdreams (US, 1981)
• The Opening of Misty Beethoven (US, 1976)
• The Other Side of Aspen (US, 1978)
• Pink Narcissus (US, 1971)
• Pretty Peaches (US, 1978)
• The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann (US, 1974)
• Reel People (US, 1984)
• Resurrection of Eve (US, 1973)
• Score (US, 1974)
• Sensations (NL, 1975)
• Spirit of Seventy Sex (US, 1976)
• The Story of Joanna (US, 1975)
• Taboo (US, 1980)
• The Tale of Tiffany Lust (US, 1979)
• Talk Dirty to Me (US, 1980)
• Through the Looking Glass (US, 1976)

{{div col end}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• 55th Street Playhouse
• Boogie Nights – 1997 film about the Golden Age of Porn
• Dave's Old Porn − 2011 TV show discussing 1970s porn films
• The Deuce – 2017 TV show about the Golden Age of Porn
• Inside Deep Throat – 2005 documentary film
• Lovelace – 2012 film about Linda Lovelace, star of Deep Throat
• New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre
• Ordeal – 1980 autobiography by Linda Lovelace
• Pornography in the United States
• The Rialto Report − archives of the Golden Age of Porn
• Sex in film
• Unsimulated sex

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|title=Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle Over Censorship Created the Modern Film Industry|publisher=NYU Press|author=Lewis, Jon|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OBepfVJOeEC|isbn=0-8147-5143-1}}
• McNeil, Legs, Jennifer Osborne, and Peter Pavia (2005). The Other Hollywood: Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. Regan Books. {{ISBN|0-06-009659-4}}.
• Rutledge, Leigh (1989). The Gay Fireside Companion. New York: Alyson. {{ISBN|1-55583-164-8}}.
• {{cite book|title=The Devil Made Me Do It|publisher=Lulu.com|author=Spelvin, Georgina |author-link=Georgina Spelvin |year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nulzVubfU90C|isbn=978-0-615-19907-8}}{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}
• Stevenson, Jack (2000). Fleshpot: Cinema's Sexual Myth Makers & Taboo Breakers. Critical Vision. {{ISBN|1-900486-12-1}}.
• Weitzer, Ronald John (2000). Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-92294-1}}.

• [http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1043267,00.html "That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic"], Time, March 29, 2005.
• [http://www.therialtoreport.com/ The Rialto Report]: Audio, photo, and documentary archives from the golden age of adult film

{{Sexual slang}}

{{Sexual revolution}}

{{Porn}}

{{Portal bar|1960s|1970s|1980s|Erotica and pornography|Film|Society|United States}}

Category:Pornography in the United States

Porn

Category:Nostalgia in the United States

Category:History of film

Category:Pornography terminology

Category:1960s in film

Category:1970s in film

Category:1980s in film