We’re proud to announce that The Rialto Report has an article published in The Daily Beast article today: the remarkable story behind the making of the early adult film Deep Sleep (1972).
You can read the article on The Daily Beast website here.
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‘Deep Sleep’ (1972) background
In 1972, Alfred Sole, a first time filmmaker, made an X-rated film called ‘Deep Sleep’.
He didn’t know much about adult films or the industry, so he shot it in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey and using a cast and crew made up of friends and family members.
This meant that the local lawyer, banker, policeman, high school teachers, funeral home director, the mayor’s wife, even Alfred’s wife and his mother were part of the film-making group. It seemed like everyone in Paterson knew someone who was involved in the making of ‘Deep Sleep’.
And so predictably when it came out it was a smash hit in New Jersey, with long lines of people breaking box office records trying to get into the theaters to see it.
But not everyone was impressed. And what followed was one of the most remarkable and notorious prosecutions of an adult film in American history. First the filmmakers were indicted on a state basis under an ancient anti-fornication statute, and then on a federal level for interstate transportation of pornography. Suddenly Alfred Sole found himself at the center of a storm. He was under attack both from the law and from everyone who’d helped him make the film in the first place.
The people involved speak out for the first time in 40 years.
Alfred Sole, Deep Sleep’s director
Kim Pope, Deep Sleep actress
Joseph Friedman, Deep Sleep cinematographer
Butch Taylor, Deep Sleep’s soundtrack composer
John Niccollai, Assistant District Prosecutor
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Stills
Kim Pope (aka Mary Canary), Anthony De Marco (aka Anthony Dema)
Kim Pope, Anthony De Marco drive past the Bishop’s residence
Kim Pope, Anthony De Marco, with the whip taken in evidence
Great Falls, Paterson NJ
Willard Butts looks on
Jamie Gillis, in hammock
The Maharishi
Press Coverage
A fine article that is crying out, begging, demanding… a full film treatment!
Come on Hollywood… do it!
Congratulations on all the mainstream success for THE RIALTO REPORT!
It is gratifying to see quality reportage and investigative journalism break into the big time….
Well written and so interesting.
I’d love to see this made into a big budget movie.
Here’s hoping it also becomes a podcast episode. I love being read to by April & Ashley!
Thanks for your efforts to preserve these recollections. I don’t know if you’ve ever considered it, but an article about the making of Blue Voodoo could be interesting.
Stunning work, RR!
That large pic with the notorious whip is nightmare fuel, though. It shows way more of De Marco than anyone needed to see. 😉
Alfred Sole picked up my friend Joe Donnelly and myself in a white Rolls Royce one night and took to the editors office in NYC. He learned about us because Alfred’s wife worked with Joe’s mom. We watched the rough cuts on a small screen on the editors desk, to get an idea of what the movie was about.
Joe and I went home and wrote 3 songs for 3 different scenes, and presented them to Alfred, and he liked them right away.
We started rehearsing in Alfred’s basement with Joe and I, and Butch on drums and piano, and John on bass. Joe and I sang and played guitar with Butch and John, and recorded the soundtrack in one night. Butch and John also recorded the more instrumental music that they wrote for other various scenes in the film. The songs with Vocals and lyrics were written by Joe and I.
Harry can you do it, can you get it up one more time….
Eat out tonight……
Ooda down in the hammock…..