‘Continuous Showing’ – The Unpublished Photographs

‘Continuous Showing’ – The Unpublished Photographs

One of the pleasures of producing The Rialto Report is hearing from people who have started similar documentary endeavors in the past.

So we were pleased to recently hear from Maurice Cain, an artist and writer, who tried to publish a book about adult film stars in the mid 1980s. The book would showcase photos of porn star greats – together with a collection of interviews.

Sadly the book project never got off the ground, but Maurice has agreed to let us share the surviving pictures of stars including Aunt Peg, Kay Parker, Jamie Gillis, and Georgina Spelvin.

In the years since then, Maurice continued to take photos and write stories: further details can be found on his website.

With special thanks to Maurice Cain. All photographs are © and owned by Maurice Cain. 

————————————————————————————————————————————

Maurice Cain writes:

It was early 1985, and TV Guide had just published an issue with a cover story about porn movies becoming almost mainstream.

I’d been interested in adult films since Deep Throat (1972) first come out. I was twenty-two years old. I had never seen a porn movie before, nor any printed stuff harder than Playboy, and desperately wanted to. The publicity around ‘Deep Throat’ led me to believe this might be my chance.

I asked my wife if she wanted to go see it. “No,” she said, in a tone that let me know she didn’t think I ought to go either.

I went anyway.

I honestly had no idea what to expect. It was puzzling to me that ads for the cinema showing the movie didn’t give showtimes. Wasn’t it important to know when a movie started so you could plan your trip accordingly? Oh well. Lots of other things were changing too.

I bought a ticket and walked in. I went through the doors separating the lobby from the seats, and there, on the big screen, before I even sat down, was what I had longed to see for so long: people having sex.

I thought the movie itself was pretty dumb. But to finally see it, real people getting it on – that was wonderful. I had definitely gotten my money’s worth.

When I got home my wife didn’t ask me about the movie and a chill in the air told me it would be unwise to bring it up. On going to bed that night she stayed as far over on her side as she could without falling off, then brusquely turned facing away from me to emphasize her point. I turned facing the other way and furtively worked out with Mrs. Fist and her five daughters.

Things never did get better between my wife and I and we split up soon after. Confronting the world on my own now, I realized I didn’t have to remain the hypocritical prude I’d struggled to be. Life had a dimension to it that I was eager to explore, and it seemed as if that was not only possible but would probably even be fun. So life began anew.

Such was the liberating effect of seeing at last what, if I was honest, was the only thing I had really wanted to see any time I’d ever watched a movie: people having sex. It changed my life.

By the mid 1980s, I’d already been nursing the idea of doing a book combining interviews and photos of the people in porn, so the TV Guide article was confirmation that my timing was good. How to get started?

I was a big fan of photography by people like Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, David Bailey, and Diane Arbus, and went through a lot of photo supplies imitating them, but never had a job doing that kind of thing and the only photographic experience I had was doing an extended art project.

One night, I was at City Lights Books in San Francisco looking at magazines. Done reading, I looked up and was surprised to see Jamie Gillis and Serena were also at the magazine rack. Jamie had on a tall, brown leather top hat, and Serena wore a light, summery dress with nothing on under it. I was sorely tempted to approach them and make appreciative fan noises, but decided against it, figuring they’d just as soon prefer to be left alone.

When I began working on the book project, I settled on a draft title of ‘Continuous Showing’, with the subtitle ‘The People in Adult Cinema Speak for Themselves’. The main title came from the newspaper ads for adult cinemas. The subtitle was what I truly hoped to achieve. I thought it was important and still feel that way.

The first letter I sent was to Jamie. I told him about seeing him and Serena at City Lights, explained the book idea, and asked if he’d be willing to be my first subject. Yes, he said, he was game. Not long after, I wrote to Juliet Anderson, and she too agreed. I was thrilled. In short order I also got the cooperation of Georgina Spelvin, Harry Reems, Kay Parker, Candida Royalle, and John Holmes. Not a bad beginning.

The original idea was to do one shot clothed and one nude for each subject. Interestingly, the women had no problem with that, but the men were very averse to doing nudes. Holmes outright refused, Jamie hemmed and hawed until I just let it drop, and Harry hit on the idea of doing a parody of a classic cheesecake pose that would avoid exposing his genitals. I found it curious to see the contrast in their inhibitions compared to the women.

Everyone was very kind to me and incredibly patient. It makes me cringe to think how little I really knew about them, and how naive my inquiries were. I believe, though, that we all thought maybe something was happening and things might just work out after all.

All the interviews were recorded on an inexpensive portable cassette machine. I tried to keep the conversations to one hour but they often ran longer. My questions tended to be pretty superficial, along the lines of the usual, “How did you first get into porn? Any personal favorites among the movies you’ve done? What advice would you give someone who wanted to get into the business today?” I think my expectation was that as conversations got going, more interesting stuff would be revealed and then we’d get some real depth. I believe sometimes meatier stuff did come up but I was too immature to recognize and pursue it.

Quickly it became clear there were two significant problems. One was that there was no interest from any potential publisher. I held that to be something that could be overcome once I’d made more contacts, but the second problem was a showstopper: I was a terrible interviewer and an uninspiring photographer. This awareness, combined with other problems that were piling up on me, brought the project to a fairly abrupt end.

Today, all I retain from the effort are a few of the portraits I shot and the signed releases of the subjects.

*

I photographed Juliet Anderson at our apartment in the San Francisco East Bay. She even came over a second time when I told her I didn’t think the first shots were that good. When I say these folks were kind and patient with me, it’s Juliet especially I have in mind. I deeply regret that her generosity in this case got her nothing more than a print that likely didn’t mean much to her.

Juliet Anderson

Juliet Anderson

*

Jamie’s photos were done in a small room at a motel on the edge of the Tenderloin in San Francisco. He was up briefly from L.A. and had time to kill one afternoon. It was funny to me to see that a Hitachi Magic Wand, lying on one of the beds in the room, was apparently an ordinary piece of travel gear for him. When, after a while, there came a knock at the door, I saw perhaps why he carried that item. He got up and answered the door to a gorgeous young woman who came in and made herself comfortable. I took this as my cue that it was time for me to wrap up. I envied Mr. Gillis the evening ahead of him.

Jamie Gillis

*

When I knocked on the door of Kay Parker’s apartment in Santa Monica, I didn’t recognize the pleasant young woman who answered.

“Hi. Is Kay here?” I asked.

She laughed. “I’m Kay. You’re Maurice? Come in.”

She looked completely different without her makeup. For the pictures, she did herself up the way she looked in her movies and there, indeed, was the woman I had expected at the door. Remarkable, how much makeup can sometimes alter one’s appearance

Kay Parker

Kay Parker

*

Harry Reems was living in a place in Malibu right on the beach, and that was where we shot. He was a real live wire and easy to photograph. Where ordinarily I’d shoot practically as much film as a subject had the patience for, with Harry I knew we had it before I’d even finished the first roll. It almost made me believe I’d developed a knack for this kind of thing.

Harry Reems

Harry Reems

*

I photographed Candida Royalle on the same trip as the one that included Harry Reems. I was staying at a motel in North Hollywood and that was where Candida and I met. The session with her was a breeze. She looked good and maintained a calm in front of the camera I admired. No strain at all.

As she was getting dressed following the nude shots, she told me she was self-conscious about doing nudes; that she feared her body was no longer quite what it once was. I was flattered that she was still willing to do the shots for me and tried to reassure her that her fears were misplaced.

Candida Royalle

Candida Royalle

*

I took Georgina Spelvin’s photos at a small house in L.A. She greeted me at the door and showed me into the living room where she said we could work. She then excused herself to go and get ready. I got busy setting up my stuff, and to make the kind of space I needed began moving the furniture around. When she returned to the living room and saw what I’d done, I could tell immediately that my welcome had pretty much run out. To her credit she said nothing, and despite a lingering smidgen of tension we managed a respectable result.

For the nude shot she struck a graceful pose that was a nod to her abiding interest in dance. I had the impression that the dreamy look in her eyes wasn’t feigned; that she really was for a moment transported. I hoped so anyway.

I packed my stuff, put her living room back together as best I could, and left.

Georgina Spelvin

Georgina Spelvin

*

John Holmes was working with a guy named Bill Amerson and it was at their office in the L.A. area that we did the photos. Before we’d shot anything at all John made clear he wasn’t going to do any nude shots, and said it with an edge that left me feeling a bit awkward. Still, when we got to work he genuinely made an effort to see if we could get something special. The shot of him with his ring, the cigarette, the smoke curling; that was Holmes as Johnny Wadd.

All I had to do was snap the shutter.

John Holmes

*

Once I’d abandoned the project I was so embarrassed by how shallow my side of it was. I threw away all the tapes and burned the transcripts.

Postscript: I bumped into Gillis in San Francisco years after our interview/photo encounter and had a beer with him at Vesuvios. After I whined to him about how badly I’d failed at the project, he replied, “Well, in a way, now would be a better time to do it — we know what happened to everyone.”

Today, sadly, his point holds with a finality it didn’t then, making it all the more enjoyable to see what you’ve done in The Rialto Report to bring their stories to life. My hat’s off to you. You’ve done that better than anything else I’ve run across. I’ve enjoyed it.

I despaired of the photos ever finding a wider audience, but perhaps people who follow The Rialto Report might be interested in them.

So here they are.

*

  • Posted On: 12th March 2023
  • By: Ashley West
  • Under: Articles · Photos

47 Comments

  1. Olsen · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Thanks for these pictures Maurice. They are completely different from any of the other pictures of the stars which are lasciviously sexualized compared to these.
    I wish your book had been published but am happy you shared them here.

  2. Hal John · March 12, 2023 Reply

    I disagree! The photographs are GREAT!

    I wish you had taken pics of Serena……. I assume that no more survive?

  3. Bob Cotton · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Another winner for Rialto Report: The finest film site on the web. It’s been said before, but I’m saying it again. We’re lucky to have this resource.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Thank You, Bob. I agree that The Rialto Report has turned in an outstanding effort with their work.

  4. Tony F. · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Although never fully realized as a project your work is nonetheless very much appreciated by myself and the countless other viewers of the RR. Thank you Mr. Cain for getting the remnants to the right people! At times I myself had felt motivated to try a project much like Mr. Cain because of my fascination with, and deep dives related to the subjects that the RR so ably entertains us all with. Alas I aborted those ideas for the same reasons Mr. Cain discovered .That my prose and research would be no match for true authors and academics employed on the subject. IE: The Rialto Report!! Thanks again for finding such an appropriate site to release and publish your photos. I enjoyed them all. As always thank you to the Rialto Report crew for sharing all of your wonderful research and your hard work creating the RR for people like me.

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Glad you enjoyed the work, such as it is, Tony. It was sobering to have the project demonstrate clearly my own limitations. Some lessons are hard to digest, but seeing others appreciation for what I managed to turn out helps.

  5. William · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Fantastic work with both the photos and, more importantly, the stories. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Christopher Bell · March 12, 2023 Reply

    I would have loved to see Kay Parker with her different look. She was a class act all the way!

    • Lee Powell · March 12, 2023 Reply

      Maurice,

      The art you’ve shared is nostalgic and classic. Please complete the project because the legion of Golden Era fanatics and I will support you in this – tremendously. Thank you for sharing with us.

      • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

        Lee, for some reason the reply button for the comment above yours is acting up. Yikes! It’s making for a weird jumble here, but at any rate, thanks for your kind thoughts. Yes, nostalgia for the Golden Era is strong. It was indeed a remarkable time.

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      I’ve long wished I’d got a shot of Kay as she looked answering the door. It never even occurred to me at the time. Another lesson in how some opportunities don’t come around twice! And I agree, Kay was something. Time spent with her was very soothing.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Christopher, my reply to you wound up in the wrong spot! See the next one down. Sorry!

  7. Jeff Robertson · March 12, 2023 Reply

    John Holmes Was So Sexy From The 70s And Jamie Gillis Was Original Gonzo From New Chapter In 1994 Thanks Keep Up Good Work

  8. Lucy A. Gothro · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  9. Graham Hill · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Very rare photos of my friend JULIET Aunt Peg Anderson… thanks for sharing!

  10. Chris · March 12, 2023 Reply

    Photos are great. I’m not sure a book would have been successful, and it wouldn’t be Maurice’s fault. Books about porn stars seldom were. The head shots are really good. Those guys would have loved them.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Thanks, Chris. I think that even today such a book would struggle. I’d sure love to see it, though. Oh well. It remains a dream.

  11. Isaac · March 13, 2023 Reply

    Maurice ,

    These portraits are great , love the contrasts of Harry. Candida embodies a quiet sex appeal in her clothed portrait . Love , love the shot of John Holmes!

    Thank you Rialto for always making me look forward to my least favorite day , Sunday haha.

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Thank you, Isaac. Those folks were terrific subjects. I agree Holmes did a fine job on that one. He made me look good.

  12. JL3 · March 13, 2023 Reply

    Thank you for these unpublished photos, and thank you for being so honest about what didn’t go right or didn’t work out, rather than doing what many tend to do in this situation (making yourself a perfect figure who was wronged by all). And thank you to Rialto Report for sharing them. I find the anecdote about Candida Royale especially touching – such a beautiful woman who still looked as lovely as ever.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      You’re welcome, JL3. Those folks all made room for me in a most generous way. It grieves me that I ultimately wasn’t able to keep up my end of it.

  13. Paul Murray · March 13, 2023 Reply

    Maurice…. I disagree; your talent is greater than you humbly profess!

    Just look at that lovely warm smile you coaxed from Kay. She radiates confidence and openness. Brummie’s finest!!

    Your ‘single shot clothed/unclothed‘ idea was copied a quarter of a century later. There’s something I’ve seen on the internet with Messrs Canyon and North and others from the 1980s

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Paul, I’m flattered. Thanks. Kay was really easy to be with. A very mellow person. Not the slightest static being around her. Wish more people/encounters went so smoothly. I saw the book you mention when it came out. I was pleased to see someone had the stamina and resources to get it done.

  14. d gray · March 13, 2023 Reply

    interesting. very cool of him to share. what an enigma that john holmes was.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Hey, d gray. Thanks. I agree Holmes was enigmatic. Given how likable he was, it shocked me how things went for him. Sad.

  15. Elias · March 13, 2023 Reply

    Perhaps the Greatest Coffee Table Book That Never Was…? Mr. Cain’s skills as a photographer are exceptional. Candida’s fear was indeed misplaced, she was a classical beauty, a stunner. Again, many thanks to The Rialto Report for another excellent blog post!

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      You made my day, with that, Elias; The Greatest Coffee Table Book That Never Was. Good one!
      Candida was even more lovely in person. She also had vision and tenacity. I regret that I didn’t have the wit to pursue some of the things she brought up in our conversation. Sigh.

  16. TC · March 14, 2023 Reply

    ABSOLUTE PERFECTION… Stripped down, while exquisitely exemplifying the “Beauty of the Days Gone By.”
    Georgina literally left me breathless. Highly recommend to all the RR Fans a viewing of her infamous soliloquy in Gerard Damiano’s “Fantasy” (Circa 1979). Golden Age Porn Women are real-world goddesses… They never age, instead just become more glorious with time (regardless of the universes they choose to inhabit).

  17. Ken · March 14, 2023 Reply

    I love the photos too, seems like another side of them. Candida was a true beauty my goodness.

    • MC · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Many thanks, Ken. It’s curious that I never had a sense that I was seeing them in any way other than what they were. Which is to say, pleasant, thoughtful, generous and attractive. They all deserved a much greater degree of respect from the larger world. And yes, Candida was quite lovely. A bright and talented woman.

  18. Polarpooh · March 15, 2023 Reply

    This is really, really sad. Maurice, you were sitting on a gold mine. All of the time end effort…wasted. We don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. And sadly, most of our legendary figures from the golden age of porn have slowly faded away.

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      Thanks Polarpooh. So true about not realizing what we’ve got til it’s gone. A quote from Bukowski that I love: “The saddest thing about life is finding it gone.” I know what he meant.

  19. James · March 23, 2023 Reply

    You are far more talented than you give yourself credit for sir. These photos are beautiful. Thank you!

    • Maurice · March 27, 2023 Reply

      James, your kind words are welcomed. I’m pleased to know they’ve brought others such pleasure. I wish there were more.

  20. Frank Robert · March 31, 2023 Reply

    Those pictures of Kay and Candida are absolutely beautiful and that picture of Holmes is incredible. So glad you saved those to share. Good work!

  21. moycon · May 24, 2023 Reply

    Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing!

  22. HOWIE GORDON · March 22, 2024 Reply

    Those are two of the best pictures I’ve ever seen of Candida! – The ghost of Richard Pacheco

Leave a reply

Verified by MonsterInsights