"Some Like It Taut"
—July 1987
S&M is often accompanied by bondage, the art of restraint. You can watch all kinds of modern bondage demonstrations, but the classic bondage master of all time was a man named Irving Klaw, who worked in the late 40s and 50s.
Klaw’s work is immortalized in a series of bondage tapes he recorded in 16mm film, they are now available on video. The vintage of these movies will surprise and impress you, as I discovered last Thanksgiving, when my dinner table party watched Classics of Irving Klaw, Vol 1.
Klaw’s models, particularly his star, Betty Page, are so wholesome, so adorable and curvy and bright-eyed you’d swear you were watching Betty Crocker doing rope tricks. Cheerful, post-war swing music accompanies the women as they demonstrate dozens of bondage tableaus and costumes. I felt like I was in Barbie’s dream bondage house.
With Klaw’s models, the accent is on the voyeur – the ropes are arranged on the women’s bodies as if by the most eccentric weaver. The actresses pose in their restraints looking like other cheesecake shots of the era. Klaw is single-minded, he doesn’t deviate from his subject or style. But compared to today’s porn, your imagination will be uplifted by his work, and you will never think about the 1950s the same way again.
Contined in "Susie Bright's Erotic Screen, Volume 1"
"The Summer of Love"
—November 87
...Sexploitation showed a lot of trends throughout the 60s and early 70s. Lesbianism and stewardesses were two of the more influential fads.
Lesbianism in early erotic film was hardly a feminist or gay effort. Few gay women can watch Therese and Isabelle or Bilitis without a lot of giggling and head-shaking. Why? Because the vision of "lesbian love" in mainstream erotic cinema shows us a woman and her double. As one woman touches herself, the other touches herself the same way. They not only look the same, their sexual behavior is based on a lack of contrast, an absence of power and extremes. No one ever loses control, and femininity is distilled into refinement— a perfectly smooth, glassy surface.
Hand me the hammer.
Contined in "Susie Bright's Erotic Screen, Volume 1"
"The Dark Brothers Legacy"
...What I liked best about the Dark Brothers were their one-liners. At the beginning of their reign, they issued a slogan: “Porn is dead, long live the Dark Brothers.” Truer opening words were never spoken. That sentiment– "let’s bury the tired clichés and kick into something new–" will be the battle cry of every sexual entrepreneur for the next twenty years.
Contined in "Susie Bright's Erotic Screen, Volume 1"
"Fetish flicks"
Main Attraction Video, known for their Co-Ed Oil Wrestling, has a new entry called Foxy Food Fight. Interestingly, in this era of couples' tapes and tapes appealing to a female audience, this comparatively tame feature is entirely addressed to men.
It’s a true stag novelty. The emcee delivers a “just-us boys, heh-heh,” patter that prompted me to cut the sound. I won’t try to explain: women don’t like to listen to men joke about yeast infections, even if it is in connection with a vat of pasta.
Contined in "Susie Bright's Erotic Screen, Volume 1"
Antiquarian Hippie Sex poster, courtesy of Charles Sorkin.
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