Herschel Savage, knighted by Quaserman as "prince of pretense", as you know by now, caused a mild uproar of sorts at Camp Cabana Boy when he had non-condom sex with a civilian - one of the femmes des joie. There was talk about quarantines and forcing Savage, at the very least, to wear condoms in his scenes. Perhaps not working at all.
I asked Savage to give his side of the story which he did - while suntanning nude, poolside. Savage, however, for the sake of propriety, had his swimsuit draped over his crotch. I later remarked to Quasarman that Savage did so to the hide the fact he was getting an erection talking to me. I was kidding of course.
Savage: "The issue was resolved by the girl having been tested. Fortunately. It was unfortunate in that most of the people, who were supposed to be friends, were unbelievably treacherous in their desire to get rid of me and get my scenes. It's an unfortunate aspect of the business right now that there's a self-cannibalizing nature to the beast, so to speak. There was also a holier-than-thou attitude from certain of the men who were all snipping close to the same woman who I'd become very close to. It could have become any of us."
G. Ross: "I assume it was a heat of the moment type of thing."
Savage: "To be perfectly honest, that was the second time we were together. We had already passed the white hot moment. We were now a fiery red. But it was a circumstance where we were together on the beach and we both produced CONDOMS on the beach, which I thought was the intelligent way to go. Later on that night or the next day, I can't remember, we were at the disco. It was very humid as is the weather where we are right now. She said I want to go in the pool. It was like two o'clock in the morning. I said I'm not someone who likes to jump into pools at that hour. She talked me into it. I figured we'd cool off. Turns out the pool was a temperate 70 degrees. It was beautiful to be in there. One thing led to another, and we, among other groups of people who were doing the nasty, started getting into it. Apparently it was a bad move in terms of people who I'm dealing with in this industry.
"There's certainly some legitimate concerns, but it's not so much the fact that I didn't do the wrong thing, as much as the fact that there is a hypocritical facet to people talking like they never venture outside the industry to fuck people. Or these guys would NEVER have been so irresponsible to after a woman like this. They're so full of shit. Whatever. It worked out fortunately for me, the company stood behind me and I'm appreciative of that."
G. Ross: "Would this type of sanction have occurred earlier in your career, or has the industry changed to where it's become more competitive?"
Savage: "Certainly there wasn't the specter of disease in my era in the Seventies and Eighties. But I felt there was more of a communal spirit. The guys were friends. You got work on merit. You got what you got. There's always been some aspect of that going on in the industry, I'm sure. The people that usually worked for least were the ones who slandered others the most. It's always somebody else, not them. But the fact of the matter is, if you're good and get along with the women, and you're a good performer, you will work as much as anyone else. And that's a fact."
G. Ross: "Obviously you've resolved your differences here with Mike McCormick with a handshake, but there was a tension going on last night. The impression that I got was that you kept hammering him to use you in a lot of sex scenes. He felt that you were getting your share and that you were putting undo pressure on him."
Savage: "Mike McCormick happens to be one of the funniest people I know. In working with him as talent, he's somebody that will keep you laughing from the beginning to the very end. I've enjoyed my relationship with him. To be honest, from the beginning of the trip, before we actually left Los Angeles, he really went out of his way to make me feel that they were going out of their way to get me as many scenes as possible. He and Michael Adams sat down and basically told me what scenes I was going to have, and it came out to a certain amount of money and I assumed that's what it would be.
"On the first day of the shoot I did one scene. On the second day, they ran out of time, some problems arose, he said I'm sorry, I got to cancel that scene. [The Juliana Sterling scene.] At that point I thought I'm already behind the eight ball in terms of making as many scenes as I was supposed to. As far as asking him for more than was my share, that was never the case. I assumed that I was going to do what I had been contracted to do. As far as the week went until the altercation at the dinner, we were getting along fine. I shot a scene with him. He has a lovely wife, we were cracking jokes as usual and we were getting along great. Perhaps he was under a lot of pressure at that point. In my mind you can do what you can do and that's it. If you can't accommodate everyone, you say I'm sorry, I'm doing my best, that's it and you move on. That's all I would expect. I went over and you were a witness to the altercation so I don't need to embellish it in anyway. Fortunately it resolved itself."
G. Ross: "You think everything was resolved to your satisfaction and you had a successful trip?"
Savage: "It doesn't appear possible for me to get the scenes I was contracted to do. At least verbally promised that I would get."
G. Ross: "In other words, you fell short of your quota."
Savage: "It's not a quota. It's a matter of traveling on a trip. I know we're viewed as people in a lovely spot in the world, we're surrounded by lovely girls, we're getting paid to get fucked, what the fuck is the guy complaining about? The bottom line is this is our job, this is our business. I have other responsibilities at home. I have a son that I raise. Honestly, if I were to go on vacation without getting paid, I would have brought him. There was no quota involved. There was a matter of needing a certain amount of money to justify the trip. I can't be globe trotting for the fun of it at this point in my life."
G. Ross: "What's it like being a performing father as opposed to being in this business at one time, carefree with no seeming responsibilities. How has it changed your life around as a performer?"
Savage: "I don't know if it's impacted me in anyway because my son is around. The only way it's impacted me is when I shoot with people who tend to work long, it's a little bothersome when you'd like to see your son, maybe do some homework with him. I have joint custody, and I like to share the responsibilities as we agreed to do. When somebody shoots something that could be done, realistically, in 10 to 12 hours, and they take 16 to 18 it becomes why am I doing this? When I could be shooting a straight sex scene for a company and be paid the same amount of money and be out of there in two hours.
"As far as how has it changed by being a father as a performer, I think, in a way, even though many people don't know me personally, I've always been kind of conscientious as a person in this industry in terms of not being thrilled to be in degrading situations for myself or other people. I've always tried to have my heart involved in whatever I do. I think some of us are more than pussies and penises. It's hard to see that through the glass lens. I think that when all is said and done my son can be proud that I didn't represent my family in a disrespectful way."
G. Ross: "Would you ever get serious with someone again?"
Savage: "Absolutely."
G. Ross: "If so, would that you make you think twice, if offered the alternative to stay in or get out of the business."
Savage: "An ultimatum? My feeling is this, if that person had that much of an issue with my doing what I'm doing, then they really could probably never be comfortable with what I did. I find that the healthiest relationships are one where you don't go into the relationship secretly hoping to change the person so you could be happier. People basically don't change for you, you change for yourself. I think I would have a warning sign out for a relationship like that.
"It could be a very tough situation if I was deeply in love with somebody and they said you have to change the gig. I think it would be really tough and I would resent that person. As far as wanting a serious relationship, I'm someone who very much wants to share my life with someone. Since my divorce, I didn't date a lot. I was basically celibate for three years after my divorce. Coming back into the industry, I was coming in ice cold, sexually. It was really difficult getting up to rhythm, to perform on a regular basis. It's not that easy."
G. Ross: "You lost your edge?"
Savage: "It was unbelievable. I'm in my Forties now. Physiologically, you do change. I think certainly by 40 year-old standards, I'm a pretty good sexual specimen and work very well. The things that I could do well in my 20's and 30's, I can still do well. I still have very good control. The difference now for me is in a scene where there's a lot of stops and starts, and disorganization, I'll get tired after an hour or two. In your 20's and 30's it's no big deal. But now it becomes the kind of thing where it becomes really draining and you lose the erotic edge. You do your best.
"Fortunately, I'm somebody that really likes women and can always find some beauty in everyone that I'm with. In this business, if you have a .300 batting average, you're not in the business. You have to be a .900 batter. And that's even pushing it, you can't fuck up. Apparently I haven't in my comeback. I did have a few problems in a few circumstances where I really wasn't attracted to the girl early in my comeback, and the scene was just a turnoff to me altogether. I would get wood in the beginning and at the end it was becoming a chore. Fortunately I can always come. I can always end the scene. I work my way through those scenes. And I got stronger. I got my body back in the kind of shape and rhythm I needed to be in.
"I'd say the average age of male performers now is 32. The top performers seem to be 35 or so. I don't think I've taken a backseat to them in anyway."
G. Ross: "What was it like to come back into the business and work for producers and directors who might not have heard of Herschel Savage. Did you feel you had to prove yourself all over again?"
Savage: "If somebody doesn't know who I am, I never hold that against them. I don't feel that I'm somebody special."
G. Ross: "You're the legend. You're the Hersch. Crazy Legs Hersch."
Savage: "If you think of yourself as a legend, you're way off in my book. As you're well aware.
G. Ross: "You're the legend of tanning."
Savage: "I hope I can win the tan award here."
G. Ross: "I've heard rumors that you've had your teeth artificially whitened to make your face look darker."
Savage: "My teeth are as yellow as a person could possibly get without smoking."
[The conversation resumes to the subject at hand.]
Savage: "For me, in my comeback, I've worked with a lot of people I didn't know who turned out to be really sweet people and generous in their spirit. One of the major criteria for me is what do I feel is coming from this person. There's so many times that you feel they're looking down their nose at you. I hate being in those situations. Not that I have a problem with self-esteem, but I feel this general feeling of disrespect or abuse which comes out of jealousy or that they don't like what they're doing, they should be doing better themselves. To those people, I say work somewhere else. Go to McDonalds. Do something you feel is more respectful, but don't take it out on us. Treat us with the respect we deserve because we are performers and we're doing our best. Most of us, anyway."
G. Ross: "You brought up the point last not about the dehydration factor; these conditions are obviously something not every guy's used to working in. Has the heat and the live audiences here put that much of a crimp in your style?"
Savage: "I'm one of the people that did live sex performances in the Seventies at The Show World Center. I did them later in San Francisco. I'm not completely uncomfortable being in front of people. The situation we're under right now, the humidity is stifling. It's funny, you got to Las Vegas, you're in the desert you get dehydrated but you're not sweating. Here, you see the liquid you're losing. I really had to become more conscientious about that. I felt, sexually, in one of the scenes, weakened. I felt at the end of the scene I was struggling to keep the thing going.
"Obviously we're surrounded by a lot of fans and press here. So the scenes take on a carnival atmosphere. All of a sudden you're in the middle of a scene and it's like you're at the Cannes Film Festival. Only you're fucking. Seriously, at the end of the scenes, I expected to be hosed off. One guy threw me peanuts. I got pissed off."
G. Ross: "Is that a fact?"
Savage: "No. But one girl thought about throwing me a piece of raw meat. You have to get through that stuff."
G. Ross: "You raise another point about some guys who are probably working for the first time in front of the public-at-large. Does that raise mental issues?"
Savage: "I think that could be daunting to some performers who have a fragile psyche to begin with. There are so many male performers who are just into themselves. They don't relate to the woman. It's not an erotic exercise for them. But I think the male performers they chose for this trip were tried-and-true performers over the years. So, if they all of a sudden developed a case of nerves, that would have been a shock. Even with that, I think some of the performers might have felt strange.
"I was doing an Italian restaurant scene with Angelica Sinn and her husband the other night. There was like a hundred people around. It was like, the second I pulled off my pants, a swarm of mosquitoes bit my ass. This is not comfortable shit. That was a tough scene. It really was. Apparently most of the guys have handled it pretty well. In most cases I don't know too many people in real life who could have a crowd of people standing around while they fuck the girl and be completely into the girl. The one thing in our favor here, at least for me, is that there really are some real true fans here, and that they're happy to see me. That makes me feel really great. You can just feel that their energy is behind you. That really serves you. You feel the positive energy. I've had people bringing me water and towels. People I don't even know. I really appreciate for them; it was great.
"I would do this again. Absolutely. I met a really nice girl down here as everyone KNOWS. They were already driving me to the airport in their minds, but I'm glad it worked out. It's nice to have the fun, the freedom and the sex, and the drinks, but there's nothing nicer than being with a beautiful young woman who appreciates being with you. It's a great feeling."
G. Ross: "Is it true that they were telling you if you wanted to work anymore this week, that you would have to do it with condoms?"
Savage: "I was never given that; ever. There were a couple of scenes after the initial incident where I felt I was being con-domed by some of the women. But that's okay with me. My feeling, personally, I wish for the sake of this industry and the talent, that the condoms were mandatory and that we had no choice. I think that's really the only intelligent way to go. Given that that is not the choice we have, you do what's most comfortable for you."
G. Ross: "What's your feelings about Tony Montana? You're essentially from the same era"
Savage: "I was really saddened to hear that. I remember Tony from the early 80's. I remember when he first came into the business. He brought his girlfriend Blondie who was a real cute girl. Tony is like a larger-than-life character. He's always on. Knowing who Tony is as a person, I know he'll be able to keep a positive spirit. Let's put it this way, HIV right now with the Proteze inhibitors, we don't know how long we can go without a problem. Magic Johnson is the test case. I have hopes for Tony. My heart goes out to him. I hope he realizes that, regardless of what you're afflicted with that life is still precious and enjoy every moment that you have. When you start to lose it, you start to cling so enjoy it for what's worth."
G. Ross: "When you left the business I thought you came back in a lot better shape than when you left. What kind of routine or program did you do?"
Savage: "I did the Atkins diet. Fortunately I found a diet I can really work with. I love to eat, and I don't feel like I have to limit my portions. I love meats, fishes, butters, creams. You can basically eat the stuff you love, but the stuff you also love like breads, pastas and rice, you have to cut out. You really have to keep the carbs low, but apparently I can eat like a horse and level out. If you add even a modicum of exercise which I've done, you can be in great shape and not suffer. Dieting sucks, but I'm in better shape than I was. I don't smoke now. I used to smoke. I was a heavy smoker. I remember always asking to be on my back so I wouldn't have to work so hard. But I'm in a lot better shape, and, obviously, the better you look, the more attracted to you the women will be. And that's certainly a much better feeling."
"Even though there were regrets when I first entered the industry in New York and thought I was throwing away my acting career, I worked so hard studying acting for many years, I felt I was throwing something away but the other side of me was saying YES. I felt I was in a candy store. I really did. I love the sex. I'm sure everyone does, but I was a freak that many people are but don't put it in front of the camera. I was just a healthy young male who just loved women. I'm so happy for the variety I was enable to encounter. Even though I believe to love one woman and be with that one person throughout your life certainly can be as great as my experience. I'm happy for my experience. My only regret is that the memories aren't as great as the actual experience.
