Last week it was U.S. News & World Report, this week it's the June [Sex !] issue of Los Angeles Magazine. And Larry Flynt's Hustler Hollywood gets another fine write-up.
"Occupying the combined square footage of a former Blockbuster and a Boston Market outlet, Hustler Hollywood looks a lot like a Banana Republic. Which is only fitting - it's going after the same customers," reads the article.
"Fifty percent of our customers are women or couples, and the women often thank us for this store," says Theresa Flynt-Gaerke, vice president of retail operations. "They want to be able to shop in an environment where they can buy a vibrator and not feel dirty."
Pssst...Pass the bananas. Ann Martin of Channel 2: "We've got a new dating service...and it's real, real different. These gals are looking for love while they're doing time. Here's the story behind jailbabes.com
Former inmate Angela Divine is interviewed.
Divine: "I wanted to change my life. I wanted someone who would write me, correspond with me.
CBS 2: "Angela Divine has spent hard time - hard time finding a man."
Divine: "The most important things to you when you are there are a phone call and a letter. If you don't have that, you feel totally isolated, and totally alone. That is true prison."
CBS 2: "Angela did prison time for selling drugs, but she also spent her time looking for love."
Divine: "I'm outgoing, spiritual, fun to be around and a changed person."
CBS 2: "It was never a bar scene where Angela could find her man."
Divine: "He said I was an incredible woman and that I have fire and energy."
CBS 2: "It all began behind the bars when she started receiving letters in prison after men saw her on-line."
Divine: "Oh he even sent me a picture of his family, too. Hello, a family man. We're talking quality, here.
CBS 2: "It's called jailbabes.com - women in prison going on-line, hoping the man of their dreams will write, visit, or propose. Ken Kline came up with the website idea after a conversation with a female ex-con.".
Kline: "People in jest call me the warden...there are two weddings scheduled next month, and they're probably the first ones....I talked to her [the ex-con]. In the course of the conversation I said what is the most common denominator among the female inmates. She said loneliness."
CBS 2: "So Ken sent out hundreds of applications - collected pictures and personal information. Each inmate got their own gage. Now Ken has more than 2,000 jail babes on his site - women behind bars in 20 different states. However 'jail babes' doesn't stop at the computer. Meet Mark Cromer."
[Cromer is pictured going through his files.]
Cromer: "This is my felony file - assault, assault, GTA [grand theft auto], prostitution...one of my favorites, Theresa shot husband."
CBS 2: "Former crime reporter, now turned Jail Babes Magazine and video executive."
CBS 2 [to Cromer]: "What's the fascination with jail babes?"
Cromer: "I think that this country is obsessed with sex and fascinated with crime."
CBS 2: "A freaky fascination Cromer brought to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, and he bought it."
Cromer: "There are 50 [adult] titles in just about every different little genre you can imagine - boobs, butts, age, weight, hair color, barely legal, way legal, elderly, whatever - it's a freak show out there. But nobody's really blended sex and crime."
CBS 2: "So, as Kline works from the inside trying to connect the lonely to love, on the outside, Cromer and Flynt are now hiring felons who are now free, catering to a curious culture."
Cromer: "American history is rich with stories of great female criminals - perhaps 'great' wouldn't be a good word - 'infamous', from Ma Barker, Lizzie Borden all the way through Eileen Warnow, the female serial killer in Florida."
CBS 2: "But for Angela Divine, she may have a bit of the bad girl blues, but it's a new life and a new man she's singing about, now."
TV Reporter Kyra Philips: "The first issue of Jail Babes magazine hits newsstands at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the jail babes website now has women felons online from 250 different institutions across the country."
The news station also reported that the Bare Elegance gentlemen's club in Hawthorne [California] got turned down in its attempts to make a charitable contribution. For all its good intentions, the club got kicked in the balls - golf balls, that is.
Reporter Juan Fernandez: "Imagine having anywhere from two to ten thousand dollars to give away and have no one to give it to. Well, that's the dilemma this club is facing. They're sexy, sensual and pretty darn generous. But no charity wants the money this club is trying to raise in its First Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament."
General Mgr. [for Bare Elegance] Chip Errera: "Naturally, we're disappointed. The offer was made in good faith. It was our first attempt at something like this."
Fernandez: "The tournament, planned for July, was a way for Bare Elegance to give back to the community. But, instead, they say they've been turned down by the Special Olympics, the Starlight Foundation, the Make-a-Wish Foundation and other charities that help ill and abused kids."
Errera: "Most corporations, most companies feel that it's part of their responsibility to do something. We're no different."
Fernandez: "But, what is different is that Bare Elegance is a gentlemen's club. And charities say that, when taking donations, they must be extremely careful to avoid controversy, so they don't offend other donors."
Errera: "I'm sure that someone will step forward and realize that's the right thing to do."
Fernandez: "Right, now, more than a dozen corporate sponsors like Budweiser are ready to play. They just want to know where and who the money collected will go to. Well, charity or not, the event will go on July 21st at the Knollwood Country Club in Granada Hills. It will be a tame event. The girls will be there selling food and drink, but there will be no nudity."
Court TV last week conducted an interview with defense attorney Paul Cambria after the Flynt plea verdict was announced. Court TV reporter Clara Tuma commented on archive footage.
Tuma [to Cambria]: "You were there that day when Larry Flynt was shot."
Cambria: "I certainly was. I was with Larry on every one of his trials over the years, and it was a very difficult day when Larry was shot."
Tuma: "What do you remember about those circumstances."
Cambria: "Well, I remember I was on the telephone, actually. outside the courthouse. There was a little square. Larry was simply walking across the square. We heard all these shots ring out. And he fell. We ran over to him. He was, obviously, mortally wounded. A local attorney who we had hired for one day, a person named Gene Reeves, was also shot. I thought he was just slightly injured. I remember telling him that it's just a shoulder wound, Gene, you'll be fine. Meanwhile, the poor man was shot. It had traversed his whole body and come out the other side."
Tuma: "You thought that Mr. Flynt was not going to make it."
Cambria: "Althea Flynt and I sat at Larry's bedside for two weeks waiting for him, literally, to die. That's what we were told was going to happen. We were told he had a !0% chance of living and we were, simply, waiting for him to die. Miraculously he survived."
Tuma: "There was another emotional experience today. You went back into the courtroom where the battle was fought 22 years ago when Larry Flynt was convicted."
Cambria: "22 years ago...I was much younger, and I can tell you at that time that it was quite an experience. I walked into the courtroom today, and it brought back a lot of memories. It also brought back memories of Larry walking which was something that I vividly recall."
Tuma: "How did this plea bargain come to be. We've heard two different versions so far."
Cambria: "I want to clarify one thing. Larry Flynt didn't plead guilty to anything. The corporation plead guilty. Larry, the charges were dismissed. The same thing with Jimmy. It was a spontaneous thing. I understand Mr. [prosecutor Mike] Allen was here [on camera] and he discussed it. But he wasn't there when it came up. We were talking with the prosecutor and he was giving us some information. It sort of came up, spontaneously. Then, after that, details were worked out. I can't really tell you which way it came up. But I can tell you there really wasn't any reluctance on the part of the prosecution to engage in this kind of discussion."
Tuma: "The state says it was an offer by the defense, that [Flynt attorney] Alan Isaacman came to them and said let's make a plea bargain."
Cambria: "I was in the room, and it came up among a lot of people talking. Alan didn't seek them out to start talking a plea bargain. We were meeting on some aspect of the case, and it came up. I can tell you the prosecution wasn't at all reluctant to discuss this. This wasn't a matter of Alan begging them for some kind of plea. It was a mutual thing."
Tuma: "Larry Flynt told me earlier today [Wednesday, May 12] that the prosecution had called the defense team last night conceding...that's not right?"
Cambria: "I have no idea whether Alan received a call last night. I can tell you that yesterday, after court proceedings, the discussion then arose for the first time about a possible settlement. It wasn't a matter of one side or the other trying to impose it on one or the other. It appeared to be something that was mutually embraced."
Tuma: "We understand that had this trial gone forward, there would have been some celebrities in the audience here to support Larry Flynt. What do you know about that?"
Cambria: "I am told, I do remember at one of the occasions, one of the parties, Woody Harrelson indicated that he very much wanted to be here for the trial. Larry told me Marlon Brando was coming. I actually wanted to meet Marlon Brando. I have no idea who else. There were an awful lot of people who wanted to be here for this trial, to show support for Larry, to show support for the First Amendment."
It was brought out during the course of the interview that Brando and Flynt had a sitdown dinner that lasted 4 to 6 hours and apparently the two figures had bonded.
Nancy Grace: Paul, you were just discussing the movie where we all saw a rendition of when Flynt was gunned down. As a result, there had been an arrest made many many years ago. But that case was never brought to trial. There has never been a conviction in that case. Is that a sore point for Larry Flynt?"
Cambria: "No. This individual named Franklin apparently admitted shooting Larry. It was substantiated in some way by the authorities. They are totally convinced that Mr. Franklin was the one who did it. We're told that he was, in some way, a white supremacist. In the first Flynt trial, I remember it was the first mixed race centerfold - Butch and Peaches -. These days we're dealing with Vivid Video and these mainstream videos. Back then we were dealing with pictures. There was this Butch and Peaches mixed race centerfold, and, supposedly, Mr. Franklin took umbrage to that and stalked Flynt until he had an opportunity to shoot him."
Grace: "What is unusual is that there has never been a jury trial, a trial of any type to bring that case to closure, although there was a confession. The guy is in jail right now on another offense. Speaking of those times, comparing them to now, in a lot of big cities, pornography is common place. As we see, especially in light of the shooting so many years ago, emotions run so highly when it comes to this type of matter. Especially when you bring up the specter of a juvenile. Do you think that changed the complexion of the case where Flynt may be considered an icon or a folk hero? Once you mention a juvenile to a jury, completely different attitude."
Cambria: "Except, here, there was never a claim that either Jimmy or Larry had sold anything to someone under age. It turns out we were given an I.D. card of this 14 year-old, who, by the way, is over 6 feet tall, has a beard and weighs 200 pounds. He doesn't exactly look 14. And he had an altered card. We don't know exactly what happened there, whether he claims to have used it or not, there weren't any police with him when he says he made his first buy. In the second two buys that were the subject of the indictment, that made sure that Jimmy or Larry were not on the premises. There was one clerk they went back to the same time, the same person. We suspected that he had already shown fake I.D. to that clerk, established some kind of relationship, then went back with the police and claimed there was a sale."
Grace: "Well, Paul, it sounds if you can prove there was a fake I.D. involved, you would have had a really good chance at trial because jurors hate it if they perceive any misconduct or any trickery on the part of the state."
Cambria: "There wasn't any question there was a fake I.D. The question was whether it was used for the very first sale when there were no police officers to witness it. Because we had the I/D., and it had the last number of his age and date of birth obliterated. So it was pretty obvious that somebody had fooled with that in some way or another. The other thing is, even though this is a city without a lot of bookstores, where they're selling videotapes, this is a city where there's a tremendous amount of mail order and a tremendous amount of sales through the Internet, and that would have been part of our case. We had all the statistics on individuals who had ordered things in mail order. It was tens of thousands of individuals. The First Amendment is not a majority-rules concept. You don't need 51% of the people to agree on something for it to be acceptable. If that were true, most of the books in the library would have to be taken down. It requires some substantive amount of people."
Cambria was asked if he was personally disappointed that the case wasn't going to jury trial, especially in light of the fact that he had had all his arguments ready, and that half-a-million, presumably, was spent on jury consultants.
Cambria: "I'm personally disappointed. I enjoy the battle and all the rest of it. Do I think this was a wrong decision on Larry and Jimmy's part? No. As [Alan] Dershowitz said, it was a no brainer. Once there was no jeopardy for them...he can sell his magazine...he really had achieved most of his goals and had taken himself totally out of jeopardy. Yeah, personally. But it's not about me. It's about the people who have to do the time, so to speak, if it didn't go the way we planned. I thought it would have, but again, you never know. A jury's unpredictable."
Grace: "I know the feeling you're describing - when you're all ready with court, when you're all ready to go forth with your witnesses, now your client compared it to kissing your sister. I know the feeling of being all prepared to go forth with your legal argument, and, then, suddenly, a plea goes down. You kind of feel like you won. You kind of feel like you lost. You just don't know how to feel. But all I know is that Hustler magazine is still on sale in Hamilton County, and that's the bottom line."
Cambria: "That is true, and it was not on sale before he opened this store and put it on sale. So he has achieved that."
[Gloria joined in the talk, and that portion of the interview will be run in the next posting.]
In its list of Hot and Not occupations of the 1990's, P.O.V. magazine in its May issue, lists "Sex Shop Operator" as #10 on the endangered species list, citing Mayor Giuliani's crackdown on Times Square as indicative of the national mood swing.
By the same token, according to the magazine, "The world's oldest industry is, of course, benefiting from the newest -online porn accounts for about one-fifth of all e-commerce. This means that those in need of their fixes can order them directly to their desktops. That's double trouble for brick-and-mortar sex shops." A statistic cited has 30 percent of New York City's sex shops having closed since a zoning law was passed last July.
Anne Bateman writes: "With all due respect, Sir, My concern is the missing apostrophe in your motto, which seemed to disappear in a recent redesign of your page. I fear that this absence of correct punctuation undermines the integrity of your entire website. Grammatically yours."
Gene sez: "I trusted my sources to carry the apostrophe over to the new design. Blame them."
Extreme Associates' Lizzy Borden got a tit job last week. Mother and foster children are doing well.
It's official. Ed Powers' Bedtime Stories radio show heard locally on KLSX 97.1 will be expanding it's territorial waters the beginning of June. Ed will start airing in the Detroit market.
Producer, Peter Davy sang to a packed house on Saturday nite at the Universal Bar and Grill. Davy performed 3 different songs as a special guest star celebrating his birthday, and, when he finished, he received a standing "O".
It's the ultimate showgirl extravaganza. Over 100 Captain Cream showgirls will be appearing and performing together this Wednesday evening at the Captain Cream Cabaret in Lake Forest, California. Call 949-951-5052 for more info or check at the website www.captaincream.com
