NEW YORK—Gerard Damiano Jr. and Christar Damiano, the son and daughter of Golden Age director Gerard Damiano (Deep Throat), will present a 50th anniversary screening of his Memories Within Miss Aggie at The Slipper Room (167 Orchard Street, New York, NY) on Tuesday, May 28 at 7:45 p.m., preceded by a red carpet event at 7 p.m.
While Damiano’s Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones are best known as having creating the concept of “porno chic,” it was Memories Within Miss Aggie (1974) that fully established it. Combining hardcore sex with a Hitchcockian twist, it was taken seriously by mainstream critics, such as Bob Salmaggi of WINS NY Radio, who lauded it as “Something new in the annals of adult sex films! Very much a woman’s picture,” a sentiment unprecedented at the time. In 1974, the film was considered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress (Deborah Ashira). While it did not receive any Oscar nominations, Damiano enjoyed the fact that members of the Academy watched his “dirty movie.”
Memories Within Miss Aggie follows an older couple living together in an isolated farmhouse. Their remembrances of how they first met vary wildly, as the titular character of Aggie (played alternately by Deborah Ashira, Kim Pope, Mary Stuart and Darby Lloyd Rains) descends into madness. The film also features performances by Golden Age stars Eric Edwards and Harry Reems (Deep Throat), and includes a haunting original score by Rupert Holmes, who later gained notoriety with his chart-topping hit “Escape: The Piña Colada Song.”
When the film first premiered, theaters carried this warning: “BECAUSE OF THE SHOCKING NATURE OF THE CONCLUSION OF THIS FILM, NO ONE WILL BE ADMITTED IN THE LAST 10 MINUTES OF ITS SHOWING!”
The Damianos will be joined by producer/director Heather Buckley (The Ranger, The Sacrifice Game) for a Q&A following the screening. This discussion of the making of the film, its reception by critics, and the crossover of sex and horror film genres will be moderated by CineKink co-founder Lisa Vandever. The program will also include two notable short films curated by Vandever: Laurels (2016), directed by David Brundige, and the award-winning Queen Kong (2016), by Italian director Monica Stambrini.
The Damianos have been on a mission to preserve and restore their father’s most significant films as each reaches its golden anniversary. Beginning with Deep Throat in 2022, the siblings produced a 4K restoration of the film, which they presented in six countries and 17 cities around the world. In 2023, they followed up with a similar treatment of The Devil in Miss Jones.
The rarely shown Memories Within Miss Aggie is another groundbreaking classic. “We are honored to present one of our father’s most critically acclaimed works to his old fans, and introduce it to a new audience,” Damiano Jr. said.
CineKink and New York fashion magazine Dirty are the presenting sponsors for the anniversary event.
For more information and tickets to the event, click here.
Pictured: Mary Stuart, Harry Reems
