Above, guests posted written tributes to Jim South at Sunday's suprise party. Photos above and below by Marco Palloti. For more of his photographs of the event, click here.
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.—The Old Guard of the adult industry honored pioneer talent agent Jim South yesterday at a surprise party/brunch celebrating South's 80th birthday.
"I love Jim South," retired performer and Vivid Radio personality Christy Canyon—who organized the event with producer Rob Spallone—told AVN. "When I first got in the business, he was my agent. He was always a stand-up guy. He never sent me to a shoot that 'Oh, it’s an anal gangbang, not a girl/girl.' I was 18, insecure, wet behind the ears, and thank God he got me. You're kind of unstable at that age. Anyone over 20 was 'old.' We were all wayward, lost souls. Back then it wasn’t considered a classy job or a stepping stone to mainstream. It was underground. Illegal.
"Adult people from the entire span of his career will be there. I was getting checks from Lucky Starr, Cass Paley, Scotty Schwartz, Rusty Nails ... Who knows who's going to show up? We have confirmed 20 so far. It'll be fun."
"Jim South was the first person I connected with when I came out to California, many years ago. He's always had a special place in my heart," Luc Wylder told AVN. "Ariana, my ex-wife, was represented by Jim in the early '90s. My daughter and Jim's son went to school together. We live blocks apart. We were having dinner with Rob Spallone and he asked 'What's up with Jim South?' and we thought, let's throw a party for him. It was sheer coincidence that it's his 80th birthday.
"We need an excuse to get together where someone wasn't dying. There have been too many of those recently among people who have been around for a while. We took this as an opportunity to celebrate and have fun. Who connects us all better than Jim South? At one point or another everyone in this room wandered through his office for one purpose or another. I remember the first time I met Katie Morgan was at one of Jim South's cattle calls. Katie Morgan. I knew immediately that she was going to be a star and I told her right them, I put her on the cover of Dirty Dancers The Movie."
Mainstream child star and adult industry personality Scotty Schwartz was one of the first arrivals, carrying a bag of gifts: jars of vitamins and nutritional supplements, a pack of Kool cigarettes and a packet of Tums. "I worked with Jim in his office. It was great. It was an easy gig. You get there at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock you go to Hamlet or Lamplighter or the Thai place he liked for a while, then you go back to the office and you’re out by six. Jim is Jim: One of the easiest bosses ever to work for. Answering the phone was the best." Schwartz picks up an imaginary phone and segues into his spiel: "Thank you for calling World Modeling. Eighty percent of the work that we get is photographic art, which is legitimate nude modeling. This is a bonded agency. Would you like to make an appointment?
"I wouldn't miss this for anything. I've known Jim for 30, 31 years."
The room erupted in a loud ovation when South entered, and throughout the afternoon the room rang with laughter and reminiscences. "I have girls calling me now whose mothers recommended them to me," South said. "I represented them years ago." Christy Canyon walked up to photographer Suze Randall, asking, "Do you know who I am?" and got a matter-of fact response: "No. Take your clothes off."
"Jim South was one of the first people I met before I got into the industry, when I was coming here from Texas," Jessica Drake remembered. "I visited his office to talk to him, and talk about the business. My mailbox was across the street on Van Nuys Boulevard and I would visit him. I got to be a fly on the wall and—it shouldn't be remarkable, but it is—he was very kind and he was never creepy with me. I always saw him as a paternal figure for the industry."
"I believe everybody, at one point or another, started with Jim South," Brittany Andrews said. "I remember going in and taking some pictures at his place. Everybody did. I put off the drive back to Vegas to be a part of this. I haven't seen him in forever. At this point, we're the survivors. We give each other a little head nod. We made it. There's a different kind of camaraderie now."
"I first met Jim South in 1989," performer Valentino remembered. "I was living in Hawaii at the time. I came in to introduce myself, but I was only staying in L.A. for a week. I would come back every six months or so, but I didn’t move here until '92—that's when my career launched. Jim told me later, 'Because you only appeared every six months, we thought you were an FBI agent.' We had a good laugh over it."
Attendees included Rusty Nails, Inari Vachs, Jessica Drake and Brad Armstrong, Shane, agent Mark Spiegler, Herschel Savage, Mr. Marcus, Max Hardcore, directors David "Pussyman" Christopher and Cass Paley, producer Marci Hirsch, Kianna Bradley, Lucky Starr (wearing a vintage World Modeling T-shirt), Ron Jeremy, Sean Michaels, Brittany Andrews, Holly Randall, Maestro Claudio, T.T. Boy, Raven Touchstone. Alec Metro, Wally Wharton and Long Jeanne Silver.
"I'm impressed by the turnout," Kylie Ireland said. "I don't remember everybody. Get their clothes off, that'll help. I was one of Jim South's girls. I remember sitting in the office and they asked me my stage name and I told them and he and Jim Enright said, 'You're Kylie Ireland?' And I'm going, 'Why do you know my name? I've done three movies.' The rest is history."
"I thought it went beautiful today," Canyon said as the party was winding down. "I haven’t seen Jim happier since ... the day I walked into his office in 1984! [laughter]."
Schwartz echoed the sentiment: "Jim told me, 'This is unbelievable. I never expected anything like this ever.' That's the topper of the day."
As people lingered over one last drink, one last hug, one last memory before departing, Alexandra Silk summed it up: "It was a room full of love, wasn't it?"
